Top drams of 2017

Now that’s 2017 is officially over, let’s take a few minutes and remember the top drams of 2017. These are not the BEST whiskies in any category, just a few whiskies that I think deserve an honorary mention for being very good, ultra interesting or a real Value for money. I shall split the choices to three price ranges, and pick one item i fancied this year.  since one can not compare apples and oranges, and what I expect from a 250 EUR whisky is hardly what I expect from a 50 EUR whisky. This is not the “best of 2017” by any means, not my best, but just some drams I especially liked.

 

Affordable whiskies

The Whisky Exchange Black friday 16 yo speyside single cask 

At 60 bucks or so, this year’s Black Friday edition by TWE , was one of the most appealing whiskies released. a 16 yo single cask from Glenfarclas A family owned Speyside distillery , selling for this price in 2017 is something we rarely see, and no wonder this one sold out in 10 minutes or so (at 6:00 am UK time). I know this was quite a limited edition, and only a few 100’s of people managed to get hold of a bottle. but you can still get some on the secondary market at auction sites (for example: SWA)  sometime it pays off to wake up early 😉 (no worries, I am not selling any of mine).

 

Mid Price

Compass Box ‘No Name’ 

Compass box have been making awesome whiskies for quite some time now, and this year they released two intriguing whiskies : the No name, and the Phenomenology. This one is their peatiest yet, and is an excellent blended malt featuring a lot of older Ardbeg (75.5% Ardbeg) ,  6% Caol Ila and 13.4 % Clynelish, and a bit of highland blend. Islay and some Lovely Clynelish, can this go wrong? It’s a delicious whisky, NAS (but you can get info from CB if you email them, which I did, but I can not reveal the information per their request). at €115 it’s not a bad deal if you’re into some aged Ardbeg (beyond 10).

 

High End

Craigellachie 31 years old

An exquisite example of a well aged Craigellachie at Cask strength, something you don’t see everyday. I loved the younger Craigellachies,but this one blew my mind. It was so complex, so excellent and left quite a mark , at least, that’s my opinion. Some are available on auction (currently at above 500 quid, but will closer much higher). Excellent stuff anyways.

 

Thank you all for reading , commenting and loving Whisky Israel this year, may 2018 be even better .

Slainte, all!

 

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