Why I Will Start Rating Whisky

It's been a long time since I last published a post on this blog but now I'm back and there will be some changes. Over the course of the last few months I was thinking a lot about the state of whisky today and also the state of whisky blogging and there are a few things that are bothering me to a certain extent. Now note that this will not be a rant on what is wrong with whisky nowadays but there are a few points that I would like to address.

Before I start explaining you what is bothering me in the current world of whisky and especially blogging I will have to explain to you what why 2016 was an amazing year for me from a whisky point of view. It all started in January of 2016 when I discovered a Swiss online forum for whisky where likeminded people can discuss make bottle shares and chat over their shared interest which is of course the water of life. I immediately registered and like it is custom in said forum I opened a thread to say hello to everyone and to introduce myself. As a result I got a lot of reactions from people who introduced themselves to me and welcomed me to the forum. One of them even went to visit me in the whisky shop around a week afterwards which was really cool. Through the whiskyforum I learnt that a lot of those people regularly attend a tasting that takes place every 2 months. I then decided to attend this tasting too to get to know more people from the forum (and of course also because I love to go to whisky tastings).

Whisky Meets Wine Masterclass

Last saturday I had the pleasure to attend masterclass with the name "Whisky meets wine" at the whisky ships in Lucerne. The evening was hosted by Marcel Telser who is the owner of a whisky distillery in Liechtenstein, a tiny country next to Switzerland, and Jürgen Deibel who is an expert for spirits and a 40 years veteran in the whisky industry. Some of you may already know Jürgen Deibel because he was co author of one of the if not the single best book about the water of life - Michael Jackson: Whisky. Since I own a copy of this book I was quite excited to meet the man who wrote the chapter about distillation.

After travelling to Lucerne with my buddy Pascal we went to the whisky ships first and enjoyed a few drams. We went for some grain whisky because we wanted something light so we wouldn't overwork our palate. After an hour or so we went to the ship where the masterclass took place. It was all set up very beautifully. There was a total of 12 glasses at each place. 8 drams of whisky and 4 glasses of either sherry or wine.

Busy Whisky Week Ahead

This week is gonna be quite a whisky fueled one. Tomorrow I will travel from Zurich to Basel where I will meet up with a friend. We will then go to a whisky tasting where you can try whatever you want out of 50 different whiskies from all over the world. The after I will go back to my beloved Zurich (people from Zurich and Basel usually don't like each other) where I will work in the whisky shop. Just a day later me and one of my highschool mates will make the trip to Lucerne where we will go to the whisky ships. This is one of the biggest whisky events in Switzerland. We will attend a masterclass with the topic 'whisky meets wine' hosted by one of the greatest german speaking whisky experts, Jürgen Deibel. I am really looking forward to this and I am already very excited.
Next thursday will be another special whisky day but you will have to wait a little bit until I will break the news.
I hope you all have great whisky plans too and as always enjoy responsibly.
Slàinte mhath, U

Whisky Rev-U 2 Bruichladdich Rocks

Hi Malt Mates. I hope you are all fine. It’s been quite a while since I last posted a whisky review so I thought now would be the right time to publish my second Rev-U. The malt that I’m going to present is the Bruichladdich Rocks.

Bruichladdich is a malt distillery on the Isle of Islay. It was founded in 1881 and was shut down twice: From 1929-1937 and from 1994-2000. In the year 2000 the distillery was bought for 7’500’000 £ by a Group of Investors led by Mark Reynier who successfully brought in Jim McEwan as head distiller. McEwan is a legend in the whisky industry and has previously worked as master distiller at the Bowmore distillery. In 2012 Bruichladdich was sold to Rémy Cointreau for 58’000’000 £. Generally speaking I really like what Bruichladdich is doing. It is a progressive distillery that focuses on using local resources, and giving the consumer a little bit extra. All their whiskies are natural colour and unchillfiltered.

