Glen Albyn distillery (together with Glen Mhor) was part of Mackinlays until 1972 when it was sold to DCL which closed it down in 1983 due to its low value as a blender’s whisky. A couple of official bottlings appeared in the 1970s.

Once a year or so a group of serious malt connoisseurs gets together in Limburg, trying all kinds of interesting (long gone) bottles from their own collections. It is a mind-blowing experience that I was lucky to attend once, and sometimes I also get a few outstanding leftover samples in the post. Many thanks, Carsten.

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Johnnie Walker has a limited edition Johnnie Walker Blue Label called Ghost and Rare , which includes whiskies from ‘ghost distilleries’ that are silent and aren’t producing at the moment.

The first expression in this series is called Blue Label Brora and Rare – it features the Brora distillery as well as Pittyvaich and Cambus , plus malt and grain whisky from five operational distilleries: Clynelish, Royal Lochnagar, Glenkinchie, Glenlossie, and Cameronbridge.

While I’m always interested when I see the name Brora , in general I don’t think whisky from lost distilleries should ever be blended away. I’m...

Jura signature series

We already mentioned upcoming Jura expressions some time ago (check Jura Seven Wood ) and now it turns out they were hinting towards an entirely new core range (or Signature series ) for the distillery.

There are five new whiskies:

• Jura Journey (40%, ex-bourbon, around € 35-40)
• Jura 10 Year Old (40%, ex-bourbon + Oloroso finish, around € 40-45)
• Jura 12 Year Old (40%, ex-bourbon + Oloroso finish, only in select markets, around € 50)
• Jura Seven Wood (42%, French oak + first-fill ex-bourbon, finished in red wine casks, around € 70)
• Jura 18 Year Old (44%,...

After the excellent Woodwinters Isle Solera I was keen to try more.

This Longmorn The One ‘Fiadhaich’ , a 27 year-old distilled in 1989, was acquired by Woodwinters several years ago but they held on to it until the time was right to bottle. This is said to be an entire cask (with quite some angel’s share indeed.

Longmorn ‘Fiadhaich’ 27 yo 1989 (54,6%, Woodwinters ‘The One’ 2017, hogshead, 50 cl, 185 btl.)

Nose: a mineral fruitiness. Apples, pineapple, then some spicy honey and coconut shavings. Freshly sawn oak and a little pepper. There’s also a fragrant, slightly...

Independent bottler Claxton’s recently unveiled its latest batch of single cask bottlings. Here are the first four, there are three more to come. Check my recent news post for full details.

Macduff 14 yo 2003 (55,9%, Claxton’s 2018, sherry butt #1834-900822, 652 btl.)

Nose: sweet oranges and tart lemon pie, as well as hints of kiwi and peach jam. Quite summery. A slight musty note behind it, majbe moist tobacco leaves. Hints of golden raisins and floral honey. A fairly fruity nose, with little sherry, youngish but pleasant. Mouth: sweet and a bit fizzy. Sweet oranges and fruit...

The barrels for Booker’s True Barrel bourbon were originally hand selected by Booker Noe (grandson of Jim Beam and a legendary distiller), only for friends and family. Since 1988 the company turned it into a public small batch series.

This particular batch 2017-01E is 6 years and one month old and is bottled at cask strength.The whiskey has a mash bill of 75% corn, 13% rye and 12% barley and barrels are drawn from the centre of the warehouse, which produces an intensely flavoursome Bourbon.

Due to its limited nature and reputation, Booker’s bourbon saw a significant price increase early...

The Wine Merchant’s Collection  contains Glenrothes 1992 whiskies that were matured until 2014 in American oak ex-bourbon barrels and then finished in wine (and rum) casks from respected houses, in this case the sherry bodega Lustau .



Berry Bros. & Rudd , owner of The Glenrothes at the time, has long-standing relationships with some of the world’s leading wine and spirits producers. Other expressions in this series were finished in Graham’s and Warre’s Port casks, Beaucastel or Ridge Vineyards casks, and St. Lucia casks among other. More information in my announcement from april 2017 .

This Oloroso...

The Glenfarclas 30 Year Old , the oldest release in the core range until it was overtaken by the 40 Year Old in 2010.

This comes from the ‘180 years of production’ edition released in 2016 but I don’t think the liquid inside is different, it’s just the box designed as an homage to the iconic red doors of the Glenfarclas warehouse.

Glenfarclas 30 yo (43%, OB +/- 2017)

Nose: a green apple / lemon sherbet tartness at first, as well as some pine wood notes and orange peels. Fruity Christmas cake. Whiffs of cognac. Eucalyptus. Later also...

Kilchoman Comraich

It looks like a new  Kilchoman Comraich  is coming up, a vatting of three 2007 casks (2x bourbon, 1x sherry cask). It was bottled in oktober 2017 at full strength 55,5% ABV.

It has been presented a few weeks ago at a festival in Sweden – I’m not sure whether this could become a permanent edition to the range, but there will probably be more batches in the future (the current label says Batch No.1 )

Glen Scotia 10 Year Old

Glen Scotia distillery is adding a Glen Scotia 10 Years to its core range (which...

Last week I watched an online Balblair masterclass with Mark Williamson (Maturation and Spirit Quality Manager) and Lukasz Dynowiak (Brand Ambassador) presenting the Balblair 2005 and two new expressions that have just been launched: Balblair 2000 2nd release and Balblair 1991 3rd release .

As always with Balblair , the distillery is focusing on well made natural whisky. No exotic cask types or weird finishing, not much marketing babble either. And not a single NAS expression. Quite refreshing.

One of the questions during this very informative presentation was about the release numbers. Take the Balblair 2000 for instance...

