The new year is starting with a bang – three new drinks of the month each with a great money-saving deal.

I’ll start with the Malt of the Month , as it’s a whisky that I tried and enjoyed back when it arrived, shortly after I started at The Whisky Exchange – Talisker 25 Year Old, bottled in 2011. The 25 Year Old has been an occasional limited release in Talisker’s line-up, and the 2011 marked a change – the dropping of the ABV from cask strength to 45.8% ABV like the rest of the range. It was the first Talisker 25...

2015 was as busy as ever, with loads of new drinks appearing on our shelves and more customers than ever before – thank you for making it such a success. It’s now 2016, and that can mean only one thing: time for our round-up of the past year.

Tastings at TWE Vinopolis

It’s been a bit of a year for our London Bridge shop. We had loads of great tastings, but while it gained a new sibling – The Whisky Exchange Shop at Covent Garden  – it also, sadly, closed. Vinopolis, the building where we were based, is being redeveloped,...

If you’re a fan of rum then you’ve probably heard of Plantation . Exploding onto the scene a few years back, they’ve already grown to become one of the most-awarded rum bottlers in the world, including one gong that we (modestly) think is worth trumpeting – The Whisky Exchange Spirit of the Year 2016 .

While it was the Plantation Barbados Extra Old 20th Anniversary rum that caught our eye this time, they’ve long been a favourite at The Whisky Exchange – along with great drinks, we also like a good story, and Plantation’s origins are very different from other rum bottlers....

For our final tasting of 2015, we welcomed Inver House Distillers to showcase some of their whiskies, focusing on an aspect of whisky that most companies are not talking about much these days: long ageing.

Lukasz, looking dapper for his final tasting of the year

With whisky’s popularity at an all-time high and the spirit taking years to mature, it’s understandable that we’re seeing younger whiskies appearing on the market. Nice as younger drams can be, there’s something special about whisky that’s spent years in a cask.

We were joined by Lukasz Dynowiak, Inver House brand ambassador, to walk us through well-aged...

Ten years after opening in London Bridge, our Vinopolis store closed for the last time on Christmas Eve. We will be announcing its replacement very soon in the same part of town, and in the meantime, our new Covent Garden store is open for business. Alex Huskinson managed our Vinopolis shop for nearly six years, and he shares his memories of running the premier destination for whisky lovers in the capital.

The Whisky Exchange store at Vinopolis – a treasure trove of whiskies and fine spirits

As a cocktail bartender for many years before working in the shop, I had...

With Christmas approaching, it means it’s time to announce the Whisky Exchange Whisky of the Year 2016. This now-traditional annual event moved north of the river this year to The Rooms at Browns , just round the corner from our new Covent Garden shop .

Oliver (aka) Judge Chilton got into the spirit of the occasion

The room was the former main courtroom of Westminster County Court, making it the ideal venue to pass judgement on the eight whiskies in front of us, with Oliver and Andy in charge of proceedings.

The tried-and-tested criteria was unchanged from previous years: ongoing...

We sell thousands of spirits at The Whisky Exchange , so choosing our Spirit of the Year is a tough challenge. This is the third year we’ve given an award to our favourite spirit of the past 12 months, and to help us decide, we ask the opinion of bartenders, drinks writers and industry experts.

We came up with a shortlist of eight spirits, covering a variety of styles and categories:

The eight shortlisted products for our Spirit of the Year 2016 award

Derrumbes Oaxaca Joven Mezcal

Frapin VSOP Grand Champagne Cognac

Michter’s US*1 Unblended American Whiskey

Mr Black Cold...

‘Hello. How are you? Quite well. Thank you very much.’

If you’ve seen Whyte & Mackay ’s Richard Paterson host a tasting before, you’ll be familiar with his repertoire of catchphrases, his penchant for throwing whisky around the room, his props, tricks and one-liners. But he is no magician, no illusionist – everything he does helps to educate people how to get the best from their whisky.

Richard Paterson, aka The Nose, master blender at Whyte & Mackay

Richard visited The Whisky Exchange for a unique tasting of all six components of King Alexander III from Dalmore , as well...

While we ship globally, unfortunately it takes time and Christmas is fast approaching. We’ve talked long and hard with the companies who carry our parcels all over the world, and have come up with the following cut-off dates.

If you order before them, your parcel should be with you before Christmas. If you order afterwards, then we’ll do our best, but we can’t guarantee it.

You can find full details over on our delivery information page , but here are the dates ordered by country, in one easy to read list:

It’s december, no matter how hard certain members of the TWE blog team have been trying to deny it – Rocky ‘Krampus’ Lancer , we’re looking at you – Christmas is now definitely on the way. We’ve launched our Christmas page over on the website, but along with that we’ve got a couple of other great things to tell you about – #GoldenTicket and our annual Fine Spirits and Whisky Advent Calendar .

Our #GoldenTicket prize draw has returned, and we have five great prizes to give away, all whiskies that received awards in Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2016 .

We have Jim’s...

Frapin is one of the most highly rated houses in the Cognac region, with a range of elegant, classy bottlings that reflect the Grande Champagne terroir where its vineyards are based. I met up with cellar master Patrice Piveteau who was in the UK to launch the latest Multimillésime bottling from Cognac Frapin – No.6 , a blend of eaux-de-vie from 1986, 1988 and 1991.

