Here’s a another one of these (Northern) Irish whiskey casks #84xx-85xx. Distilled in 1991 and based on the colour, this is probably from an ex-bourbon barrel.

Should be different from the excellent cask #8583 in the same series, but probably equally interesting.

Emerald Isle 24 yo 1991 (52,6%, Speciality Drinks 2016, cask #8507)

Nose: the unsherried counterpart of cask #8583. It’s all about the fruit salad: bananas, pineapples, passion fruits, lime. Also hints of green oak and mint. Light vanilla marshmallow. Mouth: fruit galore again. Same sherbety tropical fruits, with a bit more grapefruit now. Granadilla. It fades...

I’ve always thought the maritime Talisker character works best with a certain dryness. The sweet Amoroso sherry in the Distillers Edition rounds off its rugged character and smoothens it all out.

I tried the most recent 2016 release of Talisker Distillers Edition and decided to put it against an older sample of the Distillers Edition bottled in 2009 .

Talisker 1998 ‘Distillers Edition’ (45,8%, OB 2009, Amoroso sherry finish, TD-S: 5LX)

Nose: a fairly warm start, with nice smoke and charred wood. There’s some dark chocolate in the background and thick raisins. Red apple. Trademark peppery notes. Hints...

The Clynelish Select Reserve “flavour-led concept” (no age statement, cask strength… and a high price) was this year applied to Cragganmore . Without an age statement or even a name, it becomes hard to refer to, but luckily there are very few releases from this distillery. I guess this will simply be known as the Cragganmore 2016 .

It was composed from three cask types : refill bourbon hogsheads, rejuvenated (recharred) bourbon and ex-bodega European oak sherry butts.

Cragganmore (55,7%, OB 2016, Special Release, 4932 btl.)

Nose: I really like this one. There’s sweet pear with apple,...

When it comes to late 1990s Clynelish , Jeroen from The Bonding Dram has a certain fame to defend, as many think his Clynelish 1997 was one of the best around (and there were a whole list of sister casks at that time).

This time he picked a Clynelish 1996 from the Signatory Vintage stocks, bottled in the Un-Chillfiltered Collection .

Clynelish 19 yo 1996 (50,9%, Signatory Vintage ‘Un-Chillfiltered’ for The Bonding Dram, Single Maltwhisky Shop & Prima Vinum 2016, hogshead #6406, 269 btl.)

Nose: classic nose, with waxy notes, (sweetened) lemon juice, lemon candy, unripe pineapples...

Glenfarclas has an extensive range, with no less than nine age statements between 10 and 40 Year Old. Glenfarclas 21 Years sits in the upper half, but it can still regularly be found for under € 100, quite reasonable in today’s climate and not far the Glenfarclas 25 Year Old .

This is part of the excellent  Whisky Advent Calendar from Drinks by the Dram.

Glenfarclas 21 yo (43%, OB 2016)

Nose: quite delicate and malty, with less sherry than we’re used to. Butter biscuits, baked apples, a little vanilla. Orange peel. Hints of banana and toffee as...

Compass Box Rivals

Compass Box Rivals is a new blended malt in their bespoke whisky range (which included Double Single, Optimism, The Nectar and others in the past). Rivals was created for ‘rival’ whisky communities in New York and Massachusetts.

It contains mostly Macallan from first-fill bourbon casks, with some Imperial and Teaninich whisky and a significant parcel of blended malt from French oak.

Benromach Heritage 1973 (cask #4606)

Benromach announced a new 42 years old 1973 cask #4606 (refill hogshead). The release is exclusive to the UK and limited to just 52 bottles of around € 1650....

There are several whisky subscription formulas on the market. The idea is that you regularly get a set of whisky samples with a short introduction and often the possibility to buy a whole bottle afterwards.

