Blessed are the CURIOUS, for they shall have adventures!

Our latest whisky tasting (which took place last week) was themed “Curiouser & Curiouser” – so named because each one of the whiskies we tasted had something just a little unusual or curious about it!

In Scotland, and increasingly in other parts of the world too, the rules around whisky-making are very strict: from the ingredients to the distillation and maturation process, and even how it’s labelled. There are many distilleries that pride themselves on their long-standing whisky-making traditions, and will proudly advertise that they’ve been doing the exact same thing since 1824. And don’t get me wrong, there’s something beautiful about that kind of consistency!

But something’s changed in the past couple of decades, and the demand for whisky world-wide has grown enormously. Whatever the reason for this, global sales are booming, and new distilleries are popping up everywhere.

So, what do you do when you’re a new distillery trying to make a name for itself? Or even an old distillery trying to stay relevant? With more and more new distilleries entering the scene, whisky makers are increasingly trying their hand at making a whisky offering that will stand out.

And the result? Whiskies that surprise us and invite a second sip, because they are something just a little different, or curious!

We tasted the following six whiskies:

• Auchentoshan American Oak – unusual because it’s a triple-distilled Scotch, where Scotch is more typically double-distilled.

• Shackleton Blended Malt – unusual because it’s a recreation inspired by the whisky left behind in Antarctica by Sir Ernest Shackleton on one of his expeditions in the early 1900s and discovered in 2007.

• Glendalough Pot Still – interesting because they’ve taken a very Irish style of whiskey (the pot still whiskey) and made it even more Irish by finishing it, unusually, in Irish Oak.

• Umiki – an incredibly unusual Japanese-crafted whisky that was finished in Japanese pine barrels, and blended with desalinated and purified ocean water.

• Loch Lomond Single Grain Peated – an oddity in that it is made from 100% malted barley (and not the usual mix of corn/wheat/rye as is the norm with grain whiskies)!

• Smokehead Terminado – interesting because it is from a mystery (undisclosed) distillery, and also finished in ex-tequila casks (which is relatively new, and therefore unusual).