05/01/2023

Chapter 4

My first Whisky bar: the Devil's Advocate

Having a good Whisky bar around it’s fundamental on your whisky journey…if not, well: there’s drampath!

Down the advocate’s clause

The night after visiting Deanston Distillery, we had a quick bite in a local pub. Then we head straight to our first Whisky bar: the devil’s advocate in Edinburgh. To get there, a narrow steep decline from the royal mile (see side mention). On the left of this tight impervious clause, a warm welcoming door: the devil’s advocate. Flagged as one of the most popular whisky bars in Scotland, I was surprised to see how many guests not drinking whisky. Behind the counter a wide selection of whiskies waiting for us. We didn’t hesitate too much. There was one distillery we had to try: Springbank. We ordered a Springbank 10 and a Springbank 15 (unfortunately the 18 was over). These two were looking a bit lonely so we added a Longrow Peated, a Kilkerran Heavily Peated and a Kilkerran 12…you know just to explore a bit more.

Another planet

If you’ve never tried Springbank before, you may think there’s just a lot of hype around it. Once you tried you realised that you have something different in your glass. For sure we were not able to appreciate all the layers of these 2 drams, but definitely we understood something different was right there before us. The 10 with its perceptible peatiness. The 15 probably THE dram I’d drink if I could only have a last one. The balance between burbon ans sherry, the very subtle peatiness, the long charming finish, the sweet and sour coating on the palate. I really enjoyed it.

More stuff from the Spring

Everyone knows Springbank. Everyone wants Springbank. What not everyone realises is that they actually make 4 different whiskies (5 probably I should say). I will share more details in chapter 7 when I’ll talk about my first visit to Springbank distillery, but essentially Longrow, Hazelburn and Kilkerran. Kilkerran for example produces some amazing good quality stuff a touch easier to get hold off than Springbank.

Talking about underrated

Take the Kilkerran 12 for instance: one of the best bang for buck and probably most underrated dram around. So complex, well rounded …it’s so enjoyable and relatively easy to get hold of.

Then we tried the Longrow Peated . It was probably a bit too peated for me at the time, and we were a bit in a rush as the bar was closing. I did overlook it at the time, but I’ll come back to it promised.

Probably outshone by the Kilkerran Heavily Peated. Back in those days it was batch 4 out…58.6% abv and the bottle was £38…you all stop!

Everything changes in whisky

The most underrated best bang for buck whisky ever (probably). OK it depends on the taste. Yes, it is a NAS. And it’s not super easy to get hold of and yes, it changes by batch to batch (apparently it’s getting better)…but hey oh! What a rich experience ! What an intriguing complexity!

Peat goes away quite quickly and then you get all those nice cereal notes, the fruity notes, but also grassy, woody, in the end you can feel there’s sherry wood in there. And you add water and the balance slightly changes.

And then you buy the bottle (I’ve got few: yes I’m guilty your honour!) and you realise they change as you go through the bottle and they change batch to batch…and my palate changes as well as i come back to these new benchmarks…and what a great experience…I wouldn’t be surprised seeing this whisky becoming the new Victoriana and kilkerran the new springbank…there’s no reason why not…

And you? Fancy a try of any of these drams?

Drams

and more...

Today's drams

Springbank 10 – 46%
Springbank 15 – 46%
Longrow Peated – 46%
Kilkerran 12 – 46%
Kilkerran Heavily Peated batch 4 – 58.6%

The Devil's Advocate

If you’re walking along the royal mile in Edinburgh, a nice stop for a couple of drams.

Edinburgh's Royal Mile

If you’re visiting Edinburgh you’ll end up here for sure. From a whisky point of view, it’s worth mentioning it for the few key shops to stop by, especially if you’re after whisky samples.