I’ve heard nice things about this Glen Garioch 1990 bottled by Kintra . Glen Garioch can be austere and a little rough, let’s see whether the sherry cask made this one behave differently.

Glen Garioch 22 yo 1990 (51,2%, Kintra 2013, refill sherry hogshead #7934, 302 btl.)

Nose: sweet and rummy, with some banana / Pisang notes. Papaya, melon, red fruit gums. Mount Gayrioch? Garioch Club? A nicely candied sherry influence anyway. But there’s more: eucalyptus and mint, some exotic woods, cigar boxes. And a very light coastal kick. Mouth: again surprisingly fruity. Juicy pears, fig syrup, some pink...

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Tomatin 25 yo 1988
(49,7%, The Whisky Agency ‘Perfect Dram’ 2013, refill hogshead, 304 btl.)

Nose: sweet, candied fruits. Angelica cake. Gooseberry pie. Lime. Violets? Also a grassy / herbal side (hay, aniseed, heather). Vanilla. Then some blonde tobacco and banana leafs. Liquorice as well. Pretty complex and wide. Mouth: sweet and rounded, with lemon sweets, gooseberries again, marzipan. Quite oily. Faint hints of pink grapefruit, and again very light violet notes. Evolves towards more grassy notes, with a little nutmeg and liquorice. Ginger too. Finish: medium long, sweet and spicy. Oranges and mocha.

High quality Tomatin, with echoes...

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Another Bunnahabhain 1987 ! A lot of bottlers seem to have them these days. While the Perfect Dram was a Fino cask , this one is much darker and probably Oloroso matured.

It’s part of the new Fishes of Samoa releases, the new Archives label.

Bunnahabhain 26 yo 1987 (50,2%, Archives 2013, dark sherry cask #2557, 233 btl.)

Nose: juicy sherry. Figs and dates, but only half-dried I would say. Also jammy cherries and red grapes (hinting towards raisins, but not quite yet). Toffee. Caramelized banana. Subtle exotic spices and pencil shavings. Cinnamon and cardamom, also a little ginger....

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As you know, four members of the Lindores whisky club turned 40 this year, and for this occasion they threw a birthday party on the eve of the Lindores Whisky Fest .

After some delicious mussels, we were treated with a glorious line-up of drams. Each member selected five bottles from his personal collection. Here goes, in alphabetical order:

• Ardbeg 24 yo 1974 (51,3%, Signatory Vintage 1998, cask #657 + 658, US market, 306 btl.)
• Ardbeg 27 yo 1976 (46%, R.W. Duthie for Alte Tabakstube 1993, cask #921, 341 btl.)
• Aultmore 16 yo 1981 ‘Centenary’ (63%, OB 1997, cask #2508)
...

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Here’s a new Bunnahabhain 1987 in the Perfect Dram series.

Fino sherry , the über-dry type, is rarely used for whisky maturation and in my opinion it’s also the least influential of all types of sherry. It can be hard to pin down exactly what the Fino contributed.

Bunnahabhain 25 yo 1987
(49,4%, The Whisky Agency ‘Perfect Dram’ 2013, Fino hogshead, 255 btl.)

Nose: nicely aromatic. Plenty of citrus notes (grapefruit and lemon) and stewed apples. Subtle notes of whitecurrant and wine gums. Quite some blossomy notes as well. Nice cigar boxes and soft leather. Subtle smoke and wet...

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Age Matters is a new series by The Whiskyman . The labels feature big age statements, moving away from the current trend of hiding the age and claiming age is not very important when it comes to whisky. In fact even the distillery is hard to spot.

This ‘17’ is a 17 years old Clynelish 1996 . In the current line-up there’s also a Ledaig 15, Ben Nevis 16, Littlemill 21 and Bruichladdich 22.

Clynelish 17 yo 1996 (53,3%, The Whiskyman ‘Age Matters’ 2013)

Nose: not the obvious sherry influence. There’s spiced Mexican cocoa and toffee as well as some...

