Laphroaig 28 Years

The new release in the series of limited editions from Laphroaig (check my review of Laphroaig 27 Years and Laphroaig 32 Years ) will be the Laphroaig 28 Year Old . It is matured in quarter casks, ex-bourbon barrels and Oloroso sherry butts and bottled at cask strength 46.3% ABV.

Kilchoman single casks

In the UK we’ve noticed two new Kilchoman single casks. One is the Kilchoman 10 Years 2007 for The Whisky Exchange , a sherry cask #401/2007 bottled at 58.5%, available for around € 145.

The other is the Kilchoman 5 Years 2001...

Laphroaig 27 Year Old is the third release in an annual series of limited editions showing the more mature expressions (after the 30 Years and Laphroaig 32 Years ). It was matured in hogsheads and then transferred to first-fill bourbon barrels and refill quarter casks, before being bottled at cask strength 41.7% ABV in mars 2017.

When Laphroaig announced this 27 Year Old, they showed us the mock-up to the left (similar to the 32). To the right is the actual bottle (in reality I would say it is even more pale than that). Very odd.

Laphroaig 27...

Dewar’s 25 Year Old is a new premium blend that will replace Dewar’s Signature in travel retail. They are replacing a NAS expression with an age statement, that’s nice to hear.

Composed by Dewar’s master blender Stephanie MacLeod, this has been finished in freshly disgorged casks that previously held Royal Brackla single malt (which is also part of this blend). A single malt finish? Not sure there’s proof for the claim that this adds extra smoothness (or anything else).

Dewar’s 25 yo (40%, OB 2017, travel retail)

Nose: bright and juicy. Plenty of honey, peaches and stewed pear....

Another undisclosed Highland Park – the name can’t be mentioned and apparently the underlying idea is “when a single cask is good people praise the bottler, when the cask is bad people blame the distillery”.

Orkney single malt 13 yo 2004 (50,5%, Whisky-Fässle 2017, sherry cask)

Nose: subtle sherry, in the sense that the cask brings a sweet, almost syrupy fruitiness (peaches on syrup, golden raisins) but no darker notes. Baked apples, oranges and heather honey. Also wet branches and coastal notes. Good. Mouth: oily texture, with the same sweetness (oranges, lemonade, peaches) but also a firmer, slightly...

The GlenDronach 21 Years Parliament is the oldest core range expression and one that I hadn’t tried before. It was launched in 2011 and aged in a mix of Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez sherry casks.

It has been named ‘Parliament’ after the colony, or ‘parliament’, of rooks that have been nesting in the trees that overlook the GlenDronach distillery for almost 200 years.

GlenDronach 21 yo ‘Parliament’ (48%, OB +/- 2017)

Nose: a bit of an old-style, autumnal sherry profile. Quite thick and sweet, with toffee, maple syrup and a darker side of roasted nuts. Pecans, walnuts, hazelnut....

Best wishes for 2018

A quick look at some of the highlights of 2017 before we start a new year of (almost) daily whisky reviews.

Best new whiskies in 2017

We saw basically the same trends already mentioned in 2016: the excellent parcel of undi sclosed Speyside 1970s whisky hasn’t dried up yet. On the other hand old Irish whiskey keeps amazing us.

For the undisclosed Speyside whisky, it seems this year it was mostly the 1973 vintage scooping the awards. My personal favourites:

• Speyside Region 44 yo 1973 (48,8%, Maltbarn for Shinanoya 2017, sherry cask,...

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In the weeks following Christmas, the stream of new whisky slows to a trickle. Nevertheless, there’s a brand new bourbon to be on the lookout for, as well as an Irish whiskey returning to market after being sold out for some time.

West Cork Distillers’  Black Reserve blended Irish whiskey scored well when we reviewed it— 86 points in the Buying Guide —and costs $40.

Meanwhile, S.D. Strong Distilling is launching a straight bourbon, aged just under 3 years in a cave—a cave that is still in active use as a mine. The bourbon is appropriately named Big Boom, and it’s...