My whisky friend Wim sent me a package of seven unlabeled whisky samples . He loves sherry bombs and the idea came up because we disagreed on some of the recent Glenrothes 1997 bottlings . I knew he would slip in different profiles to see whether a blind assessment would match my earlier reviews.

I don’t usually do blind tastings. I know other reviewers prefer not to be bothered with names and dates, but I simply find it too hard to organize as I would need to rely on someone to re-label my samples, keep track of them, etc. You...

After Highland Park Magnus , here’s another US exclusive from Highland Park .

It is composed of 481 first-fill bourbon casks, both barrels and hogsheads, all filled in 1999. Fully bourbon maturation is something that you rarely see in official releases but often from independent bottlers.

Highland Park Full Volume 1999 (47,2%, OB 2017, first-fill bourbon)

Nose: barley notes and juicy citrus. A little unripe pineapple and kiwi. Orange juice. A whiff of vanilla, as well as some banana candy. A fresh floral note as well. Almost no peat smoke, just a hint of earthy oak underneath....

Redbreast 16 Year Old single sherry cask #18829

Redbreast single casks are still quite rare, but some of the (older) sherried examples I’ve tried ( Dream Cask and LMdW ) were among the best Irish whiskeys I know. Now Master of Malt has a first-fill Oloroso bottling which looks very promising.

It is a 2001 vintage, aged for 16 years in cask #18829 and bottled at cask strength 60,2%. Only 582 bottles are available, exclusively from Master of Malt .

Teeling 34 Year Old Vintage Reserve

After its 33 Year Old, Teeling will release a new Vintage Reserve...

This is the second bottling in the Brabazon series from Teeling Whiskey . It highlights the influence of fortified wines on Irish whiskey and this time maturation is done in Port casks .

Teeling gave us the ‘liquid profile’ for this whiskey and we learn that it contains spirits between 8 and 16 years old . Some were finished in tawny port, some were fully matured in white port (European oak) or ruby port.

Teeling Brabazon 02 (49,5%, OB 2017, Port casks, 12.500 btl.)

Nose: syrupy sweetness at first. Like a prune tartlet or strawberry cookies. Raisins, fresh...

Today we go back in time with a Glen Grant 30 Year Old , distilled in 1958 and bottled by Gordon & MacPhail in 1988.

Most of these seem to have been bottled for the Italian market (importers like Sestante) where the 5 year old Glen Grant  was a popular benchmark single malt at the time.

Glen Grant 30 yo 1958 (40%, Gordon & MacPhail 1988)

Nose: mossy, leafy notes at first, including a bit of Old Bottle Effect (metal polish). A bit of mint but also a shy but elegant fruity side (yellow apples, slight hints of...

The Whisky Exchange is on a roll. Just in time for the festive season, they’ve released a number of exclusive bottlings. We’ve had excellent oldies ( Irish malt 1990 and Strathisla 1970 ) but there’s also this younger Bowmore 2001 selected from the Signatory Vintage stocks.

Bowmore 15 yo 2001 (55,6%, Signatory Vintage for The Whisky Exchange 2017, hogshead #20117, 233 btl.)

Nose: sweet red apples mixed with coastal notes. Lemon candy. Golden raisiny touches too. Hints of seawater and wet fabric. Then back to light mango. The candied fruitiness works well alongside the muted smoke. Mouth: coastal...

James MacTaggart has been the master distiller at Arran distillery for 10 years now (and 40 years in the industry) and this was celebrated with a 10th Anniversary Limited Edition .

It is a vatting of 48 first-fill bourbon barrels coming from Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, Heaven Hill and Buffalo Trace, all filled during his first months of production in 2007.

 

Arran 10 yo 2007 ‘James MacTaggart’ (54,2%, OB ‘Master of Distilling’ 2017, first-fill bourbon, 12.000 btl.)

Nose: first-fill bourbon alright, full of vanilla custard, buttery candy, malt and honey. Ripe yellow apples. Whiffs...

Last week a That Boutique-y Whisky Company Twitter Tasting was planned but it was postponed due to some logistics issues. So feel free to tune in this Thursday 19:30 GMT.

Five samples will be presented from the TBWC Advent Calendar , a selection of 24 whiskies in total, some of which haven’t been released yet on their own. As we wanted to give you an opportunity to order a calendar still in time for the Advent, here’s a review one of the highlights already: a Glenlivet 27 Years – Batch #1.

We’ll also try a Glen Ord 20 Years and...

It’s a yearly tradition for The Whisky Exchange to come up with a Black Friday deal. Last year they found a remaining parcel of GlenDronach 15 Years, this year they have an exclusive bottling, something special with an unbeatable price. I’ve had a sneak peek.

It’s an undisclosed Speyside single malt from a “family-owned distillery”, you know… It was bottled from a single sherry butt in oktober 2017 at 16 years of age.

Undisclosed Speyside 16 yo ‘Black Friday’ (54,6%, The Whisky Exchange 2017, sherry butt, 582 btl.)

Nose: starts on dry, old-style Oloroso notes, including figs and...

The Whisky festival formerly known as Lindores has made a restart. It is now the G&B WhiskyFest (after two Lindores members Geert & Billy). There is a whisky gathering this Friday and a festival for old, rare and exquisite whisky on Saturday 25th november 2017, still in Hotel Bero in Oostende , Belgium.

Expect two festival bottlings this year: a Strathmill 1975 (in the Angel’s Choice series by Malts of Scotland) and this Mystery Speyside over 25 years old in a new series by Billy’s Whisky Barrel. Both very limited.

