This Speyside Blended Malt is classified as a tea-spooned whisky because the distillery can’t be named, but majbe the small manor on the label of this ‘ Le Gus’t’ bottling hints towards another manor in a famous Speyside estate, responsible for the biggest part of this whisky?

Speyside Blended Malt 30 yo 1988 (53,7%, Le Gus’t 2019, sherry butt #15A/105, 518 btl.)

Nose: it’s the classic, dry, full-bodied sherry with tobacco leaves, walnuts and caramel brioche. Brownies, hints of hay, dried mushroom and burnt wood. Quite autumnal, very good. Mouth: quite punchy, still fairly dry on cigar leaves,...

The second Gordon & MacPhail exclusive celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Whisky Exchange is this Caol Ila 2005 , bottled from a refill sherry hogshead.

Caol Ila 14 yo 2005 (54,5%, Gordon & MacPhail for The Whisky Exchange 20th Anniversary 2019, refill sherry hogshead #19/051, 142 btl.)

Nose: clean but surprisingly medicinal as well. Creosote, smoked bacon and iodine. Sweet lemon juice and cold ashes. Gets sweeter as it opens up, with vanilla cake and ginger syrup in the background. Mouth: strong, showing plenty of medicinal peat again, ashes and oils, but now slightly richer due to...

Easy to guess there would be Gordon & MacPhail bottlings to celebrate The Whisky Exchange’s 20th Anniversary . Two have been released this month: a Caol Ila 2005 and this Highland Park 2001 .

Highland Park 17 yo 2001 (54,9%, Gordon & MacPhail for TWE 20th Anniversary 2019, first-fill bourbon barrel, 163 btl.)

Nose: a punchy all-rounder with pine needles, very subtle floral smoke, earthy and minty notes, as well as hints of honeyed pears, pineapple and vanilla latte. Barley sugar. A little cake and brass polish. Mouth: full-bodied, with sweet and fruity notes at first (sweet resin,...

Balvenie has a range of Single Barrel expressions: 12 years (first-fill bourbon), 15 years (sherry cask) and 25 years of age (traditional).

Traditional Oak means refill ex-bourbon casks in the case of this Balvenie 25 Year Old Single Barrel . Each bottling is limited to 300 bottles at most.

Balvenie 25 yo Single Barrel ‘Traditional Oak’ 1992 (47,8%, OB 2018, cask #3161)

Nose: quite fresh and vibrant, with hardly any make-up for the spirit. Banana candy, crushed mint leaves and floral honey. Some carpenter aromas. Grapefruit peel and a hint of ginger. Fragrant vanilla and new leather as...

Highland Park Triskelion

The upcoming Highland Park Triskelion is named after the triangular shape that represents wisdom and inspiration, used in the Norse / Viking symbolism.

In this release it also symbolises three Master Whisky Makers that play an important role at the distillery, mentioned on the label: Gordon Motion (whisky maker, 21 years of experience), Max McFarlane (whisky maker, 44 years of experience) and John Ramsay (43 years). The whisky is bottled at 45.1% ABV.

Bowmore Dragon Edition 36 Years

Bowmore has released the first expression in a series of four honouring the ‘Four Guardians’ in Chinese...

In 2018 Douglas Laing rebranded its Rock Oyster whisky to Rock Island . Apparently oysters have a negative connotation to some people and they feared it put off consumers.

Therefore it was simply named Rock Island – after all it represents the Island (maritime) whisky character in the Remarkable Regional Malts range , mainly composed of whiskies produced on Orkney, Arran, Jura and Islay. Still a small batch whisky with slight differences between batches.

In juli 2019 they broadened the range with the addition of a Rock Island 10 Year Old (a permanent addition) and Rock Island 21 Year Old...

Master of Malt just released this Springbank 26 Year Old single cask distilled in december 1991.

They don’t exactly give them away but… sister company That Boutique-y Whisky Company has the same Springbank 26 Years (shared cask as confirmed by the people from MoM). So there’s an option to go for a 50 cl version in this case.

