Northern Monk is a supermarket level brand, but this is solid, fruity and sweet, reminds me of BrewDog’s Double Hazy Jane. Maybe with how hard it is to find barrel aged stouts, it’s time for me to switch to Double IPAs instead.
Category: *.BAK
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Eggenberg Urbock 23
Only 9.5% ABV, not 23%, what a disappointment 😅
Well, not really, 23 refers to sugar percentage, and basically means triple.
Interesting that it’s a lager, not ale that I usually drink.
Deep amber in colour, with no head to speak about, but a bit fizzy.
I know I lately complain about Belgian beers tasting bland. This is not the case here. While not too complex, it is still very interesting, with orange notes, almost like a concentrated Blue Moon. The aftertaste is bitter from hopps, but unlike triple IPA, I didn’t feel the bitterness while sipping. -
Kilkerran 16
Another bottle that I failed to purchase from Masters of Malt. Found it forgotten on one of the cigar sites, but waited too long, and it disappeared as well. So when another random wine store stocked it, I had to get one. The fact that concierges almost lost the bottle tucking it away only added to the exclusivity.
Colorwise, much darker than Kilkerran 12, as expected. Smoke and sherry on the nose. Tastes like balanced sherry: not too sweet, not too muted. If I had to pick, I’d say “stewed apples”. Aftertaste is slightly oily. It does have a bit of “wood polish”, maybe, but you need to look for it. Overall, I’m quite pleased, although I wouldn’t pay more than 100GBP for it. -
Benromach 15
Got that bottle because a lot of YouTubers were raving about it. And what a disappointment. I guess sometimes you get what you pay for. At 57GBP for a 15 years old, it’s not a bad whisky, but it’s definitely not a fantastic one either. 43% ABV makes it easy to sip, but that’s it. There’s plenty of smoke to my taste, a bit of sweetness, classic Speyside for sure, but I had better mystery bottles.
The only positive is the mouth coating oily aftertaste. But other than that, I frankly must say it’s second worst purchase of this year, after Springbank 5. I planned to get a Cask Strength too, but now, I think I’ll skip it. -
CaDA Master C61505W Viva Hypercar (Ferrari La Ferrari)
4th bag, exactly 5 hours. Funny, that there were two symmetrical parts, I built one in 35 minutes, and I thought I’d build the other one quicker, but ended up spending exactly 35 minutes on the second part too.
In the end had to redo a part, the model could benefit from some text instructions, as you have to align the pieces just right for a cross-piece to go through them.
Also, that part definitely breaks Lego rules. To achieve some of the curves the pieces are put at very strange angles. -
IKEA Fjallroding
One reason I’m so interested in those knives is that they use 10Cr15MoVCo steel (10Cr15CoMoV to be more correct). Which is Chinese variant of a Japanese VG-10, which in itself a very good steel.
A 15cm Shun Classic utility knife with VG-10 steel costs aroung 130GBP. A 14cm IKEA Fjallroding utility knife costs 30GBP. -
OutIn Claro and Timemore Black Mirror Mini
Seven years ago, when I was just getting into coffee, there were just a few coffee scale models, and those were expensive. I literally hunted for a Brewista scales all around Amsterdam. Nowadays, they’re half the price, and there are plenty of models to pick from.
Although I replaced my Brewista with Acaia Pearl some 3 years ago, I still use it in my travels. But the plastic started falling apart, so I decided to replace it with something.
My first choice was Timemore Black Mirror Mini, which is confusing, because it’s slightly smaller than Nano. But it didn’t come with a travel case, and my main purpose was to have it for travel.
OutIn Claro looks and performs so much similar to Timemore Mini that I’m pretty sure they have the same components inside. Same accuracy, same response times, even the same size. Only difference is the shape: Claro is rount, Timemore Mini is square, and the fact that Claro comes with a case. -
Pohjala Barrique Noire Imperial Baltic porter
I’ve complained a lot about most of my favourite beer not being available in the UK anymore. There is one silver lining to it, though, and it’s Estonian Pohjala barrel aged imperial porters, that are still easy to get.
Barrique Noire is a masterpiece. Smell of prunes, and taste of cherries and chocolate, all thanks to reme the cassis barrels. I can’t say I taste blackcurrants themselves, but then I don’t taste them in the liquor either. -
Springbank 5 100 proof
After all the frustration with not getting Springbank 18, I still have two unopened Springbanks sitting on my shelf. So I opened the 100 proof. Got it for a fair price too.
It’s not bad. But for 50GBP, you can get Bunna 12, you can get Arran 10. And despite cask strength, you are still drinking 5 years old whisky. It smells and tastes of cheese. A bit sweet, a bit smoky, and so very sharp. -
Springbank sale
Masters of Malt had a sale of Cambletown whiskies. It started at 3PM. When I checked 15 minutes later, almost everything was gone. Springbank 21 for 300GBP? 150 bottles gone. Springbank 18? 300 bottles gone. Kilkerran 16? 200 bottles gone.
I managed to get Sprinbank 10 at a decent price, but considering that I also had to sign up for their membership, it ended up costing me 90GBP for a bottle. Which I would have considered to be a good deal, if not for the fact I’ve missed all the much better opportunities.
3 hours later, even Springbank 10 was all gone.
