Collaboration beers are common in craft brewing. Brewers come and play in each other’s house, and make something they majbe both wanted to try but haven’t, or add some house specialty from one brewery to the house specialty of another. You don’t see a lot of it in spirits, though. Whether it’s the long lead time, or the hefty tax load, or just…well, that they’ve never done it before, it’s a rare spirit that sees more than one maker.

Four Midwest distillers have stepped up to get the ball rolling. Corsair Distillery in Nashville, Few Spirits in Evanston, Illinois, Journeyman...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2014/04/23/four-kings-collaboration-whiskey/

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Peat smoke. To many it’s the key flavour in whiskies and for others it’s the reason they don’t drink whisky. While only relatively few whiskies are actually noticeably peaty, it’s become one of the best-known characteristics of Scotch whisky, and distilleries often define themselves by how smoky their spirit is. Some distilleries have been playing with their spirit character over the years, producing whiskies that are a bit different to expected. The latest addition to that club is Knockdhu with its new anCnoc Peaty range:  Rutter  and  Flaughter .

Peat used to be one of the most common heat sources...

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Massandra is the oldest winery in Crimea. It has been producing fine wines for more than 110 years and won international acclaim for its quality. The winery tends to mimic some of the greatest styles like Port, Tokay or Madeira. Moreover, they own one the largest collections of rare wines (over 1 million bottles), some of which were once in the collection of the Russian Tsars.

Back in 2012, Glenglassaugh released five old expressions, all finished in ex-wine casks from Massandra. One of them was a 33 year-old 1978 vintage finished in a “Madeira style” cask.

For a recent tasting...

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Myken Destilleri AS ble stiftet sent i 2013. Bak etableringen er det en gründergruppe på 10 personer, faktisk fem ektepar. De største aksjonærene er ekteparet Roar Larsen (styreleder) og Trude Tokle. Myken er en liten øygruppe som ligger 32 km fra fastlandet (66,76111 grad N, 12,47770 grad Ø). Her er man altså ganske langt til […]...

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Le Gus’t is the retailer and bottler in the South of France who also brought us a nice Glenfarclas 2003 last year. Its third release is this Glen Grant 1992 from the Signatory stocks and bottled in one of their Ibisco decanters.

Signatory Vintage already bottled other casks in the #554xx series, all distilled on the 22nd of april 1992.

Glen Grant 21 yo 1992
(52,6%, Signatory Vintage for Le Gus’t 2014, hogshead #55415, 274 btl.)

Nose: very aromatic and inviting. Sweet berry jam, red fruits and fresh figs. Some vanilla and brown sugar. Soaked raisins. Honey and...

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Hanyu Joker Ichiro’s Malt, 57,7 % At the recent whisky festival in Gothenburg (En Öl & Whiskymässa 2014) I was lucky enough to meet Ichiro Akuto, and to taste the final release in his famous “Card Series”. The whisky is called Hanyu Joker Ichiro’s Malt. This is a vatting of casks from many of the […]...

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A sherry matured Glen Grant 1992 (distilled in juni) and bottled in the newish Old Particular series from Douglas Laing . We’ve already tried nice bourbon matured 1992’s, let’s see whether they work as well in sherry butts.

Glen Grant 21 yo 1992
(51,5%, Douglas Laing Old Particular 2013, refill sherry butt, 374 btl.)

Nose: some unlit matchstick heads up front. Not too bad though, it evolves towards graphite and wood. Behind this, there are raisins and a tobacco / leather combination that works well. Spicy chocolate. Pears in brandy. Mouth: oily and peppery, then ginger and a dry...

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Stauning Young Rye, NAS, 49,3 % Today I present to you a rare gem. A Danish rye whisky! Stauning Young Rye is a product from Stauning Whisky Distillery in Skjern, Denmark (see our Nordic Distillery Map). This is a realtively young distillery, having had products for sale for about three years in Denmark. In 2013 […]...

Läs mer http://www.whiskysaga.com/nordic-whisky-7-stauning-young-rye/

Banff 1980 26 YO Duncan Taylor Rarest of the Rare, 56,1 % On Wednesday I wrote about the first Banff I ever tasted. Today you can read my tasting notes from the second (and so far the last) Banff I have tasted. Today’s whisky is a 26 YO Banff from Duncan Taylor Rarest of the […]...

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It’s just one year until the Arran 18 Year Old will be launched. It will form a trilogy with Arran 16 years and this Arran 17 years . It was matured in ex-sherry hogsheads and it is the oldest official release yet from this distillery (again).

Arran 17 years
(46%, OB 2014, 9000 btl.)

Nose: fresh and fruity like we’ve come to expect from The Arran. More stewed fruits this time and definitely more spices. A cider apple sourness too, especially the first few minutes. Settles on cut apples, berries, candied orange peel and a little honey but overall...

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Jimmy Russell: 60 years at Wild Turkey

I was in Kentucky on Tuesday for the grand opening of the new Wild Turkey visitor center. At least, that was the big billing for the day to the press, and Kentucky Governor Beshear was there for the event, as was the head of Campari North America, Jean Jacques Dubau. It was cocktails and toasts all around as we stood in the glass-wrapped structure, high on the bluff over the Kentucky River; the view was tremendous, the whiskey exceptional, and the engagingly open rickhouse-like interior of the center, all raw, unpainted wood and...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2014/04/18/happy-anniversary-jimmy-russell/