Jewish Whisky Company Announces Significant Changes in 2019 for Single Cask Nation and Whisky Jewbilee

Building off 2017’s successful expansion of Single Cask Nation from a membership-only model to offering additional single cask bottlings of Maltwhisky, grain whisky via retail stores, Jewish Whisky Company plans a further expansion of their Single Cask Nation line of independently bottled whiskies into UK, European and Canadian markets in 2019.

“We constantly see great demand for our whiskies from many non-US markets,” said Jason Johnstone-Yellin, the company’s COO, “and as a result, we are keen to break into these markets while mirroring how...

Observant readers of JewMaltwhisky Reviews will note that the number of blog posts I do has now shrunken to nearly none per month and only a few per year. Such is the life of a blogger turned Independent Bottler , Whisky Festival coordinator , and Tour Operato r .

On the upside, I’ve found a new medium to reach out to y’all — One Nation Under Whisky podcast!

One Nation Under Whisky is actually a podcast that I run with my friend and business partner, Jason Johnstone-Yellin .

“ What is the podcast all about? ,” you might ask...

 ...

Lets face it. 2016 was a punch in the face for everyone in some way, shape, or form. However, it was a good year for good whisky.

Today’s good whisky will be televised (or, youtube’vised – see below).

Westland is, in my opinion, one of the world’s best producers of single malt and, heck, they’re only 5 or 6 years old! Imagine what’ll happen in 5, 10, 15 years?

Today, instead of writing a review, I thought it’d be good to record my review of two lovely Westland whiskies:

• Westland Winter 2016 – special limited edition
• Westland Peat Week...

Region – Spain – ABV – 22%

Guys. Gals. I’m headed in a fast and downward spiral into the world of sherry.

I’m in the rabbit hole.

I really hope others will join me. It’s an amazing world of flavors for us all to explore.

I’ve enjoyed my fair share of sherries (say that 3 times real fast) over the past 10 years or so but, as of late, I now find myself craving the Spanish fortified wine.

Normally, when one starts writing reviews for this or that product, they’ll start at the Chevy or Ford of that respective product....

Things that’ve impressed the hell out of me this year?

Almost nothing.

2016 has be a crap year with too many good people dying and various tragedies that there just doesn’t seem to be an end to (take your pick).

Thankfully, there is whisky.

This single cask of Fukano Japanese whisky (distilled from rice), however, impressed the hell out of me.

Region – Japan – ABV – 41.8% (natural cask strength)

On the nose — Say what?! Nose this blindly and I would have guessed/assumed this was a 20+ year old Willett Rye.

Wonderful oak framing with a spiciness...

Region – Speyside – ABV – 53.4% ABV – Cask 1962 – First Fill Sherry Puncheon – This was around $150

It wasn’t long ago that I had a chance to sit down with my good friend Jonathan Bray to review this Balblair.

Actually, yes, it was quite some time ago…. back in maj/juni based on my tasting notes and the published date of Jonathan’s review . Ugh.

♬ Ti-i-i-ime is not on my side, no it isn’t! ♬ Where does the time go?!

My apologies to you, dear reader, and my apologies to Jonathan, for not getting this review...

From september 26 ^th to oktober 9 ^th , the whisky-loving Wills brothers will embark on a tour down the East Cost of the US spreading the word of Kilchoman, Islay’s Farm independent Distillery. James and Peter Wills, sons of Kilchoman Founder Anthony Wills will travel from Boston to Washington DC in their custom Land Rover making stops along the way to share a few drams and a story or two of Kilchoman, Islay and growing up in a distillery.

A special edition cask strength, 58.9% ABV, US Tour bottling of the distilleries flagship expression Machir Bay has been...

Region – Seattle, Washington – 56.2% ABV

Not to be confused with Gary, Indiana…

Westland’s new Garryana single malt is a deep dive into the exploration of a new type of oak that no one has used before. Ever. That oak is conveniently named after the whisky at hand (or is that vice versa? I think it’s vice versa. I’m sure of it. Yup, vice versa).

All single malt producing countries have access to  oak casks for maturing their whisk(e)y. The good bulk of those oak casks comes from right here in the US of A. The oak used to make said casks is...

Region – Four different ‘Murrican locations – ABV 40%

My life, for the past 12 years, has brought me to Chicago for various and sundry reasons. Mostly, it was my previous life in the world of Industrial Storage Supplies and the sales thereof. Yessir/ma’am, sexy, sexy stuff, that; Industrial Storage Supplies. Don’t hate it until you’ve hated it. The people were great though. Nay, amazing. But… it’s Industrial Storage Supplies. Industrial. Storage. Supplies.

As of late, my reasons for visiting the  Windy Apple   are those more related to whisky. Be...

Region – North Highlands – ABV – 46%

I’ve got very little time today to preamble before tasting.  However, let me tell you a Knock-Knock Joke:

Joke Teller : “Knock Knock”

Joke participant : “Who’s there?”

Joke Teller : “Control Freak. Now, this is where you say ‘Control Freak who?'”

Joke participant : “…”

…and laughter fills the room!