Tasting Collection is a Dutch subscription service started in 2014. They offer whisky subscriptions but also fixed sets of other drinks (gin, cognac, vodka, rum, olive oil, tea…). Their monthly whisky subscription consists of six 25ml tubes and is always curated by a whisky expert who writes a small introduction to each whisky in a small booklet. I think this is quite unique and it...

Some of the best undisclosed Speyside malts I’ve tried from independent bottlers were bottled from a Fino sherry butt . Image the excitement when I found out about this 1975 release from Whisky-Fässle !

Speyside Region Malt 41 yo 1975 (47,4%, Whisky-Fässle 2016, Fino sherry butt)

Nose: waxed papers, with subtle fruits (apricots, tangerines, Williams pears) and orange blossom. Not as warm and juicy as a Caperdonich 1972 but in the same league. Hints of moist cedar, a soft tobacco note as well. Eucalyptus. Mouth: ah, great. Full of juicy pears and apple cider (or Calvados indeed), then also...

Emerald Isle is a new series from Speciality Drinks . It includes only Irish whiskeys, three until now: two 24yo 1991s and one 26yo 1989.

We’re now trying the Emerald Isle 1991 cask #8583 , a single malt from an undisclosed (Northern?) Irish distillery (based on other indie releases, we’re pretty sure where it comes from). It is lightly peated and from the colour we’re expecting some sherry influence.

Emerald Isle 24 yo 1991 (57%, Speciality Drinks 2016, cask #8583)

Nose: reminds us of the Maria label – enough said. Silky sherry influence, with red berries and...

One of the upcoming bottlings from Claxton’s is this Glenrothes 1997 . A really dark whisky from a sherry butt.

Glenrothes 19 yo 1997 (53,7%, Claxton’s 2016, sherry butt #7154, 669 btl.)

Nose: a sherry bomb alright, including a sulphury taint. Mulch in my garden. Some meaty notes. That aside: dark chocolate, truckloads of dark plums and figs. Sticky toffee pudding. Tobacco. Gingerbread. It resembles some of the thickest GlenDronach releases. It does get a tad brighter after a while (orange peel). Mouth: again deeply sherried (PX style). Treacle, chocolate truffles, liquorice and preserved cherries. Plenty of oak...

Drinks by the Dram is the sample service from Master of Malt . It gives spirits enthusiasts and connoisseurs the opportunity to try a wax-sealed 3cl sample of over 5000 drinks. I order their whisky samples every few weeks and I can heartily recommend them.

For the festive season they came up with a Whisky Advent Calendar , a box with a different dram behind each of the 24 windows. It’s a brilliant gift for whisky lovers, or simply for yourself to count down to Christmas in style.

Whisky countdown to Christmas!

I’ve had a sneak peek at this year’s...

Highland Park Fire Edition , the successor of the Ice Edition and the last of this combo. The Fire Edition was matured for 15 years in 100% refill Port wine seasoned casks , a new type of finishing for Highland Park.

It’s not entirely clear what they mean with the cask description, but we expect it to be casks seasoned with Port wine, used for another whisky and then re-used for this particular expression. The Port influence should be subtle – not a bad thing if you ask me.

Highland Park 15 yo ‘Fire Edition’ (45,2%, OB 2016,...

I hadn’t tried official Port Ellen releases since the 12th release in 2012, simply because I couldn’t find a sample, let alone afford a bottle. I’ve tried few independent Port Ellen expressions the last few years for that matter – it is now a truly rare whisky.

Now I had the chance to try the 2016 release . It is 37 years old.

Port Ellen 37 yo 1978 ‘16th release’ (55,2%, OB 2016, 2940 btl.)

Nose: starts earthy and coastal, on fishing nets, damp canvas, a bit of shoe polish. Lots of leathery notes as well. Waxed papers. Thinking about...

Some time ago, I received three samples of Golden Grain whiskies bottled in the Cooper’s Choice range. Two had been bottled before, the third was a cask sample. I was asked to give my opinion, and in the meantime it has been bottled for True-Whisky in Berlin, Germany.

