Independent Bottling!

For the first tasting I looked through the whisky cupboard, and chose two independent bottlings.
I wanted to choose something people wouldn’t have had before, but that weren’t too far out of the financial reach of the everyday person.

With that in mind, I went for an independently bottled Glenfarclas 12 yr, at a strength of 58.7% and The Island Star, part of the Northstar Millennial Range, at 50%. Now, Northstar don’t say what distillery this is from, but as there are only two on Orkney (Highland Park and Scapa) we can make an educated guess at it being Highland Park. Not only are casks from Scapa notoriously difficult to get hold of, Northstar put the co-ordinates of the distillery on the label..it’s Highland Park 😉

Now, considering both drams are 50% or above in strength, it was clear we meant business from the off! 
Despite the Island Star being very drinkable, the subtle blend of smoke and sugar, the Glenfarclas was the favourite of most. The punchy sherry and Christmas cake cinched the deal, and made it the first favoured dram of the club!