Yesterday there was the 7th incarnation of Bruichladdich ’s live digital whisky tastings. You buy a sample pack (3x 20cl for around € 60 + shipping) and open them while watching a live tasting streamed directly from Islay.

#LaddieMP7 featured three single cask whiskies, all made from barley grown on Islay and all matured in first-fill bourbon casks, which makes it interesting to single out variations in barley and age.

Head Distiller Adam Hannett introduced these variations together with Hunter Jackson, one of the 76 farmers on Islay who grows barley for the distillery.

The live video stream was very...

Today’s review is the 500th post of the blog (only took 4+ years), so I wanted to review something nice (and special) to celebrate the occasion. I rummaged through the samples boxes and came up with a few options but this old Speyburn that was sitting there for years growing cobwebs caught my attention as Speyburn distillery just announced a new 15 Year Old expression, so I thought to myself: why not review a Speyburn?

This 1975 Speyburn, bottled back in 2012 (37 Year Old) was exclusively available to Clan Speyburn, the community for Speyburn lovers. 320 bottles were bottled...

Whisky auctions can open the door to a world of whiskies you never dreamed you would taste. While auctions maj seem daunting at first, once you familiarize yourself with the process—from reserve prices to buyer’s premiums—you’ll be bidding like a pro in no time. Use this guide to get started at both online and live auctions. Good luck!

Get Familiar With What’s Out There

Whisky auctions have flourished online over the past decade, though the major name legacy auction houses still host the impressive spectacle of the auctioneer cajoling bids before bringing the gavel thumping down with aplomb. Online auctions...

FEW Spirits founder and former president of the American Craft Spirits Association Paul Hletko sat down with senior whisky specialist Adam Polonski to discuss what’s going on with craft whiskey these days, and what he thinks the future holds....

Bourbon powerhouse Buffalo Trace Distillery has announced the lineup for its 2017 Antique Collection . The hotly anticipated release includes three bourbons and two ryes, all with a suggested retail price of $90 a bottle. Of course, fans of the Antique Collection know that the actual retail price often comes in well above what the distillery suggests—with secondary market pricing climbing much higher year after year. Buffalo Trace doesn’t disclose how many bottles are available of each whiskey, but there are never enough to satisfy demand. The bottles will hit shelves in oktober.

What to do if you want to...

Whisky tourism continues to grow in popularity, from Scotland to Bourbon Country and beyond. But recently, people aren’t coming just for the whisky. Distilleries have become cultural destinations, and many are showcasing collections of art well beyond that which can be found in liquid form. From sculpture to watercolors, drawings to glass, there’s a wealth of visual splendors to enjoy alongside a dram.

The best tours for lovers of both whisky and art

Handle the Glass with Care at Maker’s Mark

Maker’s Mark was the first bourbon distillery to welcome visitors in 1968—a bold move for the era. Today, the...

Sci-fi and whisky never looked so good together. Johnnie Walker has announced a special edition Black Label, celebrating the upcoming release of  Blade Runner 2049 . The futuristic bottle resembles that depicted in the original  Blade Runner , which has long been a visual and conceptual reference point for the genre at large. Between this,  Old Forester Statesman , and GlenDronach Kingsman , it’s a great time to be a whisky-loving cinephile.

Yamazaki is rolling out a splashy new whisky too, though this one is more out of reach for everyday drinking. Three years after it was last available—and four...

David Stewart is malt master at The Balvenie , and has worked in the Scotch whisky industry for more than 50 years. We spoke to him about his career and his latest whisky, Balvenie 2002 Peat Week 14 Year Old .

David Stewart joined William Grant & Sons in 1962 as a whisky stocks clerk

1. How did Balvenie Peat Week come about?

We started some trials with peat in 2001 and did a small run of peated whisky for just one week a year. Peat Week is peated to 30ppm, which comes out at about 5-6ppm in the finished...

Benromach is experimenting with different distillation and maturation methods and the latest result is the Benromach Triple Distilled .

It has been distilled once in the wash still, and then twice in the spirit still, before being matured in first-fill bourbon barrels for eight years. Triple distillation usually leads to a lighter, smoother style of whisky.

I’m trying it head-to-head with a recent batch of Benromach 10 .

Benromach Triple Distilled 2009 (50%, OB 2017, 15.600 btl.)

Nose: a lot more narrow than the 10yo, although it’s easy to see the common DNA. Pear and lemon, rubbed orange...

GlenDronach 1993 is something I am still getting excited about, especially the ones filled 15th januari 1993 with cask numbers up to #43, more or less. Above this number there is a big gap to #388 and above, but these were filled a month later. I guess the numbers in between were used for wide-scale expressions?

I’m surprised the label says sherry butt whereas they usually specify the type of sherry. I always thought all of these early 1993s were exclusively matured in Oloroso casks .

GlenDronach 24 yo 1993 (59,2%, OB 2017, sherry butt #43, 588 btl.)...

Ardbeg Grooves

Not really news, we already reported on the Committee version of Ardbeg Grooves in juli . Now the regular label appeared in the TTB COLAs, bottled at 46%, which is further confirmation for the fact that this will be the Ardbeg Day 2018 bottling. This Ardbeg is matured in their grooviest casks, intensely charred wine casks.

Benromach 2009 Château Cissac

Benromach will soon announce a new release in their Wood Finish series . Like Hermitage and Sassicaia , this edition is matured in first-fill bourbon casks and finished for 25 months in casks from Château Cissac,...

The nearby whisky club Crann has just released a club bottling selected from the Claxton’s stocks.

It’s a 10 year old Ledaig , originally matured in a bourbon hogshead but re-racked into several Octave sherry casks. Crann selected a Pedro Ximénez sherry octave, whisky store Anverness went for an Oloroso cask, I’ve heard one was released in Austria and another part was taken by Van Zuylen. There’s also a sister cask, also finished in different octaves.

Ledaig 10 yo 2007 (53,8%, Claxton’s 2017, bourbon hogshead & PX sherry octave #1715AV2 – 700641)

Nose: Cuban cigars, deep sooty notes,...

The fifteenth Invergordon bottling already from That Boutique-y Whisky Company . Since a few years they come with an age statement, in this case a huge sales asset as you don’t see 42 years old grains every day.

Invergordon 42 yo (48%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company 2017, Batch #15, 665 btl.)

Nose: typical warm, varnished grain whisky. Tinned pineapple, hints of guava and caramel cream. Vanilla custard. Bananas flambéed and rummy notes – Barbados style. Some charred oak provides a spicy backbone. Mouth: less sweet than expected, there is quite a lot of oak influence with pepper and...