More glorious undisclosed Speyside 1973 coming up! The first one is more of a reference sample, as it is a shared cask and we’ve already reviewed the Archives counterpart . The other two are slightly more recent, bottled by Whisky-Fässle and Mancarella who already had a sister cask before .

In my opinion the downside of this kind of comparison is the tendency to exaggerate differences, simply because you’re willing to translate your preferences into numbers. In reality though, these casks are all very closely together, closer than the actual score maj indicate.

Speyside Region 43 yo 1973...

Amontillado casks , one of the rarest types of sherry casks used for maturing whisky. If you understand how modern sherry casks are seasoned for the whisky industry , then it is not surprising that Amontillado is not commonly used: this type of sherry starts its life as a Fino or Manzanilla and then undergoes a second phase of oxidative ageing, bringing the total age to at least five or six years, often ten years or more. The wine is more expensive so the cask will be more expensive as well.

I believe there is another reason: of all types...

Roe & Co is an Irish blended whiskey developed by Diageo. It is their first step in the Irish whiskey market after having sold Bushmills in 2014 – obviously they can’t ignore the booming trend in Irish whiskey (which apparently they hadn’t foreseen).

It is a blend of grain and malt whiskey, matured exclusively in bourbon casks (most of which are first-fill).

The brand goes back a long way, it was started as George Roe & Co in the 19th century. The distillery in Thomas Street, Dublin used to be the largest of the country. Diageo is planning a new...

The Clans label was a new series from Sansibar , first released in 2017. The first batch also contained a Tullibardine 1993 . We’ll compare it to a very similar whisky, just released by Maltbarn .

Tullibardine 24 yo 1993 (52,5%, Sansibar ‘Clans label’ 2017, 272 btl.)

Nose: soaked wholemeal bread crusts up front. Very malty, with hints of All-Bran wheat flakes and hay. Light whiffs of beurre noisette. A slight dustiness of old books and golden apples as well. Mouth: sweeter than expected, but with a similar dustiness and maltiness. Bread again, hints of rye. Leafy notes,...

Did you know Deanston is the only distillery in Scotland that is self-sustaining for electricity, thanks to a dam and a turbine? Since being acquired a couple of years ago by South African giant Distell they’ve worked hard on making the distillery future-proof and make the whisky more attractive (upping the ABV for instance).

Ignoring Deanston Virgin Oak for now, Deanston 12 Years is the entry-level dram in their core range, alongside the 18 Years and a couple of limited expressions. Its packaging has been redesigned at the end of 2016, nicely done.

Deanston 12 yo (46,3%, OB...

Here’s another new release from That Boutique-y Whisky Company, a 35 years old Bunnahabhain . I suppose this could be one of these 1980 casks  – the profile is certainly similar.

Bunnahabhain 35 yo (40,2%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company 2017, Batch #4, 50cl, 302 btl.)

Nose: great mix of beeswax and furniture polish, with apricots and just a hint of marshmallows. Yellow apples and meadow flowers. Leathery notes, walnuts, perhaps a hint of turpentine. Heather. Then a hint of cigars. Complex and brilliantly aromatic. Mouth: half earthy, half fruity. Orange cake, apples and honey sweetness. Still these heathery...

This is the youngest age-statement release in the Port Askaig range, an 8 year-old. Launched around the time when Lagavulin presented its 8 Years, but that could be coincidence.

Port Askaig 8 yo (45,8%, Elixir Distillers +/- 2017)

Nose: a lot of sea spray and shells, with burnt leaves and a mezcal-like sootiness. Sweet ashes, vanilla, almonds and a lemon & salt combo. Some youngish notes of pear drops and fresh barley. Mouth: a slightly thin onset perhaps, but it gets more intense, with lemon candy sweetness and honey, followed by peat smoke, almonds and a rather medicinal...

Is it me or was the general interest in the Special Releases a bit lower in 2017? Sure, there’s always a list of ‘industry bloggers’ working their way through press samples, but other than that?

There was one release in particular that I wanted to try, or rather that I wanted to pay money for: the unconventional  Collectivum XXVIII , a blend of all 28 operational Maltwhisky distilleries owned by Diageo: Auchroisk, Benrinnes, Blair Athol, Caol Ila, Cardhu, Clynelish, Cragganmore, Dailuaine, Dalwhinnie, Dufftown, Glendullan, Glen Elgin, Glenkinchie, Glenlossie, Glen Ord, Glen Spey, Inchgower, Knockando, Lagavulin, Linkwood, Mannochmore, Mortlach, Oban,...

GlenDronach Grandeur Batch 9

GlenDronach Grandeur Batch 9 is 24 years old (a combination of 1990, 1992 and 1993 spirit) matured in Spanish oak sherry butts. It is bottled at 48.7% ABV and 1487 bottles will be available. On its way to stores.

GlenDronach Cask Strength Batch 7

Then there’s also Batch 7 of GlenDronach Cask Strength . It seems to get a new label design, in a classic racing green. I had already noticed some subtle changes to single cask labels as well, small things. I guess the new owners are streamlining and updating where necessary.

 ...

Woodwinters is a wine and whisky merchant in Scotland. They have a series of bottlings with rather cryptical names.

