It maj be sweltering outside, but it’s time for us to start the process for an annual winter event – the unveiling of The Whisky Exchange Whisky of the Year !

Whisky of the Year

Every year since 2014, we have crowned one whisky with the illustrious title of our Whisky of the Year. Until now, the process has been quite simple: we asked the Whisky Exchange team and industry experts to nominate whiskies, whittled that list down to just eight, and then ran a tasting in London where the attendees voted for the winner.

We’ve had an excellent range...

In honour of this year’s Whisky Show and its theme – The Journey of the Cask – we’ve put together a brief rundown of the various types of wood used in whisky maturation, and what effect they might have on spirit.

OAK

The primary function of oak in whisk(e)y – apart from the positives of being both readily accessible in lots of places that make whisk(e)y, and the fact that it’s pretty good, structurally, at being formed into shapes – is to impart flavour. But the way in which the modern whisky industry functions means that, rather than the wood...

Barrels at Jack Daniel’s

We take casks for granted. In fact, we take all waterproof containers for granted. I think it’s fair to say that in all of human history it’s never been so easy to transport liquids, from the soon-to-be-less-ubiquitous plastic water bottles and coffee cups to IV bags and fuel tankers.

Yet despite all these inventions the cask is still special, and it’s been special ever since people smashed their amphorae with joy at the realisation they’d found something leak-proof that was easier to stack. So when did the cask, to which booze owes so much, come into...

The Cù Bòcan range of lightly peated whiskies (+/- 15 ppm), produced in Winter for one month at Tomatin distillery has recently been relaunched. It now contains three expressions, presented in a nicely reworked bottle:

• Cù Bòcan Signature : a combination of ex-bourbon, ex-Oloroso and virgin American oak casks (same as before)
• Cù Bòcan Creations #1 : matured in Black Isle Imperial Stout casks and Bacalhôa Moscatel de Setúbal wine casks
• Cù Bòcan Creations # 2: matured in ex-Shochu and virgin European oak casks

These last two have pretty funky recipes. More Creations will follow in the future.

 ...

Lagavulin 21 Year Old – Islay Jazz Festival 2019

A 21 year-old Lagavulin at cask strength, if that doesn’t get you excited, then what does? It is released for the Islay Jazz Festival 2019 , to celebrate the 21st edition.

Matured in a combination of refill American oak hogsheads and freshly charred hogsheads, the tasting notes mention dried fruits, briny smoke, sandalwood, bacon and a hint of gunpowder. There will be 2004 bottles, available at the distillery only for £ 395.

New bottler: The Whisky Jury

Belgium has a new independent bottler called The Whisky Jury , looking...

The Arran owns a couple of casks that come straight from working sherry soleras at Bodegas Tradición . Arran used them to finish the Arran Lochranza Castle 21 Year Old , the second whisky in their Explorers Series .

The 45 year-old Amontillado VORS is arguably the best wine from Tradición. However keep in mind that a solera system will also contain much younger versions of the wine (the youngest being 10-15 years in this case) so we can’t be sure what we’re getting exactly. The cask itself will be really old though.

Arran 21 yo ‘Lochranza Castle’...

After months of preparation, this is the first release from a brand-new Belgian bottler called The Whisky Jury . The name refers to the fact that owner Joeri considers himself a jury for casks, only acquiring those that get a 90/100 score in his book. Läs mer on the Whisky Jury website .

It’s a Ben Nevis 1995 presented with a beautiful label. We’ve had several excellent expressions from this period, mostly 1996 and 1997.

Ben Nevis 23yo 1995 (51,2%, The Whisky Jury 2019, hogshead #970, 245 btl.)

Nose: the typical Nevis waxiness is prominent, nice start. Balm,...

Launched at the very end of 2018, not long after the Ardmore 20 Years , this Ardmore 30 Year Old is the oldest official bottling so far, I think. An important release, yet it was launched without the usual marketing trumpets.

It was distilled in their direct coal-fired stills back then (ended in 2001 after a fire), matured in refill bourbon casks and finished in first-fill bourbon casks.

Ardmore 30 yo 1987 (47,2%, OB 2019, refill + first-fill bourbon)

Nose: plenty of hay and grasses, with waxy and spicy hints (pepper, nutmeg), cold ash and a little coffee....

As you know, Loch Lomond distillery produces 11 types of single Maltwhisky. Inchmoan is the heavily peated style made in its signature ‘straight-neck’ pot stills (which also produce Inchmurrin). It is less peaty than Croftengea and Inchfad though.

This Inchmoan 2007 single cask was bottled for the 20th anniversary of The Whisky Exchange .

Inchmoan 12 yo 2007 (54,9%, OB for TWE 20th Anniversary 2019, refill bourbon hogshead #96, 289 btl.)

Nose: a very balanced, almost sensual style with silky peat, burning wood, touches of menthol and germolene. Toffee, golden apples and sablées bretons in the distance,...

The Glenrothes Soleo Collection brought age statements back to this distillery, replacing the vintage concept which it pioneered and made popular in the past decade or so.

The Glenrothes 25 Year Old (released a bit later than the others) is the oldest expression in the Soleo Collection, although a 40 Year Old is set to be released early next year. It is matured in “a high proportion” of first-fill sherry seasoned sherry casks. Too bad they stick to a modest 43% ABV even in this price range.

Mind that there was a Glenrothes 25 Year Old around 2007, which was...

Glen Garioch Virgin Oak is 100% matured in new American oak. While it’s regularly seen for finishing or in a mix with other cask types, it can be overpowering for a full maturation.

