Even when they’re unnamed, it’s easy to recognize Highland Park releases. Most of the indie bottlings are great. We’re having a 2003 single cask bottled in the Old Particular range from Douglas Laing .

Probably Orkney’s Finest 16 yo 2003 (48,4%, Douglas Laing ‘Old Particular’ 2019, DL13371, 371 btl.)

Nose: a mix of oily notes, wet gravel and warm wax, mixed with HP’s trademark honey sweetness. A whiff of smoke and an earthy, almost farmy edge. Peaches. Some creamy vanilla and spice from the oak. Mouth: perfect strength, with a nice oily texture. Starting on spicy and herbal...

The Whisky Exchange is releasing three new 20th Anniversary bottlings today, available online and in their shops.

One of them is a single bourbon barrel Old Pulteney 2004 , from the same year as last year’s sherry cask but intended to show a totally different side of the distillery character.

Old Pulteney 2004 (50,9%, OB for TWE 20th Anniversary 2019, ex-bourbon barrel #221, 246 btl.)

Nose: a nice mix of mineral notes, coastal air, minty notes, a little sour dough and fresh, gingery oak. A great waxy side too. Some barley sugar and creamy yellow fruits underneath. Gooseberries....

Here’s the Lagavulin 12 Year Old for this year, matured in refill American oak and distilled in 2006 / 2007.

This time the packaging takes the style from the ‘rare by nature’ theme of the Special Releases 2019 instead of the usual Lagavulin styling. Nice but collectors will not be happy, I suppose.

Lagavulin 12 yo (56,5%, OB 2019, 19th release, refill American oak, 60.000+ btl.)

Nose: youthful and intense, with a lot of carbolic soap, mossy notes, menthol and deep peat smoke. Hints of chilli and green pepper, and plenty of medicinal notes. Tarry ropes and other...

From Zuidam distillery comes this Millstone Oloroso Sherry , kind of a younger and cheaper version of their 12 Years Oloroso. For this whisky they were using smaller 250l casks, re-composed from larger sherry butts.

Millstone Oloroso Sherry 3 yo 2014 (46%, OB 01.2018, 3000+ btl.)

Nose: a lot of very young Oloroso wine notes, but also prominent notes of sherry vinegar I’m afraid. Not great in whisky, but please get to know this unique vinegar. A sour fruity side (red berries, apples, rhubarb, heavily infused fruit tea) and savoury, lightly meaty hints (maggi, celery, wet leather). Hints...

In 2017 Diageo surprised many whisky enthusiasts by removing Brora from the yearly Special Releases , something that was later explained by the news of the re-opening of the distillery in 2020.

To mark the 200th anniversary of the distillery’s (original) opening Diageo vatted 12 American oak hogsheads from 1978 . They filled 1819 bttles – the foundation year indeed.

Brora 40 yo 1978 (49,2%, OB ‘200th Anniversary’ 2019, 1819 btl.)

Nose: wonderfully sweet and fruity. There’s European fruit (stewed golden apples, grapes, figs) as well as raisins and some tropical notes of grilled pineapple and papaya. Typical...

Bimber Re-charred Oak

The second release from Bimber distillery (after the First ) is a small batch release: Bimber Re-charred Oak Casks, a vatting of heavily charred (‘alligator’) American oak casks laid down in 2016. Bottled at 51.9% ABV and available on their website for a reasonable £ 65, later also from select retailers like The Whisky Exchange .

Tomatin Decades II

Back in 2011 Tomatin released Decades , a really tasty composition of casks from every decade that Master Distiller Douglas Campbell had been working at the distillery (1960s to 2000s).

Now there’s the Tomatin Decades II...

Black Tot is a Caribbean blended rum. It is a modern interpretation of British Naval rum , an old style of rum known for its heavy, dark flavours. This version is said to be lighter, more elegant and more importantly, unsweetened.

Black Tot is a blend of rums from Barbados (elegant and fruity), Guyana (full-bodied) and Jamaica (heavier and funkier).