An undisclosed single malt distilled in the Speyside region. Not sure whether it’s related to these glorious 1970’s casks, but in any case we’ve seen them before specifically from the 1998 vintage. This Speyside 1998 was bottled by Maltbarn .

Speyside region 19 yo 1998 (52,3%, Maltbarn 2017, sherry cask, 177 btl.)

Nose: oaky in a nice, aromatic way. Fresh oak shavings, hints of polish, with a grassy side. Hints of hay but also sultanas and dried apricots in the background. Mouth: fruity start, on oranges , sultanas and berries. Hints of figs and pomegranate. Then spices (clove,...

This is one of a trio of Bowmore releases that celebrate the influence of wine finishes. Bowmore 18 Year Old Manzanilla Cask has been aged in ex-bourbon barrels for 13 years before being finished in ex-Manzanilla sherry casks for a further five years. There’s also a 26 Years wine finish and 27 Years Port finished version.

Bowmore 18 yo ‘Manzanilla Cask’ (52,5%, OB ‘Vintner’s Trilogy’ 2017)

Nose: berry sweetness and caramelized red apples. Candied orange peel. Blood oranges. Vanilla. Then some honey glazed roasted ham and embering smoke, as well as some mossy notes. Rock candy sugar. Nutmeg...

BenRiach 22 Years Moscatel Finish was a limited edition from Benriach was initially matured in bourbon barrels before being finished in Moscatel wine casks, sourced from Portugal.

BenRiach 22 yo ‘Moscatel finish’ (46%, OB +/- 2017)

Nose: juicy grapes, rather aromatic and fairly similar to the light Moscatel wines from Setúbal or Valencia. Golden raisins, figs and apricot jams. Orange cake, cinnamon and hints of fresh oak as well. Nice. Mouth: thick honey sweetness, rock candy sugar with lots of berries (redcurrant, white cherries). Very juicy, with a nice sweet and sour balance. Cinnamon and vanilla, as well...

Balvenie 25 Years DoubleWood

After the original Balvenie 12 Years DoubleWood (supposedly the first ‘finished’ whisky ever, back in 1983) and the more recent 17 Years DoubleWood , there will soon be a Balvenie 25 Years DoubleWood as well, bottled at 43%.

This is a limited edition that marks the 25th anniversary of the DoubleWood concept: a first maturation in American oak bourbon casks and a second period in European oak sherry casks.

As a side note, The Balvenie will also release Batch #5 of its Tun 1509 series in the near future.

Scotch Maltwhisky Society –...

This Glenfiddich 18 year old is a mix of Oloroso sherry casks and bourbon casks. It says Small Batch Reserve : after 18 years selected casks are matured in “small batches” for a further three months.

All large-scale whisky is a vatting of many casks, and these are always married or settled right before bottling, often in neutral casks. I’m sure small batch  is still pretty large-scale in the case of Glenfiddich, so it sounds like they are trying to convert something very common into something special. The essence of marketing.

Glenfiddich 18 yo (40%, OB +/- 2017)...

Remember the Highland Park 1967 John Scott’s ? Here’s another excellent  40 year-old that was opened by our friend Karel during his birthday tasting the other day: Auchentoshan 1965 bottled back in 2006.

Auchentoshan 40 yo 1965 (41,6%, OB 2006, bourbon cask, 200 btl.)

Nose: very waxy, up to the point when you double-check whether you’re having Clynelish. Hints of juicy pear, lime and lemon scented candles. Leathery notes. A little vanilla as well. Soft herbs, blending with a slightly sour touch of oak. Mouth: pleasantly fresh, with similar citrus notes (including zests), pear peelings, leather and soft...

BenRiach 25 year old , the oldest expression in the flagship range, is aged in a combination of spirit from bourbon casks, virgin oak casks and spirit finished in Oloroso casks.

I’m not quite sure but I believe this version at 46,8% ABV was first introduced in 2014 (coming from 50%). Mind that there’s also a peated 25 but this is the classic unpeated style.

BenRiach 25 yo (46,8%, OB +/- 2017)

Nose: starts on light, almost ethereal fruity notes (peaches, yellow apples) with honey, all covered in a fragrant oakiness, including light glue, menthol and hints of...

More glorious undisclosed Speyside 1973 coming up! The first one is more of a reference sample, as it is a shared cask and we’ve already reviewed the Archives counterpart . The other two are slightly more recent, bottled by Whisky-Fässle and Mancarella who already had a sister cask before .

In my opinion the downside of this kind of comparison is the tendency to exaggerate differences, simply because you’re willing to translate your preferences into numbers. In reality though, these casks are all very closely together, closer than the actual score maj indicate.

Speyside Region 43 yo 1973...

Amontillado casks , one of the rarest types of sherry casks used for maturing whisky. If you understand how modern sherry casks are seasoned for the whisky industry , then it is not surprising that Amontillado is not commonly used: this type of sherry starts its life as a Fino or Manzanilla and then undergoes a second phase of oxidative ageing, bringing the total age to at least five or six years, often ten years or more. The wine is more expensive so the cask will be more expensive as well.

I believe there is another reason: of all types...

Roe & Co is an Irish blended whiskey developed by Diageo. It is their first step in the Irish whiskey market after having sold Bushmills in 2014 – obviously they can’t ignore the booming trend in Irish whiskey (which apparently they hadn’t foreseen).

It is a blend of grain and malt whiskey, matured exclusively in bourbon casks (most of which are first-fill).

The brand goes back a long way, it was started as George Roe & Co in the 19th century. The distillery in Thomas Street, Dublin used to be the largest of the country. Diageo is planning a new...