This Highland Park 1992 (bourbon cask) is part of a new Chinese Mask series from Sansibar .

Highland Park 1992 (51,4%, Sansibar ‘Chinese Mask label’ 2016, bourbon cask, 263 btl.)

Nose: a big mineral side, with wet gravel, linseed oil and waxy notes. Then more on sweet citrus (lemon, grapefruit, tangerine). A little banana and kiwi. Minty freshness. Hints of white chocolate as well. Beautiful combination. Mouth: a little sweeter and fruitier than expected, although the mineral sharpness is still present. Albariño wine. Yellow and pink grapefruits, tangerines, nectarines. Honey coated almonds. More herbal notes towards the end,...

Balvenie is a quintessential Speyside malt, fairly light and balanced. The 12 years old Balvenie DoubleWood is a classic in the range. It is also the youngest expression since the 10 Year Old was discontinued a few years ago.

It is first matured in American ex-bourbon oak (“whisky oak” as The Balvenie calls it) and then finished in first-fill European oak sherry casks.

Balvenie DoubleWood 12 yo (40%, OB +/- 2016)

Nose: fairly smooth, with a little honey, oranges and vanilla. Sweet malt, peaches. A few floral notes as well. Very light sherry notes. Brioche. A fitting wood...

The Glenrothes Wine Merchant’s Collection is a new series of whiskies finished in casks from renowned wineries in different countries.

Distilled in 1992 and matured for more than two decades in common hogsheads, they were transferred in 2014 to casks from Château de Beaucastel, Lustau and Ridge Vineyards, casks from port houses Warre’s and Graham’s as well as ex rum casks from the St. Lucia Distillery. They are around € 230 each.

• The Glenrothes Wine Merchant’s Cask #15 – St Lucia
• The Glenrothes Wine Merchant’s Cask #6, #8, #10, #11 – Ridge
• The Glenrothes Wine Merchant’s Cask #2 + #5...

A cult bottle – this is said to be one of the best Highland Park bottlings ever. It was released in 2006 as an exclusive bottling for Binny’s Beverage Depot in Chicago.

This is the Highland Park 1971 cask #8363 . Around the same time Binny’s also sold a 1973 cask #13308.

Highland Park 34 yo 1971 (53%, OB for Binny’s Chicago 2006, first-fill sherry butt #8363)

Nose: actually quite close to a real, highly aromatic Oloroso sherry. Juicy red plums, sultanas and truckloads of preserved cherries and Ginjinha. Apricot jam too. Polished oak. Hints of rosewater, perhaps...

For some distilleries, you can quite accurately predict the aromatic profile if you know the vintage and the cask type. For others, there are surprises sometimes. A good example is this Bruichladdich 1992 in the latest batch from The Single Malts of Scotland .

Bruichladdich 23 yo 1992 (55,4%, Single Malts of Scotland 2016, hogshead #3839, 237 btl.)

Nose: lots of dried grasses, greasy notes and honeysuckle. Melon aromas. Discreet hints of greengages and dried apple. Plain barley notes. Nice coastal notes too, salty sea air and wet gravel. A light farmy note. Quite subtle and certainly idiosyncratic,...

One of the younger Irish single malts, distilled in 2001 and bottled by Sansibar for the Dutch retailer van der Boog ( Passie voor Whisky ).

Irish single malt 15 yo 2001 (50,2%, Sansibar & van der Boog 2016, sherry cask, 161 btl.)

Nose: nicely sherried, but not with the usual raisins and plums. In this case you’ll find roasted hazelnut, a certain dusty tobacco note and some coffee. Hints of old bodegas. Also rather clean gunpowder. There’s an orange note underneath, perhaps a little peach, but not much of the typical Irish fruitiness in this case. Mouth:...

The popular Whisky in Leiden festival is coming up this Saturday. Organiser Whiskysite.nl announced this Benromach 2008 single cask. A first-fill bourbon cask, like we’ve seen for van Wees, Whiskybase, LMdW and others in the past few months.

