Since it first opened in 1995 the Arran Distilling Co has operated out of its distillery in Lochranza, on the northern coast of the Isle of Arran off Scotland’s south-west coast. As the distillery slowly filled its warehouses and grew in popularity it became clear that more space was needed and in 2016 a request for planning permission was submitted for a new distillery on the south side of the island, near the village of Lagg.

Lagg Distillery, complete with welcoming piper

After three years of planning, hard work and anticipation, the Lagg Distillery and visitor centre opened its doors...

Our 20th anniversary celebrations continue! Along with a host of exclusive birthday bottlings – with more to come through the year – we’re also looking back over the past 20 years and giving away 20 of the spirits that have made the drinks world what it is today.

All you need to do is head over to our competition Instagram post , make sure you are following @whiskyexchange , and leave us a comment telling us which bottle you’d like to win and who’d you share it with if you did.

View this post on Instagram

It’s hot. Like, really hot. And not only in all the places that normally complain about it being hot, but also here in merry England. With the longest day of the year now behind us, it seems that the sun has been turned up a notch right across Europe. Unless you’re in Scotland, where it’s hailing.

For the rest of us, it’s time for something cooling and refreshing to keep us going through the scorching afternoons and evenings. It’s time to break out the long-drink ideas.

Spritz it

The Spritz. Less a drink, more a philosophy. There are way too...

After 2018’s super-early april announcement of Diageo’s annual Special Releases collection surprised everyone, we’ve been wondering what they were up to this year. The radio silence has now been broken, and the first tidbits of information about the range of whiskies has now landed.

Don’t know what the Special Releases are? Learn all about them in our handy guide:  Diageo Special Releases – what are they?

Diageo Special Releases 2019: the line-up

This year’s collection will feature eight new cask-strength Scotch whiskies, and they’re all single malts this time.

The line-up is:

• Cardhu 14 Years Old
• Cragganmore 12 Years Old...

In the big register of national drink days there are some that fall at strange times of year, but National Mojito Day (today – 11 juli) is right on the money: the days are hot and long, the humidity is occasionally teetering on the edge of rain and we are in need of a drink. While comparing a slightly uncomfortable London to Cuba’s capital Havana is majbe a step too far, it’s definitely time for a Mojito.

The origins of the Mojito

To start with, a Mojito is a mix of rum, lime, sugar and soda – a long and...

In april 1999, a single click of a mouse kicked off a new venture for Sukhinder and Rajbir Singh – they registered thewhiskyexchange.com . Now, twenty years later, we’re the world’s largest online specialist spirits retailer and have two London shops , as well as two decades of stories . It’s time to celebrate.

To kick off the birthday festivities, we’ve bottled six single-cask whiskies with our friends at Signatory – who celebrated their 30th last year – to join a tasty range of exclusives that we’ve already released. They’re all available now from our website, and from both our...

When you go to a restaurant the food can have amazing flavours, evoke memories and make you feel a range of emotions, but it’s an experience for you alone. You can’t take it home and share it with your friends. But what if you could?

This was the question that was posed to me when I arrived at the Empirical Spirits distillery in Copenhagen. A bit of a maverick when it comes to spirits, and definitely a curator of well-named drinks, it is one of the most interesting distilleries I have come across in recent years, and its team has...

This bottle of Karuizawa is a marriage of some of the last remaining (sherry) casks from this distillery, distilled between 1972 and 1999 . Only two bottles exist: one bottle was donated to a charity auction for The BEN , another one will stay in the Elixir Distillers archive.

Karuizawa Ambassadors’ Collection 1972 – 1999 (59,1%, Elixir Distillers for The Ben, sherry casks, 2 btl.)

Nose: a whole room full of polished furniture, with scents of dark honey, menthol, moist tobacco, raspberries and cranberries. Hints of figs, black cherries and baked bananas. I’ve never been a big fan...

Balblair moved away from its vintage expressions in mars 2019 and launched a new core range with age statements.

We’ll have a look at their offering, starting at the bottom with the Balblair 12 Year Old . It is matured in ex-bourbon casks as well as double-fired American oak casks.

Balblair 12 yo (46%, OB 2018)

Nose: rather lightweight, fresh and bourbonny, with butter cream, lemon meringue and floral honey. Sweet vanilla cake (of course), pears and muesli. Subtle hints of peach yoghurt. Mouth: easy and harmless. Lots of sweet malty notes, grapes and citrus, vanilla cake again...

I was quite surprised to see two Littlemill bottlings in Germany earlier this year, but it turns out there’s more where that came from. Now Master of Malt released a Littlemill 1991 single cask expression.

Littlemill 27 yo 1991 (47,2%, Master of Malt 2018, bourbon barrel)

Nose: sweet, on melons, lime and pear, mixed with chalky touches and buttery vanilla. Typical notes of paraffin and carbon paper. Just a hint of banana bubblegum and almond paste. A little hay. Mouth: a great tropical fruitiness that comes close to some Irish whiskeys, with mango, guava,  and pink grapefruit. Almonds...

