#samuelwhisky10år – Del 2: höjdpunkter i bloggandet och mina mest lästa tasting notes

Den 11:e oktober i år fyller SamuelWhisky 10år! Ett av sätten jag firar detta på är att den 11:e i varje månad fram till och med jubiléumsdagen posta retrospektiva nedslag i dom första 10 åren av SamuelWhisky. Totalt blir det alltså 10 specialinlägg för 10 år. I Del 1 i artikelserien skrev jag om vägen fram till SamuelWhisky, en bakgrundshistoria kring hur det kom sig att jag började blogga. I denna andra del gör jag en kvantitativ tillbakablick på mitt bloggande och mina tasting notes. 

Det var alltså den 11:e oktober 2013 som jag på FB startade bloggen SamuelWhisky. FB-sidan har tre huvudspår som tillsammans utgör allt det som har med Samuel och Whisky att göra; mina tasting notes, mässorna jag arbetar på, och provningarna jag genomför. 

På bloggens startflik, som du nu läser ifrån, är huvudspåret mina tasting notes och den 6:e-11:e oktober 2013 la jag först upp några äldre recensioner av whisky som jag tidigare postat i andra kanaler på FB. Mitt första originalinnehåll var den 12:e oktober, en tasting note av anCnoc 35yo som jag provade jag under Stockholm Beer & Whisky festival.

FB-sidan har i skrivande stund mer än 1500 följare och bloggen har hittills haft över 221k besök. Under 9 år har jag recenserat i runda slängar 150 whisky (vilket alldeles säkert är i lä i förhållande till mina bloggarkollegor). Mina tio mest lästa recensioner är:

10. Smögen – Single Sauternes Cask 57,3% (augusti 2015), 2080 läsare

9. Smögen – Single Bordeaux Barrique 61,3% (mars 206), 2240 läsare

8. Svenska Eldvatten – Bruichladdich 2006 9yo single fresh ex-oloroso sherry hogshead no. 1339 (maj, 2016), 2600 läsare

7. Smögen – Single Cask 51/2011 6yo 64% (maj, 2018), 2690 läsare

6. Laphroaig – Lore (september, 2016), 2990 läsare

5. Smögen – Triple 5 yo 54% (februari 2017), 3280 läsare

4. Springbank – 14yo Borbon Wood 55,8% (november 2017), 3390 läsare

3. Box/High Coast – 2nd Step Collection 03 51,3% (april, 2017), 3420 läsare

2. Box/High Coast – Dálvve 46% (november, 2016), 4170 läsare

1. Highland Park – Single Cask 6403 & 2121 för Sverige (oktober, 2016), 6170 (!) läsare.

Extra roligt med förstaplats-recensionen är dels att den är publicerad just den 11:e oktober, dels att den lästes hela 3163 gånger under dess första månad, wow!

Mitt mest gillade inlägg på FB, med 225 gilla-markeringar och över 6100 personer nådda, är ifrån när jag i september 2022 arbetade för Agitator under SBWF:

På insta är det här, med 100 gilla-markeringar, mitt mest gillade inlägg när jag i september 2018 arbetade med Laphroaig (åt Edrington) under SBWF: 

För att ta del av den mer kvalitativa sidan av mitt whiskybloggande, bland annat hur jag brukar gå tillväga när jag recenserar whisky, får ni gärna läsa den här intervjun med mig som gjordes av kollegorna på Whiskytower. Skål!! 