The brand started in 2010 when Speciality Drinks (now Elixir Distillers ) bottled some of the last real navy stocks . In the past few years they developed it into a whole range of rums.

Black Tot rum...

Bimber is a single malt distilled in London and they seem to be doing things right. Local barley, floor malting, long fermentation (seven days), directly fired stills, serious wood management, what’s not to like?

Founders Darius and Ewelina moved from Poland to the UK in 2003 and the first spirit was produced in 2016 – the first in London in over a century.

Bimber First Release is a whisky distilled in 2016 and matured in five first-fill Pedro Ximénez casks for three years. Genuine solera casks, apparently.

Bimber – The First Release 2016 (54,2%, OB 2019, Pedro Ximénez...

The other night I was invited to the Belgian presentation of the Balvenie Stories , a series of whiskies inspired by loyal craftspeople at The Balvenie and the great stories they told: tales of character, endeavour and craft. The distillery decided to record these stories and create three new whiskies .

You can listen to the stories on the Balvenie website . There’s also a book Pursuit: The Balvenie Stories collection which can be bought from Amazon . It includes short stories from some of the world’s finest writers, loosely inspired by the theme of pursuing dreams and chasing perfection....

Among the new Single Malts of Scotland releases we find this Bruichladdich 1992 . It is 26 years of age.

Bruichladdich 26 yo 1992 (54,2%, Single Malts of Scotland 2019, ex-bourbon barrel #2864, 222 btl.)

Nose: apple peelings, green melons, hints of lemons and fresh hay. A few heady floral notes and touches of varnish. Green tea, minty freshness, perhaps a light whiff of chalk and sawdust as well. Very natural. Mouth: zesty and spicy, with a prickly side. Lemon peel, apples, violet sweets, melons again. Malty core. Chalky touches. Ginger and white pepper. Certainly a little green....

Among the latest batch of Artful Dodger bottlings, we find this 11 years old Tomatin .

Tomatin 11 yo 2008 (56,1%, Artful Dodger 2019, bourbon hogshead #453, 323 btl.)

Nose: youngish spirit, very close to the raw materials. Gristy notes, barley, some yeasty bread and porridge. Lemon juice. Light vanilla and caramelized sugar, some grassy notes. Mouth: brighter but still fairly young, with a bold attack. Green fruits with a generous dose of peppery notes, aniseed and peppermint. Shortbread. Grass and roots. Some sourness and tannins too. Finish: quite long, with malty flavours, citrus zest and hints of...

This is the first Cotswolds whisky in the Boutique-y Whisky Company range, probably the first independent bottling of this distillery and… the first Cotswolds I will try.

Established in 2014, it is one of six distilleries producing whisky in England . It was one of the projects guided by Dr. Jim Swan, famous for his ‘accelerating’ STR casks (shaved, toasted, re-charred American oak wine barrels).

Cotswolds 3 yo (50,4%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company 2019, Batch #1, 1785 btl.)

Nose: light, with peaches, plums and vanilla cream, fructose sweetness and cereal biscuits. Jam on toast. You also get a...

Not a lot of whisky news to announce this week, although of course there was the official presentation of the Diageo Special Releases 2019, with prices .

They will be arriving in stores soon and you can already (pre-)order from online shops like The Whisky Exchange or Loch Fyne .

Longrow 21 Year Old

An upcoming release from Springbank Distillers: Longrow 21 Year Old , a well-aged version of their double-distilled heavily peated expression, now in its 2019 edition. It is bottled at 46% ABV from a mixture of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. Starting to arrive in UK...

Ardbeg Ar11 is one of the latest Elements of Islay releases. Matured in a combination of American oak ex-bourbon and first-fill Pedro Ximénez sherry butts.

Ardbeg Ar11 2000 (56,8%, Elements of Islay 2019, 840 btl.)