After it was relaunched and re-labeled in 2017, Ben Nevis was said to have difficulties sourcing enough casks for their excellent Ben Nevis 10 Year Old . There had been a general shortage already and the 10 was rumoured to contain quite a lot of older (+/- 18 year-old) casks bought back from brokers, which probably contributed to its lovely profile and instant praise.

Ben Nevis 10 Years relied mostly on refill casks, so to take away some pressure from this expression, they launched a limited edition Ben Nevis 10 Year Old Batch No.1 which was bottled from their stocks...

Brora 40 Year Old

Diageo will release a new Brora 40 Year Old celebrating the 200th anniversary of the distillery . It is a vatting of 12 American oak hogsheads from 1978 , bottled at 49.2% ABV. Only 1819 bottles will be available, reflecting the year of opening.

At around € 5000 this doesn’t come cheap, but interestingly it is cheaper than the Brora 40 Years released in 2014 which was around € 7500.

Brora is set to reopen next year – construction work is underway.

Karuizawa Ambassadors’ Collection

Elixir Distillers donated an exclusive bottle of Karuizawa Ambassadors’...

Earlier this year Glengoyne launched a new series of annual releases called The Legacy series , which would highlight different elements of the distillery heritage.

The Legacy Series: Chapter One is the first expression. It focuses on Cochrane Cartwright, the 19th century distillery manager who decided to focus on sherry casks for maturation and introduce the ‘slow’ distillation process, now two key elements for Glengoyne’s profile.

Chapter One is a mix of first-fill European oak Oloroso sherry casks and second-fill American oak casks. It is said to be composed with mostly 9-12 years old whisky . Quite light in colour,...

This Speyside Blended Malt is classified as a tea-spooned whisky because the distillery can’t be named, but majbe the small manor on the label of this ‘ Le Gus’t’ bottling hints towards another manor in a famous Speyside estate, responsible for the biggest part of this whisky?

Speyside Blended Malt 30 yo 1988 (53,7%, Le Gus’t 2019, sherry butt #15A/105, 518 btl.)

Nose: it’s the classic, dry, full-bodied sherry with tobacco leaves, walnuts and caramel brioche. Brownies, hints of hay, dried mushroom and burnt wood. Quite autumnal, very good. Mouth: quite punchy, still fairly dry on cigar leaves,...

The second Gordon & MacPhail exclusive celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Whisky Exchange is this Caol Ila 2005 , bottled from a refill sherry hogshead.

Caol Ila 14 yo 2005 (54,5%, Gordon & MacPhail for The Whisky Exchange 20th Anniversary 2019, refill sherry hogshead #19/051, 142 btl.)

Nose: clean but surprisingly medicinal as well. Creosote, smoked bacon and iodine. Sweet lemon juice and cold ashes. Gets sweeter as it opens up, with vanilla cake and ginger syrup in the background. Mouth: strong, showing plenty of medicinal peat again, ashes and oils, but now slightly richer due to...

Easy to guess there would be Gordon & MacPhail bottlings to celebrate The Whisky Exchange’s 20th Anniversary . Two have been released this month: a Caol Ila 2005 and this Highland Park 2001 .

Highland Park 17 yo 2001 (54,9%, Gordon & MacPhail for TWE 20th Anniversary 2019, first-fill bourbon barrel, 163 btl.)

Nose: a punchy all-rounder with pine needles, very subtle floral smoke, earthy and minty notes, as well as hints of honeyed pears, pineapple and vanilla latte. Barley sugar. A little cake and brass polish. Mouth: full-bodied, with sweet and fruity notes at first (sweet resin,...

Balvenie has a range of Single Barrel expressions: 12 years (first-fill bourbon), 15 years (sherry cask) and 25 years of age (traditional).

Traditional Oak means refill ex-bourbon casks in the case of this Balvenie 25 Year Old Single Barrel . Each bottling is limited to 300 bottles at most.

Balvenie 25 yo Single Barrel ‘Traditional Oak’ 1992 (47,8%, OB 2018, cask #3161)

Nose: quite fresh and vibrant, with hardly any make-up for the spirit. Banana candy, crushed mint leaves and floral honey. Some carpenter aromas. Grapefruit peel and a hint of ginger. Fragrant vanilla and new leather as...

Highland Park Triskelion

The upcoming Highland Park Triskelion is named after the triangular shape that represents wisdom and inspiration, used in the Norse / Viking symbolism.

In this release it also symbolises three Master Whisky Makers that play an important role at the distillery, mentioned on the label: Gordon Motion (whisky maker, 21 years of experience), Max McFarlane (whisky maker, 44 years of experience) and John Ramsay (43 years). The whisky is bottled at 45.1% ABV.

Bowmore Dragon Edition 36 Years

Bowmore has released the first expression in a series of four honouring the ‘Four Guardians’ in Chinese...