Yes, a lot of Littlemill 1988-1992 so far. No, we still don’t have enough. Bring on the newest expression: Littlemill 1992 from The Whisky Mercenary .

Littlemill 21 yo 1992
(52,9%, The Whisky Mercenary 2014)

Nose: starts majbe a little grassier than other casks. Lots of power. Typical waxy notes / lemon balm, then some tangerine and grapefruit. A sharper rhubarb note. A soft vanilla / frangipane whiff seems to come and go. Mouth: takes no prisoners. Perfect zestiness of grapefruit and lemon, with slightly rounder tangerine. Citrus green tea and grasses. A soft hint of vanilla marshmallow in...

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The Strathisla 8 Years Old must have been one of the regular common malts in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Many versions exist (some with a subtle floral print above and below the label for example), all bottled by Gordon & MacPhail in one of their semi-official series.

Strathisla 8 yo ‘70° Proof’ (40%, Gordon & MacPhail 1970’s, 26 3/4 fl. oz)

Nose: not extremely assertive, but a nice, rather naked distillate nonetheless. Lots of hay and dried flowers. Hints of muesli. Some cooked apple. Simple pleasures. Mouth: again not too bold. Sweet apples, lots of malty notes. A little...

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Pre-war whisky , it’s one of these things any serious whisky enthusiast should have experienced. The recent ‘Pre-War Whisky Tour’ that you maj have seen on Facebook could make you think otherwise, but you don’t usually stumble upon these things easily. They’re lucky cellar finds or expensive auction items.

This Glen Grant 21 Year Old 70° proof is one of the best examples I’ve come across. It was bottled by Gordon & MacPhail in their semi-official distillery series.

We’re lucky when it comes to dating this bottle: it is sealed with a securo cap . That’s a special kind of screw cap, very...

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Kininvie was the ‘secret distillery’ within the William Grant & Sons production site that also houses Glenfiddich and Balvenie . Although its stillhouse was separate, it used to share mash tuns and washbacks with The Balvenie. But now it has been expanded with its own dedicated equipment.

So far we’ve only seen a couple of Hazelwood -branded releases from these stills. They were only fired when extra blending whisky was required (it’s the core ingredient of Monkey Shoulder ) and there was officially never any intent to bottle Kininvie as a single malt. Until this first official bottling that was launched in Taiwan last year....

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Another rare oldie brought to us by Sansibar . There seem to be different strengths and bottle amounts on the internet for this Balmenach 1979 . I can only tell you what’s on the label.

Balmenach 35 yo 1979 (53,4%, Sansibar 2014, bourbon cask, 127 btl.)

Nose: dry and herbal, with lots of forest associations. Dried flowers, moss and leafy notes. A proud nose but a little unsexy, although there’s a subtle fruity side of yellow apple and overripe banana. A little chalk, as well as milky cereals. Last but not least: a nice, dry layer of 35 years...

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Stagg Jr. was the highly anticipated younger version of Buffalo Trace’s power bourbon George T. Stagg . Its age is still above average though, and they share the same recipe and strength, so ‘Junior’ maj have an adverse effect of making it seem more approachable.

This American bourbon has no age statement, although the label says it was aged for nearly a decade. We’ve heard it’s slightly over 8 years old. Contrary to the yearly senior version, Stagg Jr. will have three to four batches a year.

Stagg Jr. (67,2%, OB 2013, first batch)

Nose: I believe my...

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I must admit I haven’t tried many whiskies from the Zuidam distillery in the South of Holland (very near to the Belgian border). I hear some are good. For me, the Millstone 8yo French Oak was not quite there yet.

This Millstone 1999 was matured in a refill bourbon cask for 8 years (Kelvin Cooperage and Jack Daniels?) before being transferred to a Pedro Ximénez cask for a 5-year finish. It was bottled in augusti 2013.

Millstone 1999
(46%, OB 2013, Special cask #1, PX)

Nose: a pleasant surprise. A slightly oriental mix of sandalwood, rose pepper and cumin,...