Today I’m tasting Glenmorangie’s Milsean and, spoiler alert, it’s fantastic juice.

On the nose — Quite crisp, almost piercing on the nose, all without being hot.

Fresh off the press, and wet, copper pennies. Peach – hard but not underripe....

Region – Distilled in Indiana, matured and extra matured in Utah – ABV – 46%

High West and her various sourced ryes were the first ryes I got into when I started getting serious about American spirits.

Back then, High West had some 16 & 21yo ryes which were all over store shelves and at pretty decent prices. A bit later on I discovered their Rendezvous Rye (which is a staple here at Chez Hatton), and then even further on I found a truly ballsy one: Double Rye!

David Perkins of High West is quite open about sourcing whiskey and...

Region – Bangalore, India – ABV – 62.8%

True story:

A handful of months back  my company bottled a 5yo single cask of Amrut under our Single Cask Nation label (as of 4th Jan, 2016, we still have a handful bottles left, btw).

Around this time, a single cask of Amrut was bottled for the WhiskyBase shop out of the Netherlands.

Back in november 2015, Serge Valentin over at the wonderful whiskyfun.com reviewed 6 different Amruts . Both our bottling and the WhiskyBase bottling were amongst the reviews and we both captured the highest rating of 89 points !

As...

Region – Islay – ABV – 63.8% – now sold out but was $228 .

A bit of a rarity here – an independently bottled single cask of Octomore which was bottled at 6 years of age at the nice ABV of 63.8%.

Being that Comus 4.2 (Bruichladdich’s 5yo Sauternes cask matured Octomore)  was easily my favorite Octomore (still to this date), when I saw this bottling released, I had to have one.

The difficult part for me was in purchasing a bottling from an independent bottler I was not familiar with.  The packaging seemed nice enough and, hey, single...

Region – Speyside – ABV -45%

Day 25 here. Merry Christmas to all that enjoy this holiday.

For me, I’ll enjoy Chinese Food and a Movie on this joyful day.

Silliness aside, we’ve got a 30yo Linkwood in ye old whisky glass. Time to discover the penultimate whisky!

On the nose — Deviled eggs (heavy on the paprika) in a walk-in humidor.

Well oiled elevator shoes, subtle cologne and old Topps baseball cards (sans the brittle chewing gum stick).

In the mouth — Lived in study, more oiled leather, yellow label chartreuse, white pepper, a velvet Elvis picture that’s been...

Region – Speyside – ABV – 46%

Excited that I’ve got a Dailuaine in my glass.

Primarily used in blends, Dailuaine is another distillery you never see bottlings from unless they’re independently bottled or in a “Flora and Fauna” bottling.

Having said that, Diageo have just released a bottling of a 34yo Dailuaine for around £380/$550.

Not a bad price for a 34yo whisky, I suppose. Could be worse! Could be an over hyped, over-priced bourbon. (I’m looking at you Pappy van Stagg-Weller.)

Dailuaine is a favorite of mine and often times reminds me of one of my favorite...

Region – Speyside – ABV – 46.6% ABV

**UPDATE** Shortly after I posted about this whisky, an announcement has been made that a 65yo Glen Grant will be bottled/released by the same Wealth Solutions/Gordon & MacPhail team. I *just* received this email. Kismet !

I’ve been sitting on this sample of the Wealth Solutions/Gordon & MacPhail Glen Grant 66yo single malt for a bit over a year now.

There was never one singular moment in time that seemed like the right time to taste this. I’m not sure there would ever be *THE* right time to taste it.

Because of...

Region – Islay – ABV – 55.4%

Advent Calendar day # 23.

I can’t believe we’re almost near the end!  This has been a fun ride and I can not thank Secret Spirits enough for asking me to join in on their Calendar review this year.  Thank you, thank you.

A thousand times, thank you!

You know life is good when you can try a new whisky every single day for 25 days.  I hope you properly thanked the person that purchased this calendar for you.

If you purchased this calendar for yourself, well, you’ve been thanking yourself for...

Region – Island (Mull, to be exact) – ABV – 57.3%

Not to be confused with Martin Mull, the Isle of Mull is home to a single distillery: Tobermory.

Tobermory is owned by Distell (the same company that owns Bunnahbhain and Deanston) and produces a non-peated whisky known as “Tobermory,” and a heavily peated whisky called “Ledaig.”

Ledaig is pronounced “Le’Chig.” …exactly as it’s spelled.

We’ve had a few really nice whiskies from Maltwhisky Company. I am very curious to know what this 21yo tastes like. Even at 21 years of age, this whisky has a nice, high ABV –...

Region – Speyside – ABV – 48.7%

The day that I’m writing this review is the day after I saw the new Star Wars film. I plan on seeing it again tomorrow, and then again a day or two after that. Yes, people, it was that good. JJ Abrams done right by Star Wars and helped me to forget the atrocities that are Episodes 1, 2 & 3.

Wait, this is a whisky blog and not a Space movie blog, right? Right.

This is the very first Glentauchers that I am publicly reviewing. I’ve had a few in my...