The Singleton: Game of Thrones Edition

Leading up to the final season of the mega-hit HBO series Game of Thrones, spirits conglomerate Diageo released a set of 8 single mats paired with a House of Westeros and the Night Watch. A few of the scotches have age statements but most do not. The Singleton is a scotch not regularly seen in the US, which is why we snatched this up while in an airport duty free shop. Made from the Glendullan distillery, which was founded in 1897, it draws its water from the famed Fiddich river. The pairing with House Tully seems proper, as the emblematic fish is shared both both the House in the books and the Singleton in real life.

Blesséd Heresy: Scotch Lovers in Dublin

At the beginning of August 2019, some of Scotchology went to Dublin for ten days. The following is a collection of notes and pictures of all the distilleries (and one iconic brewery) found around Dublin we visited, plus a bonus, broken out by location. There were only four operating distilleries as recently as a decade ago, but as of June 2019 there are 25 operating distilleries, with several more planned. In fact, all the distilleries in this post are new since Dublin had not contained an operating distillery in 125 years until Teeling opened their site in 2015.

Glenrothes Sherry Cask Reserve

The Glenrothes distillery is guided by what it calls its four corners: Water, Slow Distillation, Sherry Seasoned Casks, and Natural Color. The distillery also relaunched its brand recently, doing away with the previous method of categorizing its line and returning age statements. This is a refreshing choice given how many brands are going in the opposite direction. While the current line is mostly age statements, however, the Glenrothes Sherry Cask Reserve is from before the relaunch and, as the name would indicate, entirely aged in ex-sherry casks. It first appeared in 2014. We bought the bottle some time before this review went live, so what was once an easy introduction to a sherried single malt is now about a discontinued offering.