Blair Athol 12 Year (Blackadder Raw Cask)

 

Blair Athol is one of those distilleries where I hear the name and think "Sure! Blair Athol! I've had a million of those!" and then I check my archive and I've had two. Just two. 

Maybe I've had a few drams at SMWS tastings or at the bar at Jack Rose here in DC and just forgot to blog them; maybe I just see the name on other blogs, I'm not really sure. But I picked this bottle from Blackadder because I trust Blackadder and I _thought_ I was familiar with Blair Athol. 

Bruichladdich Island Barley 2013

 

In the world of Scotch there are very few distilleries that deliver a "sure thing" year after year - a product whose quality doesn't diminish much, if at all, and sometimes exceeds itself. Many of the vaunted and much-hyped distilleries have faded - Glendronach, after their old stocks were expended; Ardbeg seems to be using tired casks, especially for the Uigeadail; everyone agrees Macallan and Balvenie and such are much diminished from yesteryear. It's such a common talking point that it's more or less a cliche.  

Yet I think it's a pretty popular opinion that Bruichladdich has kept things marvelously consistent.

Benrinnes 14 Year (Blackadder Raw Cask)

 

Today's bottle was one of those where I said to myself "Benrinnes ... surely I've had a boatload of Benrinnes!" ... and then looked at my archive and discovered no, I've only had three or four bottles of the stuff, and maybe a tot here or there at a tasting. So, in truth, I know very little about Benrinnes - owned by Diageo, founded in 1826 (one of the oldest), formerly known for triple distilling but giving that up in 2007, and a user of the vaunted worm tubs to condense during distillation.