Scallywag Winter Edition - Lego Advent Day 9

The Whisky

 

Scallywag Winter Edition. If I get this next year it will be a tradition.

It just tastes like Christmas. The dried fruits and nuts and, of course, sherry. The 58% ABV gives it a nice warming touch and it's blended in a way that you can drink this without water, but even more flavour and aroma is present if you add a teaspoon of water to a dram.

Also look at that label. The whole experience is just spot on. And you get a little scarf!

The Lego

 C-3PO in a Christmas sweater featuring R2-D2. Perfect!

 

 

 

 

 

Eagle Rare - Lego Advent Day 8

The Whisky

“Bourbon is easy to understand: It tastes like a warm summer’s day.”

Raylan  Givens is, or course, right. Eagle Rare can be simple but it has aged 10 years in oak barrels so it can be a bit more than that if you choose. It does the honey and vanilla with a touch of oak thing on the nose,  and adds a touch of smoke and spice on the palate.

First hit I had of this I thought it tasted intensely of jam but that's never really come back as strongly.

This Knob Creek 9, Bulleit 10 and, particularly, Russell's Reserve 10 make a good case for bourbons with a bit of age on them.

The Lego

It's a T-16 Skyhopper. You can just imagine bulls-eyeing womp rats with it.

 

 

You could may be argue some of the proportions are off, but great work here.

 

Springbank 10 - Lego Advent Day 7

The Whisky

Springbank 10. You can upset Whisky shop owners the world over by asking them if they have any Whisky from Campbeltown. If you are lucky they will try to sell you some Glen Scotia (and you should probably buy it because it's good).

The on-line Whisky Knowers love Springbank and they buy it when they see it. Me too! I've got 3 more bottles of this and one and a half of Longrow (Springbank Peated).

Is it really that good? To be honest the first ever bottle I bought of this sort of passed me by. I think I was more into the smokier end of the peated whiskies and, while this brings it, its a slightly different beast to Ardbeg or Ledaig.

There's also that "funk" thing. Springbank is funky. It's dirty and oily and slightly sweaty which are all good things in their place and that place looks to be here.

Great stuff!

The Lego

A landspeeder!. This is a great tiny version of a classic vehicle. If I were to quibble, it's the wrong colour. As are many of the Lego versions of this as you can see.

Also great stuff!

Ardnamurchan Cask Strength - Lego Advent Day 6

The Whisky

Ardnamurchan are just putting out one fine bottle after another, The story with this one was that they weren't planning to put out a cask strength version but they tried some and changed their minds.

If you scan the QR-code below you will find out everything to know about this particular bottle.

I didn't quite get all the floral notes in the provided tasting notes, but the peat and the tobacco and the sweeter touches are all there.

For me, it took a bit of water and few minutes in the glass to get the most out of it.

The Lego

 

The Marauder from Bad Batch as you can see it captures the form pretty well!

One odd thing: the big Lego set is called "The Bad Batch Attack Shuttle" so, I guess attacking is OK, but Marauding is right out.

Black Bush - Lego Advent Day 5

The Whiskey

I was given two of these for my birthday this year and this is the second, so it must have been OK.

I do like to have an Irish Whiskey in my rotation and it's often from the cheaper end  -- Teeling or Roe & Co. -- as the Spot's (Green, Yellow, etc) don't do a great deal more for the price. That said, Redbreast 12 Cask Strength and Teeling Dark Porter are both worth the extra.

This adds some sherry notes to the usual apples and biscuits and is a pleasant enough sipper.

The Lego

A battle droid. You get one every year.

The Missing Stair · Ten Past Now

Ondjaba - Lego Advent Day 4

The Whiskey

The Namibian Whiskey, even. Somewhat burying the lede this is The Namibian Elephant Shit Whiskey.

It's... Chaotic. There's lots of flavour here but it seems to randomly appear on your palate. Not all of them are good. There's an aggressiveness to this that I really need to be in the mood for.

The Lego

Now, I had to look this up. It's an Acclamator-class ship that appeared in the Clone Wars cartoons. A bold left-field choice. But in reality just a grey wedge. Good use of parts, though, and a nice little build, but... Grey.

 

Compass Box Orchard House - Lego Advent Day 3

The Whisky

Compass Box can sometimes be almost hilariously committed to transparency so in this case I can tell you this is made from:
 

- 39% Linkwood Distillery, First Fill Bourbon Barrel
- 29% Clynelish Distillery, First Fill Bourbon Barrel
- 20% Benrinnes Distillery, First Fill Bourbon Barrel
- 8% Distillery near the town of Aberlour, Revatted Oloroso Sherry Seasoned Butt
- 2% Highland Malt Blend, eigenes Frensch Oak Barrel – Heavy Toast
- 2% Caol Ila Distillery, First Fill Bourbon Barrel 

And when you are starting with those goodies you'd better do a good job.

Compass Box nail it. Especially at this price point  (€40). There's a reason it won the OSWA for best blended whisky.

One thing I will note is that I recently finished a bottle of Benrinnes which I kept forgetting I had but always regretted not buying more bottles of it when I had a dram. The Benrinnes had a lovely central hotness that Orchard House somehow manages to preserve and showcase.

Get a bottle if you see it.
 

The Lego

A Tri.Fighter. It seems there 's a willingness to go back to the pre-quel trilogy at the moment. This is a great model with interesting parts that is solid and endlessly swooshable. Great!

 

Old Pulteney Huddart - Lego Advent Day 2

The Whisky

 

 

I heard about this one from Roy of Aquavitae in one of his vPub videos. The usual Old Pulteney 12 Year Old is one of those work-horse Whiskies you can get everywhere, fruity and soft with a bit of salt it's a lovely sipper that is probably a bit over-looked in favour of more aggressively present bottles.

This isn't going to change that, but what it does it does just a little bit better all round. For a start it's 46% ABV.

On the nose fruit here is apples though there's more honey or caramel and a small smoky note.

On the palate that smoky note becomes something quite bitter like a dark chocolate and it has a full oily mouth-feel. 

It has a longish dry finish that is quite surprising at this price point (€46).

The Lego

The pilot, a Clone Trooper. As before Minifigs are hard to review. This has nice printing and comes with a pistol (with advent calendars they often save weapons for weapons racks later in the month).

Like the whisky this is a solid choice that's reassuringly good more that totally amazing.

The Missing Stair · Empty Barrels

Ten Past Now

The Missing Stair · Ten Past Now

Cotswolds Odyssey Barley Single 2017 - Lego Advent Day 1

 

The Whisky

 

An English Whisky! Not my first, though. There was Filey Bay which was a big hit of butterscotch and East London Rye which was herbal and spicy and lovely.
 

This is from Cotswolds and it's OK. As you can see it's a recent purchase so this could be the "neck pour", but it's a fine dram that just doesn't do anything in particular.
 

I may have to come back to it when it's had a bit more time in the bottle.

 

The Lego

 

A Republic Gunship! This seems to be more photogenic than it should be. It's a good collection of parts and it looks like what it ought to but it just seems too delicate to me. Still, a good start for this year's calender.