Nose: pretty exemplary. Black raisins, figs, oranges, poached pears, with a nice juicy sour touch (rhubarb compote, citrus). Cold ashes and tar, seaweed, lovely tobacco notes and hints of leather. Light pencil shavings. Actually fairly elegant and not over-PX-ed, I like that. Mouth: much more intense now, with a blast of camphory peat and rich smoke. Big peppery notes too, as well as...

Gordon & MacPhail have just presented a Glen Grant 1956 ‘Mr George Centenary Edition’ in honour of George Urquhart, the second generation of the family that owns G&M and the grandfather of the current directors. It would have been his 100th birthday just now.

He created the Connoisseurs Choice range in 1968, giving little-known distilleries a platform to present their whisky in its purest form, as a single malt.

The spirit, from one of his favourite distilleries Glen Grant , was personally matched by Mr George to a first-fill sherry butt made to his specific requirements. It is bottled...

GlenAllachie recently added a sherry cask finished GlenAllachie 15 Years to its core range. One of the first projects Billy Walker started working on when he acquired the distillery in 2017.

It has been matured in ex-bourbon and finished in Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez sherry casks, both puncheons and hogsheads.

GlenAllachie 15 yo (46%, OB 2019, Oloroso + PX sherry )

Nose: fairly rich, with sweet fruits (blackcurrant jam, orange liqueur, bananas) and cinnamon pastry. Feels a little ‘pressure-cooked’. A lot of milky chocolate and a little marzipan. Leathery notes. Mouth: creamy fruits (soaked raisins, fig syrup, red...

Unnamed Speyside single malt distilled in 2005 and bottled by Maltbarn . Based on similar releases from other independent bottlers, it is probably a Mac.

Speyside Malt 14 yo 2005 (50,4%, Maltbarn 2019, sherry cask, 175 btl.)

Nose: very juicy, bright and lightweight sherry. Marmalade, sour berries, mirabelles and greengages. Apple peel. Hints of (somewhat prickly) oak varnish and a slight grassiness. A little pipe tobacco and almond in the background. Mouth: similar to what the big M is releasing lately. Malty notes, marmalade and citrus again, now more nutty notes as well (walnuts, almond). A little ginger...

Royal Brackla 12 / 18 / 21 Years

Royal Brackla relaunches its travel retail range with new expressions, each finished in different types of sherry casks. The 12 Year Old is finished in Oloroso casks, the 18 Year Old in Palo Cortado and the 21 Year Old in a mix of PX, Oloroso and Palo Cortado.

They will now be bottled at a higher 46% ABV (up from 40%) and gradually rolled out in Spring 2020.

Dalmore Trio / Quartet / Quintet

Three, four or five cask types used to finish a whisky, that’s the choice Dalmore is...

Bruichladdich continues its barley explorations and has just released three new barley-driven whiskies:

• Bruichladdich Organic 2010 from barley raised at Mid Coul Farms, matured in ex-bourbon casks, accredited with organic certification
• Bruichladdich Bere Barley 2010 is using this rare low-yield barley strain, grown in four farms on Orkney. It is aged entirely in ex-bourbon American oak casks.
• Islay Barley 2011 is matured in 75% ex-bourbon casks and 25% ex-wine casks (Spanish oak).

By the way, Bruichladdich planted 60 different barley varietals around the distillery, to witness which ones grow best on Islay. Gotta love this kind of scientific approach.

 ...

Artful Dodger is a young bottler but they’ve managed to impress a couple of times already. Here’s an Irish single malt 2002 , one of their latest releases.

Irish single malt 15 yo 2002 (57,9%, Artful Dodger 2019, ex-bourbon cask #346, 291 btl.)

Nose: a whole range of yellow fruits. Mirabelles, bananas, pears and greengages. Sometimes a bit fresher, sometimes more syrupy. A little honey. Light wood spice and soft green notes, like ferns and grass. Mouth: quite vivid. There’s a similar fruitiness (Poire Williams, plums, melons) with more greenness now. Apple peels. Herbs, menthol, a slightly bitter,...