June Tasting Sessions – Pour & Sip
The latest instalment of our Pour & Sip subscription – and we’ve hit the six month mark! As always the virtual tastings were a joy to attend, with fabulous guests, and great tasting notes from other attendees. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for live Pour & Sip events in the future!
Tasting session one:
| Name | Distillery | Origin | ABV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vinaya | Bladnoch | Lowlands, Scotland | 46.7% |
| Balblair 15 | Balblair | Highlands, Scotland | 46% |
| Glenfarclas 15 | Glenfarclas | Speyside, Scotland | 46% |
Vinaya
Nose: black pepper, floral, spring showers on wet grass, sea air on a light breeze, sherry notes, apples, sherbet lemon and creamy malt
Palate: more Sherbet lemon, chocolate fondant cake, hints of oak and orchard fruits
Finish: milk chocolate ganache, a rich Belgian milk chocolate truffle, peppery spice to finish
A very intriguing whisky; oily on the sides of the glass, smooth on the mouth, and a beautiful light straw colour. This is very much a spring/summer dram. Sweet with hits of spice and bags of fruity notes throughout. Unfortunately I lost half of this dram to the other half of the Dram Duo otherwise I would very happily have finished this and then some!
Balblair 15
Nose: honey, apples, chocolate, figs, muscavado sugar, fortified wine, mocha, more sherry notes
Palate: dark chocolate covered stem ginger, ginger and walnut cake
Finish: quite spicy and warming with touches of vanilla and oily coating on the palate
The golden colour of this whisky means it looks fantastic in the glass. Lots of chocolate notes, however, it is more savoury than the Bladnoch, and a little less complex. A happy middle of the road dram, an easy sipper.
Glenfarclas 15
Nose: cut grass, butterscotch, coffee, mint, juicy oranges, toffee and dried fruit
Palate: buttery, creamy, oranges, Christmas cake, walnuts, cherry bakewell, plums and toasted nuts
Finish: mince pies and Christmas wreaths
It’s no secret that the Glenfarclas distillery is a house favourite here and it’s always lovely to be reminded of a classic expression. The first ‘proper’ bottle of whisky we purchased after our Soho Whisky Club tasting a couple of years ago; if you could bottle up the flavours of Christmas treats then this is it! We’ve got another very special Glenfarclas tasting on the horizon so keep your eyes open.
Tasting session two:
| Name | Distillery | Origin | ABV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signature Rye | Sagamore Spirit | Maryland, USA | 41.5% |
| El Clasico | Stauning | Stauning, Denmark | 45.7% |
Signature Rye
Nose: clotted cream vanilla fudge, freshly cut summer grass, Werther’s Originals, salted orange peel
Palate: bakewell tart, fudge, oak spice, buttered rye toast with orange marmalade
Finish: ginger, bakewell tart, old fashioned
We had an entire tasting dedicated to Rye whisk(e)y a couple of weeks ago, so were intrigued to see what this had to offer. A wonderful copper colour this rye whisky is a little oily on the side of the glass and just invites you in. A combination of 2 mash fills of 95% rye:5% malted barley and 52% rye:43% corn:5% barley. Oddly enough it already tastes like and Old Fashioned however, I would absolutely be having this in a highball, Manhattan and an Old Fashioned.
El Clasico
Nose: thyme, mulled cider, vanilla, butterscotch angel delight, nutmeg, cinnamon, milk, incenses from a market in downtown Cairo all underpinned by a forest floor after a spring downpour
Palate: rich tomato soup, toffee, cherries, wood notes, pepper spice, sea air and orange bitters
Finish: waxy, light leather and charred oak spice
All matured in American white oak casks this rye whisky is great. A deep Mahogany colour in the glass it is quite rich on the palate but gives bags of flavour which each sip, a very quaffable dram.
We had previously only tasted one of these whiskies before the Pour & Sip tastings and once again hadn’t heard of two of the distilleries – one of the major reasons we enjoy this subscription. Kristine and Andy do a fabulous job of hosting virtually, bringing together viewers from Youtube, Facebook and Twitter; as well as helping us connect to the guest speakers. Six months in and we’re still always excited for what the next box will bring.
In the meantime don’t forget to leave your comments on the whiskies we have mentioned and leave us some recommendations!
You can check out our previous reviews below.
- Pour & Sip – January 2021
- Pour & Sip – February 2021
- Pour & Sip – March 2021
- Pour & Sip – April 2021
- Pour & Sip – May 2021
- Pour & Sip – June 2021
The Dram Duo 
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