Scotch Babies! Reviewing A Brat Pack Of Barely Legal Single Malts

The ideal way to drink Lagavulin 8 Year Old… although the bottle should really be upright.

The Barleycorn Drinks blog, part of the larger John Barleycorn Society, is only a few weeks old, but it’s already turning into a booze writing powerhouse, thanks to the efforts of founder/liquor scribe John McCarthy. John was kind enough to pester me to contribute, and I wasn’t about to say no. Here’s my second Barleycorn piece, a round-up of some (possibly most) of the new crop of really young single malts making their way out of Scotland. It wasn’t too long ago that you couldn’t find a Scotch single malt less than 10 years old, and while they’re still not all that common, the ones I’ve tried are damn good. It’s nice to see distilleries moving past the no-age-statement blends that proliferated when there was an industry-wide shortage of aged stocks a few years ago. Those blends of older and younger whiskies were, I found, generally unsatisfying, with a few exceptions. Now they’re owning the youth of these bottlings, and saying what many consumers need to hear — that older isn’t necessarily better.

Anyway, enough of my babbling. I do enough of that in the article! And here’s the link!