Month: April 2019

March Madness Grand Final

Posted by: Nick

Finally our March Madness bracket reaches the final round: the Grand Final. Yes, what started out six weeks ago with 64 distilleries (technically 63 distilleries and 1 independent bottler) has been whittled down to just two. And our finalists?

In the red corner: Bruichladdich!

On the road to the final Bruichladdich overcame the number one seed, Glenfiddich, Tassie favourite Overeem and in a nail biting semi final they defeated the peated powerhouse Laphroaig by a margin of 59% to 41%.

And, in the blue corner, they will be facing: Ardbeg!

Ardbeg have taken down some sherried Scottish superpowers along the way with Glendronach, Balvenie and recently Glen Moray falling victim to the peat monster.

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So now it all comes down to this: Bruichladdich vs Ardbeg. Two Islay dynamos duking it out to become Whisky Waffle’s inaugural champion distillery – but who will win?

YOU DECIDE!

Voting has never been easier! We only need one name! Leave your vote in the comments or on our social media platforms.

Happy voting and keep on waffling!

Whisky Waffle Podcast Episode 9

On the eve of battle, Whisky Waffle prepare for the army of the dead by releasing a podcast!

This episode contains:
– The Waffle, where we discuss Diageo’s new Game of Thrones-themed whiskies
– The whisky, where Ted brings something that may not be whisky, but has a subtitle in its name, which makes up for it
– Mystery Whisky, where Ted springs a surprise bottle and Nick muddles up his latitude by one degree; and
– Smash, Session or Savour, where Nick hurts Ted’s soul

March Madness Semi Finals

Posted by: Nick and Ted

And then there were four. In a matchup of biblical proportions, David came up against Goliath and against all odds, slew the beast.

Round 5 Whisky Waffle March Madness

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That’s right, the ridiculous strength of the Tasmanian independent titan, Heartwood, was no match in the end for the Speyside pocket-pleaser, Glen Moray. Tim Duckett wasn’t the only Tasmania to fall, with elegant Overeem roundly smashed by indie Islay outfit Bruichladdich. In fact, there’s potential for an all-Islay showdown in the final, with Ardbeg seeing off Glenfiddich’s little sister Balvenie with ease and Laphroaig narrowly fending off the Orkney vikings from Highland Park. First we have to get through the semi-finals though and there’s some tough choices ahead. It really comes down to sweet vs peat – where do you fall in the battle? Cast your votes now at http://www.whiskywaffle.com or on our social media platforms.

March Madness Quarter Finals

Posted by: Nick

It’s getting serious now! After what I can only assume were many sleepless nights of pondering the impossible choices presented in round 3 we have 8 winners! And they are:

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Some big results, fellow wafflers. Overeem win the battle of Tassie dominance, the two remaining Islay behemoths narrowly overcome their opponents and Highland Park knock out champion Tassie distillery Sullivans Cove, all by only a couple of percentage points. It was an unbelievably close round, with many results only decided by the final few votes.

And now our quarter finals take shape. Bruichladdich have not had too much trouble dealing with opponents so far, but will Overeem prove a sterner test? Glen Moray, everyone’s favourite underdog have scraped through so far, but face Tasmanian independent title favourites Heartwood in the next round. Elsewhere, Highland Park take on Laphroaig and two Whisky Waffle favourites in Ardbeg and Balvenie go head to head.

Who will win? YOU DECIDE! It’s getting easier to vote these days – just send us four names via a comment, email or social media and we will add them to collection of votes!

If you haven’t already, check out our podcast where we discuss the results up to round 3.

Happy voting and keep on waffling!

Whisky Waffle Podcast Episode 8

Posted by: Nick

After a longer than planned absence, the Whisky Waffle Podcast is back with more slightly-tipsy rambling from the two Waffle boys, discussing serious and silly whisky topics in their typical tongue-in-cheek style.

This episode contains:

The Waffle, where we discuss the results of our March Madness bracket
The whisky, where we sample some cask strength Edradour
Whisky Would You Rather, where Nick poses two unlikely but true scenarios; and
Smash, Session or Savour, where Ted presents three whisky-ish options

March Madness Round 3

Posted by: Nick

The suspiciously April-y March Madness Whisky Waffle bracket powers on into Round 3: the round of 16! Once again we’ve halved the field in a vicious round 2 which saw a number of shock results and big guns fall.

Gone is Australian whisky’s founding member Lark, Australian whisky’s high-selling Starward and all remaining American and Irish representatives. Possibly the biggest shock of all is the defeat of number 3 seed Lagavulin, knocked out by the dark horse, Glendronach.

Below is the full list of results, including the match ups for Round 3:

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We now move into the pointy-end of the competition and once again there are some juicy match ups.

In another gut-wrenching all-Australian match up Overeem take on Belgrove, Macallan verse Balvenie in a battle for Speyside supremacy and the last remaining non-Australian or Scottish drop, Paul John, ~~loses to~~ takes on Heartwood. Perhaps the one that kills me the most, however, is my favourite Islay distillery fighting to the death against my favourite mainland distillery: Ardbeg vs Glendronach. Only one can progress to the quarter finals. Who will it be?

YOU DECIDE! Let us know in the comments, on social media or by emailing whiskywaffle@gmail.com

Vote by whatever rules you feel you’d like to live by. Skip any you can’t decide upon and get us your thoughts throughout the week sometime!

Good luck, and may the best dram win!

March Madness Round 2

Posted by: Nick

Ok, I know, technically it’s no longer March, but Whisky’s greatest elimination challenge continues unabated, pitting distillers from around the world in a series of tense and often unfair head to head bouts. Round 1 has been run and won and the results are as follows:

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There were a number of tense tussles throughout the initial qualifying round – several of which involved local drams. In an all-Australian affair, Starward narrowly defeated recent award winner Hellyers Road by claiming 54% of the vote. Whisky Waffle also bid a tearful adieu to Bunnahabhain, defeated by Tassie champion Sullivans Cove which enjoyed 58% success. The other Tassie dram to bow out was Nant, defeated by regular pocket-pleaser Glen Moray.

However the fun does not stop there; as we fondly farewell 32 grand drams, we turn our attention to the subsequent 32. And my, what decisions we will have to make! The round is headlined by some all Australian bouts: Limeburners take on Overeem and Belgrove come face to face against the godfather himself! Elsewhere, the salty kings Laphroaig and Springbank go head to head and there is a battle of the Glens: Glenrothes vs Glenfarclas. A battle sneaking under the radar, but causing me much grief, is the number 3 seed Lagavulin taking on another favourite of mine: Glendromach. Holy. Crap.

How will it end? Who will triumph? YOU DECIDE! As with the previous round, leave your votes in a comment or on social media – or in an email to whiskywaffle@gmail.com

Vote for as many as you like, but feel free to leave any you’ve not tried. The more people who vote the better – and drumming up support for your personal favourite is most definitely allowed. Happy voting fellow Wafflers. Lets see who comes out on top!