SIA Scotch Whisky is the brainchild of Carin Luna-Ostaseski and the first whisky that I’ve heard of to be funded with a Kickstarter crowd-sourcing project. She managed to get more than $ 45.000 from 245 backers and realize her dream: create her own whisky. A really innovative concept, which we’ll probably see more in the future.

SIA (Gaelic for six ) is a blended whisky, matured and bottled by Douglas Laing. It features a relatively high malt to grain ratio (40/60) with malts from Speyside (50%), the Highlands (40%) and Islay (10%). It is currently only available in the States. The...

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This is the latest 2014 edition of the Lagavulin 12 Year Old . No need to introduce it: a yearly special release, aged in refill American oak. And always among the most affordable of Diageo’s Special Releases .

Lagavulin 12 yo (54,4%, OB 2014, 14th release, 31.428 btl.)

Nose: leafy peat with chalky notes, sour dough and hints of plastics. Sweet apples in the background, as well as some vanilla toffee. Lemon. Plenty of medicinal notes. Very much to the point, with fewer young notes than last year, I’d say. Mouth: oily, pungent, herbal and slightly rough but...

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Here’s the second part of the duo:  Irish single malt 1989 , reviewed alongside the Irish single malt 1989 .

Irish Single Malt Whiskey 22 yo 1991 (46,6%, The Nectar of the Daily Drams & La Maison du Whisky 2014, rum cask #10657)

Nose: starts more waxy, much more rummy as well. The fruits are just as tropical, but majbe a tad greener and fresher. Green mango, white peaches. Clear herbal notes as well (especially mint, some thyme as well). Littlemillian grapefruits. On the nose, I prefer this one over its older brother. The rum seems to work better...

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1994 is the year in which Braes of Glenlivet was baptised Braeval . Like The Glenlivet, the distillery was owned by Chivas Brothers and they wanted to avoid confusion.

Braeval is one of these distilleries that are released more often in the last two years. There’s more demand for whisky in general, and bottlers start looking for lesser known names to fill the gap, I guess. This Braeval 1994 is bottled by Tasting Fellows .

Braeval 18 yo 1994 (55,3%, Tasting Fellows 2013, barrel #165661, 170 btl.)

Nose: ripe, local fruits like apples and peaches. Mirabelles. A fair dose...

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Another Irish malt , why not? A younger version this time, distilled in 2003 and hand-picked by Whisky-Fässle .

Irish Single Malt Whiskey 10 yo 2003 (49,5%, Whisky-Fässle 2014, hogshead)

Nose: again really fruity, but in a sweeter, more candied way. Banana candy, pear liqueur, mirabelles. Also a strawberry bubblegum note. Vanilla. Quite creamy, slightly buttery even, with less of the bright maracuja notes. Mouth: sweet and candied on all levels, Piña Colada style. Bananas of course. Nutmeg, pepper and ginger, which indicate some active wood. Malt whiskey that’s not too far from certain grains. Finish: long, but the...

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This one simply has Ireland written on the label. It’s a single malt whiskey, so it could be Bushmills or Cooley . We had a similar one from the same stable a few months ago, the Irish Malt 1991 Liquid Library .

Irish Malt 22 yo 1991 (49,2%, The Whisky Fair 2014, Bourbon barrel, 184 btl.)

Nose: oh this typical Irish fruit basket, even brighter than in other expressions, just lovely. Passion fruits, ripe banana and mango sherbet. Hints of mint and lime leaves. Some vanilla. Mouth: same, same. Very tropical, full of maracuja, pink grapefruit and sweet...

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Royal Lochnagar is part of the Classic malts since 2005 (part of the second wave that also included Caol Ila, Cardhu and Clynelish) and the Distillers Edition was introduced in 2008. It is finished in old Muscat wine casks .

Lochnagar is the training distillery of the Diageo group, a lot of distillery managers are trained there before being transferred. majbe this is why it’s not being promoted very much, nor released often.

Royal Lochnagar 2000 ‘Distiller’s Edition’ (40%, OB 2012, Muscat finish, RL/00-12W)

Nose: a floral nose that starts on bergamot and evolves towards leather and fruits....