For this expression Glen Garioch specifically used ‘inner heartwood’ of 100-year-old trees, which was heavily charred.

Glen Garioch Virgin Oak (48%, OB +/- 2014)

Nose: sweet, with plenty of vanilla and spices like ginger, cardamom and anise. Sugared cereals, a little buttered toast. There’s also a grassy, greenish woody note, like freshly sawn oak. Mouth: thick but also a tad raw, the cloves and other...

eSpirits, the company behind the Liquid Treasures series, released a few whiskies to mark the 10th anniversary of the company. We’ll try three releases from sherry casks.

We’ll start with an undisclosed Lowland Region Malt 2011 . No clue as to the origins, Auchentoshan springs to mind or even Bladnoch. Anyway are we going to end up in a situation where all independent bottlers are undisclosed names, or what?

Secret Lowlands 7 yo 2011 (59,8%, Liquid Treasures 2019, sherry hogshead, 176 btl.)

Nose: nicely candied, fruity sherry. Red berries, strawberry candy, then moving towards floral notes and rose...

Today is my birthday, always a reason to dig up something special from my (sample) collection.

I decided upon this Longmorn 12 Year Old from Hill, Thomson & Co . Once a humble grocer in Edinburgh, they developed their own brands like the famous Queen Anne blend (est. 1902). They had close relations with the Longmorn distillery and had easy access to their whisky.

In 1970 the company merged with The Glenlivet & Glen Grant Distillers and Longmorn Distillers to form The Glenlivet Distillers Ltd.

This Longmorn 12 was bottled before 1940 , I’m not sure which elements led to...

Tomatin 2006 Amontillado finish // Tomatin 2009 Caribbean rum finish

Highland distillery Tomatin announced two limited editions: a 2009 Caribbean rum finish and a 2006 Amontillado sherry finish .

The Caribbean rum matured for 9 years in traditional casks before being finished for one year in first-fill rum barrels. There are 7200 bottles for around € 60.

The Amontillado finish sounds more interesting to me as it’s rarely used for whisky finishing. This one was also 9 years old before getting a three year finish in first-fill Amontillado. It costs around € 70, with 5400 bottles available. Both are a...

Inspired by a Renaissance painting by Verrocchio of a naïve boy led by a divine angel, Compass Box Tobias & The Angel paid some royalties to use it on the packaging.

Tobias & The Angel is a vatting of 24 year-old Clynelish and ‘considerably older’ Caol Ila , an almost 50-50 combination of distilleries that Compass Box used many times since they first used it in Eleuthera in 2002. It can be seen as a celebration of 20 years of whiskymaking.

Compass Box Tobias & The Angel (47,6%, OB 2019, refill bourbon hogsheads, 2634 btl.)

Nose: quite an...

If the name Wu Dram Clan doesn’t ring a bell: it’s a whisky club of which Boris Borissov and Sebastian Jaeger are members (also involved in this Lagavulin 1997 and this Springbank 1992 ).

Now they’ve picked a Highland Park 2003 from a European oak sherry cask. Probably a butt which they shared with the ‘Dutch flagship stores’ (yet to be announced afaik).

Highland Park 15 yo 2003 (58,2%, OB for Wu Dram Clan 2019, first-fill European oak sherry cask #6162, 628 btl.)

Nose: oak spice up front (ginger, cardamom) with a leathery style of sherry. Thick dried...

After the pleasant surprise that was the Macdonald’s Celebrated Ben Nevis , I had to try this one as well…

MacDonald’s Glencoe is a Blended Malt (vatted malt if you like) produced by Ben Nevis distillery, referring to the narrow valley (Glencoe in Gaelic) near the site and to the famous owner John MacDonald who used to market his brand as Long John’s Ben Nevis in Victorian times .

The recipe is unknown but I’ve heard it is mainly Ben Nevis with just one other distillery , also from the Highlands. It is bottled at cask strength without artificial colouring....

Bielle distillery is located on the Marie-Galante island, a part of Guadaloupe. It has always been the cane sugar island, with the production of rum agricole since the late 19th century.

I know Bielle is one of the favourite malternatives of Bert Bruyneel, who runs the whisky bottler Asta Morris and the sister brand Rasta Morris . In 2019 he bottled two casks: one from 2011 (RM 009) and recently also a 2013 (RM 015).

Like most of these rums, they aged most of their life on the island, but they usually also spend some time in Europe (France) prior...

Glenfarclas 25 Year Old (TWE 20th Anniversary)

Made at the Glenfarclas distillery and matured in an Oloroso sherry cask, this Glenfarclas 25 Years ‘London Edition’ is a new limited edition for the 20th Anniversary of The Whisky Exchange . It has a specially-created label by TWE’s creative director Raj Chavda. Limited to 606 bottles.

Only available from The Whisky Exchange

Compass Box Bern’s

A new bespoke whisky from Compass Box for Bern’s steak house in Tampa, Florida. It contains plenty of different whiskies (Glenlossie, Clynelish, Tamdhu and Glen Ord are responsible for around 95%) finished in a single...

For a company like Asta Morris , bottling both whisky and rum has its advantages: this BenRiach 2008 was maturing in an ex-bourbon barrel but was transferred into a Foursquare rum cask , also an Asta Morris release, from last year.

BenRiach 10 yo 2008 (52%, Asta Morris 2018, Foursquare rum finish, 289 btl.)

Nose: candied fruits at first (oranges, peaches in syrup), with honey and vanilla. Stewed pears. As you dig deeper you’ll find drier notes. Light oak and the slightly industrial rummy side, as well as a leafy note. Mouth: fairly thick and sweet again. Honey,...