Chef Angus…what else to say 😂 And of course, a beautiful picture from his pal Gal Shon !
Highland Star bottled by Iain and the dear chums at North Star Whisky.
Now the actual distillery it comes from is kept secret except for one little thing that might well given the location of the distillery away.
The map co-ordinates of the distillery are on the fucking bottle.
Now if this is to be believed as gospel, then it comes from a lovely little distillery just off the A9 after Inverness and reasonably close to Dornoch. Therefore Iain and Buttercup the unicorn might have had a spot of breakfast at the delightful Tall Pines cafe and petrol station just a few miles away. (It’s a nice little cafe, well worth stopping off if you find yourself nearby. The curry is surprisingly good)
Yes it might be Teaninich. In fact most people suggest its Teaninich. Several websites pretty much say it Teaninich. Fellow member Gal Shon also says its Teaninich.
So we’ll assume that its Teaninich & leave it as that.
Plus points so far.
It’s cheaper than the F&F official bottle.
It’s got a higher abv. 50% abv.
Its 11 years old.
It’s my first purchase from an indy bottler.
The label is aesthetically pleasing.
It’s a whisky from a distillery that we don’t see much from.
Minus points.
No unicorn on the label. I like unicorns. Thanks the smallest child, they are continual influence in my house.
(I’m 6ft 3, shaven head, beard, size of a door, chef, highly unstable and have several issues.
I like unicorns to a degree. Especially the huge Joy-toy unicorn. I assume that this isn’t a fucking problem.)
It’s a limited bottling and therefore once its gone its gone. Meh.
In the glass.
Oily texture! Clings to the glass.
Happy times!
Smell.
Surprisingly flora. My nose is bunged to shite thanks to a little bit of hayfever kicking in but that comes through.
Taste.
I’m old enough to remember when Bell’s and Johnnie Walker were nice. This reminds me of nice older bottles, but then take all the shit out and keep the really nice bits.
Like slighty sweet, slightly smoked orange flavours. I know that Gal gets a very meaty flavour. But either way it’s a good size chunk of chewy whisky goodness.
Uncompromising. Yes.
Blunt force flavour. Yep. That as well.
You do get a real alcohol warmth. Warmth, not burn. It let’s you know about the higher abv.
Very robust.
The alcohol does creep up a bit at the end but the liquid coats the teeth well with that oily feel that you’d expect from Teainioch. The taste itself is long and pleasing. You can still feel it a few minutes later on.
The Millenial series from North Star is a great introduction to the world of the indy bottlers. Something I’ve avoided because of the snobbery (it’s not as bad as it once was) associated with cask strength, independent bottles. Its usually for the absolute purist who is looking for whisky in its purest natural state.
But this isn’t too strong and doesn’t carry any baggage making it more approachable for someone like myself.
As with previous NS whisky, your man Iain and Buttercup have found the casks and finished off what Diageo made. He finds the good stuff. Essentially he is our dealer of choice.
As stated earlier,
Diageo owns and produces Teaninich whisky.
Diageo. The dreaded dreadnought of scotch.
Now all the upgrades are done Teaninich will knock out over 10M litres a year. So we can rule out small craft distillery status.
That also means we can rule out Bastard hipsters! If it hasn’t, hipsters! Fuck off now.
Purists and cask strength enthusiasts.
You might have to concede that Diageo have made something good.
Or, just piss off now and miss out on this one before you bore the shit out of us with how Diageo is ruining scotch and how the purist really should be drinking Loch Ewe or Springbank as its closes to the real taste of scotch. Yes, you to. Fuck off.
Or you accept that and enjoy a good whisky, at a reasonable price from a distillery that doesn’t release much stuff and that Iaim, Buttercup and Sugar-lump rescue the casks and keep non chill filtered and at a high Abv
Now, just enjoy the fucking whisky.