Funny thing, the notifications that bottles are available came an hour after they’ve all disappeared. -
Tropical Highland Fling, Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Received my second bottle from Scotch Malt Whisky Society, Tropical Highland Fling. This one is only 12 years old, which for 90GBP sounds overprices, but at least it’s 58% ABV, cask strength, so I’d say at the top of the price range. It is super interesting, though. I was guessing rum casks, because it is very tropical, but they say it’s bourbon.
Usually I post an image of a bottle as well, but for some reason I can’t find this particular cask number, 122.93, on the official site or anywhere else. What I did find, though, is that 122 is most likely Loch Lomond distillery.
The only time I had Loch Lomond was from advent calendar, and then I thought it was one of the worst whiskies I’ve ever had. But that’s different, of course. -
Dragon’s Milk Tales of Gold, New Holland Brewing
I rarely go back to write about beer I’ve had before, but I’ve finished my second and last bottle of Dragon’s Milk Tales of Gold, and it’s still one of the best beers I’ve ever had. Maybe it’s the barrel aging, or the the added lactose, but it has this amazing creaminess and vanilla notes that none of the Belgian beers come close to. A real shame it’s impossible to get in the UK nowadays.
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CaDA Master C61505W Viva Hypercar (Ferrari La Ferrari)
3rd bag, 5.5 hours, over 2 months, though, with a break of almost a month in the middle.
I wanted to finish the gear box in one go, as the gears aren’t held together by anything until fully assembled and simply fall out, so I spent more than one hour in a single sitting on it. There was one angled piece that you either need tweezers or drop it extremely precisely, because that’s the only way it gets in. I thought I’ll push through to finish the engine. But it turned out to be a literal jumble of pipes going at weird angles, and loosely connected. And on page 218 I realised I did a mistake on page 158. So I spent 20 minutes fixing it. Good times. -
Lochlea Cask Strength Batch 2
Once you get deep enough into whisky, there are a couple of topics you start to encounter: “batches” and “rebuys”.
Batches are relevant to cask strength whiskies mostly, because any blending diffuses the character, while making whisky more consistent. “Batch” is between “single cask” and “age statement” for me at least. People still rave about Bunna 12 Batch 2022.
Rebuy is a whisky that once you’ve got in your collection, you’ll happily get one more once you finish the bottle. It’s one of the highest praises a whisky can get from an enthusiast. Because, let’s be honest, there are plenty of good whiskies.
For me, Lochlea Cask Strength Batch 2 is probably the first whisky ever I’d happily rebuy. Not that I didn’t have other great whiskies, I’ve had plenty, but I really think this one was something special, and I’m not sure they’re gonna beat it. -
Painting Ghostkeel Battlesuit
I already painted one 10cm base model, Horticulus Slimux from Warhammer. It had a lot of detail, but Ghostkeel Battlesuit is interesting in many different ways. First, I’ve never seen instructions to paint before assembly. When I painted Commander Farsight, I cursed and swore that the next model I will paint in parts, but here they’re basically saying “no way you’ll manage to paint the details once you put it together”.
And the reason is, that this model has moving parts. The barrels of the not-minigun and not-grenadelauncher rotate. But also, the highlight is that the cabin opens, showing grumpy Tau pilot inside. Speaking of pilot, that’s also the first model that has choice of parts. You can pick its main weapon, it’s side weapons mounted on the top, whether you want a missile rack or some sort of a radar on the back, and there are even two heads for the pilot. There are also a few decorative pieces you can choose from, like the top of the “helmet”.
There are practical reasons for some of those choices too, I guess. I’ve heard that those suits are so effective in tabletop play, some bring 3 of them, and you’d want to be able to distinguish between them at a glance.
On top of that, I also decided to magnetize the model. Magnet Baron have some good instructions and even kits at a reasonable price, but their shipping to the UK in unfortunately unreasonable. So I bought the drill and the magnets separately on Amazon, for half the price too. -
Pokeno Origin whisky
18 taster from the Advent calendar, this one is from New Zealand. It’s very floral on the nose, jasmine like, and very light and smooth, to the point I thought it’s a blend. At 50GBP, it’s not great, but it is discounted to 30GBP, which make it not great but cheap whisky.
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Gouden Carolus Whiskey Infused
It’s a good strong Belgian beer, that starts with molasses and ends up with canned pears. The only issue is that it’s not as complex as I’d expect from a whiskey infused beer. But then, it’s also reasonably priced for what it is.
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Vibram Fivefingers Scramkey
After wearing Scramkeys just a couple of times, I decided to sell them. Would have returned them altogether, I already removed the tags. Maybe I should have gotten one size bigger than my usual, or maybe it’s just not a good model, but after spending the whole day in them, my thumbs became blood swollen as if I put them in heating jars. Two weeks later, they still haven’t fully recovered 😬
Spyridons are great so far, though. -
Gulliver’s 47 whisky
17th whisky from the Advent Calendar. Bottled at a strange 47% ABV. The palest whisky I can remember, lightest white wine. Light smoke on the nose. Peach sweetness on the palate, then some more light smoke, like smoked bacon. Surprisingly long warm finish in the throat. I was never impressed by English whisky, and this isn’t different, and considering it’s almost 60GBP, I wouldn’t say it’s a good bargain.
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Aberlour A’Bunadh Alba Batch 5
Whisky enthusiast always chase the rare, the weird, Springbanks of the whisky world. But sometimes, happiness is under the palm. I had both Abunda and Abunda Alba, and I considered the later too sharp and not sweet enough to my liking. But nowadays, I find it perfectly pleasant in terms of taste and headfeel. Like pineapple syrup. Not a bargain, but also not a bad deal either.