In 2011, I was shadowing Wild Turkey’s Jimmy Russell at the Kentucky Derby Festival. Is there anybody more interesting to shadow? Adoring fans walked up to the legend, one after another, and he signed all their bottles, caps, posters and an occasional T-shirt.

Claire and Wade Pascoe from Melbourne, Australia had planned their honeymoon around this moment, to meet Russell and share a whiskey. I asked them why in all the places in the world, they chose the Kentucky Bourbon Festival for their honeymoon. “It’s a dream come true,” Claire said, hugging Jimmy. Some people love the Rolling Stones; the...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2014/05/02/tv-and-image-and-visitor-centers-oh-my/

Spirit of Hven Seven Stars No. 2 Merak, NAS, 45 % There is a steady stream of new Nordic whiskies coming to market these days. Just a few weeks ago Spirit of Hven released their whisky number 2 in the Seven Stars series; Merak. I have previously reviewed the first star (Dubhe). This whisky takes […]...

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More bottlers are releasing middle-aged Ben Nevis, most of them in the 1995-1997 regions. This Ben Nevis 1997 is the latest release from Maltbarn .

Ben Nevis 16 yo 1997 (53,2%, Maltbarn 2013, bourbon barrel, 91 btl.)

Nose: I’m not exactly attracted. It shows overripe melon and brown banana… A tad musty. Soaked grains as well. Honey and burnt sugar. Hints of citrus peel. Wet hay, which evolves towards wet newspapers. Add some undefined savoury notes and a little linseed oil. A tad difficult to enjoy for me. Mouth: oily, with nicer notes now, cherries and strawberries up front....

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Nytt whiskyslipp på polet, fredag 2.mai 2014. Jeg har markert med farge de jeg synes ser mest spennende ut for egen del, og jeg lenker til de anmeldelser jeg allerede har fått publisert. De som interesserer mest denne gangen er nok Aberlour og Longmorn fra Cadenhead, samt Caol Ila 17 YO og Glenburgie 21 YO fra […]...

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The Singleton is a worldwide phenomenon, hiding whisky from three different distilleries under one brand, with each appearing in different countries around the world. In the UK all of the readily available Singleton whisky comes from one place: the Dufftown distillery. The 12, 15 and 18 year old expressions have been around for a few years and have become well known, partly through their presence in travel retail, but a pair of new releases have recently appeared on the shelves at TWE:  Singleton Sunray and Tailfire .

Given the brief of creating something new for the Singleton range, Diageo’s product development...

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Sometimes I don’t really get the whisky market. Take this Glenfarclas 1980 for example. It was a single cask release bottled in 2002 for the Belgian market, so you’d think after 12 years it has become impossible to find. However a couple of weeks ago, it suddenly turned up in several stores in Belgium and The Netherlands. Did someone invest in a pallet of Glenfarclas and recently cashed in, or has Filliers cleared part of its forgotten stocks?

It was distilled 23rd of december 1980 – that’s the day before the various 1980 Christmas Editions.

Glenfarclas 21 yo 1980...

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St. Magdalene 1982 26 YO Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask, 50 % Well, as I wrote last Saturday I have tasted three St. Magdalenes, and this is my review of the last one. All of them are from 1982, and all of them are from Independent Bottlers. Todays St. Magdalene is from the Old Malt […]...

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When you see “undisclosed Speyside distillery”, a first guess is always Glenfarclas, so we’ll keep it at that. The Nameless One is 18 years old and bottled by The Whisky Mercenary .

‘The Nameless One’ 18 yo 1995 (46,8%, The Whisky Mercenary 2014, sherry cask)

Nose: the fruit cake / stewed fruits kind of sherry. Hints of apricot jam, juicy plums and baked apples. Gooseberries. Echoes of fruit eau-de-vie. A little vanilla and soft caramel. Buttercups as well – it’s a fairly fatty spirit. Mouth: fresh and fruity again. Orange juice, melons, hints of Pitahaya. There’s something exotic...

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Caledonian 1965 45 YO Clan Denny, 47,3 % Readers of this blog will have noticed that I have grown fond of old, single grain whiskies. It is therefore great to have the opportunity to taste a Caledonian 1965 45 YO Clan Denny from Hunter Hamilton (Douglas Laing). This single grain whisky has been matured in […]...

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Ichiro Akuto

Around two hours’ drive north-west of Tokyo, near the city of Saitama, is the largely mountainous town of Chichibu and the home of Chichibu distillery – Japan’s youngest. Although Ichiro Akuto only started planning this distillery in 2007, he and his family have a long tradition of producing alcohol and – more recently – whisky in Japan. The Akuto business dates some 400 years, when they started making sake in the Chichibu area. In 1941, Ichiro’s grandfather set up a new headquarters in Hanyu city and gained a whisky-making licence in 1946. It wasn’t until the 1980s, however,...

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