Besök på Box/High Coast juli 2014.
I glaset 2yo "Försmak – sherryfat" på 54,1% 

#samuelwhisky10år – Del 1: vägen fram till SamuelWhisky

Mitt whiskyintresse startade hösten 2002, när jag pluggade mitt andra år på en folkhögskola. En kväll skickade en folkisvän ett kryptiskt SMS där det stod att jag skulle infinna mig i skolans bibliotek på tisdag kl.19 iklädd kostym. Det visade sig att jag blivit inbjuden till ”Tisdagsklubben”, en klubb som sammanträdde på just tisdagar och provade whisky tillsammans under enkla, trevliga, och glada former. Tisdagsklubben hade funnits i många år på folkisen, nya medlemmar bjöds kontinuerligt in i klubben i takt med att dom medlemmar som pluggat på skolan under längst tid avslutade sin utbildning, och på så sätt säkerställdes klubbens fortlevnad. Whiskyprovandet var upplagt i ordinarie träffar då en medlem ansvarade för inköp, presentation, och att leda provsmakningen av en whisky. När några möten passerat och vi gått laget runt med varsin whisky var nästkommande möte en så kallad ”uppslutning” där vi provade den periodens whisky i en lina. 

Jag minns tydligt den träff då whisky som dryck verkligen gjorde ett starkt intryck på mig; en av medlemmarna hade inhandlat Laphroaig Cask Strength, jag tror det var den gamla ”Green Stripe”-utgåvan. Ojojoj, vilken känsla, smak och upplevelse det var med den där feta torvröken. Laphroaig tog mig med storm!

När tiden på folkhögskolan kom till sitt slut förlorade jag det sociala sammanhanget kring whisky under några år. Jag pluggade på en annan folkhögskola, och började sen studera till musiklärare på musikhögskolan vid Örebro universitet. 2007 hände det, jag minns att jag stod vid tavlan i studentpentryt, tillsammans med en viss Lars Karlsson (sedermera Quality manager & Asia sales manager på High Coast), och skummade igenom en lista över vilka som blivit antagna till de olika musikutbildningarna. Mina ögon fastande vid ett namn jag kände igen: Fredrik N. Min gamla vän från Tisdagsklubben skulle börja studera på musikhögskolan!! I denna stund visade det sig dels att Fredrik och Lars kände varann, dels att även Lars varit medlem i en whiskyklubb på den folkis han hade pluggat på. 

Fredrik och Lars

Med detta konstaterat startade vi 2007, tillsammans med dom två andra goda vännerna och musikhögskolestudenterna Carl och Emil, en whiskyklubb med det ödmjuka och på inget sätt högtravande namnet Örebro Akademiska Whiskysällskap (ÖAW). 

Emil under en kväll med amerikanskt

Upplägget på vårt whiskyprovande kopierade vi rakt av från Tisdagsklubben. Under ett par år av träffar provade vi oss igenom en stor mängd whisky, till en början främst standardutgåvor, men i takt med att vårt whiskyintresse utvecklades och personliga preferenser utkristalliserades ökade nörderiet och så småningom började vi prova mer spännande whisky. Vi skrev ner våra tasting notes på post it-lappar och jag minns att jag för varje provad whisky satte in mina lappar vid respektive destilleri i boken ”Bonniers stora bok om Whisky” (Michael Jackson). Mina tasting notes blev mer och mer detaljerade och väldigt fokuserade på just doft och smak och inte så mycket på bedömning i bemärkelsen att sätta betyg eller poäng.

Boken har jag fortfarande kvar, här uppslagen på Laphroaig :)

I bakhuvudet kom jag ihåg det starka intryck som Laphroaig CS hade gjort på mig, och på jakt efter samma upplevelse betade jag av dom Laphroaig som fanns på bolaget; 10:an, Quarter Cask och 15-åringen. Alla var såklart goda och jag blev mer och mer intresserad av Laphroaig, men jag fick inte riktigt samma känsla som jag fick den där gången i Tisdagsklubben. Då fick jag nys om Vintage 1989 17yo på 50,3% som skulle släppas för Feis Ile. 750kr kostade den vilket var den ditintill dyraste whisky jag köpt. Under en av våra träffar i ÖAW hade jag med mig 15-åringen och som en bonus och överraskning plockade jag fram och öppnade 1989:an. 