Springbank can be excellent at this age so we’re always keen to investigate. Here we go.

Springbank 26 yo 1991 (43,4%, Master of Malt 2018, refill bourbon hogshead)

Nose: mild smoky notes with plenty of oily and mineral notes, warm...

The Macallan Rare Cask was first announced in 2014 (with a smoky Rare Cask Black in 2016) but it got a makeover in 2018, with a new style of bottle and a slightly different concept.

It is now turned into an ongoing series of limited batch releases (four per year – the casks are not so rare after all?) aimed at collectors. The liquid has no age statement but it is matured in (mostly first-fill) sherry seasoned casks , American and European oak. Each batch is a vatting of 50 butts bottled at a fairly low 43% ABV.

I’m not...

Many of the new Single Malts of Scotland releases are gone already, but some really good ones are still around. Let’s have a look at this ‘ Aird Mhor’ (Ardmore) 1998 .

Aird Mhor 20 yo 1998 (51,6%, Single Malts of Scotland 2019, hogshead #750790, 280 btl.)

Nose: discreet peat smoke, as an ever so gentle backdrop for sweet pears and citrus, fresh mentholated notes and pine wood. Heather honey, apple peels. Rather classic, without any lactic notes, good. Mouth: punchier now, but still balanced as a gentleman. An oily texture, with sweet earthy peat, hints of peaches...

The Whisky Trail is a new range from Elixir Distillers . There are two series launched at the same time, one is called the Jazz series , the other Retro label , each which four whiskies.

While both include interesting whiskies, we’ll start with the (pricier) Jazz editions.

Invergordon 44 yo 1974 (47,6%, Elixir Distillers ‘The Whisky Trail Jazz series #2’ 2019, hogshead #0038, 168 btl.)

Nose: ripe bananas with vanilla sugar, plenty of grated coconut and hints of sour varnish, lime and candied orange that prevents it from being too sweet. Subtle hints of paint (fades away)...

We tried the GlenAllachie 12 Years PX finish some time ago, and now it’s time for the youngest expression in their wood finishes series. The GlenAllachie 8 Year Old Koval rye quarter cask finish . Rye and quarter casks, are we aiming for a spicy dram?

GlenAllachie 8 yo – Koval rye quarter cask wood finish (48%, OB 2019)

Nose: lightly fragrant sweetness at first, some freshly sawn wood and cinnamon buns. Pepper and nutmeg follow. Vanilla and honey. Hints of panettone and beer. Mouth: obvious wood wizardry, but in a nice way and with rather less punch...

GlenDronach single casks Batch #17

Fourteen casks from 1990 to 2007 have been selected by Master Blender Rachel Barrie to form Batch 17 of GlenDronach’s single casks . Half of them are destined to Asia, the other half will be sold in Europe.

Update: now available from Master of Malt

Here are the ones we will get in Europe:

• GlenDronach 28yo 1990 PX puncheon #7905
• GlenDronach 26yo 1992 Oloroso butt #221
• GlenDronach 26yo 1992 Oloroso butt #847
• GlenDronach 25yo 1993 Port pipe #5976
• GlenDronach 24yo 1994 PX puncheon #325
• GlenDronach 13yo 2005 Oloroso puncheon #887
• GlenDronach 12yo 2007 PX...

Staoisha is a name that is still quite rare, but judging by the number of casks that are currently being offered by whisky brokers to bottlers, it will become widely known soon enough.

In fact Staoisha refers to one of the water sources of Bunnahabhain distillery and it is used for their heavily peated production (sometimes named Margadale after the other water source). Kind of what Port Charlotte and Octomore are to Bruichladdich.

Most Staoisha bottlings that we see today were distilled in 2013 or 2014, still very young but often full of promise. This one is just 4 years...

The first Miltonduff with an Asta Morris label, taken from a sherry butt. Fairly young, but that doesn’t have to mean anything.

