Whisky Tasting with The Barrel Hunter

20:30
May 14, 2023

We got at invite from our friend Francesco to come to one of his Barrel Hunter tastings, that he was hosting at Bacco in Edinburgh.

If you are looking for tastings of a really interesting selection of whiskies then do check out The Barrel Hunter and see what their upcoming tastings might be. The one we attended had whiskies from Francescos personal collection that he had found on auction or other places and I think I had only previously tried one of the whiskies in the line up before. We also tried all the whiskies blindly before finding out after each and every one what they were which I think is quite fun!

Line Up

It really was a mix of bottles in this line up and it was so interesting to try them all, but also to try them again at the end when we’d made our way through the entire selection to see how they’d changed.

Old bottling of Tomatin 12 Year Old

This old bottling of Tomatin 12 was distilled in 1994 and bottled 2006. It was really sweet on the first approach and reminded me of an oilier Tomatin Legacy. However when we tried it again after all the others I couldn’t get over a really funky character of seaweed that’s roasting in really hot sun which probably is due to the fact that it is so old and has gotten a bit corked. But so interesting to try whiskies like these!

Thomson Bros SRV5 8 Year Old

This is a bottling from Thomson Bros which is like an infinity blended malt from a vat which will never be empty, similar to a solera system. I have tried a version of this before and have been really impressed by the flavours they’ve managed to achieve. I got lots of orchards fruits and some spices like cloves from this one.

SMWS 113.43 Thumbs Up

This is a 23 Year Old distilled in 1997 from Braeval. I haven’t tried much whisky from Braeval before but really enjoyed this one. Just like the Thomson bros blend this has loads of orchard fruits and also dunnage warehouse on the nose. On the palate those character persisted with the addition of Haribo peaches! This was my favourite out of today’s line up – really tasty!

Tamdhu 8 Year Old Single Cask #5 (bottled for Bramble Whisky Co)

This single cask Tamdhu has been matured in a oloroso hogshead and was distilled in 2004 before being bottled in 2022. It is bottled by Bramble Whisky Co and sits at 51% abv. It’s just like a nice shirred Tamdhu – and I think a lot of people would love this one. Some orange peels, dried fruits and sherried goodness.

Glenallachie 4 Year Old Future Edition (Billy Walker 50th Anniversary)

This was a really interesting one as I’ve not even heard of a peated Glenallachie before. A nice smoke, which was quite soft and balanced with he fruitiness of the Glenallachie spirit. Since it’s called the future edition I wonder how much peated spirit we’ll see from Glenallachie in the future.

Berry Bros & Rudd Williamson 2015 (bottled 2023)

Last but not least we had a Williamson (Independently bottled Laphroaig, named after Bessie Williamson) which I believe is a Royal Mile Whiskies exclusive. It had that signature Laphroaig character with lots of smoke but also some fruits and spices which made it really enjoyable.