Oddbins selected a whole series of Glen Garioch casks in the second half of the 1990’s. There was a 1966, 1967, 1971 and this 1972 vintage. All of them say ‘bottled from a single cask’ but no further information is given. No age, not even a bottling year…

There is very little Glen Garioch 1972 to be found. Remember the distillery was mothballed in 1968 due to chronic water shortages and sold to Stanley P. Morrison in 1970. In 1972, Joe Hughes was appointed as manager, and he found another water source that was more reliable. In that same year,...

Whisky shop Massen and whisky clubs De Tongerse Whiskyvrienden (Belgium) and Dram Brothers (Luxemburg) are closely related and sometimes share an exclusive bottling.

This time they selected two casks from the stocks of Malts of Scotland : a Littlemill 1990 and this Highland Park 1994 .

Highland Park 1994 (54,5%, Malts of Scotland for Dram Brothers & De Tongerse Whiskyvrienden 2015, bourbon hogshead, ref. MoS 15007, 268 btl.)

Nose: fresh but fairly neutral. Barley with lemon and apple peelings. Herbal notes (fennel) as well as some heather honey. Becomes more complex, with mint and light waxy notes. A slightly...

Translated as ‘big ocean’, Laphroaig An Cuan Mór has been matured in first-fill bourbon barrels and was then re-casked to European oak.

It is funny how Laphroaig says it is ‘aged in 18 year-old casks’. What is that supposed to mean? Are we counting the age of the wood now? It seems unclear whether the whisky has the same age as well. If that were the case, then why sell it as a NAS?

It is officially only available in travel retail and through Friends of Laphroaig, although that doesn’t mean you can’t find it in regular shops as well....

Kilkerran is the whisky produced at Glengyle distillery , opened in 2004 and the latest in Campbeltown . Every year since 2009 they’re releasing a ‘Work In Progress’ bottling.

The 6th batch is 10 years old and comes in sherry wood and bourbon wood versions. This year’s labels are pink.

Kilkerran ‘Work In Progress’ 10 yo Sherry Wood (46%, OB 2014, Batch #6)

Nose: not extremely expressive, I would say, purely revolving around sugared cereals at first. It’s coastal and oily, so quite typically Campbeltown so far. A fairly light sherry influence of red berries and a caramelized...

Serge, Bert and the others from Liquid Art present their latest bottling, a Clynelish 1997 , which I found a good occasion to dig up two other samples and try them head-to-head.

The label is made by a highly respected artist, Jef Geys , who happens to be born in my native town Leopoldsburg. His name maj not ring a bell but he has worked with Jan Hoet, Panamarenko and the likes, he’s considered one of the greatest living Belgian artists and there’s a big retrospective coming up in the Ghent museum for modern art S.M.A.K. I’m just saying this...

WhiskyNotes follower Wim recently told me he had been impressed by this recent young Miltonduff 2005 , so we decided to set up a sample exchange.

You can find a series of similar releases from Duncan Taylor , all bottled from small recoopered Octave casks . All these casks contain only 80-90 bottles, which means they’re sold out very quickly.

Miltonduff 9 yo 2005 (54,2%, Duncan Taylor ‘The Octave’ for The Nectar 2014, reconstructed ex-sherry octave cask #837112, 81 btl.)

Nose: a sherried nose with lots of baked apples and apricot pastry with cinnamon. Some overripe melons and...

Langatun is a Swiss whisky (Swissky?) with a long history. In 1857, Jakob Baumberger took over a small brewery in Langenthal (a village formerly known as Langatun). He started brewing and distilling there, quite a successful business that was taken over by his sons. They also ran a malting plant and a peat cutting activity.

I’m not sure why there was a gap after that, but in 2007, Jakob’s grandson Hans reignited the family tradition and started producing unpeated whisky ( Langatun Old Deer ), peated whisky ( Langatun  Old Bear ), whisky liqueur, rum, vodka, rye, bourbon and fruit...

