Well here we are once again, the back end of the year with winter well and truly gripping tighter than an uptight python. Despite the relatively austere year which seems to have encircled the globe, the whisky business remains as upbeat and buoyant as ever and judging by the releases we've experienced, one of the best in taking whisky of all kinds to unprecedented heights.
So it gives us great pleasure to announce the 2011 BiG Award short list.
By way of a short recap, here at Caskstrength we don't like faffing around. In our opinion, modern day whisky awards tend to be dominated by too many categories, sub categories and sub, sub categories, rendering them pretty pointless to the general public and... achingly dull to read about.
So why not get the ten best whiskies released in a calendar year in one room, with a panel of like-minded imbibers and choose one overall winner, or... Best in Glass. The major caveat is that every short listed entry must be available to order from a regular or specialist retailer. No festival bottlings, club/society-only releases or international exclusives fit the bill. This is the 4th year the award has run, with previous winners impressing and delighting in equal measures.
And so here we are today. The Albannach in Trafalgar Square is our generous host venue. Our panel of highly experienced judges/imbibers is assembled, the 10 whiskies poured and all is good. Apart from the fact that we haven't told you what the drams are yet!
So without further ado, here we go, in no particular order...
Ardbeg Alligator (committee release reviewed here)
We'll be reporting the details of the winning whisky tomorrow along with comments from our judging panel.
Congratulations to the shortlisted 10 whiskies!!