This is the top end of the Tullibardine range: Tullibardine 25 Years,  which was redesigned in 2013. It is matured in Oloroso Sherry casks.

Tullibardine 25 yo (43%, OB 2016)

Nose: a very smooth profile, with acacia honey, yellow plums and dried apricots, as well as soft spicy notes. A little vanilla. Scented candles. Fruit cake. Really elegant. Mouth: similar elegance, now more on oranges (both fresh juice and bitter marmalade) and apple peelings. Golden raisins. Then a slightly dry nuttiness, mellow spices and some toasted oak. Rather silky and thin, but that’s fine. Finish: long, half fruity, half spicy....

We’ve seen a lot of undisclosed Islay Malts lately. I know most of these have been Caol Ila or Lagavulin, but you never know, do you? This one was bottled in 2015 by Liquid Treasures .

Islay Malt 6 yo 2009 (52,7%, Liquid Treasures 2015, Port cask)

Nose: reminds me of a Lagavulin Distiller’s Edition. There’s deep smoke, a warm, mineral side but also red candy apples, raspberry jam and toffee sweetness. Coastal notes. I like this combination. Mouth: a tad sharper than I expected, with more in your face peat smoke. The red fruits are still there,...

This is the first bottling in a new Time series from The Whisky Exchange . It’s a Speyside single malt distilled at a family-owned distillery. When we read that, Glenfarclas springs to mind, but perhaps it’s one of these tea-spooned Balvenie expressions?

Family-owned Distillery 15 yo (51,3%, The Whisky Exchange ‘Time series’, 271 btl.)

Nose: a fairly light profile, but with a nice, juicy sherry influence. A lot of yellow fruits, apricot jam, plums, hints of gooseberries and redcurrants. Sweet oranges. Also golden raisins, light honey notes and some floral touches. Aromatic and elegant. Mouth: rich and rather...

Longmorn core range update

Longmorn presented its new core range, which now includes the Longmorn Distiller’s Choice (around € 65), a “reinterpreted” Longmorn 16 Year Old (€ 220) and a brand-new Longmorn 23 Year Old (€ 1350).

The new 16 Years is created with a higher proportion of first-fill American oak casks than before, besides sherry casks and refill casks. The new 23 Years is entirely matured in “traditional” (refill) casks.

The introduction of the Distiller’s Choice (then seen as a permanent replacement for the popular 16 Year Old) caused quite a stir. It’s nice to see the 16...

While letting this Ledaig 1973 settle in the glass, I looked at a couple of other reviews, and it quickly became clear that the judges didn’t really agree. That made me even more keen to try it.

This one is a combination of cask #1711 and #1712 . Ian Macleod also bottled cask #1710 in its Chieftain’s series.

Ledaig 31 yo 1973 (47,8%, Chieftain’s 2004, sherry hogsheads #1711-1712, 120 btl.)

Nose: quite peculiar. Rather estery, minty, with lots of resinous notes and a little balsamic vinegar, but on the other it also shows a classic dark side. Coal,...

As you maj know, Glenglassaugh was mothballed in 1986. In 2008 the distillery was bought by the Scaent group and the stills were fired again. Scaent also bottled the first 30 Year Old in a rectangular decanter (55,1%). In 2013 Glenglassaugh was sold on to the owners of BenRiach / GlenDronach, who bottled this 30 Years again in the typical tear drop bottle. Just recently it was brought down to 42%.

If you do the math, 2016 – 30 brings us back to 1986. That means it’s probably one of the last Glenglassaugh 30 Year Old they can do,...

The Maltwhisky Yearbook 2017 is here. Ingvar Ronde’s annual whisky book is the most up-to-date overview of what is happening in the whisky industry. This 11th edition sticks to the known format and that is a good thing.

This is an overview of the in-depth articles:

• Going with the Grain by Gavin D Smith, looking at the growing category of ‘sipping’ grain whisky
• Watch Out! The Millenials (sic) are coming by Neil Ridley. I can’t say I had picked it up, but apparently ‘millennials’ seems to be a buzzword in the whisky industry. A new generation of whisky...