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Another whisky from the recent line-up of Sansibar , a Benrinnes distilled in 1998.

Between 1974 and 2007 Benrinnes distillery used a unique partial triple distillation. Some of the feints and low wines from the spirit still are distilled again in a low wines still.

Benrinnes 15 yo 1998
(47,9%, Sansibar 2013, sherry cask, 233 btl.)

Nose: slightly sharp, with a lemon marmalade / rhubarb note and some floral notes on top. Sour plums. Lots of Seville oranges. Some oily / waxy notes, eucalyptus and spices (pepper, cardamom). Fruit cake and cherry biscuits underneath as well as some pencil...

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Gouden Carolus is a highly respected beer from brewery Het Anker in Mechelen, Belgium. Besides a family brewing tradition spanning five generations, the family also distilled genever in a nearby village (actually almost in the backyard of my home).

This mill and later distillery called De Molenberg was renovated and in 2010 two pot stills were installed, custom made by Forsyths in Rothes. At that time it was the first pot still distillery in Belgium following Scottish traditions. Scotsmen Harry Cockburn (former manager of Bowmore) and Dr. James Swan (who helped to design whiskies for Penderyn and Kavalan among...

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So far there has only been one ‘black label’ from The Whiskyman , a Caperdonich 1972 . It is reserved for extraordinary releases, old whisky that is hard to come by.

Last Friday, at the start of the Lindores festival, a second black label was presented, this Bunnahabhain 1973 . Four members of the Lindores whisky club (Dirk, Geert, Christophe and Dominiek a.k.a. ‘The Whiskyman’) have turned 40 years old this year and they selected this cask as their private birthday dram.

The fab four asked me to design the label, and their heads are on the label. Don’t worry...

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This Deanston 1997 was launched a couple of weeks ago. In the tradition of the bubbly Asta Morris label, we’re expecting an easily drinkable, affordable whisky.

Deanston 15 yo 1997 (48,1%, Asta Morris 2013, ref. AM031, 342 btl.)

Nose: quite ponderous, with a lot of hay and heather honey. Roasted almonds. Not entirely fresh at first, there’s an overripe apple and something of wet cloth or wet leaves, which is not an asset in this case. Some melon and citrus. Buttered toast. A bit of a strange ensemble in my opinion. Mouth: quite a different story. Sweet and fruity,...

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It turns out The Whisky Agency selected a whole set of GlenDronach casks lately. We’ve already reviewed an excellent 2002 cask #710 and 1993 cask #4 earlier and now there’s a 2002 cask #712 and this GlenDronach 1993 cask #13 . A double pair!

Too bad we can’t try them head-to-head, it will be a memory game then.

GlenDronach 20 yo 1993
(52,6%, OB for The Whisky Fair 2013, oloroso sherry butt #13, 668 btl.)

Nose: big notes of dried figs. Walnut cake and sticky toffee, a tad ponderous majbe but very intense. Freshly cut herbs. Similar exotic...

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This Glen Scotia 1991 was bottled for the Spirits in the Sky Festival 2013 , just a few days ago in Leuven. It’s a joint bottling by The Whisky Agency and festival organiser The Nectar . Like the other releases in the trio, the label features a scene from Alice in Wonderland.

By the way, there’s a nicely made Daily Dram Guide 2013-2014 which presents the new and upcoming releases from this bottler. It’s a whopping 111 MB but still worth the download. There’s an addendum with tasting notes as well.

Glen Scotia 22 yo 1991
(50,4%, The...

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It’s been a while, but remember Kintra ? A Dutch bottler, managed by Erik Molenaar . Since 2009 he has been selecting casks from all over Scotland.

Blair Athol 23 yo 1989 (50,8%, Kintra 2013, bourbon hogshead #6465, 117 btl.)

Nose: very natural, a bit malty, a bit grassy. Underneath is a nice layer of honey sweetness and peach preserve. Grows sweeter and sweeter. Apple syrup, muesli, candied ginger, some pineapple after a while. Hints of butter cream. Some fresh garden herbs. Mouth: a malty core again, with a general fruity sweetness. Cake. Vanilla. Almond cream. Then more herbal...

