Aultmore 12 Year Old is part of Dewar’s The Last Great Malts range launched in 2014. This little-known distillery now has an official 12 years old, 18 years (travel retail), 21 years (travel retail) and 25 years old. There have been plans for a 30 and 35 year-old, but apparently they cancelled them, not sure why.

Aultmore 12 yo (46%, OB +/- 2016)

Nose: fresh and lively, with some biscuity aromas and green fruits. Granny Smith apples, unripe pear, light citrus, green leafy notes. Also bright flowers and just a hint of wax. Rather delicate but very uplifting....

We move over to France. The Whisky Agency recently bottled two cognac expressions, this Petite Champagne 1973 vintage and another much older, much more limited release.

Cognac Petite Champagne 42 yo 1973 (49%, The Whisky Agency 2016, 483 btl.)

Nose: excellent fruitiness with elegant, aromatic polished woods. Apricot jam, cinnamon pastry, lots of blood oranges and hints of leather. Beeswax. Cigar boxes. Hints of herbal honey. Very rounded and sexy. Mouth: great. Very elegant and fruity again – I cannot not think of the Vallein-Tercinicer style which is fruitier than most other houses. Oranges and tangerines, apricots, plums,...

A very old cognac , produced from grapes from the Grande Champagne region and bottled by The Whisky Agency . The vintage isn’t mentioned on the label, but I believe the No.24 indicates a 1924 vintage . Exactly eighty years later it was transferred to glass demijohns ( paradised as they say).

This was pretty much a stealth release. I saw an open bottle passing by on Facebook once, but never on sale. With just 38 bottles, it’s more of an insider release, I guess.

Cognac Grande Champagne Lot 19 No. 24 (43,1%, The Whisky Agency 2016, 38...

The Brabazon family presided over the Liberties area of Dublin City from the 16th to 19th century. As Walter Teeling set up the original Teeling distillery in this industrial suburb in 1782, they want to pay tribute to these glorious days with a new Teeling Brabazon series.

The series focuses on the distinct role that fortified wines can have on the taste of Irish whiskey. The first release was composed from different sizes and styles of ex-sherry casks.

This is the entire recipe:

• 30% of 2008 whiskey fully matured in ex-sherry butts
• 30% of 2007 whiskey fully matured...

The Hopsky is an experimental spirit made by the Regensburger Whisky and Weinclub . It’s a mix of several great IPA and Pale Ale beers, slowly distilled to preserve maximum fruitiness. The spirit was then matured in five different types of casks: bourbon, sherry, beer and Islay whisky with a Grand Arôme rum finish. All refill casks by the way.

Before you’re off to start a similar project, keep in mind that you need 20 litres of craft beer to make 1 litre of spirit. That’s easily € 120 per litre without casks or anything.

I must add that this...

A head-to-head comparison of two old grains from Invergordon , distilled in 1972 and 1973 and bottled by The Whisky Agency and Sansibar .

Invergordon 44 yo 1972 (49%, The Whisky Agency for La Maison du Whisky 2017)

Nose: oily, with lots of furniture polish and varnished wood. Menthol and aniseed. Plenty of vanilla cake, sweetened condensed milk, dried coconut and hints of straw. Hints of caramelly bourbon whiskey. Subtle grapefruit and spices. Quite a nice, finely tuned profile. Mouth: light but creamy, on honey and herbal notes (sage), as well as the classic coconut / pineapple combination....

Loch Lomond is one of the most curious distilleries in Scotland. Production started in 1965, but it was closed between 1984 and 1987. Grain whisky production began in 1993, which made it the only distillery in Scotland producing both grain and Maltwhisky on-site at that time.

The uniqueness of their pot stills lies in the cylindrical necks of the spirit stills. Inside these necks are special distillation trays, allowing the stills to be more efficient and reach up to 90% ABV. They can also switch on/off certain elements like condensers, allowing them to create a wide array of flavour...

BYOB-C ( Bring your own bottle club) is a Belgian whisky club who often rely on The Whisky Mercenary to provide their club bottlings. I remember a Glenlossie 1992 with the same Lads of Lobland label, but this time it’s an undisclosed Speyside whisky distilled in 1998.

Speyside Region 18 yo 1998 (53,4%, Whisky Mercenary for BYOB-C ‘Lads of Lobland’ 2016, bourbon cask, 100 btl.)

Nose: plenty of orchardy notes, fruits and blossoms. Apples, greengages, gooseberres, white grapes… a little candy sugar and honey. Vanilla. The malty core and spices (ginger, pepper, mint) balance the sweetness. Mouth: quite...

There’s currently a whole list of middle-aged Glenrothes bottlings, all heavily sherried. We’re trying three 1997 expressions from German bottlers Liquid Treasures , The Whisky Fair and Whisky-Fässle .

Glenrothes 19 yo 1997 (59,4%, Liquid Treasures ‘Faces of Angkor’ 2017, refill butt)

Nose: starts on wet chalk, with hints of cake and a little porridge. Quite a heavyweight dram, a bit of a meaty spirit. Then some pear liqueur and orange blossom. Aniseed. A little butter. Mouth: fresher, fruitier as well, almost a fruit spirit. Lots of orchard fruits, apples and pears. Touches of white grapefruits as well....

Summer is here and micro-bottler Beacon Spirits presented a new Irish Single Malt XO . No distillery and no age.

Irish Single Malt XO (51,8%, Beacon Spirits 2016, 77 btl.)

Nose: light, sweet and fruity. marshmallow, pear eau-de-vie and banana candy. Something of tinned pineapple. More grassy notes than in the older undisclosed Irish bottlings, as well as a slight hint of nail polish remover. Mouth: round and fruity again. Slightly more tropical: bananas, melons, mango sherbet. Grapefruit syrup. Similar minty / grassy notes too, with green spices and something of latte. Not as wide as the vintage...

