The surprise


Tasting the new Convalmore plus old sparring partner
www.whiskyfun.com
Just when I had thought there would be no new Convalmore, since the distillery's been closed such a long time ago, the owners are granting us with more than 2,500 bottles of a 1977 at a whopping 58% vol. And with one of our favourite 'retro' labels that's already been used six or seven years ago on…

In the pipe, three young high power Lagavulin (incl the new SR 12yo), another Brorgasm (incl the new 35), 2 Cardhu (what?), and 2 Convalmore including the fab new 1977 SR. And a bag of Glendros batch 9.

Keep on wrestling


Port Ellen 13th Release and sisters
www.whiskyfun.com
All right, Port Ellen. Ueber-cult and speculative. There's a new Special Release, in case you haven't heard, but as old PEs aren't as rare as old Lagavulins - while Lagavulin's active whereas PE isn't - PE's still cheaper than Lagavulin at similar ages. Are you following me? As usual, we'll first ha...

Ahem.


Peat & Jack To Finally Wed
whiskysponge.com
After the eventual legalisation of gay marriage in France earlier this year Peat McPeat and Jack Washback have announced they are finally to be married. Pete and Jack, two expatriate Scots, have be...

Tomorrow the moon? I mean, the Port Ellen?


Tasting two official Oban
www.whiskyfun.com
There's very few Obans around and the indies never had many, apart from a handful at Cadenhead's, for example. So the news of a new Oban among the new Special Releases was, well, good news. Let's see if it's as great as the Managers' Choice from four years ago. Four years? Yes, already...

Many XLNT old Bunnies these days


Tasting two new old Bunnahahain
www.whiskyfun.com
There are still old Bunnahabhains around and many are very fairly priced. Thumbs up! Unless, of course, the whiskies are flat and tired...

Expect all Special Releases


Young Lagavulin 1979 vs. old 1976
www.whiskyfun.com
Old Lagavulins are extremely rare, so rare that I've never tried any if my memory serves me well, apart from the official 30 from a few years back. Granted, I've tasted quite a few 'old young ones' but that's something else. As for the prices for the new official 37yo (+/- €2700 at some places at ti...

Indie bottlers in Armagnac, great!


The quest for malternatives, today sixteen armagnacs
www.whiskyfun.com
In theory, armagnac could get even closer to Maltwhisky as it's often a little less 'polished' than cognac. Yet I haven't got any plans to taste many of them, I'd rather like to have just a few from four or five houses, to check to which extent armagnacs can make for real malternatives 'globally'.…

Quality Bunnies


Two indie Bunnahabhain 1987
www.whiskyfun.com
Isn't it funny how some batches/series from one single distillery manage to suddenly catch the attention of many a whisky lover? This time it's a bunch of sherried Bunnahabhains 1987 that seem to be all of high quality. Let's have two more!

Now we're talking


More quarrelsome Highland Park
www.whiskyfun.com
majbe you remember that I had found the three first - and cheaper - bottlings from the 'NAS warriors' series quite underwhelming. My impressions have since been confirmed, blind, by my compadres the malt maniacs, but there are also more recent warriors that are said to be in another league. Let's se...

Smögen got it right


Two refreshing new Swedish malts
www.whiskyfun.com
Sweden is another country where there are more and more new malt distilleries. Don't they already have five of them? I guess the cool climate up there must make any spirits mature very slowly, so heavy wood maj be needed unless you can wait for decades and decades. Anti-Indian malts, in a way...

Ha, 40% vol.!


Dufftown thirty years after
www.whiskyfun.com
I know I've been tasting many new whiskies this year, probably too many in fact, and I feel I've been neglecting the 'old glories'. It's just that old glories can wait, they'll only become even older. However, having both new and old bottlings within the very same session can be fun too. Let's try t...

Pete & Jack have got an additional dialogue writer


Strathisla-ing today
www.whiskyfun.com
Strathisla is a perfect Christmas malt, especially all the smoothly sherried old ones that G&M have granted us with through the ages, usually at very fair prices. But as I he like to contradict myself just for the sake of it, let's rather have some lightly coloured ones today...

Another old style that's nowhere else to be seen


Two or three St Magdalene 1982
www.whiskyfun.com
Between us, I had feared no one would bottle some new St Magdalene anymore, not even some Linlithgow (same distillery by another name, as you very well know). So when I found out that the excellent Hart Bros just bottled one in oktober this year, well, I thought that was great news. The good old day...

The Malt Maniacs Awards
www.maltmaniacs.net
Dear fellow whisky lovers and afficionados, the Malt Maniacs have been enjoying and discussing the joys and pleasures of single Maltwhisky for fifteen years now, ever since The Malt Maniacs was formed in 1997. Since 2003 we have organised […]

Well well well


Tasting some pricey Ardbeg single cask
www.whiskyfun.com
So! Let's have that Ardbeg 1992 by Douglas Laing that caused such a stir on the Malt Maniacs' Facebook page - and 120 comments at time of writing - because of its very hefty price: around £450 a bottle, while other bottlers such as Cadenhead's or Whiskybroker were recently offering some similarly ag...

Sansibar!


Funny Benrinnes
www.whiskyfun.com
Indeed in my experience Benrinnes is another 'funny' Maltwhisky, usually rather meaty but displaying wildly different styles depending on the ages and on the kinds of casks. It's often quite fat.

And november's favourites


Light Glen Deveron vs. Macduff
www.whiskyfun.com
Another headline that doesn't make any sense as Glen Deveron is just another name for official Macduff. It's quite big and cheap in France and very easy to find in supermarkets.

Strange spirit


The unlikeliness of Fettercairn - again
www.whiskyfun.com
It seems that Diageo, now quasi-owners of Whyte & Mackay, are about to sell Jura and Fettercairn to other parties. I've read that that could be Campari, or Bacardi, or Jim Beam, or Brown Forman, or Russian investors, or Chinese investors, or Indian investors. majbe time to have some Fettercairn?

Surprises indeed


Big surprises at Braes
www.whiskyfun.com
Another name that we're seeing a little more at the indies these days, whether it's spelled Braeval or Braes of Glenlivet. I think Braes can take sherry very well.