Calle och Samuel

Vilken känsla vi fick, vilken smak, och vilken otroligt fin stund det var! Efter ännu en Laphroaigiansk upplevelse av rang slog det fullständigt slint i mig och jag snöade totalt in på Laphroaig. Därefter köpte jag alla officiella standard och specialbuteljeringar jag hade råd med (bland annat Laphroaig 30yo som på den tiden fortfarande gick att inhandla på flygplats för ”bara” 2000kr!). Parallellt blev jag sugen på fler stilar av torvrökt whisky och i Michael Jacksons bok snubblade jag över den irländska whiskeyn Connemara. Även här blev det all in och 2009 startade jag FB-gruppen Connemara Clan.

Ett inköp som gav oss en extra trevlig träff!

Med start 2008 gjorde jag en handfull whiskyprovningar i egen regi (”privatprovningar”) för whiskyvänner och -nördar i min närhet, och 2011 kom jag in i whiskyns förlovade värld på allvar; jag blev tillfrågad om jag ville vara provningsledare och hålla i whiskyprovningar på The Bishop Arms i Örebro. Samma år arbetade jag min första whiskymässa i Örebro där jag tog hand om Connemara och resterande whiskey ur Cooleys portfölj åt Berntson Brands. Våren 2012 började jag arbeta som provningsledare på puben Red Brick i Karlskoga. När Connemara flyttades över till Edrington 2012 kontaktade jag dom med frågan om jag kunde få ta hand om Connemara och Laphroaig åt dom på mässor, och just så blev det. I den här vevan hade jag så smått börjat recensera whisky och postade några tasting notes på destilleriers FB-sidor. Jag började också dokumentera mina provningar, och dom mässor jag arbetade under, på min egen FB-sida. Till slut hade jag ganska många bollar i luften och jag kände att jag behövde någon sorts plattform för allt som hade med Samuel och Whisky att göra. Sagt och gjort, den 11:e oktober 2013 startade jag, på FB, min blogg SamuelWhisky, och dagen därpå postade jag det första originalinnehållet, en recension av anCnoc 35 yo.

Tobermory med sin härliga ton av mandelmassa

Swedish whisky from Smögen Distillery – Single Cask 57/2011 7yo 62,2% ABV!

Dear friends, followers and supporters alike, SamuelWhisky is back with yet another review, and this time it's a whisky from the ever exciting Swedish distillery Smögen! When working the Linköping Whiskyexpo a little more than two weeks ago, Pär Caldenby (the Distillery Manager/Master Distiller of Smögen Distillery) passed by the Edrington stand, upon which I asked if he had any upcoming products that he wanted me to review. To this he replied: "I brought our two upcoming single casks, so just pop by". Believe me, those words were music to my ears. 

Now, the one of these bottlings that I share my tasting notes of with you today is "Edition no.7 – Single Cask 57/2011". On the 2nd of december 2011 an ex Makers Mark (1st-fill) bourbon barrel was filled with (according to Pär himself) nearly 200 litres of heavily peated Smögen New Make and left to mature until it was bottled in january this year, hence making the whisky 7 years old. The whisky was bottled at natural cask strength of 62,2% ABV. The cask gave 327 bottles out of which 288 will be released through a so called web-release at the swedish state monopoly tomorrow (the 28th of february). Please view the product by clicking here. Ok, let's see what we've got!

Nose:

When I pour a dram from the sample, and it gets some time to breathe in the glass, peat, soft vanilla and overtones of citrus immidiately spreads throughout the room. Doing some initial nosing after five minutes of airing, my nose says ”the ABV is high”, and I discover evident but mellow notes of orange peel and cut up slices of ginger, but, most of all a beautiful deep peat. It’s a peatyness that says sweat-y leather, and there is definitely more peat than there is ”smoke”. Furthermore I detect melted butter at room temperature (reminiscent of the swedish cookies ”kola kakor”), a chocolate bar swishes by (very light milk chocolate), and in the far distance there is freshly manufactured and wonderfully soft vanilla fudge. Even deeper in the scent is something slightly reminding me of a combination of on the one hand arrack infused with juice from overripe pears and on the other hand a slight touch of baking yeast simmering in luke warm water. While writing all of this I can’t help but noticing how many times my brain has thought: ”The peat-yness really reminds me of the peat-yness in a young and in-your-face Laphroaig!”.

