“I can’t stand the stuff” my cab driver said as we hung a left a little fast, pressing me tight into the door. “It’s so strong.” It’s a frequently heard refrain when a whisky drinker gets talking about libations with a stranger. So it got me thinking as I rattled around the backseat. You can divide whiskies up by country or by region. Sure, you can split them up by cereal or cask type. Then again, there’s another dividing line. Most whiskies sold in the world today are still bottled at 40% ABV. And they call that the hard stuff!...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2014/01/10/iron-drams/

Another in our occasional series of Tweet-style interviews. Here’s Bruichladdich general manager Duncan MacGillivray, who was interviewed just before Christmas.

What’s the view from your office window?

Out across Loch Indaal to Bowmore. Nice view of Bruichladdich pier too.

Better than mine, even if it is my garden. What season of weather is it today, given it could be any one of four on Islay?

It’s rather grey and unusually calm, late autumn. Damp, but not wet.

What’s going on at the distillery today?

We’re distilling Octomore spirit. The last mashes before the Christmas break. Then we will have a maintenance...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2014/01/03/bruichladdichs-duncan-mcgillivray-in-140-or-less/

Diageo

Roseisle distillery

Diageo moves in big ways, and that makes some folks uneasy. People scoffed when Diageo unveiled the massive new Roseisle distillery, for instance, fearing it would lead to the lights going out at affiliated distilleries all over Speyside.

Actually, what happened next was a $1.5 billion, five year investment program in Scotland, including a brand new distillery beside Teaninich. The numbers are big: 13 million liters per annum, sixteen copper stills, twenty new jobs, and a project cost of $76 million. Expansion projects and upgrades benefited distilling at Mortlach, Teaninich, Inchgower, Glendullan, Dailuaine, Benrinnes, Cragganmore, Glen Elgin,...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2013/12/23/whisky-advocate-award-distiller-of-the-year/

Michael Urquhart

Managing Director, Gordon & MacPhail

Michael Urquhart, son of George Urquhart and grandson of John Urquhart, joined the family firm of independent whisky bottlers Gordon & MacPhail in 1981. His grandfather started work at the little grocer’s shop in Elgin in 1895, just a year after they first opened their doors.

“Mr. George,” Michael’s father, launched the ever popular Connoisseur’s Choice range in the 1960s. George’s three sons Ian, David, and Michael followed him into the company, along with Rosemary Rankin, John Urquhart’s granddaughter. Shortly after the firm’s centenary, Benromach distillery reopened under their ownership and continues to...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2013/12/22/whisky-advocate-award-lifetime-achievement-2/

Michael Urquhart

Managing Director, Gordon & MacPhail

Michael Urquhart, son of George Urquhart and grandson of John Urquhart, joined the family firm of independent whisky bottlers Gordon & MacPhail in 1981. His grandfather started work at the little grocer’s shop in Elgin in 1895, just a year after they first opened their doors.

“Mr. George,” Michael’s father, launched the ever popular Connoisseur’s Choice range in the 1960s. George’s three sons Ian, David, and Michael followed him into the company, along with Rosemary Rankin, John Urquhart’s granddaughter. Shortly after the firm’s centenary, Benromach distillery reopened under their ownership and continues to...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2013/12/22/whisky-advocate-award-lifetime-achievement-2/

Kilkerran Work in Progress 5 Sherry Wood, 46%, $60

Glengyle is Campbeltown’s newest distillery, in the sense that it first produced spirit during 2004, though the original Glengyle operated between 1872 and 1925; a period when Campbeltown was still a major player in the Scotch whisky world. Glengyle was revived by Springbank owner Hedley Wright, and features a pair of modified stills formerly used by the Ben Wyvis malt distillery at Invergordon. Glengyle is operated by Springbank staff, using malt made in the floor maltings there, and quantities of spirit distilled vary significantly from year to year. The distillery is...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2013/12/21/whisky-advocate-award-lowlandscampbeltown-single-malt-of-the-year/

Talisker Storm, 45.8%, $66

Talisker in any guise is a very special and idiosyncratic single malt, defining an Island style that is all its own. The last year has seen Diageo expand the existing portfolio with three new Talisker expressions, namely Storm, Dark Storm (matured in heavily charred casks), and Port Ruighe (port finish), all released without age statements. Of this trio, Talisker Storm seems the pick, with one commentator describing it as “…everything that you love about other Taliskers with the settings turned right up.”

