Drinks by the Dram

[silverfish]

Master of Malt is offering "Drinks By the Dram" - a "try before you buy"

program where you can get 30 ml samples of Whisky (a quick check

showed a couple Ryes - Rittenhouse and Zuidam Dutch Rye).

May be a nice alternative to the "Birthday bottle" I was looking for!

[Dramiel McHinson]

Master of Malt is offering "Drinks By the Dram" - a "try before you buy"

program where you can get 30 ml samples of Whisky (a quick check

showed a couple Ryes - Rittenhouse and Zuidam Dutch Rye).

May be a nice alternative to the "Birthday bottle" I was looking for!

[Stones]

Unreal! If only they did it for bourbon too... :skep:

Would love to try a Hirsch blue/red/gold wax this way...

[silverfish]

They do offer some bourbon - I ordered a sample of

Evan Williams 23 Year Old (along with some other items.)

Shipping cost was £9.95 for six samples. I placed the

order on July 10th and delivery is expected on July 21st.

The cost and time in transit both seem reasonable to me.

[silverfish]

Well, the drams arrived on July 17th - one week shipping

from UK to USA was quite a surprise!

I ordered the following:

Evan Williams 23 Year Old

Smokehead 18 Year Old Extra Black

Compass Box The Peat Monster

Ardbeg Corryvreckan

Ardbeg Supernova 2010

The EW23 was for me - the rest were for my sister-in-law

who enjoys scotch more than I do. She really liked the

small samples and of the above she enjoyed the Smokehead

the best. I have a bottle of "regular" Smokehead which we

opened and she liked that even more. I'm no scotch drinker

but I did find the above to be fairly "drinkable" given my

predisposition for bourbon. Maybe it's the blends I've had

that turn me off but these weren't awful.

The EW23 was very tasty and I've put it on my amazon wish

list in hopes that I might be gifted a bottle someday.

Thumbs up to MoM for a nice little program!

[ggilbertva]

Well, the drams arrived on July 17th - one week shipping

from UK to USA was quite a surprise!

I ordered the following:

Evan Williams 23 Year Old

Smokehead 18 Year Old Extra Black

Compass Box The Peat Monster

Ardbeg Corryvreckan

Ardbeg Supernova 2010

The EW23 was for me - the rest were for my sister-in-law

who enjoys scotch more than I do. She really liked the

small samples and of the above she enjoyed the Smokehead

the best. I have a bottle of "regular" Smokehead which we

opened and she liked that even more. I'm no scotch drinker

but I did find the above to be fairly "drinkable" given my

predisposition for bourbon. Maybe it's the blends I've had

that turn me off but these weren't awful.

The EW23 was very tasty and I've put it on my amazon wish

list in hopes that I might be gifted a bottle someday.

Thumbs up to MoM for a nice little program!

John - it looks like you've got some Islay's and a Speyside that have heavy doses of peat and some smoke. With Scotch, I tend to avoid those that have a heavy peat/smoke influence and focus on some lowland and highland offerings (mostly highland), which tend to be lighter and sweeter. A couple of my current favorites are Aberlour a'bunadh, Tomatin 12 yr and Dalwhinnie 15 yr. While the a'bunadh has a heavy sherry influence, I would say it has a very bourbon like quality to it. I've shifted some of my whiskey focus to Scotch and Irish and am finding a number of offerings out there that are very good and make nice additions to the bunker.

[IowaJeff]

I just put in an order. I ordered EW 23, Parker's Heritage 27, Bernheim wheat, EC 18, and an ardbeg scotch for curiosity's sake. Nothing I would do regularly b/c of the shipping cost (though it is far from unreasonable), but every now and again it will be fun to taste things I wouldn't otherwise buy. I'm really looking forward to trying the EW and the PH. the PH was put in a barrel the year I was born so I've always considered reaching outside of my usual price parameters to nab a bottle.

[silverfish]

John - it looks like you've got some Islay's and a Speyside that have heavy doses of peat and some smoke. With Scotch, I tend to avoid those that have a heavy peat/smoke influence and focus on some lowland and highland offerings (mostly highland), which tend to be lighter and sweeter.

I was really picking blind as I ordered those from seeing them

mentioned on a blog or two. For my next batch I'll try some

a little less peaty & smokey. Thanks for the high/lowland

suggestions - I'll check 'em out and see what sound good.

A couple of my current favorites are Aberlour a'bunadh, Tomatin 12 yr and Dalwhinnie 15 yr. While the a'bunadh has a heavy sherry influence, I would say it has a very bourbon like quality to it. I've shifted some of my whiskey focus to Scotch and Irish and am finding a number of offerings out there that are very good and make nice additions to the bunker.

Master of Malt says Aberlour a'Bunadh Batch 24 is "...one of

our all time favourite whiskies". Figgers that neither Aberlour

(Batch 24 or 29) nor the other two you suggest is available

by the dram.

[ggilbertva]

Master of Malt says Aberlour a'Bunadh Batch 24 is "...one of our all time favourite whiskies". Figgers that neither Aberlour

(Batch 24 or 29) nor the other two you suggest is available

by the dram.

I've had a couple different batches of the a'bunadh (pronounced ah-boonar) and all have been good. No doubt some better than others, but I have never read any review that said it wasn't good. So, I don't think you can go wrong with a bottle. Should run about $60 which is pretty good for a cask strength scotch.

[IowaJeff]

I might have to cancel my order. I got an email from them saying that there had been an error with their shipping costs to the US and that it would cost an additional 11 pounds. I ordered 5 samples, the original shipping cost was quoted at 7 pounds; adding 11 to that might price me out. $28 dollars is a lot to pay for shipping.

[silverfish]

Well, based on Greg's high/lowland suggestion, I ordered a

few of the following:

Edradour

Glengoyne

Glenmorangie

(as well as the PH27 after seeing it mentioned in Jeff's post.)

We'll see how those fare at the next tasting!