Patrice Piveteau, cellar master at Cognac Frapin

‘We have 240 hectares of vineyards, all in Grande Champagne. We control everything and we start from the beginning ’

‘ We distil on the lees – the idea...

The luxurious world of Cognac was centre stage at TWE Vinopolis this week, with Martell pouring five of their best bottles. The youngest we tried was aged for between 10 and 25 years ( Cordon Bleu ), which gives a good idea of the quality on show. Our host was Martell Cognac brand ambassador Matthias Lataille who ended with an incredibly rare bottling, and got extra brownie points by serving up some delicious macarons, too…

In Their Own Words – Matthias Lataille

‘Eighty per cent of Cognac is produced by the big four Cognac houses [ Courvoisier , Hennessy ,...

Compass Box has long been one of my favourite blenders. Founded by whiskymaker John Glaser in 2000, it has gone from strength to strength. The team has been at the forefront of innovation, and is currently campaigning for more transparency in regulations following a recent run-in with the Scotch Whisky Association , which you can find more about on scotchwhisky.com , which broke the story. Five years after his last appearance at Vinopolis , we welcomed John back to host a special 15th anniversary tasting.

Up for a fight. Compass Box’s John Glaser wants the law changed on transparency in...

Dewar’s have a great selection of distilleries, but other than Aberfeldy, until recently they’ve been quiet about them. No longer! Starting in late 2014, they have been revamping their range under the banner of The Last Great Malts. With Royal Brackla  on the market and The Deveron (aka Glen Deveron aka Macduff ) coming very soon (after being launched at The Whisky Show in oktober), the series is complete, and we’re celebrating with a prize draw:

Buy any two different Last Great Malts from Aberfeldy, Aultmore or Craigellachie and we’ll enter you into a draw to win one of each of...

Excitement builds every year about the big winners in Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible .  Last year , Jim chose  Yamazaki Sherry Cask 2013 as his 2015 World Whisky of the Year, which had an astonishing effect on demand for this now-rare bottle – and boosted the fortunes of the entire Japanese whisky category overnight.

Look into my eyes, not around the eyes…

So, who is this year’s winner? For the first time, it’s from Canada: Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye . Jim scored it 97.5pts/100: ‘Rye, that most eloquent of grains, not just turning up to charm and enthral but...

Continuing our brandy-focused week, we’re moving on to arguably the best-known example:  Cognac . Where better to start than with the very first house, Augier ?

The current Augier range. L’Océanique (far left) will arrive soon

Founded in 1643 by wine merchant Philippe Augier, they were both buyers and négociants in the early years. Records have been lost as to the exact nature of the business for much of the following two centuries, until they were sold to Canadian distillers Seagram  in 1966, which in 1987 bought one of Cognac’s big four: Martell . With global spirits sales declining, Seagram sold...

At The Whisky Exchange, we don’t like to blow our own trumpet, but now and again it’s nice to share a little good news. Last week, we were delighted to be named E-commerce Business of the Year at the Digital Entrepreneur Awards 2015.

Stuart Peskett (middle) and Raj Chavda (right) of The Whisky Exchange collect the E-commerce Business of the Year award from Cube3 CEO Karl Barker

The ceremony was held at Manchester’s Palace Hotel, with high-profile judges including Ann Summers CEO Jacqueline Gold; Ben Gallop, the BBC’s Head of Sport Interactive; and Phil Jones, MD of Brother UK.

The...

After a summer of fruity cocktails and unaged spirits, autumn comes as a lead-in to a winter of rich and heavy brown drinks. To bridge the gap between the light and the dark, we’re going to spend the next week or so looking at the classic autumnal spirit – Brandy. To start with, Armagnac.

Of the more mainstream spirits that we have on the shelf here at TWE, Armagnac is the one that I’ve always wanted to know more about. Luckily I’m not the only person who knows this, and had the chance to go and learn more about the spirit from...

Islay distillery Ardbeg is one of the most popular distilleries on the island, thanks to its rich, peaty drams. It’s also gained acclaim for its cask-maturation experiments, which are always popular and have gained cult status among Ardbeg fans.

These six limited-edition Ardbegs could be yours!

This month, we have a special prize draw for all Ardbeg fans: simply buy a 70cl bottle of Ardbeg Corryvreckan and you will be in with a chance of winning six limited-edition Ardbegs, worth more than £1,000!

The prize includes a 70cl bottle of each of the following:

• Ardbeg Alligator – aged in heavily...

We conclude our round-up of this year’s Whisky Show masterclasses with Gone But Never Forgotten, a tasting of six whiskies from closed distilleries. Such tastings always attract a lot of interest, for the simple reason that whiskies from closed distilleries are almost always in very short supply, so whisky fans will jump on any chance to try them. All of the distilleries whose whiskies we tried either closed in 1983 or 1985.

Gone But Not Forgotten – six much in-demand whiskies, all from closed distilleries

The six whiskies were:

• Glenesk Maltings 1969 25th Anniversary
• Millburn 1975 18 Year Old Rare...