“It was a night after Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring except the Nosers looking for a “wee dram”. After 6 seasons and over 150 samplings it is challenging to find an untried drop, but with assistance from the local bottle shop… “BINGO” challenge accepted.
The host thought we were tasting #148, 149 and 150 in our ongoing journey to seek out and explore strange new single malts (credit to Gene Roddenberry) but no….due to bookkeeping errors in our IT department it was actually #154,155 and 156.(Post Covid it really is difficult to find good help.)
All three offerings were “interesting”…. with the first being a nice blend of single malts from the same distillery with NO age expression (Is that even legal?), the second a 3 year old (which would have greatly benefited from another 7 years in a cask) and the last a fabulous example of a properly aged 11 year old. In order they were the Nikka Yoichi (Yoichi means Shine or City … you’re welcome) the second was a Highland Park Valfather (Valhalla Father … Odin, the big cheese in Valhalla, get it ?) and the last was from one of the few remaining Lowland distilleries called Bladnoch (catchy eh? but I have no idea what the marketing department was going for here.) So anyway…..”
Round 1: Nikka Yoichi
| Cost: $95 CDN | Region: Japan |
Fun Facts:
- The Yoichi distillery (formerly known as the Hokkaido distillery) was the first of Nikka’s distilleries, founded by the great Masataka Taketsuru back in 1934. Following his studies of whisky making techniques in Scotland, Taketsuru built his distillery in the town of Yoichi on the islands of Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s main islands, as he thought it most matched the environment of Scotland. A picturesque location – the distillery is surrounded by mountains on three sides and the sea on the fourth.
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Round 2: Highland Park Valfather
| Cost: $90 CDN | Region: Orkney |
Fun Facts:
- The final bottling from the Viking Legend series, Valfather was named after the Norse god Odin. It’s the most peated whisky to date from Highland Park, a style designed to mimic Odin’s power. Valfather was matured in refill casks in order to balance the peatiness and also because the brand supposedly wanted to mirror the ethereal and lighter feel of Valhalla, Odin’s hall. It was bottled at 47% ABV without any additional colouring.
- Danish designer Jim Lyngvild returned to help create the distinctive packaging, the inspiration of which was the ancient picture stones from Stora Hammars in Gotland, Sweden.
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Bonus Round: Bladnoch
| Cost: $95 CDN | Region: Lowland |
Fun Facts:
- The most southerly of Scotland’s distilleries, standing far from any other at Wigtown, by the river Bladnoch, on the Machars peninsula of Galloway. The distillery was founded in the early 1800s, closed in 1938, reopened in the 1950s and was taken over by Bells in 1983, not long before their acquisition by what is now United Distillers.
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