40% alc./vol.
45.8% alc./vol.
Producer: Talisker Distillery
Bottled at a traditional Talisker strength of 45.8% without an age statement, Talisker Storm is blended from whiskies aged in rejuvenated and refilled bourbon casks at different ages. Released in February 2013, in terms of price it is positioned between Talisker 10-year-old and Talisker Distiller's Edition.
Appearance: Clear, mid golden.
Aroma: Salty leathery cigar box - think new car interior at the seaside and the driver's just struck a match to light one of those cigars. Its smoke also features. There's also cracked black pepper and a salty butter note but I'll spare you the analogy.
Taste: Classic Talisker sea salt and cracked black pepper with wafts of smoke. Bold favours yet with subtle complexity, sweetness and rounding fruity leather notes. I'd go easy with the water which calms the spice and reveals more vegetal notes from the peat.
Aftertaste: Leathery notes fade quickly to leave lingering peaty spice.
diffordsguide rating: 4/5
46% alc./vol.
Producer: Tomatin Distillery
Released in 2006, Tomatin 18-Year-Old is aged in American oak refill ex-bourbon casks before being blended and then finished for eight months in European oak butts seasoned with Oloroso sherry. Bottled without chill-filtration.
Appearance: Clear, deep golden amber with burnished gold highlights.
Aroma: Linseed oil, toasted malt, vanilla and honey. Water releases pungent orchard fruit (apples and pears), lemon zest and wafts of smoke.
Taste: Full bodied, voluptuous and generous. Citrus, cut grass and green apple skin sit over and freshen a bed of orchard fruit, sultana and bready malt with dark chocolate, vanilla fudge, dark honey and lightly clove spiced oak tannins. Wafts of smoke add further complexity.
Aftertaste: Long, clove spiced oak tannins, cacao and sherry with refreshing black pepper bite.
diffordsguide rating: 5/5
BUY: Great value at just £49.25 (£41.04 ex. VAT) BUY HERE
46% alc./vol.
Producer: Glencadam Distillery
Released in 2008, the second ever official bottling released by the distillery, and aged a minimum of 10 years in American oak ex-bourbon casks. Bottled without chill filtration or added colouring.
Appearance: Clear, pale straw gold.
Aroma: Delicate, fresh hay, bread dough, nutty balsawood and graceful yellow grapefruit. Water releases light salty herbal oak and very faint overripe/tinned peach.
Taste: Light, elegant and slightly sweet, barley rich doughy bread with a creamy mouthfeel and delicate spicy oak. Go easy with the water, the strength adds to the balance and complexity.
Aftertaste: Sweet malted barley with lingering buttery lightly spiced oak. One for those seeking an unchallenging, light, sweet malt.
diffordsguide rating: 4.5/5
46% alc./vol.
Producer: Glencadam Distillery
Released in 2005 as the first official distillery bottling, Glencadam 15-Year-Old is aged in American oak ex-bourbon casks.
Appearance: Clear, pale gold.
Aroma: Fragrant fresh creamy barley with complex and delicate fruity aromas: stewed pear and green apple skin with sweet-scented overripe peach.
Taste: Medium bodied, grassy creamy fruit with light nutty notes and a wack of spicy oak. Judicious watering is key to appreciating this barley rich malt at its best.
Aftertaste: Citrus emerges in the lightly spiced, creamy barley finish.
diffordsguide rating: 4.5/5
43% alc./vol.
Producer: Dalwhinnie Distillery
Part of Diageo's Classic Malt range, the name Dalwhinnie is a corruption of the Gaelic word 'Dail-chuninnidh' meaning 'meeting place'. Built in 1897, at an altitude of 1,073 feet, the distillery is the second highest in Scotland. However, the whisky is aged off-site predominantly in refill American oak ex-bourbon casks.
Appearance: Clear pale golden.
Aroma: Freshly baked bread with a slightly burnt crust, leather and faint peat. Water releases orchard fruits, creamy vanilla and subtle cinnamon spice.
Taste: Ultra-mellow barley water with a gradual build to an elegant, flavoursome, light to medium bodied palate with vanilla, dried apricot, orange marmalade, light toasty notes and faint peat smoke.
Aftertaste: Long dry malty finish fades with walnut lightly smoked buttery digestive biscuits. Mellow with sweet barley water throughout. A faultless and satisfying beginner's malt.
diffordsguide rating: 5/5
40% alc./vol.