Mystery Speyside ‘over 25 yo’ (45%, Billy’s...

The Book of Kells label should ring a bell if you’re serious about whisky. This beautifully illustrated label is used by Gordon & MacPhail for some its best bottlings, including one of my all-time favourites, the Longmorn 1969 for Japan Import System .

Now there’s a new exclusive bottling for The Whisky Exchange , although apparently Sukhinder had to fight to be able to use it – Gordon & MacPhail only use it for their absolute best.

We’re trying a Strathisla 1977 which has been maturing for over 40 years in a refill American oak hogshead. Bourbon maturation is rare...

What is a sherry cask?

About two weeks ago I was in the sherry triangle to host a sherry tasting but also to further investigate the relationship between the sherry industry and the whisky industry, more specifically the definition of a sherry cask as used in both industries. I am regularly hosting tastings with a line-up of sherry and whisky, and there is still a lot of confusion among whisky lovers when it comes to sherry and sherry casks.

I’ve already written an article Sherry and oak on my sherry blog but I thought a new one was necessary, this...

As usual this is the most accessible releases from Diageo’s Special Releases 2017. As often it is also one of the most reliable releases. Lagavulin 12 Year Old , the cask strength expression.

Lagavulin 12 yo (56,5%, OB 2017, 17th release)

Nose: sweet, deeply sooty, with lots of medicinal notes, coastal notes, shells on a beach, putty and earthy notes. As expected. Some gherkins, but there’s a gentler side too, something of butter pastry, almond cream and lemon oil. Sharp and powerful, but somehow very balanced. Mouth: same intensity. Big peat with pepper and lemon. Smoked fish, leathery...

Compass Hedonism The Muse

Compass Box Hedonism The Muse is an upcoming blended grain Scotch whisky from this independent whiskymaker. They say on the back label Sometimes the character of a single cask of whisky will stir our minds and inspire us to create something even more compelling.

It is a vatting of very old grain whiskies from different distilleries, combined many years ago and left to marry in American oak. The sellers of the casks didn’t know the provenance. It is a limited release of 3115 bottles, bottled at 46% ABV.

Teeling The Revival 15 Years Muscat...

A 22 year old single malt Scotch whisky from the Mortlach distillery, bottled by That Boutique-y Whisky Company . I was pleasantly surprised by Batch #3 which was 18 years old – this is the new Batch #4 .

Mortlach 22 yo (52,6%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company 2017, Batch #4, 200 btl.)

Nose: similar freshness as Batch #3. Pine needles, green bananas and green apples. Some wet limestone and mineral notes in the distance. Unripe peaches. Almonds. A little varnished oak and a subtle metallic edge. The Beast of Dufftown, they say? Mouth: creamy and fruity, with (pine)apple,...

Forget NAS, the new thing is NIS (no info statement). With their latest limited edition  Phenomenology   Compass Box are doing the exact opposite of what they have been fighting for:  not giving any information at all, not even tasting notes. Encouraging people to experience this whisky without preconceptions is a good thing, but I’m not sure this concept is all that different from other blend(ed malt)s on the market?

Apparently it is made with 5 components, one of which accounts for 72% of the total liquid. Another one brings in 24.5% so it’s basically a recipe that revolves around...

Bladnoch distillery was liquidated in 2014 after being revived by Raymond Armstrong in 2000. It was then bought by Australian entrepreneur David Prior who had been running a yoghurt business. Production is now overseen by Ian MacMillan and should be restarted this year.

In late 2016 Bladnoch launched a new core range with three expressions:

• Bladnoch Samsara (no age statement)
• Bladnoch Adela , 15 years old
• Bladnoch Talia , 25 years old

The range was first launched in Australia and has recently arrived in Europe. The packaging already makes clear that Prior has a more professional take on things than...

A trio of Port Charlotte bottlings, two from the very early years of production and another one that was produced much later. Two of them are from red  wine casks .

Port Charlotte 16 yo 2001 (59,7%, Archives 2017, bourbon barrel #278, 218 btl.)

Nose: beautiful nose. There are some farmy notes (wet sheep) and wet ashes, but also lots of fruits. Mango, melons, bananas. Fatty, greasy peat. Tarry ropes. Hints of pipe tobacco, including a hint of vanilla and white chocolate. The fruitiness and richness are great. Mouth: sweet onset but less fruity than expected from the...

Recently The Whisky Exchange partnered with The Whisky Agency to release five joint bottlings, only available through TWE:

• Irish single malt 1989 (46,8%) around € 325 – coming december 2017
• Irish single malt 1990 (51,3%) around € 300
• Glen Scotia 1992 (49,3%) around € 155
• Bunnahabhain 1989 (44,9%) around € 230
• Glenrothes 1997 (51,3%) around € 130 – sold out already

Irish single malt 27 yo 1990 (51,3%, The Whisky Agency & The Whisky Exchange 2017, bourbon barrel, 150 btl.)

Nose: slightly warmer than 1989, with a bit more vanilla cake and marshmallow aromas. Honey, apricots, dried pineapple...

Nantou distillery is in Taiwan. It’s owned by the state-run TTL corporation which had a monopoly on all tobacco and alcohol products until 2002. Nantou only started producing Maltwhisky in 2008, using malted barley shipped in from Scotland, and only from oktober to april when temperatures are lower.

Omar single malt ‘Sherry cask’ (46%, OB +/- 2016)

Nose: rather light and elegant. Juicy fruit compote at the centre (red apples, apricots, citrus). Some vanilla custard, as well as raisins, almonds and rosehip tea. Just a hint of chocolate in the background. Mouth: bittersweet and a bit thin...