While a Coal Ila and Glentauchers are the official festival bottlings, this is a side release for the shop. However Benromach’s Steven Cameron will be present at the festival and will happily offer you a free dram.

Benromach 2008 (59,5%, OB for Whiskysite.nl 2017, first-fill bourbon #8523-347, 231 btl.)

Nose: clean and bright, with a rather sharp onset and then...

Last week I was part of an interesting Whisky Wire Twitter tasting with new releases from That Boutique-y Whisky Company . For me this Mortlach 18 Year Old (Batch #3) was not the winner of the evening, but the biggest positive surprise nonetheless.

Mortlach 18 yo (48,9%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company 2016, Batch #3, 50 cl, 363 btl.)

Nose: starts impeccably fresh and fragrant, with something of lemongrass and verbena, then perhaps a little silver polish, green apples, a little carambola. Floral notes. Fennel seeds. Tangerine. There’s an underlying weighty layer, but not meaty for me. Mouth: oily...

In the American TTB database two new labels appeared from Laphroaig .

First is the Laphroaig 27 Year Old , double matured in ex-bourbon barrels and refill quarter casks in warehouse n°1 and bottled at cask strength (52%). The other is the Laphroaig 25 Year Old , a mix of second-fill Oloroso sherry casks and American bourbon barrels, also bottled at cask strength (48,6%).

Even more expensive will be the Tamdhu 50 Year Old , a single cask release from a European oak first-fill sherry butt. That’s fifty years in a first-fill cask, and even at this...

This Justerini & Brooks blend was bottled in the 1960s at 20 years of age. We all know J&B of course, but the brand used to offer more higher-end bottlings at the time. Another well-known version of this 20yo was bottled in square decanters during the 1970s, they are regularly seen in auctions.

Bottled in the 1960s, so the whisky inside should be distilled in the 1940s.

Justerini & Brooks ‘Choicest Liqueur’ 20 yo (45,5%, OB +/- 1960s, blue letters, 4/5 quart)

Nose: rather rounded, with brown sugar and dried oranges, toffee and a clear smoky background. Nicely balanced sherry influence (raisins,...

This is from the late 2016 batch of casks released by Claxton’s: a Glen Elgin 1995 . It’s nice to see this bottler is reaching out to a wider audience and more retailers lately.

Glen Elgin 20 yo 1995 (51,5%, Claxton’s 2016, refill hogshead #1609-1671, 294 btl.)

Nose: fresh fruity notes, especially peaches, melons and tinned pineapple. It’s not just a simple fruity Speysider though. There’s something of cardamom and potpourri. Then some wax candles, oil paint and linseed oil. Some lightly toasted oak as well. Mouth: the peaches are back for a while, with white grape juice,...

This second edition of Octomore 10 Year Old was matured in 60% fresh bourbon casks and 40% casks that previously held Grenache Blanc wine. Made using 100% Scottish barley, it has a phenol level of 167 ppm . It spent an entire decade slumbering in P2, the ancient stone warehouse in the village of Port Charlotte, close to the western shore of Loch Indaal.

There’s a #LaddieBelgium tasting on Twitter tonight (19:00 CET) which will feature three 10yo expression: Octomore, Port Charlotte and Laddie Ten .

Octomore 10 yo 2005 (57,3%, OB 2016, second edition, 167 ppm, 18.000...

One of the lesser known distilleries in the recent batch of Single Malts of Scotland single cask releases: a Tormore 1988 .

Tormore 28 yo 1988 (63,3%, Single Malts of Scotland 2016, cask #0602)

Nose: this impressive strength brings out the dusty old style, while leaving the thick body in place. Malty core, with sweet oranges, cooked apples and a hint of peaches. Subtle spices and dried grassy notes. Mouth: punchy, though the flavours are fairly neutral. Thick fruity notes (oranges, apples) with some butterscotch, honey and spicy oak (pepper, ginger). The warm spirit takes center stage. Finish:...