I already reviewed a Glen Garioch 1989 from Wemyss Malts in februari this year, and now there’s a new one from the same bottler, nicknamed Cream of the Crop .

It’s from a hogshead, typically a refill cask made from recoopered staves from bourbon barrels.

Glen Garioch 1989 (46%, Wemyss Malts 2016, hogshead, 261 btl.)

Nose: a very nice fruitiness with vanilla marshmallows. Baked apples, sweet oranges, hints of honey as well. Melons, hints of tangerines. Yellow berries. It’s not all fruits though, there’s a fresh, minty side and a slight mineral note in the background. Beautiful. Mouth:...

The most affordable bottling in the recent batch from Maltbarn was this Caol Ila 2003 , bottled after 13 years is a sherry cask.

Caol Ila 13 yo 2003 (55,5%, Maltbarn 2016, sherry cask, 175 btl.)

Nose: sweet smoky notes. There’s banana cake, dried apple and orange sweetness, wood smoke, a bit of pepper too. Light medicinal notes in the background. Whiffs of eucalyptus. Seems pretty standard at first, but it gains complexity and elegance over time. Really nice. Mouth: punchy, quite a malty onset, with some big smoky notes and bonfire embers. Mesquite. Hints of citrus zest...

I have mentioned this Littlemill 1990 a couple of times already , but I have never gotten around writing a proper review. Nonetheless it’s one of the best Littlemill expressions I’ve tried.

Littlemill 23 yo 1990 (49,6%, The Whiskyman for Lindores Whiskyfest 2013, refill sherry, 60 btl.)

Nose: a slow seducer. Just apples, hay and lemongrass at first. Only garden so far. After some fifteen minutes, it gets warmer, rounder, with more vanilla and guava juice. Some beeswax. Pineapples. A big almondy side as well, with marzipan. Buttercups. Cinnamon and ginger. Excellent. Mouth: clearly fruity right away. Tangerines,...

This is the privately bottled Lagavulin 23 Year Old 1992 in the Casks of Distinction programme from Diageo. Check this page for more info.

A bottle of this Lagavulin is the highlight of the current auction over at WhiskyAuction.com. It has already reached € 2200 and there’s almost a month left for placing bids. The bottle number is 419/420 – it is in fact the owner trying to gauge the market and figure out his return on investment. Mr. Kruger is a good friend of his.

To have a nice sparring partner, I dug up my bottle of Lagavulin 21...

Here’s a young Bunnahabhain 2006 bottled by Gordon & MacPhail . It’s unpeated, contrary to most of the young expressions that you’ll find from independent bottlers.

This was matured in a combination of first-fill and refill sherry hogsheads .

Bunnahabhain 2006 (43%, G&M ‘MacPhail’s Collection’ 2015)

Nose: elegant, fruity nose. Peaches, mango and lots of citrusy freshness.  There’s a malty core behind it, with light leathery touches and a hint of minerals. Very subtle sherry. Mouth: bright orange / kiwi notes, quickly followed by cereals and toasted bread. Then nutty flavours, a hint of cumin and roasted coffee...

This Tomatin 2004 was selected by over 40 members of the Usquebaugh Society in The Netherlands, in a tasting guided by Scott Adamson. It was matured in a refill bourbon cask for 7 years and then transferred to first-fill bourbon barrel #35281 for a 4 years finishing period.

In a way the recipe reminds me of Tomatin Legacy but the other way round.

Tomatin 11 yo 2004 (60%, OB for The Usquebaugh Society 2016, first-fill bourbon barrel #35281, 251 btl.)

Nose: aromatic, in a rather typical way for new oak. Green banana, vanilla, with whiffs of newly cut...

anCnoc Black Hill Reserve is a travel retail expression launched in 2015. It was matured exclusively in first-fill bourbon casks , my favourite recipe for this distillery.

