Maltspot: Iverarity 10 yr Old Speyside & 8 yr Old Islay

One of the wonderful things about where I live is that there are two very good pubs nearby which offer a good selection of whisky.

One of the other benefits is that they always have one on offer as 'Malt of the Month', so I thought I would start recording what I've been trying.

The current two on offer are both Inverarity, a sort of independent bottling company that provides a variety of whiskys from different areas.

The first is a 10 year old Speyside, the other an 8 year old Islay and both lovely if a bit different.

The Speyside is very floral, with a honeyish quality and slight tang of peat/seaweed. If you like Mead then this may be a good whisky to try, in some ways it also resembles a Glenkinchie but is a tad more flavourful.

The Islay is unlike any other Islay I know, very smooth yet still smoky and peaty. I've heard it described as a sort of Islay-Light which seems apt to me. I adore the raw peatiness of the Islay so was surprised to find that I liked this awfully refined version of it.

Educating my Other Half

For all the time I have been going out with my other half he hasn't been a fan of whisky. Until this summer, when we went to Edradour distillery near Pitlochry. Surprisingly he liked it. Then he tried Laphroaig Quarter Cask and liked that.

We're now in the happy position of trying various different types of whisky. So far we have tried an awful lot... Glengoyne, Edradour, Edradour Cask Finish, Ballechin, Bunnahabhain, the Balvenie, Auchentoshan, Highland Park, Jura, Jura Superstition, Tallisker, Tobermory, Glenkinchie, Dalmore, Ardbeg....and there are a lot more, we've started keeping a list.

He even bought a book by Ian Banks where he travelled around Scotland visiting various distilleries, with various nice cars. Good book, would reccommend it - its just a bad influence on those who like whisky...

Speaking of which, a wee nip wouldn't be a terrible thing, would it?