Producer: Sacred Spirits
Reduced pressure (vacuum) distiller Ian Hart worked with the art gallery's own cocktail aficionado, Alex Stevenson, to produce this special edition Tate London Dry Gin. This has a high proportion of cardamom, angelica and liquorice. Each batch is limited to just 250 individually numbered bottles.
Appearance: (batch a, bottle No. 137 of 250) Crystal clear.
Aroma: Pungent freshly crushed cardamom seeds dominate delicate nutty damp wood and eucalyptus.
Taste: Fabulously crisp, clean and fresh with more cardamom, black pepper spice and eucalyptus/pine juniper fighting for attention.
Aftertaste: Palate cleansing fresh breath finish with lingering cardamom, black pepper and juniper. This may technically be a 'London Dry Gin' but its flavour profile is far from what the term classically suggests.
diffordsguide rating: 4/5
27% alc./vol.
Producer: Ambrosio Velasco SA
Pronounced 'Thock-O' and first sold in 1956, Zoco is the oldest and leading brand of Pacharán, a Spanish liqueur made by macerating sloe berries collected from the blackthorn, in an anise-flavoured spirit (anisette). Zoco was founded by the family of Ambrosio Velasco who had been producing patxaran in the Viana area since 1816. Marketed in a distinctive square bottle.
Appearance: Clear, coppery amber with bronze highlights.
Aroma: Stewed prunes, aniseed and cold breakfast tea.
Taste: Lightly syrupy and honeyed with sloe berries, ripe cherry and stewed prunes with anise freshness.
Aftertaste: Ripe plums and aniseed with cracked black pepper and hints of chocolate.
diffordsguide rating: 4/5
20% alc./vol.
Producer: Suntory, Japan
Zen is made in Japan by Suntory using high grade Kyoto green tea leaves grown by one of the most famous producers of fine teas in Japan, Marukyu-Koyama-En, which has been cultivating tea for more than 300 years.
Suntory infuses whole and ground green tea leaves with neutral spirits, then blends the infusion with lemongrass, other herbs and natural flavourings to produce this distinctive green-coloured liqueur.
Appearance: Clear, dark yellowy green.
Aroma: Earthy green tea with subtle minty freshness and notes of oily Plasticine.
Taste: This liqueur looks and tastes natural with a good balance between sweetness and the bitter tannins of the tea, the flavours of which mingles well with subtle hints of lemon grass and fragrant honeydew melon.
Aftertaste: Tea flavours fade quickly to leave lingering earthy mint.
diffordsguide rating: 4/5
56% alc./vol.
Producer: Anton Riemerschmid Weinbrennerei und Likörfabrik
The company that produces Escorial liqueur was established in 1835 by Anton Riemerschmid and this centennial bottling celebrates 100 years of production. ("Seit 100 Jahren" literally translates from German as 'since 100 years'.)
Escorial is a herbal liqueur comparable to the likes of green Chartreuse and is made by blending a number of herb and spice distillates. Until the 1960s, Ur-Escorial, a yellow version of the liqueur with 43% alc./vol., was also available but demand for high-percentage liqueurs led to the yellow being replaced by this 56% green version.
Appearance: Clear, light baize green.
Aroma: Pungently herbal with spearmint, juniper and génépi.
Taste: Cleansing, whilst warming herbal palate with powerful alcohol, génépi and mint. Cardamom, nutmeg, liquorice, aniseed and earthy herbal notes.
Aftertaste: Cleansing, slightly sweet, minty, liquorice. Escorial looks, smells and tastes reminiscent of mouthwash but offers incredible herbal complexity.
diffordsguide rating: 3.5/5
35% alc./vol.
Producer: Mast-Jägermeister
Jägermeister is a German bitter-sweet liqueur made from 56 varieties of herbs, fruits and spices, macerated in spirit for up to six weeks and matured in oak before blending. Although established in 1878, Mast-Jägermeister did not produce this drink until 1935. Pronounced 'Yay-Ger-My-Stir', the name means 'master of the hunt'. The logo has a deer with a cross between its antlers, recalling a vision in the life of St Hubert, the patron saint of hunters.
Appearance: Clear, reddish-brown with burgundy highlights.
Aroma: Pungent, resembling cough medicine, with cherry and stewed fruit, chocolate, cola cube sweets, liquorice and floral blossom.
Taste: Full-on, but a depth of flavour that includes: liquorice, dark chocolate, prunes poached in syrup, damsons, sloes, lemon zest, cinnamon, ginger, aniseed. and dried mint leaves. Syrupy sweetness is balanced by spice and peppery spirit attack.
Aftertaste: Liquorice, cola, chocolate and cracked black pepper spice.
diffordsguide rating: 4/5