Taste:

Mmm! Instantly salty and peaty in a beautiful mix! There is something in the saltyness that makes me think both of salt liquorice (hard candy) and of something violet-esque… very yummie! The strength does not at all get as much attention on the taste as it did on the nose. It seems to me that the main development of flavours happens in the ”middle registre” or layer of the taste, very malty, very chewy, very more-ish but quite quickly moving on into peated almonds and hay (meaning farmyard). And would you look at that, the violet returns! But most of all does the mellow notes of orange peel return, but this time drawing more on old lemon peel actually. The early aftertaste has a little punch and bite to it that kind of says black pepper. My mouth goes medium dry but then the waters/saliva starts flowing on and on… something leather-y in combination with a sweet cigarillo calls for attention and rises to the roof of my mouth at the end of the aftertaste. 

Some reflections to sum up:

I wish that my skills to detect flavours on the taste were as good as my nosing skills. Or maybe in this dram the different characteristics of the nose is ”more developed” and mature than the characteristics of the taste? Pondering about this dilemma, I’d however say that this definitely is a very mature dram and at the same time I’d say that the taste of a bourbon matured Smögen might develope and become more complex with just a little more time in the cask. The future will show! Finally, as I mentioned this dram was very Laphroaig-y on the nose but on the taste it has more focus on the malty side of things. Anyways, soo very interesting to taste an, in the context, ”old” Smögen as this is; now it has reached such age that I actually don’t really think about the age anymore, and all in all everything starts to get very, very yummie! Well done Pär, well done indeed!

Finally, big thanks to Pär for the great opportunity to review this whisky before its release! For kind of weekly updates please make sure to follow my FB-page by clicking here, my instagram by clicking here, and my twitter-page by clicking here. Copyright © and All Rights Reserved on all tasting notes and text by SamuelWhisky and pictures and videos likewise belong to SamuelWhisky, unless stated. If you would like to use any such material that belongs to SamuelWhisky or associated with SamuelWhisky, please ask by sending me an email to samuelkarlssonorebro [at] gmail [dot] com and by stating the source. 

Pic belongs to Smögen Distillery

Elements of Islay – Lp9 [Laphroaig] 54,3% ABV!

Dear friends, followers, and supporters alike! When working this years Borlänge Beer and Whiskyfestival last weekend ("as usual" for Edrington Sweden), I was very happy that my good friend Tina Sundblom from Clydesdale came by and said: We brought the new Laphroaig from Elements of Islay, if you want to review it do pop by and sample it!. Well folks, that was something I really wanted to review so as you can imagine it did not take me very long to do just that. In fact, ever since I saw Clydesdale post the news on their FB-page that they would release this one here in Sweden very soon, my mouth has been watering just by looking at the color...

Tina also told me that they just now received three extra boxes or so of this one, so right now there should be around 20 or so bottles ready to order via the swedish state monopoly, and you can find it by clicking here. Ok, the whisky has been matured for 19 years (vintage 1998) in a Pedro Ximénez sherry butt, it has been bottled at 54,3% ABV (cask strength I assume), and the cask gave 714 50cl bottles. Ok, let's nose it!

Nose:

Really dark notes in this one folks! Ashy vanilla, mysterious old and lurking peat in the form of moist old leather and old boots intermingling with rawsugar and dark, dark, dark almond paste (”Who has ever heard of such a thing?!”). The peat kind of makes me think of decayed seaweed but at the same time there is some kind of pollen in there… and deep in the mix there are actually some preserved plums (perhaps even plums preserved in whisky?). Vere deep, very dark. Ok, a sip?

