Knappogue Castle 12 Year
This Irish distillery has an interesting story. A derelict castle was bought by Mark Edwin Andrews, former Assistant Secretary of the United States Navy, and his wife Lavonne in 1966. The Andrews collected whiskey from the Daly Distillery and eventually brought to market. While the castle was repurchased by Ireland in 1996, the castle’s namesake whiskey is still produced today by a company run by Andrews’ son. The Knappogue Castle 12 Year is the youngest of a line featuring several age statements.
Why would you drink fire?
Musings are going to be a new thing here at Scotchology. Sometimes we’ll have thoughts and experiences we’ll want to share that can’t easily be encapsulated into a whisky review. Such posts will give us space to explore in greater depth, even if they appear only a few times a year. The website will still focus primarily on our alcohol assessments, but we’ll also share some morsels like this where we step back and look at the forest for a moment instead of the trees. This initial Musing will address the important question of, well, how do you approach Scotch if you’re completely inexperienced?
Penderyn Madeira
Wales has a long history of distilled beverages, but Penderyn is the country’s only current distillery. Founded in 2004, the distillery lays nestled in the Breacon Beacons and produces the world’s only Welsh single malt. One of the world’s smallest distilleries, Penderyn’s signature single malt, the Madeira won gold medals at the 2012 and 2013 International Whisky Competition. Can this new whisky on the block live up to the legends imbued in the history of the landscape?