This single cask Teeling 24 Years was bottled for the tenth anniversary of The Nectar in Belgium.

It is special whiskey in the sense that it was distilled from crystal malt , a practice long utilized at Bushmills . Crystal malts are made by cooking malted barley in a pressure cooker, prior to kilning it. The cooking process breaks down the starches into sugars more efficiently than in the normal procedure. The heat from the kilning then caramelizes these extra sugars which introduces specific aromas and flavours. The spirit was matured in a sherry cask .

Teeling ‘Vintage...

Throughout the year, The Nectar has been releasing Anniversary Edition bottlings. Number 9 in this series is this 24 years old Highland Park 1992 .

Highland Park 24 yo 1992 (50%, The Nectar of the Daily Drams 2016)

Nose: lovely fruity start, with plenty of apples and fresh oranges, moving towards grapefruits and a Clynelish-like waxy, mineral side. Hints of heather and dried herbs. Ginger, perhaps a hint of eucalyptus. Soft smoky touches. Just a bit of green banana. All good, great spirit and little cask influence. Mouth: same zesty notes, initially lemons, then more luscious pink grapefruit....

A lot of exclusive releases for The Nectar lately on the blog of course – they are probably the biggest whisky importers in our country and obviously they’re doing what they can to impress at their own festival…

This is a bespoke bottling by Compass Box for the Tenth Anniversary of The Nectar in Belgium. John Glaser took some input from The Nectar and created a blended malt with two major parts.

Around 50% is Ardbeg matured in recharred American barrels. The other half is the classic ‘Highland malt’ blend which is used by Compass Box for so many...

This is the other member of the Experimental series so far: Glenfiddich IPA Experiment .

The Speyside Craft Brewery created an IPA using British hops (Challenger hops among others) which was filled into American oak casks that had previously held Glenfiddich for around 12 years. The beer acquired some of the taste of the whisky and was bottled. The casks were then filled with an aged Glenfiddich for a finishing period of a few months.

They didnt’t try to create a whisky that tasted like beer, they were simply aiming for an extra layer of aroma. To me it sounds a...

Over the past week-end, Belgian importer The Nectar organized the tenth edition of its Spirits in the Sky fair. Here are a few highlights of what I saw on the tables (and underneath)…

Compass Box

I started with the Whisky de Table from Compass Box , chilled. An undemanding aperitif, very light and barley-driven. I can’t say I detected the Caol Ila smokiness but there’s definitely some straightforward young Clynelish. Apples, waxy notes and more grainy notes on the palate. Good concept, good execution, just not something I would have a whole bottle of.

The bespoke bottling for...

What to say about this new Teeling 24 Year Old ? It’s part of the new high end of the range (together with a Teeling 33 Year Old ) and replaces the Silver 21 Years  (now in the bottle of the Teeling 15yo Revival ). Presented last week, we were lucky that it was already available at Spirits in the Sky last week-end.

The 24 is composed with 1991 casks  (ex-bourbon / ex-Sauternes) and we’ve seen many of these from independent bottlers. I loved all of them, because they have the typical Irish fruitiness but also hints of peat that are...

Highland Park announced the release of its Highland Park Fire Edition , the successor of the Ice Edition and the last of this two-part series. The Fire Edition was matured in 100% refill Port wine seasoned casks for 15 years and is bottled at a strength of 45,2% ABV.

The Port wine seasoning is a first for Highland Park, we’re keen to find out how this blends with the distillery character. Although it is called a limited release, there will be 28000 bottles available for around € 215. It will start to appear on shelves towards the end of november....

Eifelboys, De Tongerse Whiskyvrienden, Whiskyclub Luxembourg, Vinothek Massen – three clubs and a shopping centre from the Eastern parts of Belgium / Luxemburg. Some of the people behind these names are the same so it’s no surprise they tend to share bottlings (check their Tomatin 1988 , Caol Ila 1990 or Laphroaig 1997 ).

This time a cask of Glenturret 1986 was sourced from Signatory Vintage and shared between the Eifelboys and Tongerse Whiskyvrienden .

Glenturret 29 yo 1986 (49,6%, Signatory Vintage for Eifelboys & De Tongerse Whiskyvrienden 2016, hogshead #301, 173 btl.)

Nose: beautifully fruity, with sweet...

Another XO / Very Old blended malt , this time bottled by Whisky-Fässle . For similar bottlings we’ve heard rumours about old (possibly underproof) casks of Macallan / Glenrothes / Tamdhu / Highland Park – former distilleries from the Highland Distillers group. It’s pretty much the malt base for The Famous Grouse, sometimes blended with some younger whisky to get more punch, and matured further. This one could be similar. Or majbe not.

Fine Blended Malt ‘Very Old’ (45,2%, Whisky-Fässle 2016, sherry butt)

Nose: as expected, a rather dry and old-style sherry profile. Walnuts and hazelnuts, as well...

I can’t say I’m in a Christmas mood, yet this 2016 limited edition of Big Peat has been available for a while now. It is the 6th release for the holiday season. I tried the 2013 edition as well, let’s see how this compares.

Although traditionally Big Peat primarily contains whiskies from Ardbeg, Caol Ila, Bowmore and Port Ellen, this one contains malt from all active distilleries on Islay plus the long-closed Port Ellen of course.

On the tin we sea a red-and-white version of Pig Peat, with 9 Christmas stockings hanging from his fireplace, representing the 9 distilleries included...

