Oldie of the week: Aberfeldy 1970 bottled at the end of the 1980s by Gordon & MacPhail in their Connoisseurs Choice range (with a brown label back then).

Aberfeldy 16 yo 1970 (40%, Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice +/- 1987)

Nose: light and gentle. Malty notes, soft caramel and a little oak. Vanilla. Waxy touches and paraffin candles. Oranges and apples. Honey. Nothing to get excited about but certainly enjoyable. Mouth: same feeling. Cinnamon and oranges, sweet apples in the fore and an oaky bitterness in the background. Light pepper. Honey. Quinces. Fades on tea. Finish: medium long,...

Although some of the most expensive Special Releases (Brora, Port Ellen, Clynelish) are still easily found in stores, this Dailuaine 34 Years 1980 seems to have sold quite well. It maj be a less exciting distillery but it received some raving comments. It’s the first official bottling in years.

Dailuaine 34 yo 1980 (50,9%, OB 2015, Special Releases, refill American oak, 2952 btl.)

Nose: reminded me of some 1972 Caperdonich, in a slightly less warm way. It shares the combination of fruity notes (apricots, yellow plums), waxy notes, honey and polished oak. A little vanilla and almond cream....

Glen Scotia distillery presented three new, or at least repackaged expressions last year, rather soon after the 2013 rebrand which I found to be a little ‘alcopop’ style .

Glen Scotia Victoriana is a new one, matured in bourbon barrels and then finished in Pedro Ximénez sherry casks as well as deep charred oak casks. Bottled at cask strength with no age statement.

Glen Scotia Victoriana (51,5%, OB 2015)

Nose: rather nice, there’s definitely a dark / toasted side to it, alongside crème brûlée and red plums. Hints of damp wood. Blackcurrant jam. A little cookie dough, caramelized...

One of the latest releases in the Archives series: Glen Grant 1990 . A joint bottling with ART Taiwan .

Glen Grant 25 yo 1990 (56,6%, Archives ‘Fishes of Samoa’ 2015, hogshead #15230, 231 btl.)

Nose: oily with lots of bourbon oak characteristics. Plenty of fruits (honeydew melon, oranges, apricots, lime, light banana) with vanilla and light solvents. Hints of green herbs and pepper. Touches of leather. Mouth: same kind of fruitiness (peach, orange, apple, grapefruit) with pepper and honey. Vanilla and malty notes – very naked really. Almonds. Becomes grassier / floral towards the end, with a...

Independent bottler Wemyss Malts announced its first Single Cask releases of 2016. Six casks have been selected, ranging from 13 to 25 years old.

The full cask list of this release comprises:

• “Sizzling Charcoal” Bunnahabhain 1997 , Islay,
• “Coastal Confection” Bowmore 1996 , Islay, Cask Strength
• “The Highland Mariner Clynelish 1997 , Highlands
• “Fallen Apples” Glen Garioch 1989 , Highlands
• “Barrista’s Dram” Craigellachie 2002 , Speyside
• “Toasted Anise” Glenrothes 1996 , Speyside

There are only a few hundred bottles from each cask and the suggested retail prices range from £55 to £110. These bottlings will be available in selected retailers...

Batch 12 of the BenRiach single casks comprised nine casks bottled in juni 2015, ranging from 14 to 38 years old. Surprisingly (majbe), the oldest casks (filled in 1976, 1979, and 1985) were all peated.

We’re trying the BenRiach 1979 single cask #517 and we’ll be trying a few 1990s casks from Batch 12 in the near future.

BenRiach 35 yo 1979 (46,9%, OB 2015, bourbon barrel #517, peated, 181 btl.)

Nose: hey, this recipe works! You get the warm, tropical fruitiness of old BenRiach (mango, papaya, burnt pineapple), as well as subtle smoky notes. Creamy vanilla too...

In oktober 2015, Finnish distillery Teerenpeli released a 10 years old single malt , a first for the country.