Taste:

Oh my g… wow, starts off on the old and mysterious peat, very ocean-y but still with elements of syrup made from rawsugar. Then comes a beauuutiful fruityness, not like the one on the nose but rather dark and big supermoist raisins, but, in liquid form! The whisky definitely feels very sluggish in my mouth; with medium dryness, the flavours develop slowly but beautifully, my mouth is filled with dark liquid honey with a peaty touch to it. As the ”alcohol-fumes” rise, I experience the flavours of leather, seaweed and ashes slowly rising in my mouth. The aftertaste is slow and long, the dark peat comes in waves together with oven-baked orange peel sprinkled with salt and seaweed, and what remains is the aftertaste of smoke from a fat peaty cigar… wow!

To sum up: Well folks, as you know I absolutely love Laphroaig, and this one is definitely not an exception! After 19 years in one PX Butt the whisky has become simply amazing and (for some reason) I did not expect it to be so ”alive”. At the core of everything (both the nose and the taste) is of course the old peat absolutely drenched in dark notes. If you’ve never tried old heavy Laphroaigs, you should really try this one, and hurry up! 

Big, big thanks to Tina and Clydesdale for the possibility to try this whisky! In order to receive kind of weekly updates, please make sure to follow my FB-page by clicking here, my instagram by clicking here and my twitter-page by clicking here. Copyright © and All Rights Reserved on all tasting notes and text by SamuelWhisky and pictures and videos likewise belong to SamuelWhisky, unless stated. If you would like to use any such material that belongs to SamuelWhisky or associated with SamuelWhisky, please ask by sending me an email to samuelkarlssonorebro [at] gmail [dot] com and by stating the source.

Picture borrowed from whisky.fr   

Whisky-honeymoon PART 1 – visiting Laphroaig Distillery!

Dear friends and followers alike! I’m back from my summer vacation and a little time off from blogging. As some of you might remember me and my wife got married last fall. But why am I telling you this? Because we started our summer vacation with a little honeymoon, a ten days trip to UK and Scotland that of course entailed some really nice whisky-related adventures which I’ll share with you in a three part picture-driven blog-post! Today I bring you PART 1 in which I’ll tell you about our visit to Laphroaig Distillery. In PART 2 I’ll tell you about our visit to Bowmore Distillery and PART 3 will be about my attendance at a Highland Park tasting during Rebusfest.  

As you all know by now, on the side of my regular job, I work the Swedish whisky festivals for Edrington, taking care of whiskies such as Laphroaig, Bowmore and Highland Park. (As you might remember I was very fortunate to visit Highland Park last summer, please read all about it here). So for our honeymoon I really wanted to get more in-depth knowledge and learn more about some of the distilleries that are in the Edrington portfolio and at the same time make a dream come true: to first and foremost visit Laphroaig and secondly to visit Bowmore. 

Laphroaig Cask Strength “Green Stripe” was the whisky that around 15 years ago opened my eyes (and nose, and taste buds) to the wonderful world of whisky and ever since then Laphroaig has been on my dream-distillery-to-visit-bucketlist for a looong time. And hey, while on Islay, why not visit Bowmore as well?!. So, since I for a number of times during the festivals here in Sweden have been very fortunate to work alongside my good friends and colleagues Vicky Stevens (the Visitor Centre Manager at Laphroaig) and Joakim Liljeqvist (the Swedish brand ambassador for Beam Suntory Single Malts) I contacted the both of them to hear if they could set up visits to Laphroaig and Bowmore. And they were both very, very helpful indeed.

My first visit to TWE

But before reaching the island of Islay we started our honeymoon in London. There I got the chance to visit The Whisky Exchange. The selection in the shop was great, and they had a number of core range Laphroaigs available 

Yummie!