Benromach release the 2009 edition of its Sassicaia Wood Finish recently. Like the previous editions (2005, 2006 and 2007) it was originally matured in first-fill bourbon barrels before being finished for 28 months in wine casks from the Bolgheri region in Tuscany, Italy.

They’ve released almost 8000 bottles, almost double the amount of the last edition.

Benromach Sassicaia 2009 ‘Wood finish’ (45%, OB 2017, 7783 btl.)

Nose: the same old-style whisky as the 10 Year Old, with dusty barley and quite some smoke. Rather sweet this time: brown sugar, red berries and cinnamon. A mustard & honey combo....

Happy Saint Patrick’s. No better way to celebrate than try one of these excellent old Irish Malts that appeared lately.  Maltbarn recently released this  Irish single malt 1989 .

Irish malt 27 yo 1989 (45,5%, Maltbarn 2016, bourbon cask, 211 btl.)

Nose: just a hint of minerality up front, before it bursts into fruits. Nice acidity, it’s full of fresh pineapple and passion fruit. Unripe mango and banana. Citrus green tea and spearmint. Fresh oak shavings. One of the more obvious bourbon-matured versions. Excellent. Mouth: a fruit explosion again. Tangerines, pineapples, mangos, whitecurrant… mixed with elderflower, lime leaf....

This is Scotch Maltwhisky blended at birth in augusti 1994 and left to mature in a sherry butt. In oktober 2013 it was bottled by Svenska Eldvatten in Sweden.

Rumours say this could be a mix of Highland Park and Glenrothes . It makes sense as they belong to the same Edrington group.

Svenska Eldvatten 19 yo ‘Vintage 1994’ (54,5%, Svenska Eldvatten 2013, single cask blended malt, sherry matured, 619 btl.)

Nose: lots of fudge and banoffee, with milk chocolate and the burnt sugar on top of a crème brûlée. Some buttery notes and vanilla. Hints of...

Part 2 of the Birds label series from Antique Lions of Spirits . I already told you it was a tribute to the Moon Import style of the 1980s-1990s but apparently they managed to locate some of the original etching plates that were used back then. That means it’s more like the missing finale of the old Birds series.

In case you missed it, check out part 1 of the Birds series by Antique Lions of Spirits

Speyside Region Malt 41 yo 1975 (46,9%, Antique Lions of Spirits ‘Bird label’ 2016, Fino cask, 230 btl.)

Nose: lovely freshness....

Italian bottlers were importing some of the most glorious whisky to Italy before the world realized the real potential of single malts. They’ve also been at the forefront of innovative ideas like single cask bottlings and cask strength whisky.

Italian whisky traders Lion’s Whisky and Whisky Antique teamed up with Jens Drewitz of Sansibar to create a tribute to the legendary 1980s-1990s Moon Import series. These featured beautiful animals, birds, sea creatures, etc. The first series from the new Antique Lions of Spirits  brand is The Birds .

Glen Moray 28 yo 1988 (45,1%, Antique Lions of Spirits...

This BenRiach 15 Year Old was first matured in bourbon barrels and then finished in Tawny Port hogsheads from the Douro region in Portugal.

This is now discontinued and replaced by the BenRiach 21 Year Old Tawny Port finish . It’s now more than double the price as well.

BenRiach 15 yo ‘Tawny Port Finish’ (46%, OB +/- 2015)

Nose: honey and raspberries up front, with something of damp tobacco leaves in the background. Blackberries. Hints of black pepper, cinnamon and crème brûlée too. Quite pleasant. Mouth: strange and very winey. Grape skins, forest fruits and bitter chocolate....

Tomatin unveiled a new limited edition: Five Virtues . It draws inspiration from the nature’s elements: the expressions are named Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water, and they come in a packaging adorned with contemporary Scottish art created by Eva Ullrich.

Here are further details:

• Wood is matured in French, American and Hungarian (!) oak casks
• Fire is matured in heavily charred oak
• Earth is matured in ex-peated casks
• Metal is inspired by the distillery’s copper stills, not sure how that relates to the actual spirit
• Water is also a bit vague, it refers to the distillery’s water source...