Scotch

An exclusive Evening with The Glendronach and Benriach in Hamburg (Event)

The Glendronach & Benriach Road Show with Whisky Maker Dr. Rachel Barrie in Hamburg (BarleyMania Blog)

Starting in the early 1990s, Dr. Rachel Barrie’s whisky journey is long, colorful, and successful. Over the years, the acclaimed whisky maker has worked with some of the Scotch industry’s biggest players, creating malts for such well-known distilleries (more…)

Caol Ila 11yo “53.482 – Spellbound” by The SMWS (Review)

Caol Ila 11yo "Spellbound!" with Sherry Finish by The SMWS (Single Malt Islay Scotch Whisky Tasting Notes BarleyMania)

In the summer of 2023, my pal and namesake Tobi formed a heavy metal band called Alatar together with my twin-brother Flo. The first song they ever did together was a catchy old-school banger called “Spellbound”, which instantly pun intended put me under its spell. (more…)

Laphroaig Cairdeas 2022 – Warehouse 1 (Review)

Laphroaig Cairdeas 2022 at BarleyMania Whisky & Whiskey Blog

To celebrate friendship and togetherness within its global community, peaty giant Laphroaig releases a new Cairdeas bottling every year. The limited edition whiskies always go up for purchase on “Laphroaig Day”, i.e. the day of the annual Feis Ile festival (more…)

Big Peat 26yo – The Platinum Edition (Review)

Big Peat 26yo Platinum, by Douglas Laing & Remarkable Malts (Single Malt Islay Scotch Whisky Ardbeg Bowmore Port Ellen)

What is the difference between American rock’n’roll legends KISS and Islay-born geezer Big Peat? There is more smoke in a bottle of the latter than there is in an entire stage show of the former. Also, the band went platinum on account of their record sales (more…)

Bunnahabhain Moine 6yo by Wiljalba (Review)

Bunnahabhain Moine 6yo bottled by Signatory for Wiljalba (Single Malt Islay Scotch Whisky Heavily Peated)

My pal David from Berlin not only co-runs the Whisky & Vinyl blog, but also writes and records music under his alias Wiljalba. For the release of his latest album “Lost Valley” he came up with something special: he paired his CD and LP with a limited edition whisky (more…)