Loved your comparison and your review! I'm collecting expressions of Machir Bay, I have the regular 90-10% and a 90-5% (bourbon+sherry) also the 14yr Machir Bay and I have ordered the CS festival release and I intend to deep dive into the Machir Bay at Kilchoman. Excellent review and accurate comparison.
Thanks Ben for the informative review. The info on the barley being sourced and being more peated than there local barley is good to know, guess as they are a small distillery they are not able to special order something closer to what they are producing. Just recently opened a Port Charlotte 10 that you recently reviewed (my first peated Bruichladdich) and an enjoying that. To me the peat seems to soften the 50% abv compared to there un peated selections. Cheers
Yeah it was interesting to me too. Certainly put some of their softer limited releases in to context 👍 Glad you're enjoying the PC10 - I keep coming back to that one recently. It is definitely dangerously easy drinking at 50%! Thanks Tim 🥃👍
Great review. Both solid drams. I’m always on the look out for a Sanaig on discount. Interestingly enough, I’ve just acquired a Kilchoman 10th anniversary bottling at auction. Looking forward to popping that open later this year. Cask strength. Slainte as always.
Pretty much what I experienced with my samples. I do think though, a bit of aging would do good on the Sanaig but still, looking forward to future Kilchoman releases, it is promising!
I was trying to remember if i had had one of these and i have. Had the Machir Bay back in 2017. (one from my first ever tasting event) All i remember was a TCP element. Cheers Ben!
just got into whiskey/scotch in may of this year...redbreast 12 and highland park 12 were my first two entries (i came from wine/beer) and love them...just opened the sanaig last week (i got the dual sanig/machir bay 200ml bottles pack) ...for now, given i'm a beginner, i can't taste all that much beyond the peat...reminds me of tannic tea, even lapsang souchang tea i like...some leather perhaps. i enjoy it. but wish i could go further for those other flavours/aromas you more experienced drinkers can detect... my strategy: i'm going to have a splash every day for the next few wks to better acclimatize myself to it...hopefully that will help....tips from you and others are welcomed....also as per Roy's suggestion, i'll compare 2 scotches side by side to better pull out the contrasts....laphroaig 10 or laga 16 or the port charlotte 10 heavily peated...machir bay (i have these bottles unopened) ...any suggestions?
Interesting! If you have a dram or two of the Laphroaig 10 I expect it will 'prime' your palate to the common flavours and help to expose the flavours you are looking for. This will probably work best going from the Laphroaig 10 to the Kilchoman Sanaig as it has more of a contrast. Peat is definitely one of those things that your get accustomed to and it becomes easier to find what lays behind after time! Would be interested to hear how it goes 😁🥃👍
Plus when you'll get more accustomed to other single malts and higher ABV ones the HP12 will seem super boring to you after some time :D Don't get surprised :) And you'll get accustomed to the peat and will taste the other flavors beneath it, give it some time
Had the Machir Bay and really liked it. Yet to try the Sanaig. Might pick up a bottle later in the year, or a mini if I find one in Denmark next month (one annoying thing about Sweden with the state monopoly - no minis).
Oh I didn't know Sweden had a state monopoly - sounds like a pain! Does it limit availability a lot? I guess there's much less money to be made on mini's haha. It's worth a try if you can find it. Any decent whisky bars near you?
@@WhiskyGeek a few ok bars... there's an amazing bar in Stockholm called the Ardbeg Embassy that has hundreds of Whiskies. Is where I sampled the Dark Cove, GlenDro 18, and a bunch of others earlier in the year in a BIG night :P But yes... state monopoly. Can be a pain, but except for a few things, I find it has its advantages and can be pretty handy: you can order almost anything, provided it has the distribution and pick it up at your closest store. And price wise it's actually fairly good - some prices are better than the UK (like GlenDronach, Macallan etc). Then some stuff is allocated and sells out quickly (Springbank etc.) Still searching for THE great Whisky bar in Gothenburg :)
I like the Machir Bay a lot, but, ever since I "got" banana, I can't taste much else, Askaig 100 proof has it as well, slightly less though, but quite forward.... - There's a third of the whiskies that I have that has the same, but I can't remember which it is, will have to search them through.... ;- )
Interesting. Have you tried eating a banana before tasting one of those whiskies to see if it suppresses that banana taste? I often find having a flavour on the palate means you wont pick it up as prominently in the whisky. Could help you 're-train' and pick up the other flavours 😁 Cheers Bjarke 🥃👍
From memory I'm pretty sure they both use malt peated to the same extent from the Port Ellen maltings. I would suggest that the Machir Bay is a little more obviously peated though as it doesnt have the fruity sherried layer to hide it. Cheers Rishabh 🥃👍
I think I preferred the Sanaig marginally but a lot of people really love the Loch Gorm. I did drink them as part of a flight with the Sanaig coming up before the Loch Gorm so that may have affected things 🥃👍
@@WhiskyGeek I am one of those who adore the loch gorm. May I ask why you're not blown away by it? Im just wondering how it compares to the sanaig cause the gorm is more money but both apparently offer the sherry and smoke common whereas machir bay is sweet, lemony and smoky
@@catnapgee5357 I've just dug out my notes from when I was at the distillery and all I put down was: "Very pleasant but the Sanaig delivers the distillery character better;- sherry more balanced." It could well be that I found the sweeter sherry influence to overpower the complexities. I've been favouring a more balanced sweetness recently where a lot of people are going for the full-on sherry bombs! That being said, the Port Cask was my favourite at the distillery!
@@WhiskyGeek interesting. Seems you go first and foremost for the spirit/distillery character. I would assume you arent a huge fan of older whiskies since they are more cask driven... or perhaps you just favour the Kilchoman distillery character in and of itself. Either way, thanks for the reply! Slainta!
I wish I could have been able to get miniatures. I purchased a 46%ABV. Machir Bay. I think it would improve with age. I got more ash, charcoal/ cedar smoke rather than peat smoke. No relation to Laphroaig peat. A bit disappointing. Young, aggressive, thin, citrus. Prefer classic Islay. I would not buy this again.