One of the ways in which the bolder aroma and flavor profile of Storm...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2013/12/20/whisky-advocate-award-highlandsislands-single-malt-of-the-year/

Kilchoman 2007, 46%, $80

This was a strong year—again—for Islay, with every distillery releasing sublime single malts, which made this decision an incredibly hard one. It ultimately came down to a choice between Bowmore’s The Devil’s Casks, a mentally wonderful sherried 10 year old which must now become a regular release (please?), and Kilchoman , with the latter shading it.

Why? Because here was a whisky which not only showed the difference between age and maturity, but was the first demonstration of a distillery itself reaching maturity, quicker than anyone might have imagined.

Single malt is all about distillery character...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2013/12/19/whisky-advocate-award-islay-single-malt-of-the-year-2/

Macallan Ruby, 43%, £120

To say that Macallan flirted with controversy last year would be a bit of an understatement. The announcement that it was going to replace some of its age statement range in favor of a new selection of No Age Statements graded by color certainly got plenty of people’s backs up. As a result, the new drams tended to be condemned before they’d ever been sipped. Those who did try them would, hopefully, have found that Gold, Amber, Ruby, and Sienna were not only excellent whiskies in their own right, but were excellent representations of Macallan, and,...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2013/12/18/whisky-advocate-award-speyside-single-malt-of-the-year-2/

The Big Peat Christmas Edition 2013, 54.9%, £46

I’ve never hidden my love for big peaty whiskies. But this year releases that I thought would set my world on fire failed to deliver, and I found that most of the star performers were from the other end of the whisky spectrum. I was falling in love with gorgeous whiskies from bourbon barrels, laced with tropical fruits and vanilla, and reaching for quirky Aberfeldys and Glen Gariochs. Never was the case made more strongly t han in the case of blended whisky, where a procession of peated but bland blends failed...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2013/12/17/whisky-advocate-award-blendedblended-malt-scotch-whisky-of-the-year/

Kavalan Solist ex Bourbon Cask, 57.1%, $110

2013 was a strange year for nontraditional whisky making countries. For many distilleries it was a year of consolidation for existing expressions and expansion in to new markets.   A new wave of distillers—Paul John (India) , Overeem, Limeburners, and Hellyers Road (all Australia), Copper Still  (England)—took steps toward the international stage, while only St. George’s in England, Zuidam in Holland, and Mackmyra in Sweden punctuated the year with more than one special and original release.

But the year belongs to Taiwan’s Kavalan , which totally put to rest the notion that it is...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2013/12/16/whisky-advocate-award-world-whisky-of-the-year/

Yoichi 1988 single cask, 62%, $250

Yoichi is a distillery which has great resonance for those of us who have followed the remarkable arrival of Japanese whisky into the world. It was this distillery, after all, which did the equivalent of Stags Leap Cabernet at the famous Judgment of Paris, when the iconic Napa wine beat the great Bordeaux blends. Yoichi did the same in Edinburgh in a blind tasting, beating the greatest Scotch single malts. The world, as they say, would never quite be the same again. There have been plenty of good Yoichis since then, but none, in...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2013/12/15/whisky-advocate-award-japanese-whisky-of-the-year-2/

Redbreast 21 year old, 46%, $180

I was going to say that the performance of Irish Distillers over the last couple of years marks the greatest comeback in modern times, but that honor has to go to the astonishing antics of the U.S. America’s Cup sailing team. Nevertheless, the owners of Jameson have well and truly snatched the initiative back from its competitors, and this year it pulled off a highly surprising double.

Shortly after our Irish whiskey edition, Irish Distillers held a “housewarming” and unveiled a new training center, new stills, and plans for twenty new pot still whiskeys...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2013/12/14/whisky-advocate-award-irish-whiskey-of-the-year-2/

Wiser’s Legacy, 45%, C$50

Amidst a wealth of outstanding new releases it’s easy to forget old favorites. Forty Creek Heart of Gold, Highwood Ninety, Collingwood 21 year old, Wiser’s Red Letter, and Masterson’s Barley each fought to stay at the top of my 2013 whisky charts. Many head-to-head tastings and much thoughtful consideration later, the whisky to hold its own and emerge as Canadian whisky of the year is Wiser’s Legacy .