Miltonduff 7 yo 2011 (60,6%, Asta Morris 2019, sherry butt, 346 btl.)

Nose: simple fruity pleasures. Freshly cut apples and pears, vanilla, some floral notes. Mirabelles and melon. A little green banana. Light oak spices and a subtle cereal note and porridge which disappears with a drop of water. Nice and summery. Mouth: quite fierce, again with a fruity freshness. Peppered apple juice, pear eau-de-vie, mixed with warm malty notes and a hint of toffee. Sweet...

The Whisky Exchange already had a personalisation service where they can engrave some text on existing bottlings. Now they’re taking it a step further, introducing four single cask releases that you can give a personal label.

Choose one of nine beautiful label designs (with nice metallic coatings), pick a quote and choose a dedication. It will definitely make a great gift, let’s have a look at the whiskies they have on offer.

Bottles with personalised labels will be available all year round, but obviously distilleries, casks, ages etc. will vary.

Glen Elgin 12 yo (49,6%, The Whisky Exchange...

GlenDronach Kingsman Edition 1989

It might be related to the upcoming sequel for the Kingsman movie, but GlenDronach is about to release the GlenDronach Kingsman Edition 1989 , a 29 years old expression. It is bottled at 50.1% ABV and the label now specifically mentions Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez casks.

GlenDronach Port Wood

Already available is the GlenDronach Port Wood , which is matured in sherry casks, followed by a second maturation in Port pipes from the Douro valley in Portugal. Contrary to previous Port expressions this doesn’t come with an age statement. It is bottled at 46%...

This Kilchoman was bottled for Holy Dram in Israel (I tried their Inchmoan 2004 a couple of months ago). It is a 50 ppm spirit distilled in april 2012 and finished in a Madeira cask .

Kilchoman 6 yo 2012 (56,3%, OB for Holy Dram 2019, Madeira finish, cask #180, 258 btl.)

Nose: fruity sweetness, in a sweet-and-sour way. Stewed apricots, plums, raisins and red berries. Hints of lacquered meat in the background, as well as earthy notes, big peppery peat and a slightly medicinal, mentholated freshness. Mouth: lots of fruits again, mainly berries, stewed plums and blood...

We already reviewed the Mortlach 12 Years (good) and Mortlach 16 Years (excellent). The only one missing from the 2018 core range relaunch is the Mortlach 20 Years , matured exclusively in American oak ex-Sherry casks , with a percentage of refill wood.

It is nicknamed Cowie’s Blue Seal which refers to one of the original bottlings of Mortlach, launched in 1909 and available until the 1970s.

Mortlach 20 yo (43,4%, OB 2018, 4484 btl.)

Nose: a nicely bright fruitiness up front, think juicy apricots, pineapple and hints of lychee. Hints of a carpenter’s workshop, oiliness and waxed...

Inchgower is sometimes said to be the Manzanilla of Speyside . Here’s one to prove its light, often slightly quirky reputation: Inchgower 1989 bottled by The Whisky Agency .

Inchgower 29 yo 1989 (51,3%, The Whisky Agency 2019, ex-bourbon hogshead)

Nose: quite naked. We find tart candy and grassy notes, some distant bourbonny oak. Hints of oil paint and clay or putty. Lemon and grapefruit, green tea and lemongrass. Quite elegant, but not a sexy profile. Mouth: much sweeter than expected. Dextrose, sweet lemon juice and apples, then also sweet oak and light floral notes. Really unusual. Becoming...

An official bottling of Glen Keith – the only one in recent years, I believe, unless you count the Chivas Brothers bottlings as officials. As you know the distillery was mothballed in 1999 until they reopened in 2013.

It’s called Glen Keith Distillery Edition which is a very nondescript name for a bottling that’s widely available outside of the distillery. Much like the mention ‘distilled by master craftsmen’.

Glen Keith Distillery Edition (40%, OB +/- 2018)

Nose: very accessible, but very attractive as well. A mix of vanilla cake with sweet orchard fruits (apricots, juicy pears, grapes) and...