The label says The Four which seems to be used for Islay bottlings (The One is Speyside, The Two are the Highlands…). Notice there are four seals in the picture. The subtitle  Isle solera is probably hinting towards sherry cask maturation. Why not simply mention 16 years old Bowmore from a sherry cask ?

Anyway, middle-aged Bowmore from a sherry cask, bring it on.

‘Isle Solera’ 16 yo (58,1%, Woodwinters ‘The Four’ 2016, sherry butt, 50cl, 700 btl.)

Nose:...

This Glenrothes 2000 single cask was released in the summer of 2017 as part of a trio of UK exclusives . There was a Glenrothes 2006 cask #5454, this one and an old Glenrothes 1976 cask #2667.

Glenrothes 2000 (58,7%, OB 2017, sherry butt #2364, UK exclusive Batch #1, 575 btl.)

Nose: butterscotch and oranges, with a spice mix but also sourish hints of raspberry and polished wood. Subtle caramelized nutty notes in the background. It’s fairly light and heady and seems a little condensed, struggling to open up. Mouth: same style, now with nice jammy fruits at...

Glen Keith from three bourbon casks today. The first is a 1995 , slightly younger than both others and bottled by Cave Aquila , which is a small-scale Belgian bottler ran by Daniël Quanten (often a host on tastings).

The second is a 1993 cask from Sansibar , in the Clans series.

There’s a third bottling in this comparison, a 1992  Fishes of Samoa bottling. However I realized that I already reviewed it before , after writing down most of my tasting notes… so I’ve just kept it in the comparison.

Glen Keith 21 yo 1995 (48,6%, Cave...

With The Macallan Edition No.4 around the corner, time to review the current release. In this popular wood-focused series, Macallan Edition No.3 was a slightly uncommon collaboration with master perfumer Roja Dove. He composed this edition with the same formula as he’s using in perfume, pinpointing complementary aromas, and balancing these with a “counterpoint” note.

Macallan Edition No.3 works with a variety of cask profiles: sherry butts and puncheons (both American and European oak), bourbon barrels and hogsheads… most of these are first-fill but there are some refill butts too. A selection this wide makes such a list less valuable...

This Inchmurrin 18 Year Old was given a makeover in 2015: the eclectic blue alcopop style bottles that you’ll still find in most stores. Recently in 2017 it was given a new redesign, more classy and refined.

As you know, Inchmurrin spirit comes from Loch Lomond’s straight neck pot still. It is distilled at a very high 83-85 % ABV, which causes the fruity notes to be maintained from the long fermentation.

Inchmurrin 18 yo (46%, OB +/- 2017)

Nose: start on hob nobs and whole grain cookies. Cinnamon bark and broken branches. Just plain wood. Caramel coated...

Rosebank Roses ‘Innocence’

The Rosebank Roses are a range of seven bottlings from the lost Lowland distillery, bottled by Elixir Distillers (from the Whisky Exchange group). They are composed from a batch of 15 casks, some of the last available.

Rosebank was mothballed in 1993 and the distillery buildings were sold to Scottish Canals in 2002. The maltings were demolished and most of the original distilling equipment was stolen in 2008.

After the first release ‘True Love’ there is now a second release called Innocence , now available from The Whisky Exchange . Again it is 21 years old, apparently...

J ohn Scott’s (later Johnn Scott & Miller) was a grocery store in Kirkwall, Orkney which also delivered handyman services to the Highland Park distillery. They also had a tradition to do shop bottlings for their neighbours.

In 1967 the owner Robert Firth Miller was paid for one of his jobs with twelve sherry casks (some sources say quarter casks) filled with new make spirit. They were passed on to his son Robert M Miller and between 2003 and 2009 all casks were bottled by Duncan Taylor , some mentioning John Scott’s on the label, others simply under the Duncan...

This is the third Kilchoman bottling exclusive to The Whisky Exchange . Distilled in 2007 (that’s two years after the opening of the distillery) this was put into a sherry butt until being bottled in 2017. A 10 years old Kilchoman single cask, something that was awaited for a long time.

Kilchoman 10 yo 2007 (58,5%, OB for The Whisky Exchange 2017, sherry butt #401, 599 btl.)

Nose: a nice mustiness of dunnage warehouse, with mulched leaves and quite some salty toast. Nicely dry and smoky, even though there is certainly another side showing big hints of treacle,...

In september 2017 Speyburn distillery announced a new packaging for its core range (while the liquid is still the same). The packaging is focused on a new label, a cleaner version of the leaping salmon emblem and a bigger cardboard box.

At the same time they presented a new Speyburn 15 Year Old , a new release that joined the core range of Speyburn Bradan Orach and Speyburn 10 Year Old . Time to have all of them in one session.

Bradan Orach means ‘golden salmon’. Most of the whisky used for this expression is around 9 years old and...

Convalmore was closed by Diageo in 1985 and sold to Wm Grants in 1990, who removed the distilling equipment and currently use the buildings for storage only. We’ve been lucky to have a few very good special releases in the past few years, but other than that this lost distillery almost never crosses your path.

This Convalmore 1975 was bottled by Gordon & MacPhail a couple of years ago.

Convalmore 1975 (46%, Gordon & MacPhail Rare Old 2015, refill sherry hogsheads, ref. #R0/15/06, 299 btl.)

Nose: plenty of beehive and waxy notes, always great in old Speyside whisky....