Knockdhu Distillery is located near Knock Hill , known to the locals as Black Hill (also the meaning of Knockdhu in Gaelic).

anCnoc Black Hill Reserve (46%, OB 2016)

Nose: fresh and rather light, with classic notes of vanilla and orchard fruits. Green apple peel, pears, yellow plums. A light buttery note comes out after a while. Citrus aromas keep growing. Mouth: same fruity core, slightly honeyed, but with a firm...

Wemyss Malts announced a series of 12 new releases for fall 2016:

• “Hickory Molasses Glaze” – Bunnahabhain 2001
• “Pear Crème” – Auchentoshan 1998
• “Ginger Glazed Gammon”   – Mortlach 1998
• “Blossom Nectar”  – Glenrothes 1997 (50,8%)
• “Pomme Piquante” – Clynelish 1995
• “Oak for All Seasons” – Braes of Glenlivet 1994
• “Persian Anise” – Longmorn 1992
• “Frangipane Canapé” – Bladnoch 1990
• “Haven Trail” – Bunnahabhain 1990
• “Barbecue Mango Salsa” – Bowmore 1989
• “Cream of The Crop” – Glen Garioch 1989
• “Frosted Molasses Tart” – Invergordon 1988

These expressions go from around € 85 to € 320.

Douglas Laing released...

We already had similar Mortlach 1959/1960 , Glendronach 1959/1960 and Glen Grant 1959/1960 , all bottled by Gordon & MacPhail for the wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. This time we try the undisclosed MacPhail’s 1959/1960 . Each of these whiskies are a vatting of 1959 and 1960 casks, the birth years of both royals.

The MacPhail’s name means we don’t know the distillery. The label doesn’t even state single malt so it could be a vatting, but then again the single malt labels don’t have single malt either. I’ve read it could be Macallan , but there’s also...

This is an upcoming release from Eiling Lim , an official bottling of Glenfarclas , from a cask that she had been following for quite a while since she discovered it in a warehouse tasting.

There aren’t that many 100% bourbon Glenfarclas around, but it seems 1979 has quite a few of them. Usually these “plain oak” casks are hogsheads rebuilt from staves that once formed a bourbon barrel. We’re expecting a burst of tropical fruits.

Glenfarclas 37 yo 1979 (46,9%, OB for Eiling Lim 2016, plain oak cask #8818, 188 btl.)

Nose: very fruity indeed, although rather...

Using smaller casks is sort of a trend. As distilleries want to release younger malts, they are looking for ways to get more flavour in less time. Laphroaig started using quarter casks at a time when NAS was not yet a thing, and last week we reviewed the BenRiach Peated Quarter Casks .

Now we’re trying Glenglassaugh Octaves Classic , the non-peated version of their Octaves casks matured product.

Glenglassaugh Octaves Classic (44%, OB 2016)

Nose: very fruity and sherbety, lots of candy apples, pears, glucose, oranges and vanilla. The vanilla evolves to more grassy notes and pencil...

I tried one Inchgower 1980 so far ( TWA Sea Life series ) and I really didin’t like it. Luckily I also had excellent 1974 – 1975 expressions, including from the same bottler Maltbarn . Also, this 1980 was bottled from a bourbon cask whereas the other one was from a sherry cask.

As you know, most of these rare casks are sold in larger parcels and distributed among independent bottlers. Most of the independent Inchgowers I know were bottled around 2010-2012. It suits Maltbarn that they’re trying to hold back such casks once in a while, in order to...

The Laddie Eight is a travel retail Bruichladdich, rather young but we’re not complaining as long as we are told how old exactly and it’s not wrapped in a stupid marketing story.

It’s unpeated and together with the NAS Bruichladdich Classic Laddie , it takes a bit of pressure away from the Bruichladdich Laddie Ten , which is facing low stocks. Although it’s a travel retail expression, you can also get it in regular stores now.

Bruichladdich The Laddie Eight (50%, OB 2016)

Nose: sweet and malty, with acacia honey, yellow apples and some buttery touches. Tinned pineapple....