The distillery started in 2002 but they rely on an older group of restaurants and a beer brewery. The copper pot stills were manufactured in Scotland but they’re  working with local barley and get their water from an ancient glacier. They’ve recently increased their capacity, up to 160.000 litres of spirit per year.

The Teerenpeli 10 Years was matured in a combination of 85% bourbon and 15% sherry casks. It is available in the Finnish state liquor stores but...

Lockett Bros already impressed us with their Springbank 1993 and Arran 1996 selections, so I was keen to try this third sample of a Bunnahabhain 1991 . It comes from a sherry hogshead but the colour isn’t as dark as you maj expect – majbe it was finished?

Bunnahabhain 23 yo 1991 ‘The Island of Bass’ (49,3%, Morrison & MacKay for Lockett Bros 2015, sherry hogshead #5420)

Nose: a fresh and fruity style, with stewed apples, oranges, honey and lots of golden raisins. Hints of peaches and vanilla. Quite jammy. Creamy chocolate and soft spices as well. Mouth:...

Okay so I finally caved in to some of Diageo’s Special Releases 2015 .

In most places you will find this Brora 37 Year Old is a 1977 vintage, but then other sources claim it’s a multi-vintage, with the youngest component being 37 years old. The bottle itself doesn’t mention a vintage, so I contacted Dr. Nick Morgan and he kindly confirmed that it does contain other vintages than 1977.

Brora 37 Year Old (50,4%, OB 2015, 14th Annual release, refill American oak, 2976 btl.)

Nose: a classic Brora nose. You get the wax candles, the herbal notes,...

BenRiach was one of the first Speyside distilleries to bring out a serious range of peated spirit alongside their classic unpeated whisky. In general I like their peated style and there’s now a 1995 single cask exclusively bottled for the Belgian importer.

BenRiach 20 yo 1995 (51,8%, OB for Premium Spirits Belgium 2015, Oloroso butt #7377, 636 btl.)

Nose: the combination of the Oloroso (which can have a smoky character sometimes) and the actual peat makes it rather earthy. Pipe tobacco, cigar boxes, hints of cured meats and leather. Also raisins, chocolate and dry spices. Mouth: rich and...

The Nectar has a great tradition of selecting Springbank single casks for the Belgian market (usually in time for their Spirits in the Sky festival in november). Keep an eye on them, they’re usually quite outstanding.

The latest release was a fresh rum cask filled in april 2000 and bottled after 15 years of maturation.

Springbank 15 yo 2000 (46,5%, OB for The Nectar 2015, fresh rum cask, 198 btl.)

Nose: it’s easy to detect the minerals and chalky notes of the original 15. Aspirin included. But it is much more rounded, the rum adds plenty of lemon...

Talisker Neist Point (pronounced "Neest Point") is a new no age statement single Maltwhisky exclusive to travel retail shops. It is bottled at the classic Talisker strength of 45.8% ABV.

Neist Point is a blend of whiskies from a wide range of ages which have been matured predominately in refill American oak casks, selected by malt master Craig Wilson for their elegance and refinement.

This is a NAS expression , yet it is meant to be a “premium step up” from the core range, reflected in its price setting of around € 150. However, press details don’t include specific...

Kinclaith must be one of the rarest whiskies. The Lowlands distillery was built inside the Strathclyde grain distillery complex and was only operated between 1957 and 1975.

The vast majority was used in the Long John blends and they never released an official expression. Less than thirty bottlings are known, most of them distilled in 1966-1969 or in 1975. We’re trying the Kinclaith 1966 in the Connoisseur’s Choice range from Gordon & MacPhail . It has a white ‘old map’ label (1990s). There’s an older one (16 Years Old) with a dark brown label.

Kinclaith 1966 (40%, Gordon...

You know the story: Tun 1401 was a hugely successful series for The Balvenie , so they moved to a bigger marrying tun 1509 in 2014. Each batch is now four times bigger than the batches of 1401.

See my review of Tun 1509 Batch #1 .

