Armorik Double Maturation – Whisky Breton Single Malt, NAS, 46 % The time has come for Distillerie Warenghem to present their products for the Norwegian whisky public. Three of their products will be made avialbel in norway on Friday mars 6. One of them is the Armorik Double Maturation – Whisky Breton Single Malt. I have previously written […]...

Armorik Millésime 2002 – 2014 Edition, 12 YO, 55,7 % This is the second of three new releases from Distillerie Warenghem to be made available in Norway on mars 6, 2015. This is the third annual edition of the Armorik Millésime 2002. The previous releases have been 10 and 11 years old. The Armorik Millésime 2002 – […]...

Ledaig 1997 16 YO Svenska Eldvatten, 50,3 % Time now for a brand new bottling from independent bottler Svenska Eldvatten. This is a peated whisky from Tobermory Distillery, a Ledaig. The  Ledaig 1997 16 YO Svenska Eldvatten was distilled in oktober 1997, matured in a bourbon hogshead (cask #SE038) and bottled in september 2014. The […]...

Forgotten sample n°2. This Karuizawa 1984 cask #3692 was bottled in 2012. A big part was allocated to Sweden but it was also found in other countries.

Karuizawa 1984 (61,6%, OB 2012, sherry butt #3692, 359 btl.)

Nose: dark prunes and dates, with a box of chocolates that has just been opened. Unfortunately it also shows heavy gunpowder notes and matchsticks, dried mushrooms and a bit of marmite. Sulphur, yes. Beef jerky. Leather. Roasted nuts. A few heady notes too, in between soy sauce and wine vinegar. Not really my style. Mouth: again quite heavy, with less fruity...

Bunnahabhain Ceòbanach, NAS, 46,3 % The Bunnahabhain Ceòbanach (pronounced ‘kyaw-bin-och’) is a new release from the Islay distillery Bunnahabhain. It is a limited release, matured in bourbon casks, bottled in 2014. The name Ceòbanach means ‘smoky mist’ in Scots Gaelic. The Bunnahabhain Ceòbanach will be released for sale in Norway on mars 6 at NOK 700 […]...

When I agreed to take the affirmative for the bourbon shortage argument, the words of Four Roses master distiller Jim Rutledge echoed in my mind: “We are having trouble meeting demand.” There’s a thought that the bourbon shortage is a bunch of bull mess smelling of marketing foul. But Rutledge is the one guy in this business I trust above all. His words are the golden truth.

Fast forward a few months after Rutledge uttered his comments, I broke the story of Four Roses discontinuing its Limited Edition Single Barrel on my blog. That’s when I knew that the bourbon...

Blimey. I have so many samples that I tend to forget some of the interesting ones that are hidden in my drawers… how stupid is that? Not that I mind discovering three Karuizawa expressions that I hadn’t tried, of course. One of them is this Karuizawa 1981 Sakura cask #158 , a release of only 45 bottles! The rarest Karuizawa ever?

Sakura is the typical Japanese sherry blossom. It was a special release for Prineus , the German distributor for No.1 Drinks and Karuizawa.

Karuizawa 31 yo 1981 (62,8%, OB 2012, Sakura series, sherry cask #158, 45 btl.)...

Glenlivet 25 yo 1973 (57,2%, Signatory Vintage 1998, sherry butt #3307, 570 btl.)

Nose: heavy sherry, GlenDronach-style. Raisins, figs, some orange peel. Quite oaky, with peppery notes, menthol and eucalyptus, as well as bit of smoke. Hints of cedar and pine needles. Mouth: the mentholated hints now become frankly medicinal, bringing cough syrup and antiseptics. Also big toasted wood and ashes. Charred meat. Walnut cake, bitter chocolate and plums in brandy. Oak polish, pepper and nutmeg. Quite firm, even a little aggressive but water helps. Finish: long, herbal, with liquorice and burnt sugar.

This Glenlivet has seen some very...

Imperial 1990 21 YO The Whisky Agency, 52,7 % A very good friend gave me a sample of this goodlooking whisky, a 21 YO Imperial from the bottling series Romantiques released by the independent bottler The Whisky Agency. Actually this is only the third Imperial I have ever tasted. Imperial Distillery was located in Speyside, but it closed […]...

Eiktyrne, 3 YO, 46 % Finally we have a new Norwegian whisky to review! Eiktyrne will be released in the Autumn of 2015, but we managed to sneak a taste at Bergen International Whisky & Beer Festival 2015. The company behind this release is Det Norske Brenneri (The Norwegian Distillery). This used to be Agder Brenneri, […]...

Chichibu On The Way is the work in progress of Ichiro Akuto. He founded his distillery in 2008 at the foot of a mountain in the region of Saitama, and he is on the way to release his first 5 years old whisky.

The current Chichibu On The Way is a vatting of three casks :

• one Mizunara oak hogshead filled in 2008, in fact this was the second oldest cask in the distillery
• one American oak ex-bourbon barrel filled in 2009 (used for ‘The Floor Malted’ batch 2009
• another American oak ex-bourbon barrel filled in 2010 (used for ‘The...

The Ultimate is a series from the well-known Dutch bottler / importer van Wees . It’s a wide range with a fairly good value for money ratio.

We’re trying the latest Tamdhu 2005 bottled in januari 2015. Several 2004-2005 casks have been bottled before.

Tamdhu 9 yo 2005 (60,3%, The Ultimate 2015, sherry butt #353, 631 btl.)

Nose: lots of toffee, butterscotch and marzipan for starters. Then the more typical dried fruits (dates, figs), as well as blueberries, candied orange peel and a hint of eucalyptus. Something of a creamy vanilla / raspberry combination, which gives it a...

I simply had way too much I wanted to say about the Bergen International Whisky & Beer Festival 2015 to be able to fit it all into one article. As a result you will here get all the details on the three masterclasses we attended. Actually we attended one masterclass on Friday and one on […]...