The label of this Port Charlotte 13 Years bottled by That Boutique-y Whisky Company contains the the molecules that make up the phenolic compounds in peated whisky: Phenol, O-Cresol, M-Cresol, P-Cresol and Guaiacol.

Port Charlotte 13 yo (52,7%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company 2018, Batch #6, 1317 btl.)

Nose: the farmy kind of peat showing (subtle) sheep stables and farmyard. Burnt heather. Nougatty notes. Vague fruity hints in the background (I would say peaches and melons, plus a little guava). Moss and salty seaweed too. Light sweet herbs. Mouth: a similar fruitiness in the background, with plenty of medicinal...

I turned 40 today but we don’t have to go into that, it’s just a regular Thursday…

Instead of digging up a few whiskies with the same age, I went for a couple of legendary peated drams distilled in my birth year .

We’ll start in the lower ABV’s with the first Ardbeg released after LVMH took over the distillery, and a follow-up release. There was one more in 1999 if I’m not mistaken. Then we have a rather mineral Brora and the last of the Port Ellen Rare Malt releases.

Ardbeg 1978 (43%, OB 1997)

Nose:...

Ah Ben Nevis . Not the most highly regarded distillery, even though their standard Ben Nevis 10 Years is just cracking whisky.

Le Gus’t, the French distributor of whisky, beer and gin has already bottled a pair of Ben Nevis casks back in 2016 and now they’re doing the same with this Ben Nevis 2007 from first-fill bourbon wood and Ben Nevis 1990 from a Port Pipe.

Ben Nevis 11 yo 2007 (56,2%, Le Gus’t ‘Selection XVI’ 2018, first-fill bourbon cask #17, 228 btl.)

Nose: rather sweet and classic, not as whacky as they sometimes come by. Sweet...

This small batch release No. 270 from Wolfburn distillery was presented in mars 2018. It was matured in tiny 100-litre first-fill bourbon casks to speed up maturation. Contrary to its predecessor Batch 128 it is unpeated.

Wolfburn Batch N°270 (46%, OB 2018, 6000 btl.)

Nose: really nice nose of white nectarines, juicy pears, Cantaloup melons and orange blossoms. Donuts with vanilla glazing. Coconut cream. Really attractive. Secondary notes show leather and a subtle touch of varnish or glue, which is not out of place here. Mouth: sweet and honeyed, perhaps a little more simple now. Apples, pears, apricot...

The latest bottling from Asta Morris is this Glen Keith 1994 . Part of this cask was bottled for its Japanese partner GaiaFlow, and a small parcel was shipped to Passion for Whisky in the Netherlands.

Glen Keith 23 yo 1994 (52.5%, Asta Morris for GaiaFlow / Passion for Whisky 2018, AM114, refill bourbon, 114 + 42 btl.)

Nose: oh yes. Immediately forthcoming, with marshmallows, honeysuckle and apricots. Also hints of bananas and guava. Sponge cake. Light beehive notes (pollen and such). A bit of golden syrup. Tarte tatin with vanilla cream. Excellent. Mouth: same feeling of sweet...

Wolfburn Langskip...

This single cask Springbank 2003 was a 13 years old UK exclusive. It was bottled from a fresh sherry butt, most likely Oloroso.

Springbank 13 yo ‘Single Cask’ (56,1%, OB 2017, fresh sherry butt, 540 btl.)

Nose: the Springbank spirit is still in the foreground. Beeswax, greasy metal tools, a subtle hint of peppery peat. Then more gentle sherry notes: raisins, toffee, candied ginger and a little salted caramel. Buttered toast. Mouth: big and pungent, the ginger is back with nutmeg and citrus peel. Hints of dates, berries and red candy underneath. Herbal sweets and metallic notes. Hints...

Except for a Laphroaig 10 bottled in 1968 and a series of Cask Strength batches , I never came around reviewing the Laphroaig 10 Year Old . So here goes, one of the classic Islay whiskies.

Laphroaig 10 yo (40%, OB +/- 2018)

Nose: I think Islay whisky deserves a higher strength but this is better than I remembered. Very medicinal, with antiseptics, iodine and bandages, then more towards tar and scorched earth. Bonfire. Smoked fish. Happy to say there’s also a nice juicy fruity note in the background (smoked peach?). Mouth: peat smoke, salt, antiseptics again. Less...

Until recently, GlenAllachie was rarely seen as a single malt. Then in 2017 a consortium around Billy Walker, who had sold BenRiach and GlenDronach, bought the distillery and gave it a major overhaul, including an entire core range of four expressions: GlenAllachie 10 Years, 12 Years, 18 Years and 25 Years.

We’ll start in the upper range with the GlenAllachie 18 Year Old , which is matured in a combination of bourbon, Oloroso, Pedro Ximénez and virgin oak casks (although sources seem to differ).

GlenAllachie 18 yo (46%, OB 2018)

Nose: very fresh, with a bright combination of...

Ah, yes, those Glenrothes 1997 bottlings. Always the talk of the town among sherry lovers and in high demand on the second hand market. But as you maj know, I have difficulties with their profile .

Today two releases from Eiling Lim and Whisky-Fässle head-to-head. The Eiling Lim releases was apparently bottled in 2016 but it wasn’t made available until recently.

Glenrothes 20 yo 1997 (47,9%, Whisky-Fässle 2017, sherry butt)

Nose: bloated sherry, which means lots of pumpernickel, mushrooms, damp moss, celeriac, roasted chestnuts and all that. Tobacco and chocolate. Dates of course. Mouth: same style, more on...

