Whisky Party

Tasting Notes From Bloggers We Trust:

• Whisky Fun is first-up with notes of the new Ardbeg Rollercoaster.
• Whisky Notes gets a hold of a bottle of peated Connemara 10 yo made especially for the Whisky Festival in Gent.  The verdict?  It’s a “sweet hottie.”
• Whisky Host tries Bowmore Tempest Batch #1, calling it a ‘return home’ for Bowmore.
• Whiksy Fun reviews two 8 year old Laphroaigs.
• Here’s something novel – Edinburgh Whisky tastes 5 different grain whiskies that go into famous scotch blends.
• Penderyn continues to garner lots of coverage in the blogosphere this week.  Whisky for Everyone reviews Penderyn Rich Madeira.  Whisky Host tries Aur Cymru (Welsh Gold). And Whisky Notes tries the regular Penderyn Madeira Finish.
• Whisky for Everyone tastes Tomintoul “Peaty Tang,” calling it an uncomplicated but enjoyable introduction to smokey whisky.
• Cask Strength has reviews of three new vintage edition Highland Park bottlings from the 1990s.
• They also have a head to head matchup of the Glenlivet 18 vs. Glenfiddich 18.
• Drink Hacker snags one of only 1,100 bottles of Knappogue Castle 1994 Master Distiller’s Private Selection Irish Whiskey.
• Master of Malt reviews a rare and highly collectible Bushmills Millennium Malt Single Cask from 1975.
• Scotch Hobbyist geeks-out over the pretty packaging (and taste) of the Highland Park Earl Magnus edition.
• Wrapping up the tasting notes this week, Whisky Notes tastes MacDuff 25, and Glann ar Mor – Kornog Taouarc’h Eilvet, which he describes as the “French Ardbeg.”

Whisk(e)y News on the Web:

• The Whisky Bible is now on Facebook.
• For my fellow New Yorkers – Park Avenue Liquor is stocking up on the GlenDronach.
• The Malt Advocate Whisk(e)y Awards are coming to a close.  The final awards: “Industry Leader of the Year” goes to Mark Brown (Buffalo Trace Distillery); The Top Ten New Releases of 2009; Lifetime Achivement – John Ramsay and Robert Hicks;  and Distillery of the Year – Cooley.
• Serge at Whisky Fun is not thrilled with Malt Advocate’s choice of “whisky bloggers” as the pioners of the year.  He issues a note of caution in this blog post.
• Ironically (?) Serge then pops over to the site of fellow whisky blogger Whisky Host for a guest-blog in their regulary series deconstructing obscure tasting notes.
• Glenfarclas takes a turn tweeting with Whisky Host in another ongoing series.
• The Single Malt and Scotch Whisky Extravaganza will be hitting 13 cities in the U.S.  Get the details at Drink Hacker, which is offering a reduced price ticket.
• Whisky Toothpaste.  ’nuff said.