After a couple of days of touristing, among many other things including a visit to the amazing Warner Bros. Harry Potter Studio Tour, we went from London to Glasgow by train, a four and a half hour trip which definitely was a great way to experience the scenery

The great scenery starts to appear when entering Scotland

After having a nice evening dinner in Glasgow I did some emailing with Vicky to settle some of the final details of the visit to Islay. Later that evening, out of the blue, I suddenly got a message from Martin Markvardsen (Senior Brand Ambassador at Highland Park)!

It turned out that Martin accidentally was in Glasgow due to some travel-trouble. A couple of minutes later I noticed that I also had received an email from Vicky saying: “I’m in the Pot Still Bar with Martin Markvardsen if you want to join“. So, it turned out she was incidentally also in Glasgow, what an unexpected but extremely pleasant coincidence! Of course me and my wife headed to the bar to meet them, it was also very nice to introduce my wife to my colleagues and vice versa, and we were happy to join them for a couple of beers and some whisky. 

From the left: SamuelWhisky, Martin, Vicky, my wife Sophie :)

The next day we rented a car and drove the two and a half hour drive from Glasgow to Kennacraig. From there we took the ferry to Port Askaig 

and from there we had a ten minute drive to Kilmeny and the BnB. The BnB was absolutely beautiful 

The view from the window in our room! So beautiful

There was even a small dram of Laphroaig waiting for us

A great welcoming gesture

In the early evening we drove in to Bowmore to have dinner. We stopped by at Bowmore Distillery just to have a quick look at the surroundings

Then we had dinner at Bowmore Hotel, the food was simply great and the bar was amazing

The dram I choose to accompany the dessert was a hand-filled Single PX Cask Bowmore 

OMG!

Visiting Laphroaig Distillery

The next day was set for a visit to Laphroaig! Before leaving we enjoyed a great breakfast 

We arrived at the distillery around 9.30 and met up with Vicky. After a quick chat it turned out that she had arranged for us to take the very thorough “Distillers Wares Tour” together with a small group of other visitors. We were guided by Craig, a great and knowledgeable guide who answered all of my questions and was very generous with time for photos. The tour started in one of the two malting floors

Floor no.1

Floor no.2

Craig told us that, on site, they malt and peat/smoke 20% of the barley used (the rest comes from Port Ellen Maltings/PEM). Their own barley used on site comes from the eastern parts of Scotland and is of the type Concerto 

Craig explained to us that the barley is first soaked with water, on three separate occasions (together lasting for 51 hours). After soaking it is spread out on the malting floors where it, depending on time of year and temperature, germinates for around six days. The malted barley is turned every fourth hour 24/7. 

Before moving on to the Peat kilns, Craig opened the door to the floor (or maybe “roof”) above the kilns, what a beautiful sight!

Now that is some serious peat smoke!

We then moved on to one of the two Peat kilns. According to Craig the peat they use is handcut. He also mentions that Laphroaig is the only distillery on Islay to handcut their peat. Between April and September they cut around 200-250 tons of peat. 

#opinionswelcome

Peat waiting to be used in Kiln no.1

The peat is then left to air-dry for three months before being used in the kilns. The two kilns are not used simultaneously but rather one kiln at the time (every other day).  

Kiln no.2 resting before going in to use the next day

According to Craig the barley is peated/smoked for 15 hours. (In the book 200 years of Laphroaig by van Gils & Offringa it is however stated on one occasion that the peating goes on for 17 hours and on another occasion that it goes on for 14-16 hours, so lets stay safe and say that it goes on for between 14-17 hours). 

A very easy speaking fire where the ideal is to develop smoke rather than heat  

While visiting the Kiln I was very lucky to be allowed to throw some peat in the Kiln, yay!

Craig tells us that when the peating/smoking is done the peated barley is air-dried for 10 hours. (17-20 hours according to van Gils & Offringa). 

Craig also tells us that the ppm they aim for in the part that they peat/smoke on site at the distillery is minimum 50ppm. (In this interview, Laphroaigs master distiller/distillery manager John Campbell, says that the part they peat/smoke at the distillery ends up at around 60ppm. In the book by van Gils & Offringa, Laphroaigs Maltman Arthur Holyoake states that the barely they peat/smoke at the distillery holds 35-65ppm). 