This second batch consists of 32 casks (23 American oak hogsheads and barrels + 7 European oak sherry butts + 2 sherry hogsheads) selected by David Stewart. It was launched at the end of the summer. The bottle comes with a geeky list of cask numbers and aromatic profiles. No mentions of the...

Balblair 1990 is one of the more sherried expressions in their current vintage collection. It spent around two years finishing in Oloroso sherry butts .

The same 1990 vintage had been released in 2009 (first release) but without the sherry finish.

Balblair 1990 (46%, OB 2014, 2nd release)

Nose: garden fruits (apples, stewed pears) with a good dose of sherry influence in the form of toffee, milk chocolate and spices like ginger and cinnamon. Also a peppery / oaky kick. Mouth: modern, slightly high-pressure sherry maturation again. Raisins, fruit cake, molasses and hints of cherries. Some tobacco notes...

No shortage of 2000s Caol Ila from independent bottlers these days. Maltbarn released a Caol 2001 a couple of weeks ago.

Caol Ila 14 yo 2001 (58,8%, Maltbarn 2015, sherry cask, 194 btl.)

Nose: slightly prickly, but nice. Clean and maritime. Grassy notes and limestone, alongside Matcha tea. Tar. A little fennel and just a hint of sweet apples. Mouth: very powerful an to-the-point. Lemon juice (with more lemony aromatics if you add water) and heavy peat, sweet barley and raw wool. Gets more medicinal after a while, with iodine. Linseed oil. A bit of mocha as well,...

I mentioned GlenDronach Cask Strength as one of my ‘bang for your buck’ highlights of 2015 . More precisely Batch #4 . Today we’re trying its newest sister, Batch #5 .

GlenDronach Cask Strength (55,3%, OB 2015, Batch #5)

Nose: I really like this relatively subtle sherry on GlenDronach. It’s maltier and fruitier than the core range, mostly on honey and golden raisins. Baked apples, cinnamon rolls and fruit cake. Marzipan and orange syrup. Light oak shavings and a spirity touch as well. Mouth: a big malty core, with a heavily sweet and syrupy side but nicely balanced with nutty notes...

It’s obvious why this Bowmore 30 Year Old was nicknamed The Seadragon . It’s presented in a ceramic bottle, as part of a small series that also included a 22 and 25 Year Old (‘Seagull’).

From what I’ve found, the first release was in 1996, with two more releases in 2003 and 2006 (for Asia). The last edition was in 2012, in the current style, straighter (glass) bottles.

Bowmore 30 yo ‘Sea dragon’ (43%, OB +/- 2003)

Nose: papaya, mint and subtle smoke. Very smooth, with overripe tropical fruits in the background (oranges with a bit of mango and melon...

The tenth release from Eiling Lim already: Glenlossie 1992 .

Glenlossie 23 yo 1992 (51,1%, Eiling Lim 2015, 100 btl.)

Nose: a bit shy at first and rather unmodern. Hints of flax and waxy crayons. Apple peel, overripe melon and boiled grains. Hay and old flowers. Wet limestone and chalk. Whiffs of linseed oil and eucalyptus as well. I would probably have guessed this was a Lowlands nose. Mouth: still a subdued, green fruitiness, with more grassy notes and flashes of minerals. Vague peaches but they are gone quickly. Chamomile tea. Faint floral notes. Liquorice and herbal potions,...

While the regular Hedonism is a vatted grain, this Compass Box Hedonism – 10th Anniversary Limited Edition was a single grain whisky, distilled in 1971 at the Invergordon distillery.

Contrary to other Compass Box releases, this was bottled from a single cask , which means it was very very limited.

Invergordon 38 yo 1971 Hedonism – 10th Anniversary (46%, Compass Box 2010, cask #3, 120 btl.)

Nose: closer to a good bourbon than a grain whisky, I’d say. Nice leather and banana notes, some toasted oak and wood glue / varnish. Vanilla cake. Quite fruity (figs, cherries). Hints...