The best thing we had on our little tasting last week? Definitely this 30 years old Brora 1972 in the Old & Rare Platinum series from Douglas Laing .

It is from the legendary 1972 vintage (the one that shows the most farmy notes, including these specific sheep stable notes) and matured in sherry casks. Usually a great recipe for outstanding Brora.

Brora 30 yo 1972 (49,7%, Douglas Laing Old & Rare Platinum 2003, 222 btl.)

Nose: without doubt the farmiest nose I’ve ever experienced. There must have been sheep in the stillroom. It’s stunning. Manure and wet...

I know some friends who have open bottles of Karuizawa , but they were usually opened before the prices exploded. Who still opens them now?

This Karuizawa 1981 cask #152 was part of the 2014 collection from La Maison du Whisky, which included four Karuizawas from the late 1970s and 1981.

Karuizawa 33 yo 1981 (54,5%, OB for LMdW 2014, sherry cask #152, 566 btl.)

Nose: the nicest humidors, with lots of tobacco notes (cigars but pipes even more) and exotic woods like cedar and thuja. Big fruity notes too, strawberry jams and blackberries. Thyme, dried porcini. Some...

I had a really nice tasting with friends the other day, and although the focus was a little less on whisky than it would have been three years ago, everyone brought some cracking old stuff. This week I will post my thoughts on five of the most memorable whiskies of that evening (well, except for a few that I had already reviewed like this , this or this ).

This Brora 1975 is a bit of an outsider, as it only exists in 20 cl. bottles in this strength. It was part of a Rare Malts box set which also included Caol...

In our flight of Brora, we also had this Port Ellen 1983 in the exclusive Private Stock series of The Whisky Agency .

Actually I think the Brora 1975 Rare Malts was better than this Port Ellen, so I’m reviewing them in the wrong order. I had the Brora 1972 Alambic Classique lined up instead (thanks for your sample, Dominiek) but I forgot I had already reviewed it some time ago… So here’s a bottle that didn’t really make the top-5.

Port Ellen 27 yo 1983 (55,6%, The Whisky Agency ‘Private Stock’ 2010, refill sherry cask, 96 btl.)...

The Nikka Taketsuru range unites blended malts from the Yoichi and Miyagikyou distilleries. The Taketsuru 35 Year Old is the oldest available, very limited (1000 bottles) and originally reserved for the Japanese market.

Masataka Taketsuru was sent to Scotland in 1918 to learn the secrets of whisky making. He came back with a suitcase full of luggage, and Rita Taketsuru, his Scottish wife. Both would play an important role in the development of Nikka and Japanese whisky in general.

Nikka Taketsuru 35 yo (43%, OB 2008, 1000 btl.)

Nose: quite exceptional. It’s remarkably fruity and tropical (mango and...

While we’re at it, let’s throw in a younger expression, Glen Avon 8 Year Old . Again there are lots of variations, with a colour label (younger?) or grayscale (older?), with a red 8 or a green 8. Even funny decanters with the shape of a still.

Glen Avon 8 yo (40%, Gordon & MacPhail, 1990s, 75 cl)

Nose: quite nice, with less sherry influence but a nice fruitiness of oranges and peaches. Gooseberry pie. Sweet barley, Frosties, a hint of mocha and vanilla cream too. Honey. After a while some spicy notes. Fresh and bright, but with...

We will be looking at some recent bottlings next week, but for now I’m still enjoying myself with some very nice oldies.

This is part of a small batch of 1964 Bruichladdich casks that was bottled by Gordon & McPhail in three vattings: #3670-3672 which I’ve reviewed before , #3673-3675 and #3676-3677 .

Bruichladdich 30 yo 1964 (50%, Gordon & McPhail Cask Strength 1995, cask #3676-3677)

Nose: a warm, seductive and almost tropical fruitiness. Lots of apricot jam, quinces and honey. All kinds of beehive notes actually – beeswax, pollen, reminds me of Caperdonich 1972. Melons, pineapples. Polished...

Saying that Glen Avon was a kind of hotchpotch brand of Gordon & MacPhail (more precisely its sister company Avonside Whisky) would be unrespectful. In any case it was made with stocks from an undisclosed Highland distillery – some say Glenfarclas , some say it could have been different distilleries depending on the batch.

There’s a whole list of versions, ranging from Glen Avon 5 Year Old all the way to pre-war Glen Avon 50 Year Old, including some vintages like 1953, 1955, 1958 and 1959. A lot of them seem to have found their way to Italian distributors.

This was a...

Loch Lomond is Captain Haddock’s whisky, although taking advice from a comic figure is probably not the best idea. The distillery has several types of stills and produces both grain whisky and malt.

It has little fame but there were quite a few expressions: a no-age-statement Loch Lomond, a 12 Years Organic, a peated Green Label and this Loch Lomond 18 Years Old . Recently they were replaced with a single malt Loch Lomond Original and two blends, Loch Lomond Reserve and Signature.

Loch Lomond 18 yo (43%, OB +/- 2014)

Nose: not good. Quite vegetal, with cooked...

The Whisky Show 2015 , which will be held in oktober this year, announced one of the world’s most expensive whisky tastings ever. Each of the 45 tickets costs nearly € 8500 and allows you to try four Karuizawa expressions which are no longer available by retail:

• Karuizawa 1981 (sherry cask #6056)
• Karuizawa 29 Year Old (bourbon cask #8897)
• Karuizawa 30 Year Old (sherry cask #5347)
• Karuizawa 1970 (sherry cask #6177)

On top of this, all participants will receive their own bottle of the Karuizawa 1983 cask #3557 ‘Nepal Appeal’ , a special release of only 50 bottles. Two...