The name “Rocks” is inspired by the fact that the water which is used by the distillery has filtered up through “the oldest rocks in the whisky world – the curious 1.8 billion-year-old geology of the Rhinns of Islay”

The whisky has no age statement and is bottled at 46% ABV. It has been matured in bourbon casks and finished in Grenache wine casks.

This has been one of the first bottles of whisky that I possessed. I got it as a gift for my 19^th birthday by my high school buddies. As I am writing this article I am enjoying the very last sips of this malt so thanks a lot to Rafi, Largey, Päsce, Vali and Simone if you are reading this J

Exams Over! Let The Dramming Begin!

Dear Malt Mates

Sorry that it was so quiet on this blog recently. I had to write exams and didn't have much time to enjoy whisky or write about it. Now that I'm finally through expect me to be more active from now on. I got some whisky lined up and I want to share my thoughts with you and I have already some events in mind which I'm intending to attend.
In the near future I also want to start a series of articles called "How I Got Hooked" in which I want to present the story of fellow whisky freaks and how they got into enjoying the water of life. I hope the different stories can show people that when it comes to whisky and starting to enjoy it there is not a certain blueprint. Some people try one certain dram and immediately fall in love just like it happened to me. Other people may not have such a moment but develop their love for whisky over a longer time. This series should encourage people to try whisky even if there can be some setbacks sometimes.
If you have an interesting story how you got hooked to whisky and you want to share it with fellow readers of this blog you can contact me anytime by writing an e-mail here.

Now please excuse me as I have a lot of whisky waiting to be reviewed, a lot of articles waiting to being written and also some tastings to be attended.

Slàinte everyone

U

Whisky Rev-U 1 Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Years Old

Hi Malt Mates Today I post my very first official whisky review. 

The whisky that I’m going to taste is the Balvenie DoubleWood which is aged for 12 years. Before I get started I want to write a couple of words about the distillery. Balvenie is a Speyside distillery that is located just outside Dufftown. It was founded in 1892 by William J. Grant who is also the founder of the Glenfiddich Distillery. The two distilleries are actually located on the same site and are still owned by William Grant & Son. You can check out their website here

The whisky is bottled at the legal minimum of 40% ABV and is most likely coloured and chillfiltered. As the name tells us it is matured in two different kinds of casks.

My Whisky Adventure So Far

Dear malt mates

I hope you have all had a good start into the New Year. In the last two weeks I had plenty to celebrate. First I finished my bachelor thesis and handed it in. 3 Days later was my 22^nd birthday and the day after we celebrated Christmas Eve and a week later New Year’s Eve. As you may already have expected this was a whisky loaded few days for me. I hope you have all had some nice drinks over this time and that there maybe were a few interesting bottles under the tree for Christmas.
As had to go to the library again today to study for my exams it got really boring so I thought it was about time to write a new blogpost. Being the egocentric prick that I am I couldn’t think of a better topic to write about than myself. Therefore I will tell you my whisky adventure so far.
As you may already know I started to drink whisky shortly after my 18^th birthday. I’ve already stated in the last post that first me and my mates only drank some cheap blends on Ice to look though rather than because we genuinely enjoyed it. After my first taste of a Glenfiddich 12 years old I got more into it and after the first few sips of a Lagavulin 16 years old I got very serious about all things whisky.

I enjoyed the rest of the Lagavulin that me and my friends had left in the weeks after but I didn’t really know a lot about Scotch or whisky in general and I started to read a lot about the topic. I read blogs and watched video tastings and the more I got to know whisky the more I got curious.

A New Blog Is Born

Hello Dear Malt Mates

My name is Julian and I'm a 22 year old history student from Zurich, Switzerland. First of all I would like to explain the name of this blog. The name Julian is in German pronounced as Yulian and my nickname is Ju (speak Yu) or - as my girlfriend started writing it - U, hence the name Whisky-U.

I started drinking whisky at the age of 18. Back then me and my friends just drank Ballantines on the rocks when we were at bars to look tough.