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The guys from De Tongerse Whiskyvrienden , a whisky club in the Eastern part of Belgium, hunted down this cask of Laphroaig 1997 in the stocks of Signatory Vintage. The remaining part of the sherry hogshead went to Vinothek Massen in Luxemburg.

Laphroaig 16 yo 1997
(55,4%, Signatory Vintage for De Tongerse Whiskyvrienden & Vinothek Massen 2013, refill sherry hogshead #3369, 292 btl.)

Nose: the higher sweetness points to sherry, but other than that, it’s not a sherry bomb like some 1989’s or 1991’s for example. Obvious peat, some red apples and walnuts. Classic Laphroaig medicinal notes. Olive juice...

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At each Spirits in the Sky festival there is always a new selection of The Nectar of the Daily Drams releases.

Among others: Auchroisk 1990, Glen Keith 1992, Glenturret 1977 and this 25 year-old Glenrothes 1988 . There were also three joint bottlings by The Whisky Agency & The Nectar, as well as a series of officials for The Nectar (Bowmore 2001 Blackadder, Arran 2001, Jura 1989 SV, Glenburgie 1983 SV, Kavalan sherry, Elijah Craig…).

Glenrothes 25 yo 1988 (50,6%, The Nectar of the Daily Drams 2013, refill sherry)

Nose: quite full, with a spicy sherry character rather than a...

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You know these ‘urban’ dictionaries on the internet these days, to look up slang words? I didn’t know the word Scallywag , so I looked it up and I found this :

A person who is known to be a treacherous lying son-of-a-bitch, and usually smells bad.

Funny! I’m quite sure the name wasn’t chosen based on the smell of the whisky…

Scallywag is the latest product from Douglas Laing . It’s a small batch vatted malt, created using only Speyside malts, including Mortlach, Macallan, Glenrothes and others. Kind of a Speyside version of the Big Peat concept.

The packaging...

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Jan Vissers is the owner of The Single Maltwhisky Shop in Zammel (Belgium) and a proud ambassador for the Arran distillery .

For Jan’s 35th birthday, distillery manager James MacTaggart selected a 16 years old cask that was released as a Private Cask bottling. It’s clearly from a sherry hogshead and probably the darkest Arran so far.

Arran 16 yo 1996
(55,7%, OB Private Cask for Jan Vissers 2013, oloroso sherry hogshead, 174 btl.)

Nose: nicely aromatic, with a wide array of sherry aromas. Juicy cherries (hints of Ginjinha), Christmas pears in wine, redcurrants, red plums....

Läs mer http://www.whiskynotes.be/2013/arran/arran-1996-jan-vissers-private-cask/

A Karuizawa 1977 with a Geisha label. Just like the 1971 cask #7267 (released at the same time), it was bottled in 2012 but not released until the summer of 2013. Both extremely hard to get, even in Taiwan.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a whisky with such a striking brown colour. Sherry tends to impart some red hues as well, but not this time.

Karuizawa 35 yo 1977 (65,9%, OB 2012, sherry butt #4010, 427 btl.)

Nose: very high on tobacco notes. Cigar leaves and pipe tobacco. Evolves on forest aromas like wet soil and moss. Hints...

Läs mer http://www.whiskynotes.be/2013/japan-whisky/karuizawa-1977-4010-taiwan/

The Blue one…

Johnnie Walker Blue Label (40%, OB)

Nose: surprising amounts of toffee, with a sharpish / acidic side to it as well. Cereal notes (bread), some dried fruits and orange peel. Berries. Some lime. Vanilla. Give it some time and it develop into a decent blended nose. Mouth: medium bodied, nice enough, with toasted notes, grains and citrus. Quite a lot of floral notes alongside the soft sherry. Berries and ginger. Toffee. Good balance of sweet, spicy and acidic, but a bit characterless if you ask me (a bit of everything but nothing in particular). Fades on...

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