I flew to Cologne on Friday 23rd October in order to fulfil an engagement in the “Home” of Malts of Scotland owned by Thomas Ewers and his wife Barbara. The flight was fine, maybe a few minutes late, but ok. Thomas met me, and I immediately felt quite at ease in his car, also a Jaguar!!. we did a little low flying down the highway from Cologne to Paderborn !!

Had a quick stop at my hotel, then straight in to action around 7:30pm.

Whiskies tasted and discussed, were in the following order:-

1) Littlemill 1990 .. bourbon bottled 2015

2) Tormore 1988 .. Very Dark sherry bottled 2015

3) Bruichladdich 2005 .. 10% matured in red wine cask bottled 2015

4) North British Grain .. sherry (possibly a refill) bottled 2015

5) Longmorn 1975 .. bourbon bottled 2015

6) Laphroaig 1990 .. bourbon bottled 2015

This was a really interesting line up and we all had a lot of fun along the way, and throughout the evening actually.

For me personally, I have a preference for whisky which has been matured in casks which have already contained whisk(e)y. This is purely a personal choice, and in no way reflects on the quality of whiskies matured in a variety of other cask types.

Anyway, we had a great night, and huge thanks to Thomas and his dedicated team, plus of course each and every participant, without whom none of this would be possible.

DANKE !!

//John