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Grant’s Ale Cask is probably the only Scotch whisky to be finished in barrels that have previously held ale, something from Caledonian brewery as far as I know. It was finished for 30 days.

The Ale Cask is part of a combo called Grant’s Cask Editions , together with a sherry cask edition. Launched in 2001, it contains around 40% single Maltwhisky from 20-30 distilleries and 60% grain (mainly from Girvan).

Grant’s Ale Cask (40%, OB ‘Cask Editions’ +/- 2013)

Nose: very grainy, lots of muesli and sugared cereal notes (Frosties). Nicely honeyed like other Grant’s, almost syrupy...

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Sansibar has a new series as well. Contrary to most other bottlers, they seem to have secured a couple of oldies as well: Glenturret 1977, Balmenach 1979 and Bunnahabhain 1980 . Among the younger expressions there’s Mortlach, Glen Keith, Glenrothes and Glen Garioch distilled in the 1990’s.

Bunnahabhain 34 yo 1980 (49,4%, Sansibar 2014, sherry cask, 220 btl.)

Nose: a slightly restrained sherry profile. Dried flowers at first, then some subtle praline, followed by sherry cellars. Tobacco leaves and walnuts. Soft herbal notes and honey. No wham-bam sherry, this is elegant with balanced oak. Mouth: definitely more oak now,...

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This Bruichladdich 1964 was distilled november ‘64 and bottled oktober ‘93 – this is just about the furthest back in time you can go with this distillery (there’s a Cadenhead 1958/1984 and a 1960/1996 by Master of Malt as well).

One year later Gordon & MacPhail bottled another three sister casks #3673, 3674 and 3675.

Bruichladdich 28 yo 1964 (50,6%, Gordon & MacPhail 1993, cask #3670, 3671, 3672)

Nose: a very fruity nose, albeit with an Islay twist. Fairly tropical: mango, guava, banana and apricot. Nice honey notes, as well as a silky touch of beeswax. Leathery notes. Vanilla....

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Earlier this week, the local Spanish newspaper Diario de Jerez published an article about the sherry casks used in the whisky industry .

It’s clear that the sherry industry, in this case the governing body called the Consejo Regulador , realizes that their casks help to give some whiskies more prestige and help to support the current boom of whisky and brands like Macallan. Distilleries are trying to maximize this profit and are sometimes stretching the boundaries, trying to avoid the very high price of an authentic sherry cask.

What is a sherry cask anyway? In general sherry casks are specially...

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I already mentioned the likeliness of peated anCnoc expressions after I visited the distillery in maj 2012. We even got to try a sample of a batch distilled around 2005 and I was pleasantly surprised by its qualities. In 2012 more than 25% of the distillery production was peated spirit, so we can expect more of this.

Rutter, Flaughter and Tushkar maj seem strange words for outsiders, but they relate to traditional tools used in peat cutting – types of shovels that are also pictured on the labels. Each tool is used to take out a different layers of peat...

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Let’s try one of the base whiskies again: Auchentoshan 12 Year Old , which replaced the old 10 Year Old as the youngest expression in the core range of this Lowlands distillery (except for the new NAS releases like Auchentoshan American Oak and the many travel retail products).

Auchentoshan 12 yo (40%, OB +/- 2013)

Nose: a slightly dusty nose (a rye kind of dustiness) with leafy notes and walnut or hazelnut husks. Peanut butter. Sugared cereals, light honey and lots of yellow apple. It’s actually quite nice. Mouth: slightly weak entry, too watery and not a lot going...

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The festival Whisky in Leiden , organised by Whiskysite.nl, is coming up on april 12. This year’s festival bottling is a Kilchoman 2007, one of these Private Cask releases with a red label. It’s the first independent Kilchoman for Holland (after a series of bottlings for the importer).

Kilchoman 6 yo 2007
(60,4%, OB for Whisky in Leiden 2014, bourbon cask #142, 245 btl.)