Legacy is the crowning achievement of Wiser’s former master blender, David Doyle. Looking back, it was also a harbinger of the new direction Wiser’s whiskies would take following...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2013/12/13/whisky-advocate-award-canadian-whisky-of-the-year-2/

Four Roses 2013 Limited Edition Small Batch, 51.5%, $85

This is the second year in a row for Four Roses to receive this honor, and it’s well-deserved. To be honest, I didn’t think Four Roses could ever improve on last year’s limited edition small batch release—let alone the very next year—but they did.

With five different yeast strains and two different mashbills at their disposal, they certainly have the potential to make great bourbon with a variety of flavor profiles. And with the esteemed master distiller Jim Rutledge overseeing things, I’m never surprised when I taste a great Four Roses...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2013/12/12/whisky-advocate-award-american-whiskey-of-the-year-2/

Few Spirits Rye, 46.5%, $60

Reviewing craft-distilled American whiskeys is still a matter of degrees, especially when the craft distillers venture into the stylistic territory staked out so strongly by the established traditional distillers. The benchmarks of bourbon and rye are well-known, and to openly declare your competition with them is to invite direct comparison. I call it the “Evan Williams Test”: is this craft whiskey good enough that I’d buy a bottle of it instead of yet another $14 bottle of the reliably well-made Evan Williams Black? Only the very best craft whiskeys can stand up to that.

By...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2013/12/11/whisky-advocate-award-craft-whiskey-of-the-year/

The Whisky Advocate Awards are less than two days away!

The 20th Annual Whisky Advocate Awards will be published, as usual, in the spring 2014 issue of Whisky Advocate magazine, due out in early mars. But we’re going to announce the award winners here on the Whisky Advocate blog beginning this Wednesday, december 11 ^th . As the awards are announced, they will also be published to the Whisky Advocate Facebook page and the Whisky Advocate Twitter feed (@whiskyadvocate).

These are the whiskies that we picked from the categories of our Buying Guide as the best, most interesting, most significant...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2013/12/09/2013-whisky-advocate-awards-to-be-announced-beginning-december-11/

Another review of a whiskey book for your holiday shopping, this time a cookbook for the American whiskey lover.

Pickles, Pigs, and Whiskey

Recipes from My Three Favorite Food Groups and Then Some

by John Currence

2013, Andrews McMeel Publishing

John Currence, James Beard Award winning chef of the City Grocery Restaurant Group in Oxford, Mississippi, has a lot to say in this book about how you should cook and how you should eat: he’s disdainful of low-fat stuff, and adamant that you should not use pre-ground black pepper (“It is disgusting and in almost no way representative of the...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2013/12/09/whiskey-books-for-the-holidays-part-3/

Our second installment of whisky book reviews for the holidays, this one from Jonny McCormick, who appropriately notes on sending it in, “I could murder a drink!”

Whisky Wars, Riots and Murder - Crime in the 19 ^th Century Highlands and Islands

by Malcolm Archibald

Published by Black & White Publishing, 279 pages

As our thoughts turn to the holidays, your relatives maj be looking for an interesting gift for the whisky expert in the family. Rather than a whisky tome, this is a true crime book set in the Highlands and Islands during the Victorian era and imbued with...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2013/12/06/whisky-books-for-the-holidays-part-2/

There is good news for lovers of Mortlach the distinctive, near-triple distilled Speyside single malt, renowned for its meaty full flavor, with the announcement by Diageo of four new expressions. And, I fear, bad.

Due to be available mid-2014 in global markets, the range comprises Rare Old (43.4%, no age statement); Special Strength (49%, no age statement, non-chill filtered, Travel Retail exclusive); 18 Years Old and 25 Years Old (both 43.4%). Packaging details and prices have yet to be finalized, but I understand that the ‘new’ Mortlach will be positioned as a luxury brand, with the entry level Rare Old...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2013/12/02/good-news-and-bad-for-mortlach-lovers/