Welcome to our first blog! WOOHOO! The plan for these posts in the future is to give you an insight on the tastings, the bottles we sampled, any interesting info and some feedback from the Dusties themselves on the whisky. Hopefully this will give you a taster of what our events are like and for those that were there, a reference for what happened...
Before we properly start....Please bare with me! I don't write very much and I expect this to be a pretty rocky road! We've all got to start somewhere though so why not here?
"The best tasting whisky is the whisky you share with others."
This is how the Dusties got started. One of my favorite initiatives that I'd bought into the bars I'd worked was the break even bottle. The idea was to charge measures of the whisky at the exact price it would take to make the value of the bottle back with no profit, therefore allowing guests to try what would be a very expensive dram at a very approachable price. This was great because the guests would come back to see what bottle was on break even and it would also start them on their whisky exploration journey. The only issue was that if you didn't get a fair amount of guests in to the bar, the bottles could hang around on the back bar, sometimes for months and this takes the energy out of the initiative. There had to be a better way. Over the years I'd dabbled in collecting bottles of whisky. Mostly so I'd have whiskies, destined to sell out, available to drink at a later date. Among the bottles hidden away in the house were 6 of Ardbeg's Feis Ile releases. I'd collected each one on it's release date over the course of 6 years. Instead of putting them on the bar one at a time I was curious to see if anyone would join me in trying them all. We sold our first tasting out in a few hours.
The Dusties first tasting was June 7th. Max Helm, Ardbeg Ambassador hosted 30 guests and took us through the history of the Ardbeg Feis Ile releases. It was awesome. I immediately started planning the next event and before I knew it we had organised and sold out our Caol Ila Feis Ile tasting with non other than Colin Dunn. In 2018 we only hosted those two tastings but ever since then we have hosted one every two months. We've also managed to organise a few Dusties trips. We've taken groups to Murray McDavid's warehouses, the 2019 Islay Festival and most recently to the Glenfarclas Distillery. We've also hosted two dinners, one with Drew Mayville, the Master Blender for Buffalo Trace and the other, a rare Ardbeg dinner, with Max, his last Ardbeg tasting before moving on to another brand.
This year we've also seen the first Dusties Single Cask Whisky, a 10yr old Glenlossie bottle from a single hogshead at cask strength, as well as the Dusties Club T-shirts!
Anyway, that's enough from me. Here's everything we've tasted so far, it's a hell of a list!
• Ardbeg, Galileo,
• Ardbeg, Ardbog,
• Ardbeg, Auriverdes,
• Ardbeg, Perpetuum,
• Ardbeg, Kelpie,
• Ardbeg, Dark Cove,
• Ardbeg, Grooves Committee Release,
• Caol Ila, 2007 Feis Ile,
• Caol Ila, 2011 Feis Ile,
• Caol Ila, 2012 Feis Ile,
• Caol Ila, 2013 Feis Ile,
• Caol Ila, 2016 Feis Ile,
• Caol Ila, 2017 Feis Ile,
• Caol Ila, 2018 Feis Ile,
• Murray McDavid, Auchentoshan, 19yr,
• Murray McDavid, Clynelish, 21yr,
• Murray McDavid, Ledaig, 17yr,
• Murray McDavid, Invergordan, 30yr,
• Murray McDavid, Young & Old, 7yr Blended Whisky,
• Murray McDavid, Cask #900045, Caol Ila 7yr, French wine cask,
• Murray McDavid, Cask #900024, 7yr, Koval Bourbon cask,
• Murray McDavid, Bunnahabhain, 31yr, 1976, 48.1%
• Redbreast, 21,
• Redbreast, Single Sherry Cask LMDW,
• Midleton, Single Sherry Cask LMDW,
• Midleton, Dhair Gaelic, Finsells Wood, Tree 7,
• Method And Madness, Chestnut, Batch 1,
• Red Spot,
• Midleton, Warehouse Sample, 6 years bourbon, 24 years port finish,
• Bowmore 1995, 23yr. Feis Ile, Sherry cask, bottle 302/325
• Caol Ila 22yr, Feis Ile,
• Lagavulin 19yr, Feis Ile,
• Octomore Event Horizon, Feis Ile
• Bunnahabhain 2001, 18yr. Sauternes cask, Feis Ile,
• Kilchoman 11yr, Feis Ile,
• Laphroaigh, Cask Strength Cairdeas Triple Wood, Feis Ile,
• Ardbeg, Drum, Feis Ile,
• Bowmore 15yr, Feis Ile
• Bunnahabhain, Moine, French Oak, Feis Ile,
• Weller, Special Reserve,
• Weller, 12,
• Weller, 107 Antique,
• Van Winkle, 10,
• Van Winkle, 12,
• Pappy Van Winkle, 15,
• Pappy Van Winkle, 20,
• Pappy Van Winkle, 23,
• William Larue Weller, 2018,
• Yoichi, 10,
• Yoichi, Rum Finish,
• Miyagikyo, Rum Finish,
• Miyagikyo, Sherry Cask Edition,
• Yoichi, Decades 2000’s,
• Yoichi, Peaty and Salty,
• Yoichi, Sherried and Sweet,
• Miyagikyo, Sherried and Sweet,
• Miyagikyo, Fruity and Rich,
• Tsuru 17, Ceramic Decanter,
• Eagle Rare, 17yr, 2017
• George T Stagg, 2018
• Sazerac, 18yr, 2018
• William Larue Weller, 2017
• Thomas H Handy, 2018
• Buffalo Trace, Single Barrel Pick,
• Bruichladdich 1998, 10yr, Manzanilla Cask,
• Bruichladdich 1989, 20yr, Rum Finish,
• Bruichladdich Valinch 13, Jim McEwan, 23yr, Fino Cask,
• Bruichladdich 1984, Golder Still, 23yr,
• Bruichladdich HB 90/27,
• Port Charlotte, Pc5 First Cut,
• Port Charlotte, Pc6,
• Octomore, 2002, Futures, 5yr,
• Ocotmore, OBA#2,
• Octomore, 10.4, 3yr.
• Glenfarclas, 15yr,
• Glenfarclas, 21yr,
• Glenfarclas, 25yr, London Edition,
• Glenfarclas, 30yr,
• Glenfarclas, 175th Anniversary,
• Glenfarclas, 105, 22yr,
• Glenfarclas, 1980 Family Cask, 38yr,
• Glenfarclas, Marriage of Casks,
• Ardbeg, 19yr,
• Ardbeg, Supernova 2019,
• Ardbeg, Alligator, Committee Release,
• Ardbeg, Black,
• Kilchoman Club, 1st Edition,
• Kilchoman Club, 2nd Edition,
• Kilchoman Club, 3rd Edition,
• Kilchoman Club, 4th Edition,
• Kilchoman Club, 5th Edition,
• Kilchoman Club, 6th Edition,
• Kilchoman Club, 7th Edition,
• Kilchoman Club, 8th Edition,
• Kilchoman, Port Cask Matured 2018,
• Kilchoman, 100% Islay, 8th Edition,
• Flora Fauna, Bennrinnes 15yr,
• Flora Fauna, Mortlach 16yr,
• Flora Fauna, Mannochmore 12,
• Flora Fauna, Rosebank 12