Kingsbarns Founders’ Reserve Inaugural release

Kingsbarns distillery has released its first single Maltwhisky, the Kingsbarns Founders’ Reserve Inaugural release . It will only be available to the Founders Club members in december as the first in a series of five annual bottlings. The expression comprises several casks filled in 2015 under the consultancy of the late Dr Jim Swan.

If you’re interested, a membership is £ 500 plus delivery charges. Otherwise you could wait until early 2019 for one of the public releases.

Bruichladdich 1991 Yellow Submarine

Bruichladdich released a 25 years old whisky – the last...

Gordon & MacPhail is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its Connoisseurs Choice range this year with the release of 37 new bottlings from 23 different distilleries. Some of them are over 30 years old and come in a special bottle and a wooden box. There are also three new entrants to the Discovery range.

After that wonderful Glen Elgin 1997 in the Connoisseurs Choice range, I’m particularly interested in similar first-fill sherry casks. So this Aberfeldy 1993 caught my attention (as well as that Mortlach 1987 above, which I will review shortly).

Aberfeldy 25 yo 1993 (58,8%, Gordon...

Widow Jane Distillery is a bottler (they say ‘curator’) based in Brooklyn, New York. While they now have their own distilling equipment, most of their range, like this Widow Jane 10 Year Old bourbon , isn’t distilled there but sourced from an undisclosed distillery in Kentucky.

The name of the whiskey comes from the water source: it is brought down to bottling strength with pure limestone mineral water from the Widow Jane mine in Rosendale, NY. You can even buy this water in bottled form from them, but I’m not much of a water fetishist when it comes to diluting...

Some time ago I bought a Lagavulin Distillers Edition tasting set from The Whisky Exchange . I thought it would be an interesting exercise to try five subsequent Distillers Editions from Lagavulin head-to-headk, starting with the 1995 vintage (the one bottled in 2013, there was already a 1995 in 2011) and leading up to the 2000 vintage bottled in 2016.

As you know Diageo’s Distillers Editions are always finished or double matured in sherry casks, in this case Pedro Ximénez .

A quick look at Whiskybase tells us the general appreciation for these Lagavulins shows a clear downward trend, from...

Pete’Series is a peated Islay blended malt matured in bourbon casks and finished in a Pedro Ximénez sherry cask . It comes in the same style of bottle as the Maman Brigitte blended rum from the same bottler.

Pete’Series (46%, Asta Morris)

Nose: the PX is light, it brings lots of grape sweetness, as well as sugared lemon juice and marmalade. Fresh figs majbe, but very little of the usual dark / dried fruits. Underneath there is a medium-bodied young Islay profile. Biscuits, ginger, oily peat and olive brine. Mouth: not very punchy at first, but going crescendo....

Wow, where did this come from? Miltonduff this old, I can’t think of a precedent in recent years, except two 1978 casks bottled recently by Cadenheads. Those were bourbon casks, but from the colour we would assume this bottling by That Boutique-y Whisky Company is from a sherry cask.

Miltonduff 40 yo (47%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company 2018, Batch #4, 50 cl, 478 btl.)

Nose: a punchy, rather winey nose with sour tobacco, red berries and lots of old, varnished oak (just a hint of glue). Sandalwood, blood oranges and orange peel. Raspberries and sour cherries. Some leather....

Ardbeg Drum

Here’s the Ardbeg Day release for 2019: Ardbeg Drum . Pictured above is the Committee only edition that will come first, bottled at a higher 52% ABV.

Let the rumbustious revelry begin… as they say on the label. Ardbeg Drum is matured in ex-bourbon casks and finished in rum casks from the Americas to bring notes of pine resin, woodsmoke, banana and pineapple, as well as lavender (!), liquorice and vanilla.

GlenDronach Forgue 10 Years

Already pre-announced during a travel retail summit in mars, but now available in the wild: GlenDronach Forgue 10 Years . It...

This Macduff 1997 was matured in a bourbon hogshead for 20 years. It was bottled by Valinch & Mallet as part of their Lost Drams Collection.

Macduff 20 yo 1997 (51,3%, Valinch & Mallet 2017, bourbon hogshead #17-0120, 296 btl.)

Nose: fairly light and neutral, with lemons and apple peelings, blossomy notes and honey. Vanilla pastry with glaze on top. Sweet lime candy. Fresh, almost scented oak as well. A light hint of bubblegum. Summery whisky in a way. Mouth: a combination of sweet fruity notes (citrus, pear, berries) with big gingery notes, walnuts and a bitter edge...

Independent bottler Eiling Lim has a new Zen series which has a very minimal label design with a picture of cut wood, showing its rings.

While officially an unnamed Orkney Malt 2000 , there’s a good indication we’re dealing with the viking distillery, if you know what I mean.

Orkney Malt 17 yo 2000 (51,8%, Eiling Lim ‘Zen label’ 2017, 96 btl.)

Nose: great style. Chalk and other mineral notes, some greasy hints as well as some leatherette. Sea spray and beach sand. Candy apples and a nice jammy touch of yellow plums in the background. Light grassy,...

Independent bottler North Star Spirits have only been operating since 2016, but the company founded by former AD Rattray ambassador Iain Croucher has already built up a nice reputation.

The blended malt Vega 40 Years was the second Vega, after a 23 year-old expression. It was distilled in oktober 1977 and matured in a combination of Spanish and American oak before being bottled at cask strength in januari 2018.

We won’t try to guess the provenance, but remember we saw quite a few ‘malt bases’ in the past few years, basically different combinations of Tamdhu, Glenrothes, Macallan and other Edrington...