It's been many months hubby and his drinking buddies ie my brother in law's has had a whiskey session. To make up for lost time, they ended up bringing a hoard to our last dinner gathering. To be fair, three of the bottles are from the common pool owned by the three of them, then they each bought one or two and that's how they ended up with 8 bottles on the table. I have to say upfront, they didn't all drink 8 drams each!! But let's see what was on the table that evening.
Johnny Walker Blue Label 40%
The first one they all tried was the mildest one at 40%, the Johnny Walker Blue Label. It belonged to one of my brother in law, H. At £160 (yup it was expensive!!) hubby would never buy it but he's happy to try it 😁. He's not a fan of big labels, particularly expensive ones which he thinks are over rated.
I took a sniff followed by a little sip. It was quite easy on the nose and acceptable to my palate.
My other brother in law, K, had a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label that cost £25 so the guys decided to do a blind test for fun. The result? Hubby and K both said the Black Label was nicer 🙃
Thompson Bros, 6 years blended 46%
This is the first whisky from Thompson Bros and was produced from crowd funding. Hubby only found out about it after the crowd funding was finished, but was able to get a bottle on the open market. It's proved to be quite popular in general, and also with the guys tonight. Hubby has put his name down for the next round of crowdfunding. It was one of the two favourite of the evening.
Nobel Rebel, blended 46%
This one is quite unusual as it's matured in a red wind casket. Maybe that's why it was very smooth on the nose. They all liked it despite an it being quite smokey. Hubby was particularly impressed with it. It was the other top two favourite of the evening.
The Laddie Eight, 8 years single malt 50%
It's was obvious this was a stronger whisky. The aroma was quite intense and smelt a little fruity to me. Hubs didn't enjoy it straight, then he added a little water and they all agreed it was a lot better, nicer and smoother.
And for completeness, these were the other ones available that evening.
| Port Charlotte, 10 years single malt 50% | Ardnamurchan, single malt 46.8% |
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| MacLean Nose, blended 46% | Ledaig, 18 years single malt 46.3% |
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I think Hubs didn't drink them all that evening, or at least I didn't see him drink them. It gets very busy with 9 tables on the table, I'm surprised they remembered what they drank! I'll do a review of these in future when I get a chance, but if you're interested in the Ledaig, you can read my post from last year here.