Dun Eideann is a sub-brand of  Signatory Vintage , and they bottled this Caol Ila 1974 for their Italian importer Donato back in 1996. A number of sister casks in the #124xx and #125xx series have been bottled in other series from the same bottler.

In 1974 Caol Ila had just reopened after having been rebuilt for two years (with the typical glazed curtain walls) and extended from two to six stills. As you know, these special moments can produce special whiskies. In general you could say that pre-1972 Caol Ila is heavier than the cleaner, lighter spirit produced from...

I participated in a Glen Scotia  / Loch Lomond Twitter tasting last night. We went through some of the core range expressions and the grand finale was this brand-new Glen Scotia 25 Year Old .

It is drawn from specially selected ex-bourbon casks and married for 12 months in first-fill bourbon barrels before bottling.

The distillery went through rough times in recent decades and it was mothballed between 1994 and 1999. I reckoned the 25 Year Old would not be a constant expression for years to come, but the distillery confirmed they have enough stocks to make this an ongoing expression.

 ...

One of the latest releases by Abbey Whisky , a 21 years old Glen Garioch in their Rare Casks series.

Glen Garioch 21 yo 1994 (55%, Abbey Whisky ‘The Rare Casks’ 2016, refill hogshead, 126 btl.)

Nose: fresh garden fruits (cut apples) and citrus (lime / grapefruit) as well as some vegetal notes up front (fern, musty leaves). After a while also hints of pineapple cubes and vanilla custard. Wet rocks. Clay. Hints of bay leaves too. Mouth: intense, still this combination of fresh fruits (grapefruits, pineapple, gooseberries, peaches) with more austere notes of peppercorns, zesty and grassy...

It is becoming a yearly tradition that I’m trying a new Gouden Carolus limited edition. Last weekend, at the yearly Open Days at the Molenberg distillery, they presented a Gouden Carolus Pure Taste Oloroso Cask .

Like previous editions , it focuses on one single wood type, in this case American oak Oloroso sherry casks .

Mind that the distillery has no plans to bring out old whisky (at least not for now) so this is again a very young whisky of just 36 months old. It’s not a sherry finished whisky though, it spent its whole life in Oloroso...

Benromach single casks are sought after and are accessibly priced, so they are a welcome choice for shop bottlings these days. Whiskybase selected this first-fill bourbon cask #372 , from the same batch as the Whiskysite.nl bottling .

Benromach 8 yo 2008 (60,1%, OB for Whiskybase.com 2017, first-fill bourbon barrel #372, 215 btl.)

Nose: fresh, rather sharp spirit, with some honeyed fruits underneath, pears and peaches. Some dried grasses, light peat and mineral notes. A little menthol and candied lemon, giving it a medicinal edge. Mouth: decent peaty notes, with the same type of sharpness but a brighter...

Cambus distillery was closed in 1993 but the warehouses and filling station are still in use. There are no official bottlings, but you can regularly find Cambus 1991 casks from Signatory Vintage. This one was bottled by Liquid Treasures .

Sherry matured grain whisky is not very common, I’ve had some refill sherry bottlings but never a fresh heavy sherry bottling like this, I think.

Cambus 25 yo 1991 (52,7%, Liquid Treasures ‘Faces of Angkor’ 2017, sherry butt)

Nose: very nice, this reminds me of a Brandy de Jerez, which as you maj know, is a pot still...

I’m afraid I have very little experience with artisan armagnac , the single-distilled sister of cognac, but I’m always interested to discover new malternatives.

Domaine Boingnères , run by the Lafitte family, was founded in 1807 and is located in Le Frêche, in the Grand Bas-Armagnac region. For six generations is has been praised for its quality.

This particular example is unusual as it is distilled from a single grape varietal: Folle blanche , the traditional grape in Armagnac, as it used to be in Cognac before the phylloxera. The company focuses on Folle Blanche (50%) but also uses Ugni...

Kinahan’s is a brand of Irish whiskey with a long history. Daniel Kinahan opened a wine and spirits enterprise in Trinity Street, Dublin in 1779. He quickly made a name for good whiskey.

In 1807, Charles Lennox, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, was so impressed with this whiskey that he ordered all barrels at the Kinahan family cellars to be kept exclusively for his private use, marking each cask with “L.L.” This mark still adorns each and every bottle.

The company merged and the brand disappeared but the Kinahan’s LL brand was relaunched in 2015. While Kinahan’s isn’t producing its...

The latest Whisky in Leiden festival had two (official) festival bottlings, both selected from the Creative Whisky Co. stocks: an undisclosed Islay 2011 and this Glentauchers 2008 . A whole list of these #9001xx casks have been bottled in the past few months.

Glentauchers 8 yo 2008 (53,5%, The Exclusive Malts for Whisky in Leiden 2017, sherry butt #900179, 250 btl.)

Nose: hints of mulled wine up front, raspberries, blood oranges, then tobacco and ginger cake. Caramel. Dark bread. Juniper berries. Also hints of polished brass. Not a classic sherry nose, and slightly winey for my taste. Mouth:...

Last Saturday, coinciding with World Whisk(e)y Day 2017, Redbreast hosted a Facebook Live Tasting from the Midleton Distillery. Head Blender Billy Leighton and Apprentice Blender Dave McCabe unveiled a very rare whiskey dubbed #RedbreastDreamCask. They sent out 100 blind samples beforehand.

In case you missed it, you can revisit the livestream here:

It turned out to be a 31 year-old Redbreast, single pot still, distilled 31st of oktober 1985 and initially matured in refill bourbon wood. In 2011 it was re-casked to a sherry butt, then at 48,3%. We tried it at cask strength 46,7%.

It’s part of...