The Macallan surprised us with its latest expression: Macallan 12 Years Double Cask brings the age statement back to the entry-level range. Surprising because in 2013 The Macallan was at the forefront of the NAS movement with its 1824 ‘colour’ series .

Originally a US exclusive, Macallan Double Cask is now available in Europe as well. Like the 12 Year Old Sherry Oak, it is a vatting of American and European Oak sherry seasoned casks , albeit with a higher proportion of American oak (supposedly around 50:50). It’s bottled at 40% – apparently they went for 43% in the US....

This is the Macallan 12 Years Sherry Oak,  the entry-level all-sherry Macallan I was talking about yesterday while reviewing the new Macallan 12 Years Double Cask .

Sherry oak is really the core of the Macallan legacy (the 18 Sherry is a legend), and of course they’ve never phased them out completely, but with the Fine Oak and 1824 series they have been less prominent – and less available – than before.

Macallan 12 yo Sherry Oak (40%, OB 2016)

Nose: definitely richer than the Double Cask. Less flinty matchsticks and (a tad) less caramel. Instead you get...

Wemyss Malts – Batch Strength is a new series of cask strength versions of the existing The Hive , Spice King and Peat Chimney , three blended malts that have been around for quite a while now.

The Batch Strength releases have been selected and blended with casks of single malt whiskies from over 10 Scottish distilleries.

They seem to have dropped the 8 Year / 12 Year age statements that were on the previous lower-strength bottlings. All of them will be available soon for around € 50-55.

Wemyss The Hive ‘Batch strength’ (54,5%, Wemyss Malts...

The new Time series from The Whisky Exchange also includes this Glen Moray 8 Year Old . Perhaps a lesser known name, but one that shouldn’t be underestimated .

Glen Moray 8 yo (57,8%, The Whisky Exchange ‘Time series’ 2016, 251 btl.)

Nose: nice. There’s a sweet fruitiness, some light herbal notes (thyme syrup) and lemon candy. Unripe pineapple. Gummi bears. Vanilla biscuits and rice custard sprinkled with cinnamon. A light hint of wax and gouache as well. A pleasant surprise, young, very vibrant. Mouth: same brightness and sweet side. Plenty of citrusy freshness, sherbet notes and tinned...

Compass Box Spice Tree Extravaganza is a special edition which celebrates the tenth anniversary of the original blended malt The Spice Tree.

It was composed as an older version of the original, with more first-fill sherry cask influence and some of the hybrid casks that had Sessile oak cask heads. It includes malt whiskies from Glen Ord , Benrinnes , Allt-a-Bhainne , Clynelish , Dailuaine and Teaninich .

Spice Tree Extravaganza (46%, Compass Box 2016, 12.240 btl.)

Nose: rather sweet, with a round fruitiness.  Blackberries and raspberries, plum jam, peach candy and baked pear. Rather candied. Some vanilla...

One of the most anticipated expressions in Diageo’s Special Releases , now that most of the others are aimed at collectors: Lagavulin 12 Year Old .

Actually for me this is also one of the most boring releases. Not that it’s bad whisky, but the fact that it’s always there and always good makes me more interested in the truly special releases somehow. In any case it’s a favourite of many whisky lovers, for good reason.

Lagavulin 12 yo (57,7%, OB 2016, 16th release)

Nose: it seems to be getting more fierce (some would say more focused) year after year....

Glenfiddich Project XX (‘Project Twenty’) is part of a new Experimental Series , together with the Glenfiddich IPA . Glenfiddich maj not have a long-time fame for being the most creative or experimental distillery, but they’re proving us wrong by releasing the first of supposedly many new, unique experiments. The concepts will be very wide, from wood experiments over different yeast strains and malt types to conceptual compositions.

Project XX is a vatting made by all twenty brand ambassadors of Glenfiddich . They came together at the distillery and picked six casks each, based on the age, wood type and...

Craigellachie will soon launch a Double Casked Limited Edition , a 21 years old whisky, distilled in 1994 and bottled at cask strength 56,2%. Not much details about the cask are given on the label, but should be a robust whisky, lusciously spiced, with vanilla and aniseed, imbued with the richness of Oloroso sherry . Only 456 bottles are available.

Tullibardine launched a 46 years old 1970 vintage in the Custodians Collection . It is bottled at 40,5% (supposedly cask strength) and only 400 bottles are available. It is composed from two sherry hogsheads, both first- and second-fill.

Ledaig seems...

The Half-Century Blend is the third release by The Blended Whisky Company , a subsidiary of Master of Malt / Atom Supplies.

This blend is over 50 years old and contains malt and grain whiskies distilled before the ‘whisky boom’ of the late 1960s and 1970s – before the shift towards increased yields, they say. In a way this blend honours less efficient barley strains, floor maltings, inefficient yeasts, lenghty fermentation times and direct-fired stills.

The Half-Century Blend 50 yo (45,5%, Master of Malt 2016, Batch #1, 768 btl.)

Nose: lovely buttery apple aromas, alongside polished furniture and warm...

In times when distilleries are hiding the age of their whiskies because they fear consumers would think the price is not justified, artisan whisky creators Compass Box add a couple of litres of 3 years old whisky to an otherwise old blended malt. They prominently name it 3 Year Old Deluxe and thus probably create the most expensive 3 year-old in the history of Scotch whisky.

Is that a middle finger or what? And beautiful PR as well. It’s sad that some people were appalled by the price and didn’t get the joke…

They are not legally allowed to disclose...