The third and last sample for now: Karuizawa 1981 cask #6207 , which was part of the 2012 Collection from La Maison du Whisky .

Karuizawa 1981 (58,3%, OB for LMdW 2011, sherry butt #6207, 543 btl.)

Nose: nicely aromatic. A lot of sandalwood and sweet pipe tobacco (slightly vanilla’d), a bit of eucalyptus and chestnuts. Some fragrant touches, like old roses. Oranges. Chocolate fudge. Black prunes. Hints of damp wood as well. Mouth: spicy and slightly hot, but with a nice fruity sourness underneath. Black cherries, cinnamon cake, raisins in rum. Becomes drier over time, showing liquorice,...

Forgotten sample n°2. This Karuizawa 1984 cask #3692 was bottled in 2012. A big part was allocated to Sweden but it was also found in other countries.

Karuizawa 1984 (61,6%, OB 2012, sherry butt #3692, 359 btl.)

Nose: dark prunes and dates, with a box of chocolates that has just been opened. Unfortunately it also shows heavy gunpowder notes and matchsticks, dried mushrooms and a bit of marmite. Sulphur, yes. Beef jerky. Leather. Roasted nuts. A few heady notes too, in between soy sauce and wine vinegar. Not really my style. Mouth: again quite heavy, with less fruity...

Blimey. I have so many samples that I tend to forget some of the interesting ones that are hidden in my drawers… how stupid is that? Not that I mind discovering three Karuizawa expressions that I hadn’t tried, of course. One of them is this Karuizawa 1981 Sakura cask #158 , a release of only 45 bottles! The rarest Karuizawa ever?

Sakura is the typical Japanese sherry blossom. It was a special release for Prineus , the German distributor for No.1 Drinks and Karuizawa.

Karuizawa 31 yo 1981 (62,8%, OB 2012, Sakura series, sherry cask #158, 45 btl.)...

Glenlivet 25 yo 1973 (57,2%, Signatory Vintage 1998, sherry butt #3307, 570 btl.)

Nose: heavy sherry, GlenDronach-style. Raisins, figs, some orange peel. Quite oaky, with peppery notes, menthol and eucalyptus, as well as bit of smoke. Hints of cedar and pine needles. Mouth: the mentholated hints now become frankly medicinal, bringing cough syrup and antiseptics. Also big toasted wood and ashes. Charred meat. Walnut cake, bitter chocolate and plums in brandy. Oak polish, pepper and nutmeg. Quite firm, even a little aggressive but water helps. Finish: long, herbal, with liquorice and burnt sugar.

This Glenlivet has seen some very...

Chichibu On The Way is the work in progress of Ichiro Akuto. He founded his distillery in 2008 at the foot of a mountain in the region of Saitama, and he is on the way to release his first 5 years old whisky.

The current Chichibu On The Way is a vatting of three casks :

• one Mizunara oak hogshead filled in 2008, in fact this was the second oldest cask in the distillery
• one American oak ex-bourbon barrel filled in 2009 (used for ‘The Floor Malted’ batch 2009
• another American oak ex-bourbon barrel filled in 2010 (used for ‘The...

The Ultimate is a series from the well-known Dutch bottler / importer van Wees . It’s a wide range with a fairly good value for money ratio.

We’re trying the latest Tamdhu 2005 bottled in januari 2015. Several 2004-2005 casks have been bottled before.

Tamdhu 9 yo 2005 (60,3%, The Ultimate 2015, sherry butt #353, 631 btl.)

Nose: lots of toffee, butterscotch and marzipan for starters. Then the more typical dried fruits (dates, figs), as well as blueberries, candied orange peel and a hint of eucalyptus. Something of a creamy vanilla / raspberry combination, which gives it a...

Talisker Skye is the latest release from this distillery, which is effectively on the Isle of Skye. It’s the fourth (and supposedly youngest) No Age Statement release in under two years (after Talisker Storm , Talisker Dark Storm and Talisker Port Ruighe ). Apparently it’s here to stay as a permanent extension of the core range.