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This new Arran 1996 from Malts of Scotland was matured in a sherry butt for almost 18 years, but its colour indicates it’s not the usual Oloroso influence. The same bottler already released a similar cask last year (ref. 13002).

Arran 17 yo 1996
(54,9%, Malts of Scotland 2014, sherry butt, ref. 14029, 612 btl.)

Nose: fresh but quite discreet at first, in the sense that you get grains and acacia honey at first, not much more. After a while there’s a lot of apple, some vanilla and soft spices. The best part is a nice grapefruit / mint...

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Bowmore Tempest , the 10 years old cask strength expression,   is a hit. A big part of this success was due to the excellent first batch released in 2009. There seemed a general consensus that subsequent batches were less cracking, though still really good.

Today we’re placing two batches head-to-head. In our left corner, there is Bowmore Tempest Batch 4, in the right corner is the latest Batch 5. Both of them were the first to be composed by master blender Rachel Barrie . While you’ll still find Batch 4 in most stores in Europe and the US, Batch...

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The Abhainn Dearg distillery, founded by Mark Tayburn in 2008, is located on the the west coast of the Isle of Lewis, one of Scotland’s Outer Hebrides.

Since 2011 they are selling a 3 years old Special Edition whisky (at a whopping £ 150), but this is their new make, a single malt spirit (not yet whisky) which is aged in sherry casks for just a few months before it’s bottled.

Abhainn Dearg ‘The Spirit of Lewis’ (46%, OB 2014, 50 cl.)

Nose: strange. Huge rubber and plastic comes out. Burning plastic. Pear syrup and honey pops. Burnt grasses...

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This Kavalan Solist is a sister cask of the one bottled for TastToe . Both sherry casks were filled on the same day, 21st of augusti 2006 and bottled one day earlier in 2013.

Kavalan Solist Sherry (57,8%, OB for La Maison du Whisky 2013, sherry cask #S060821047, 497 btl.)

Nose: really profound, big yet elegant sherry. Prunes, dates, lots of cherries and raspberries. Toasted nuts and cinnamon. A big fruitiness covered with layers of turpentine, camphor and varnished oak. Chocolate and Balsamico. Mouth: big and powerful again. There’s still a fruity side (plum jam, blackcurrants, some exotic hints...

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Middle-aged Ardbeg , especially matured in a sherry cask, is something every bottler wants to bottle. Malts of Scotland had a couple already and now there’s one in the occasional Amazing Casks series.

The cask has been selected by Malts of Scotland’s Thomas Ewers and Ardbeg collector Geert Bero .

Ardbeg 16 yo 1998 (58,2%, Malts of Scotland ‘Amazing Casks’ 2014, ref. Mos 14027, 222 btl.)

Nose: slightly rubbery (tires) and vegetal at first. Chocolate and mastic. Some liquorice and leather. After a while it becomes more classic, with tar and plum jam, but it stays too much on...

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I guess the eBay period is almost over for these Feis Ile bottlings, so let’s publish my take on the Lagavulin Feis Ile 2014 . Like previous years, it’s taken from sherry casks.

Lagavulin 1995 ‘Feis Ile’ (54,7%, OB 2014, European sherry oak butts, 3500 btl.)

Nose: excellent, focused nose with a backbone of coastal notes: shells, oysters, waxed rain coats, flints and brine. Big medicinal notes, mainly iodine. Plasticine. Also sweeter notes like oranges and berries, as well as some honey, although the sherry doesn’t overpower in any way. Smoky lemon juice. Rose pepper. Tobacco. More on the...

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Here’s another Glenmorangie in disguise, or rather an almost pure Glenmorangie, with a few teaspoons of another malt being added (usually Glen Moray). Westport is a common name for this, remember independent bottlers (except for SMWS) can’t use the name Glenmorangie on their labels.

Westport 13 yo 1999 (52,1%, Liquid Library 2014, refill hogshead, 156 btl.)

Nose: aromatic nose. Vanilla and blood oranges. Fruity lokum (apricot / orange) and powder sugar. Hints of golden raisins and honey. A ginger / alcohol tingle, as well as some kiwi and fresh mint. Mouth: thick, oily and very sweet, with lots of...

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