They are blended grain whiskies , all blended at birth . It is a rare practice, supposedly started by Joseph Hobbs in the late 1950s. He owned the Lochside and Ben Nevis distilleries, where he produced malt and grain whisky. Both were used for blended whiskies like Sandy Macnab , and Hobbs...

I quickly tried this Glen Spey 1978 when it came out, thought it wasn’t good enough to buy , and tried it again – in better conditions – at the final Fulldram tasting some time ago.

That’s right, the renowned whisky club from Leuven has put an end to its whisky tastings. After eleven years they thought it was getting too hard to stick to their standards of the highest quality whisky, at least within reasonable membership prices. After all they started in a climate of Brora 30, Glen Garioch 1968, Ardbeg 1967, Springbank Local Barley 1966, Macallan 1965, Ben...

Another bottling from the latest batch of Wemyss single cask expressions: Bunnahabhain 2001 from a huge sherry puncheon .

Bunnahabhain 14 yo 2001 ‘Hickory Molasses Glaze’ (46%, Wemyss Malts 2016, sherry puncheon, 771 btl.)

Nose: rich and sherried, with plenty of tobacco notes at first. Some heather honey and roasted nuts. Bitter oranges. Candied figs. Hints of barbecue glaze and smoking hickory indeed. Wet leaves. Overall nice aromas but rather sharp and winey, with some vinegary touches as well. Mouth: same ballpark. Seville oranges, milk chocolate, sour plums and light brine. Burnt notes in the background. Pepper and...

The Masterpieces are a special series from The Whisky Exchange with bottlings that are personally selected by the owner Sukhinder Singh. It is meant to represent the pinnacle of excellence.

This year’s release was a sherry matured Laphroaig 1996 .

Laphroaig 20 yo 1996 (50,6%, The Whisky Exchange ‘Masterpieces’ 2016, PX cask, 516 btl.)

Nose: huge sherry, really huge. It’s full of red berries, forest fruits jam, cherries in syrup, candied oranges and rum & raisins.  Nicely juicy, with a dry layer behind it, more on chocolate, charcoal and tarry ropes than on actual peat smoke. Just a...

This is the latest 2016 edition of the Lagavulin Distiller’s Edition , the Pedro Ximénez finished version of the Lagavulin 16 , if you like. It seems to be arriving in most stores, although some will try to wait until their stocks of the 2015 edition are gone of course.

Like the other releases from Lagavulin this year, it carries the 200th Anniversary seal on the box.

Lagavulin 2000 ‘Distiller’s Edition’ (43%, OB 2016, PX finish, lgv. 4/505)

Nose: the downward sweetness trend of the past few years is still going – very good. More menthol and eucalyptus...

One more anniversary bottling from  The Nectar , this time in a more affordable price region:   a Glen Keith 1991 selected from the Signatory Vintage stocks. The Nectar has bottled quite a few Glen Keith 1991-1992 releases in the past and they’ve been consistently pleasant.

Glen Keith 25 yo 1991 (46%, Signatory Vintage ‘Un-Chillfiltered Collection’ for 10th Anniversary of The Nectar 2016, bourbon barrel #73636, 202 btl.)

Nose: rich and fruity, quite typically bourbon matured. Pears, apples and tangerine, a little banana and peaches. Mirabelles. Hints of vanilla sugar, mint and hay. Lightly tropical, very attractive. Mouth: juicy...

In a recent Diageo masterclass I was able to try the 2016 editions of the Brora and Port Ellen Special Releases. Not much introduction required.

Brora 38 Year Old , distilled in 1977 .

Brora 38 yo 1977 (48,6%, OB 2016, 15th Annual release, refill American oak hogsheads + refill European oak butts, 2984 btl.)

Nose: a truly unique mix of warm peaches and yellow plums, mixed with lots of oily notes, leather and light farmy touches (not the sheep stables, but hay, leafy notes and wet dogs). Something dusty / musty as well, in the best way...