Penderyn 7 Year (SMWS 128.14 "The Tiger's Eye")

 

I really love the two bottles of Penderyn I've had so far - both young, brash, bursting with personality and flavor, both mildly funky with a "tomato vine/Bloody Mary mix" note, both cask strength yet endlessly quaffable. So when the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS") finally released a couple Penderyn bottles of their own, I snapped them up. 

Penderyn 9 Year Single Malt Welsh Whisky (Jack Rose bottle, ex-Oloroso cask)

 I've been dying to try Welsh whisky for some time now. I am something like 15% Welsh according to Ancestry.com, and that 15% includes my name, ha! There are quite a number of Welsh distilleries these days, but Penderyn is probably the best known, at least here in the US. According to Wikipedia, It is distilled in the village of Penderyn, Rhondda Cynon Taf, in the Cynon Valley, from which the brand takes its name. Here is a particularly good explanation of what makes Penderyn unique.