Talisker Skye is matured in refill and toasted American oak casks, with that last type having the biggest proportion.

Talisker Skye (45,8%, OB 2015)

Nose: fairly sweet and youngish with pears, orange juice and a little apricot. This mixes with a soft,...

Ian MacLeod bottled a whole series of Rosebank 1990 casks. Sister casks #611, 612 and 614 were all bottled in 2008.

Rosebank 18 yo 1990 (48%, Ian MacLead Dun Bheagan 2008, sherry butt #611, 618 btl.)

Nose: a solid, sweet malty base, with some butter pears, apple and mango. Honey. It shows a bit of an old-style side as well, think waxed dental floss and library dust. Mocha. Hints of walnuts and ginger. Mint. Of course there’s also the typical lemony side. Mouth: sweet fruity notes (peach, pear, orange) alongside slightly bitter fruits (grapefruit). Grassy and herbal touches, even...

Isle of Jura distilled mars 1966 and bottled mars 1984. It’s 18 years old.

This is one of the old dumpy Cadenhead bottles with black label. I’m always surprised when I see the typography of these labels, the distillery names tend to be set in funky (sometimes cheapo) fonts that are so typical of the 1980’s. As if someone at Cadenhead’s bought one of these cd-roms with 50.000 “professional” fonts.

Jura 18 yo 1966 (46%, Cadenhead 1984, dumpy brown bottle, 75 cl)

Nose: a highly mentholated profile with quite some sappy notes. Hints of metal polish and huge tobacco...

There is one grain whisky in the recent batch of Wemyss releases: Invergordon 1988 ‘Caribbean Crème’ .

Invergordon 1988 ‘Caribbean Crème’ (46%, Wemyss 2014, barrel, 171 btl.)

Nose: a creamy nose, full of popcorn, vanilla and wood varnish. Butter pastry. Minty notes. Pineapple yoghurt and coconut cream. Fresh oak shavings with some nutmeg. Typical middle-aged grain whisky, nice enough. Mouth: very sweet, with popcorn, caramel and vanilla cream at the centre. Some lemon zest and grapefruit, giving it a bitter edge. Also a slightly harsh alcoholic side that I find a bit too loud. Pepper and ginger. Finish: long,...

A couple of years ago, The Whisky Agency set up a kind of Taiwanese link. Some of the releases are now exclusively available in Taiwan . You rarely hear of these bottlings over here in Europe, so we’re pleased to try a couple of them.

Let’s start with the nicest label, designed by two artists who also signed each bottle and the accompanying wooden box. This Clynelish 1996 is nicknamed ‘Eagles want to fly’. From what I’ve heard, it is a commemorative bottling for some kind of bird research programme. I hope Google Translate didn’t let me down here.

 ...

Tobermory is part of the Burn Stewart group, which also owns Bunnahabhain and Deanston. Their results have been pretty good lately and most of the ranges have been revamped and upgraded recently. Tobermory is frequently seen on the market in the peated Ledaig form lately, especially from independent bottlers.

This Tobermore 10 Year Old was first released in its current form in 2007.

Tobermory 10 yo (46,3%, OB 2014)

Nose: raw grains, lots of porridge. Wet hay. Overripe apples. Not as fresh as I hoped. Goes on with salty seaweed, moss and oily notes. A touch of butter...

Wemyss Malts announced the release of six new single casks. We’re trying the Bowmore 1998 nicknamed Cacao Geyser .

Bowmore 1998 ‘Cacao Geyser’ (46%, Wemyss 2014, sherry butt, 737 btl.)

Nose: reminds me of the Bowmore 1995/2008 SMOS. Huge tobacco notes, with a bit of dusty leather and huge notes of Mexican chocolate discs. Figs. Also flinty notes and whiffs of gunpowder and rubber (nothing dirty). Lots of ashes. After a while it settles on a sweet & sour balance, with echoes of Balsamico. Mouth: slightly fruitier than expected, with pretty spectacular notes of blackcurrants. The dark chocolate is...