Summer-time is filled with long warm days and ideally, a more relaxed approach to work and play. This year, I can definitely say the “relaxed” part was missing! The summer this year also marked a major milestone for this wee whisky blog – 1,500 posts!! This prompted a refresh of the “Top 5 posts which may surprise you!”

It was a predictably packed quarter – July brought multiple jaunts from Nurnberg to Munich and a week in the UK – primarily for work. August was home to India – with plenty of plans to share a dram or two. Alas, a nasty monsoon fever and flu felled all such frivolity! What a pity as my whisky cabinet could do with some assistance… And September was our annual pilgrimage to the London Whisky Show – filled with interesting exchanges and memorable drams. 

Whisky-wise, our Nurnberg Whisky Explorers held a special evening in July devoted to Glens. What did we try?

• After a small sip of the Arran as a calibration dram, we checked out the Chorlton Glentaucher’s pair of 14 and 8 year
• Glenlivet 17 year (2006 – 2023)  First Fill Oloroso Sherry Butt 62.3% (Signatory)  – A good reminder that not all Glenlivet’s are created equally – in this case a mighty fine cask!
• Glenburgie 26 year (1995 – 2022) First Fill Sherry Puncheon 6349, 56.8% (Gordon & MacPhail) – Always dependable as an elegant and exceptional dram 

September followed with a fun evening dubbed “Bring your bottle!” Just a few folks coming together to share interesting drams from our respective whisky cabinets.

• Knockando 18 year (1996) Sherry 43% – Woody & fruity 
• Glenfarclas (2004/2017) Sherry Casks 59.4% – A proper sherry winters dram!
• The Hearach HE 00009 24 46% – Exploration of a new entry into the world of whisky
• Bowmore 18 year Oloroso Cask WB146494 43% – Felt like a walk down memory lane

I also caught up with tasting notes from our June session – devoted to a Canadian theme with British Columbia’s Shelter Point whiskies. After the session in India earlier in the year, it was such fun to also share a little slide of Canadiana in Germany too!

• Shelter Point Single Malt (~2022/2023) 46% – A shift from their earlier Artisinal “sunshine and sea air”… Still enjoyable but different 
• Shelter Point Montfort District Lot 151 Single Grain (2020) 46% – True terroir approach from a single lot
• Shelter Point Single Cask, Triple Grain 7 year (2020) Batch #5 43% – What an unexpected delight – malted and unmalted barley with rye
• Shelter Point “The Forbidden” 6 year (2021) Batch #2, 47% – Named after a plateau, we found this a lovely approachable dram
• Shelter Point “Smoke & Oak” 5 year (2021) Batch #1 46% – What a wonderful approach – delicious light smoke

With my February job change, colleagues kindly treated me to a gift voucher, which was naturally put to good use. None of the bottles have been opened yet – too much whisky, too little time – but there is little doubt that the right occasions will come! 

And last but not least, I finally got around to tasting and posting a few impressions of samples set aside for me by our Bombay Malt & Cigar gents who had a session last summer devoted to the theme: What’s in a Name…

• Benrinnes 10-year “Peace, Love & Whisky” (Apr 2011 – Dec 2021) Cask 304354, 50.5% (Simply Whisky) – Active, metallic, with a spice kick
• Blair Athol 11-year “Memories” (Oct 2010 – Dec 2021) Cask 302317, 51.6% (Simply Whisky) – Copper, forest, deep and brooding
• Ardnamurchan 5-year “April Fool – Extremely Old, I wish I were Younger” (2022) 53.2% (The Whisky Exchange) – My first foray into this new distillery that is making waves

And there you have it – another quarterly whisky round-up! Slainthe!

Curious to know more? Check out a few more summaries:

• Whisky Lady – April to June 2024
• Whisky Lady – January to March 2024
• Whisky Lady – October to December 2023
• Whisky Live – July to September 2023
• Whisky Lady – April to June 2023
• Whisky Lady – January to March 2023

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