Author Archives: Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

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About Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

I'm very interested in booze, with a focus on whisky. I like to listen to loads of music and play lots of Magic: the Gathering, and board games too. I'm married to Anneke, have two daughters Ot and Cato, a son Moos and a cat called Kikker (which means Frog, in Dutch). I live in Krommenie, The Netherlands.

Glen Garioch 10, 2011-2022, Bourbon Cask, 53.4% – Michiel Wigman

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you might have noticed that virtually all of Michiel Wigman’s whiskies have been reviewed here. I bet I missed some, and I do know I have some other spirits of his … Continue reading

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Macallan ‘Rich Cacao’, The Harmony Collection, 44%

The fifth of twelve whiskies in this year’s Blind Tasting Competition. Because age-guessing is part of the game, I never think of NAS whiskies. But, apart from that, I would never have guessed Macallan. Just on principe. Value for Money … Continue reading

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Fettercairn 14, 2007-2021, Oloroso Sherry Puncheon 1823, 55.2% – Infrequent Flyers

One of those blind-spot whiskies because I generally don’t care about the distillery’s output. This one wasn’t that bad at all, but because of my limited knowledge, I never even really considered Fettercairn. I randomly guessed BenRiach, because it was … Continue reading

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Lagavulin 12, 56.5% – OB Special Releases 2021

On the second of the Blind Tasting Competition, we went to Islay. That much was pretty clear from the first sniff. I also figured out we went to the south of Islay. It could have been Bunnahabhain, but I didn’t … Continue reading

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Mannochmore 22, 1997-2020, First Fill Sherry Butt 12098, 55.8% – Gordon & MacPhail

This year’s Blind Tasting Competition has started, and it has done so in a great manner! Best of Wines started their sample kit with this rather well aged Mannochmore for which virtually no-one scored a lot of points. I scored … Continue reading

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Port Ellen 16, 1981-1998, 62.4% – Cadenhead Authentic Collection

Sometimes Tom van Engelen sends me reviews for publication on MaltFascination. Sometimes I forget. So now I have a backlog of a few that I’m trying to get through before the end of the year. Young Port Ellen has become … Continue reading

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Lochside 29, 1981-2010, Fino Hogshead, 52.7% – The Whisky Agency

During the first Advent period of the lockdowns, back in 2020, my good friend JPH and I decided we wanted to try some awesome whiskies. Online, of course, so we had to get our hands on two sets of samples. … Continue reading

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Rutte Cask Strength Genever, made for Michiel Wigman

A little while ago Michiel Wigman sent over a couple of samples of his latest bottlings, and in that package were these two samples of Dutch Genever. Myriam Hendrickx, the distillery manager at Rutte Distillery created these two different Genevers … Continue reading

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Secret Speyside 24, 1997-2022, 2 Refill Barrels, 50.3% – Thompson Brothers

Yet another undisclosed distillery. It is almost like that is a thing nowadays. This time it’s a Speyside one, just like yesterday. However, according to retailers, Whiskybase and most likely other sources of information, this is a bottling from Glenlivet. … Continue reading

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A Speyside Distillery 12, 2008-2021, 48% – The Single Malts of Scotland

So, even though it’s not mentioned anywhere on the bottle, it’s pretty common knowledge that this is a Macallan. Or at least, that’s what everyone thinks and how it is marketed. Last year I went to pick up some stuff … Continue reading

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