Scotchology

Ardbeg Blaaack

2020 marked the 20th Anniversary of the Ardbeg Committee, a fan club of Ardbeg enthusiasts and a way for the distillery to stay in touch with fans of the brand. Every year in the spring, the distillery will release a special Committee Release. While available to non-Committee buyers, members hear about the upcoming whisky first and sometimes have a chance to buy it before retail. The 2020 Committee Release is the Ardbeg Blaaack. The name references a black sheep, depicted on the cover amidst a sea of white sheep. The sheep are there because the whisky was matured in ex-pinot noir casks from New Zealand, another island nation known for having an extremely high number of sheep.

By Adam | March 20, 2022 | Islay | No Comments |

What does a couple – one an architect – do when they find a run down castle in Ireland? Buy it and use it as the muse for a distillery. That’s at least what Mark Edwin Andrews, former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Navy, and his wife, Lavonne (the architect) did in 1966 to this neglected castle left too long untended in County Clare, Ireland. At Scotchology, we can appreciate fine architecture and fine whiskey, simultaneously when at all possible. This brand is known for producing exceptionally smooth, triple-distilled Irish whiskies. We have sampled some of their core expressions in the past and now we dive into a member of their Cask Finish Series, the Knappogue Castle 12 Year Burgundy. We have loved burgundy cask finishes in the past, so read on to see what we think of this one.

By Adam | March 17, 2022 | Foreign | No Comments |

Andalusia Whiskey was started by friends Tommy Erwin and Ty Phelps in 2015. They discovered the site of their planned distillery was once called the Andalusia Ranches, perhaps after the hill country of southern Spain. The Andalusia Stryker is one of the four main offerings from the distillery. Harkening back to the Scottish tradition of drying malted barley using peat smoke for some of their whiskies, Tommy and Ty give Stryker a Texas twist by smoking the barley with a mix of oak, mesquite, and apple wood, pointing towards Texas barbeque as their inspiration.

By Adam | March 10, 2022 | Foreign | No Comments |