Our latest exclusive whisky releases are here! This time it’s a showcase of one our favourite styles of whisky: the fruit bomb. We’ve teamed up with German indie bottler The Whisky Agency to bring you a pair of fruity drams: one from Bowmore and one from an anonymous Irish distillery.

Bowmore 1998, 19 year old

While Bowmore isn’t that well-known for its fruity drams these days, step back a few decades and you’ve got stacks of fruity whisky. Bowmore from the 1960s is, quite rightly, the most famous, but more recent vintages have also seen the distillery start to reclaim its...

Irish Malt 1993 & Bowmore 1998 – The Whisky Agency for TWE

The Whisky Agency will release two whiskies exclusively bottled for The Whisky Exchange . Both focus on the fruitier end of the spectrum:

• Irish single malt 1993 (24yo, matured in a barrel, 48.2%) – € 315
• Bowmore 1998 (19yo, matured in a butt, 48.8%) – € 250

I will publish my review early next week, but I can already tell you both whiskies have generous tropical fruit notes. Keep your eyes peeled, it’s easy to predict they won’t last long.

Game of Thrones single Maltwhisky...

This is the first of a pair of Whisky Exchange exclusives bottled by The Whisky Agency : Bowmore 1998 . Although it was matured in a sherry butt, the colour doesn’t indicate much sherry influence. This should focus on the fruitier end of the spectrum.

Bowmore 19 yo 1998 (48,8%, The Whisky Agency for The Whisky Exchange 2018, sherry butt, 187 btl.)

Nose: a particularly fresh version. Starts on roots, bandages, sea spray and some peppermint. Then candied notes come to the fore: Haribo bears, hints of mango puree and pineapple cubes. Very subtle peat smoke. Great so...

Another one from Cadenhead’s Cask Strength series (white label). A very rare Allt-A-Bhainne 1980 (pronounced olt-er-vaine). Remember this is only around 12 years of age.

Alt-A-Bhainne (60.5%, Cadenhead’s Cask Strength 1992, white label, cask #100027)

Nose: chocolate coated candied orange, but also sour cherries, raspberry jam and hints of moist wood. Leafy notes, subtle tobacco. Some raisins underneath. A very light meaty character. There’s a chalky note but other than that, fairly classic. I’m not getting the funky farmy notes that Serge got. Mouth: powerful and rather oak influenced. Peppery heat, grasses, but there are flashes of jammy...

Since 2003 Glencadam distillery has been owned by Angus Dundee Distillers Plc who also launched the first single malt expression in 2005. Glencadam Origin 1825 was released in 2016 as their first NAS expression.

It is matured in American white oak bourbon casks and finished in Oloroso sherry butts.

Glencadam Origin 1825 (40%, OB +/- 2017)

Nose: rather synthetic banana ice cream, oatcakes and whiffs of glue and turpentine. Not as bad as it sounds. Fresh oak shavings. Evolves towards tinned pineapple and coconut flakes. Tuttifrutti candy. Light floral notes, hints of citrus. Mouth: far less exciting. Still...

Yes, this review is late, but I sometimes feel it’s useless to post Local Barley reviews. They are sold out seconds after they appear online. Many of them are snatched by flippers but at least the whiskies have some real substance.

This is the third release in the renewed Local Barley series. It was distilled from Belgravia barley grown 6 kilometers away from the distillery at the West Back Farm. It’s a slightly more modern and more popular grain compared to the previous editions.

For this 10 year-old, Springbank used 70% bourbon and 30% sherry casks.

Springbank 10...

This Bowmore 18 Year Old replaced the 17 year old, which was phased out a few years ago. Mind that there is a different version, also 18 years old but with a subtitle “deep and complex”, only available in travel retail.

Bowmore 18 yo (43%, OB +/- 2018)

Nose: nice combination of dried seaweed and tobacco with chocolate and (overripe) blood oranges. Toffee caramel. Blackberries and cassis. Hints of rubber as well, but they disappear after a while. Gentle peat. Hints of burnt pineapple. Mouth: quite sweet and fruity, but I find it a little thin nonetheless. Lots...

GlenDronach 15 Years ‘Revival’ (2018)

GlenDronach submitted the label for the new batch of their GlenDronach 15 Years Revival . As you know, the distillery was mothballed from 1996 until maj 2002, which means they had to use much older casks to maintain the 15 Years and in 2015 had to stop bottling it entirely.

It will now come back, composed entirely around post-2002 casks filled by the new owners. We’re eager to see how it changed, as the new label mentions Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez casks instead of just Oloroso, and some technical parameters changed as well: no more...

The chaps from the Edinburgh Whisky Blog are on the label of this Glen Keith 24 Years from That Boutique-y Whisky Company . I don’t know why, it’s often some kind of inside joke.

Glen Keith 24 yo (49,1%, That Boutique-y Whisky Co. 2018, Batch #5, 377 btl.)

Nose: typical Glen Keith, showing warm, juicy fruits. Nectarines, plums, green apple, light papaya. Jelly babies. It’s not all Haribo style though, as there is a light grassy edge and fresh oak underneath. A light waxy note as well. Mouth: again very fruity with a nice sweet and sour balance....

Jefferson Oatts, beverage manager of...