It seems there’s a new Dalwhinnie 25 Year Old coming up as part of the Diageo Special Releases 2015 , but for now we’re trying the old version distilled in 1987 and part of the Special Releases in 2012.

Dalwhinnie 25yo was matured in rejuvenated American oak hogsheads. That means they scraped the inside of tired casks that had been used for whisky maturation several times. This gives you a new surface of active wood, which is then charred and ready to be used again.

Dalwhinnie 25 yo 1987 (52,1%, OB 2012, 5358 btl.)

Nose: opens fairly soft...

Remember the Glengoyne 1972 bottled by Malts of Scotland in 2012? Back then it was the whisky of the year for me and one of the best Glengoyne ever.

A couple of days ago I was thrilled to find out yet another Glengoyne 1972 had been bottled in the exclusive Warehouse Diamonds series. A bourbon cask this time, and only half the yield.

Glengoyne 42 yo 1972 (45,2%, Malts of Scotland ‘Warehouse Diamonds’ 2015, bourbon barrel, ref. Mos 15037, 132 btl.)

Nose: very typical with its warm fruitiness. Plenty of tangerine, kumquat, mirabelles and hints of mango. Some...

The original Scallywag blended malt dates was launched in 2013 and is now marketed as part of a series called Remarkable Malts (with Big Peat, Timorous Beastie and Rock Oyster).

The mischievous fox terrier now has a louder cask strength brother. How nice of Douglas Laing to make the wee dog’s eyes pop, his ears blow open and his monocle ping on the packaging.

It is a blend of Speyside malts, including Mortlach, Macallan, Glenrothes and others.

Scallywag Cask Strength (53,6%, Douglas Laing 2015, 6000 btl.)

Nose: a sweet and spicy profile, with some sherry influence. Sugary prunes,...

Mannochmore – the sister distillery of Glenlossie – is one of the younger distilleries. Production started in 1972 which is only five years before this Mannochmore 37yo 1977 went into a bourbon hogshead. Given the low availability of expressions, I think it’s fair to say this is the oldest Mannochmore every bottled?

It’s part of the Cadenhead single cask series, with the golden labels.

Mannochmore 37 yo 1977 (49,4%, Cadenhead Single Cask 2015, bourbon hogshead, 210 btl.)

Nose: quite fresh and aromatic, with nice citrus, some grassy touches and a light hint of honey. White fruits (nectarine, pear),...

The Dutch Usquebaugh Society selected a single cask Glen Garioch 1990 from the stocks of the Creative Whisky Company to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the club.

Glen Garioch 1990 (56,7%, Usquebaugh Society 2015, cask #7937, 288 btl.)

Nose: a slightly curious combination of aromas, but very interesting. Silver polish, soft hints of dusty peat, a bit of Play Dough, but also pineapple sweets and some strawberries with cream. Buttery, greasy notes in the background, and a light hint of mint. Mouth: a bit hot / peppery at first, and then again this creamy, almost milky note again....

Yes, it’s that time of the year again. Based on some label designs that were recently approved by the American Alcohol & Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (search for vendor code 14617 here ), we already know what will come out of Diageo’s Special Releases hat shortly. At least we know six of the most important expressions.

Diageo Special Releases for 2015:

• Brora 37 Year Old (50,4%, OB 2015, 2078 btl.)
• Caol Ila 17 Year Old 1997 “unpeated style” (55,9%, OB 2015, ex-bourbon barrels)
• Clynelish Select Reserve (56,1%, OB 2015, 2946 btl.)
• Dalwhinnie 25 Year Old 1989 (48,8%, OB...

Although the label says it has been bottled in 2014 already, this Highland Park 1990 in Master of Malt ’s Single Cask series has only just been made available on their website.

Highland Park 24 yo 1990 (57,5%, Master of Malt 2014, bourbon hogshead, 201 btl.)

Nose: very natural, with nice hints of yellow apples and half-dried grasses, alongside sea air and a hint of dry Riesling. Hints of cold ashes and wet stones. A bit of honey and sugar-coated cereals. Mint too. Pleasantly coastal with an above average complexity. Mouth: rather sweet and nicely old-style with this...

So, Danish whisky. Braunstein distillery, which started as a brewery, produces all kinds of spirits (gin, vodka, rum), including whisky since the early 2000s.

They started with a series of limited expressions in a Library Collection (usually two releases per year) and a Cask Edition series which holds one yearly cask strength expression.

Now they have a slightly wider range called Danica , with an unpeated and peated version. Like all of their whiskies, they are organic (although the certification is not complete yet because barrels from organic wood are so hard to get).

Like most young distilleries, they focus...

One of these samples of relatively new whiskies that I’ve had on my desk for too long, because I thought I new exactly what to expect from Port Charlotte 2002 . Still a nice surprise.

Port Charlotte 2002 (55,4%, Malts of Scotland 2015, bourbon barrel, ref. 15011, 238 btl.)

Nose: how nice, this is one of the farmiest, most Brora-inspired noses I’ve had lately. The same goat stables and greasy notes. Hay and ferns. Horse saddles. Then a nice move towards pipe tobacco. Underneath there are hints of yellow apples and vanilla. Quite lovely. Mouth: deeply sooty again,...

Sometimes you get really excited about a dram ( Glenglassaugh is one of the distilleries that had an above-average production in 1972 ), only to find out you’re actually experiencing a flash-back… A Carn Mor flashback today.

Glenglassaugh 40 yo 1972 (43,1%, Càrn Mòr ‘Celebration of the Cask’ 2013, sherry butt 13/08/01, 200 btl.)

Nose: a lot of polished oak, with hints of glue and even some hair spray in the background. After some airing this becomes beeswax and pollen with a lot of bright, flowery notes. Mango, tangerine, bergamot. Granny Smith. Very good, but be sure to...