Nose: nougat at first. Then smoked pineapple and litres of sweet pear juice. Kiwi. Some walnuts and waxy notes. Obviously peat as well, but not as loud as in other expressions. Very soft antiseptics as...

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Master of Malt must be the king of creative bottling. Leftovers, distillation experiments, rebottlings… they’ll pop a label on it and hit the market.

The Lost Distilleries Blend is a blendeded Maltwhisky exclusively made up of whiskies from distilleries that have sadly closed over the years. In this case Rosebank, Littlemill, Imperial, Mosstowie, Glen Keith and Port Ellen.

Batch 4 is the lightest in colour so far. It recently captured the ‘Best Blended Whisky’ award at the 2014 World Whiskies Awards – an award that is won by a Suntory Hibiki blend more often than not.

The Lost...

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Maltbarn has released four new expressions: Ledaig 2005, Longmorn 1992 (what a surprise), Ben Nevis 1997 and this Bunnahabhain 1987 matured in a sherry butt.

Bunnahabhain 26 yo 1987 (49,9%, Maltbarn 2014, sherry butt, 121 btl.)

Nose: very coastal but quite fruity at the same time. Sweet grapefruit, apple peel, hints of peaches. The some walnuts and lemon, as well as faint verbena and linseed oil. majbe a Fino butt. Some leafy notes. Gets fruitier (slightly tropical) with water. Mouth: relatively fruity again, gooseberries, apples and lemon sweets. Mid-palate there is a big boost of brine and mineral notes,...

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I’m always happy when I get to try one of these dumpy bottles from Signatory Vintage. They have some ups and downs, but the ups can be truly heavenly. Fingers crossed.

This Deanston was distilled oktober 1967 and bottled oktober 1991.

Deanston 23 yo 1967 (55,4%, Signatory Vintage 1991, cask #1785, 300 btl.)

Nose: pretty great after some breathing. Lots of marzipan and oranges, coupled to pretty huge notes of warm, polished oak. Some waxed leather. Dried coconut. Apricots in the background and warmer fruity notes. A dusty element. Some eucalyptus as well. Really nice. Mouth: starts with...

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The Glenlivet 18 Years sits in the middle of the Glenlivet core range, in between the 12/15 and the 21/25 yo. It is a combination of first fill American and second fill European oak casks.

The Glenlivet 18 yo
(43%, OB +/- 2013)

Nose: quite a robust nose with fruits (yellow apples, oranges, golden raisins, plums) and a good dose of sherry. Also honey and a minty overtone. Some blossomy notes and subtle oak spices. Something vaguely tropical comes out after a while. Mouth: more punchy now, more oak-driven as well. Malty notes, honey and lots of sweet apples....

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Dreadlocks: check, ganja: check, dub riddim playlist: check. Ya man, all set to crack this lil’ beauty. Rasta Morris is the rum division of Asta Morris. Bert Bruyneel selected a 15 years old single cask rum distilled in Barbados and finished in a sherry cask.

Barbados 15 yo rum
(42%, Plantation for Rasta Morris 2013, single cask #115, sherry finish, 450 btl.)

Nose: fairly dry and leathery. There’s a pleasant reminder of dusty books before it shows sweeter oranges and caramel. Baking spice. After a while some dried banana comes out. Mouth: very smooth and sweet – much sweeter than...

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Longmorn 1992 is another one of these whiskies that we’ve seen very often lately. On Whiskybase there are +/- 30 expressions bottled in 2013 alone. I’m sorry but I won’t bother to try them all as there are very little deviations.

Longmorn 21 yo 1992
(51,1%, Whisky-Fässle ‘Ronny’s Choice’ 2013, bourbon hogshead)

Nose: rather typical Speyside / ex-bourbon combination. Garden fruits (apples, gooseberries, greengages) mixed with vanilla and touches of coconut. Hints of strawberry marshmallows after a while. A little mint as well. Mouth: full-bodied, fruity (oranges, apples, peaches) with the expected pepper / ginger combination of the...

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