When whisky bard Robin Laing asked the audience “How many of you have Bruichladdich as their favorite distillery?”, several hands went up – including his own. And indeed, whether you are a die-hard fan or an occasional sipper, one thing you can hardly deny: The legendary Islay unit (more…)
After two crazy years, the world is slowly but steadily getting back to normal. For us drammers, this also means that many of our favorite events are finally making a much-anticipated return. One such happening, which I am especially glad to see back at its old strength, (more…)
One after another, my favorite whisky fairs are now reawakening from their pandemic-caused hiatus. At the end of 2021, I already had the pleasure of visiting Bottle Market in Bremen and Bordershop Whisky & Ron Festival in Puttgarden again. And this month I got to return to (more…)
Usually, the topics I tackle here on BarleyMania are fun and light-hearted. Not so today. Cause as I type, a war is raging in Europe. Ever since the first shots were fired on 24 February 2022, the sovereign state of Ukraine has been under heavy attack from Russian armed forces. (more…)
Get your pens ready and mark the date, drammers: Bottle Market is back! After last year’s break due to the Corona pandemic, the three-day whisky and spirits festival will take place again this year! The date is 19 to 21 November 2021 and the location is Hall 7 at Messe Bremen. (more…)
Finally: another whisky fair! Earlier this month, the prestigious Alsterhaus in Hamburg held its annual Whisky Weeks again. Whereas the multi-day festival was quite the event in the past, it only happened in a very reduced form in 2020 due to the unsteady corona situation. (more…)
For Iain Croucher, the founder and mainman of Scottish indie bottler North Star Spirits, whisky is a pretty simple thing. At the end of the day, he claims, a good bottling must only meet four criteria: It must be honest. It must be fun. It must be tasty. And it must be opened and shared. (more…)
The recent “Whisky Discovery” tasting by Douglas Laing marked a novelty in the company’s 70-plus-year history: This was the first time that the Glasgow-based malt mavens gave their fans the chance to taste a new selection of drams exclusively before the official release. (more…)
Ever since they first heated up their Forsyths stills in 2016, the good people of Germany’s biggest whisky distillery St. Kilian have known but one direction: upwards! The first five years of production were like a rocket ride for them. During that time, they have established St. Kilian (more…)
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