Craig also tells us that when their own part is mixed/put together with the part that comes from PEM (35-45ppm) it ends up at 50ppm. This seems reasonable considering that their own part occasionally is/can be as low as 35ppm but (let us assume) most of the time is at a minimum of 50ppm and at a maximum of 65ppm.

Anyways, we then moved on to the room with the Lauter/Mash tun and the six stainless steel wahsbacks/”fermenting vessels”. 

SamuelWhisky at the Lauter/Mash tun

SamuelWhisky at Washback no.6

Each washback contains 52800 litres. The yeast (Mauri) that is being used at Laphroaig is of a liquid kind. They end up with a wash-beer holding 8-8,5% ABV. 

We then moved on to the Stillhouse

The seven stills at Laphroaig

OMG what wonderful scents we smelled in there. The Stillhouse holds seven stills; four spirit-stills and three wash-stills. 

The big spirit-still/no.1 (behind me) holds 9400 litres, and the smaller spirit-stills (no.2-4) holds 4700 litres each

The wash-stills (no.5-7) holds 10400 litres each.

The Low-wine/wash comes out of the stills holding 22-25% ABV. We were very lucky to stick a finger into the flowing wash to taste it and it was sooo mellow but at the same time so incredibly peaty! The "foreshot" is 72% ABV. The "heart" comes out of the spirit-stills ranging from 60-70% ABV (although 70-60% ABV should be a more accurate way to put it).  The new make ends up at  68% ABV. 

We then moved on to the absolutely best part of the “Distillers Wares Tour”, the tasting in Warehouse no.1. Can you imagine that it's been standing there since 1937?! First we got to taste three different casks 

"Heaven, I'm in heaven..."

Then we were allowed to draw a sample straight from our very favourite bourbon cask and bottle it in a 25cl bottle. My wife chose to sample and bottle from cask no.3797 (14yo), and I chose to sample cask no.1626 (13yo) 

take...

it...

slow...

so...

that...

you...

do...

not...

spill...

Bottling my "sample"

Absolutely...

every...

drop...

counts! No filtration at all :)

We then entered our details in the big book and the tour came to an end 

But of course we were not done yet. We took some more pictures

Overlooking the distillery

SamuelWhisky at the great wall!

After that we popped into the Visitor Centre to put on... 

a pair of Wellingtons!

printed the map/certificate to find my plot and…

YAY, put my flag on my plot!

Just a little photo-shoot at the entrance

And then I finally got my certificate stamped and collected my rent

After that I bought one bottle of this years Cairdeas, a Laphroaig-jacket, the FOL-tartanscarf, the book by van Gils & Offringa (signed by John Campbell), some nice jacket-pins and finally had a sit down in the friends lounge

Finally, on the way out of the distillery grounds we did a quick stop at the filling store

This is where the new make, after being diluted with water, is filled into cask at a strength of 63,5% ABV.

As you all understand it was simply amazing to pay Laphroaig Distillery a visit, both since it’s one of my absolute favourite whiskies and since I know am “a bit” more knowledgeable about the production process. Something that will definitely come in handy when working the upcoming festivals for Edrington ☺ So, the biggest thanks of all to both Vicky and Joakim who made it all possible, Sláinte! 

Please do pay my blog a visit in a couple of days to read PART 2 in which I’ll tell you about our visit to Bowmore Distillery!

Please make sure to follow my FB-page by clicking here, my instagram by clicking here and my twitter-page by clicking here. Copyright © and All Rights Reserved on all tasting notes and text by SamuelWhisky and pictures likewise belong to SamuelWhisky, unless stated. If you would like to use any such material that belongs to SamuelWhisky or associated with SamuelWhisky, please ask by sending me an email to samuelkarlssonorebro[at]gmail.com