Every family has their traditional festive arguments. Whether its at 5am about which recipe to follow when cooking the turkey or 6pm when you slump on the sofa and argue about tv or 11pm when you are trying to decide which obscure booze to drink next, the same arguments appear annually without fail.
Obviously our favourite arguments is which whisky most suits Christmas and just where you we get hold of these precious drams. So as part of our public service duty, we set out into Bristol to find the best whisky to pair with your Christmas. Over the next three weeks, you can read our guide to three festively finished whiskies and just where you can find them in Bristol!
For the Sherry Swiggers…
Location: The Rummer Hotel, St Nicholas Market
Vibe: The Rummer is a hidden gem that is unassumingly tucked away down an alleyway near St Nicks Market. Inside it is a well balanced mix of sophistication and Bristol style independence. They have a fantastically varied and well selected collection of spirits. When we visited rum, whisky and mescal was consumed, all to the tastes of the individual drinkers. You can expect leather chairs and a fire, so in our book; what more could you expect?
Dram: Glendronach 18
ABV: 46%
Price: £7.85 for 25ml
Aroma: Rich sherried fruit, sweet pineapple, dark brown sugar and fruit cake spice.
Taste: Initially this dram is full of sweet, robust fruity dark sugar flavours.
Then it opens to a warming ginger spice, which threads it’s way across the palate and warms the mouth. Hidden deep within this part of the dram their are tropical fruit notes, which lead your mind into the rich sherried fruit that also makes its home in this part of the dram.
This warmth leads into the final notes of the dram, which for me were the woody, musty dark notes. Heady, satisfying and rich, like the experience of standing in a traditional dunnage warehouse.
Review: For us there is something about sherry finished whisky that loudly proclaims the arrival of Christmas. Each sip of this spicy, unctuous, sweet dram reminded us of the christmas pudding flavours that we seek each year and sat next to the fire in The Rummer, it was festive perfection.