Bruichladdich Rare Cask Series 1985/32, 32 YO, 48.7 %

In november 2017 Bruichladdich announced their Rare Cask Series - three bottlings of old and rare whisky from the Islay distillery. I have now tasted the Bruichladdich Rare Cask Series 1985/32, and here is the official blurb :

The 1985 comes from the final 22 casks of legacy stock originally filled into gentle third fill bourbon casks that lay untouched until 2012 when it was re-casked into fresh Bourbon before a final coup de grace in French oak from one of the greatest French chateaux.

You can buy the Bruichladdich Rare Cask...

Ardbeg Drum, NAS, 46 %

It is that time of year again. Today is Ardbeg Day, and the special release this time around is the Ardbeg Drum. It has been matured in ex-bourbon casks and then finished in ex-rum casks from the Americas.

Ardbeg Day has been a global happening for all Ardbeg fans since 2012. This is part of the Islay Whisky Festival (Feis Ile), which has been going since 1985. A carnival has been part of this celebration of Gaelic literature, music and culture. Since around 2000 the whisky distilleries on Islay have taken active part in the...

Teerenpeli Savu, NAS, 43 %

It has been a while, but here I have a new review of a single malt from Finissh distillery Teerenpeli.

The Teerenpeli Savu has been matured in 80 % bourbon casks and 20 % Pedro Ximénez Sherry casks. This marks the first peated release from Teerenpeli. It was launched in late Autumn 2018.

Läs mer about this whisky here .

You can buy the Teerenpeli Savu in Sweden at SEK 598( 4043202 ), and in Finland at € 57 .

Nose : Malty with soft wood smoke. The peat is mild and well integrated....

Glenmorangie Allta, ~8 YO, 51.2 %

For 10 years now Glenmorangie Distillery have released the series Private Edition, where they push boundaries and show their more creative side. This year’s 10th anniversary bottling, Glenmorangie Allta, truly is quite unique in that it has been produced using a local strain of wild yeast.

The yeast strain was discovered by Dr Bill Lumsden,  Director of Distilling, Whisky Creation & Whisky Stocks  at Glenmorangie. Dr Bill has a background in micro biology and research in fermentation processes. When he was studying Glenmorangie’s own, local variant of barley, Cadboll, in his laboratory he made an exciting discovery. He found the...

Smögen Single Cask Edition No. 5 Cask 51/2011, 6 YO, 64 %

Time for more Swedish quality whisky from Smögen. The Smögen Single Cask Edition No. 5 Cask 51/2011 has been matured in an American white oak sherry hogshead. The cask was filled on 2011-10-23, and bottled 2018-03-18. The total outturn was 422 bottles.

The cask used in this instance was a sherry seasoned cask, and the seasoning was done at the distillery. Here is a quick quote from The Ladies’ Share blog :

“A new cask was filled with Oloroso sherry and held the sherry for six months. Then...

Glencadam 6 YO, 47.5 %

I have tried another recent bottling from That Boutique-y Whisky Company. This is the Glencadam 6 YO batch 1. The outturn was 454 bottles.

You can still order the Glencadam 6 YO batch 1 online at GBP 42 . 

Nose : Strawberries and mixed summer fruit cocktail. Light and delightful. Is this really just 6 years young? Green-ish - with notes of grass and hay. 

Taste : Medium body and a positive vibe. Not quite as fruity as the nose promised, but still on the fruity side (of an imaginary fruit vs non-fruit war. Go...

Can’t get enough smoke in your whisky? Bartender Charles Joly, the 2014 Global Bartending Champion and co-founder of Crafthouse Cocktails , likes to flavor spirits and cocktails using cold-smoke devices that add tantalizing barbecue and smokehouse flavors, but without the meat-searing heat. “Aroma is where the party happens,” he says. “The more senses you can engage, the more you engage the drinker, the more memorable experience they’ll have.”

Now it’s easy for at-home bartenders to do likewise, with the arrival of handheld and bartop smokers that turn any dram into a tasty and dramatic event. The key is to add...

Uncork a bottle and discover the world’s greatest whisky cities, from Edinburgh to Dublin, Louisville to Osaka, and beyond. The Summer 2019 issue of Whisky Advocate magazine is on sale now!...

Following the announcement that he had been named master distiller and blender for Metallica’s Blackened whiskey , Rob Dietrich sat down with Whisky Advocate to talk about his goals, plans for new products, and what it feels like to step into the shoes of whiskey icon Dave Pickerell, who helped launch Blackened last year shortly before his death . Owned by Sweet Amber Distilling Co., Blackened is a blend of straight bourbons, ryes, and whiskeys sourced from across North America and subjected to a proprietary “sonic enhancement” process that uses Metallica songs to create sound waves, which ultimately impacts flavor....

The staid world of whisky auctions rarely sees a shakeup more dramatic than a record-setting price, but a recent sale at Bonhams in Edinburgh maj indicate that major changes are underway. More than 350 bottles of whisky valued in excess of $300,000 went unsold in the auction held on juni 5. The unwanted bottles represented nearly 40% of the lots—an unprecedented failure for a house like Bonhams.

Even with a growing number of whiskies consigned to auction each year, the successful sell rate is generally above 90%. In this sale, however, Bonhams sold just 62%—240 out of 387 lots in...

Do you miss Game of Thrones? Johnnie Walker —which previously released White Walker —is here to help assuage your woes with two new special-edition blends: Song of Ice and Song of Fire. Few details are available, but even a casual GoT fan will recognize that the Song of Ice packaging features direwolves, the sigil of House Stark, while the Song of Fire packaging shows House Targaryen’s dragons. Both whiskies are available for pre-order at Reservebar.com, priced at $43. A full U.S. rollout will happen in augusti.

Also coming out at the end of the summer, Old Forester’s 2019 Birthday Bourbon....

Scoring a rare bottle of whiskey can feel like a victory unto itself, and St. Louis Blues left wing Robby Fabbri took that winning spirit to entirely new heights. The Blues won their first-ever Stanley Cup Wednesday night, defeating the Boston Bruins 4 to 1 in a winner-take-all Game 7, and Fabbri celebrated by drinking straight from a bottle of Van Winkle Family Reserve 13 year old rye —giving all new meaning to drinking whiskey on ice.

Anything Pappy-related is the object of desire for most in the whisky community, so to see the Canadian-born Fabbri approach the bottle with...

Next stop, world domination: Rabbit Hole Distillery announced today that it has sold a majority stake to drinks conglomerate Pernod Ricard , a move that will allow the Kentucky whiskey maker to expand its reach far beyond its current footprint. The sale happens barely one year after Rabbit Hole opened the doors to its $18 million, 55,000-square-foot distillery in Louisville’s Butchertown neighborhood. Pernod Ricard also holds a majority stake in West Virginia’s Smooth Ambler Distillery .

Rabbit Hole founder Kaveh Zamanian—a psychoanalyst who started contract-producing whiskey at other distilleries in 2014—says that the partnership will enable the brand to expand...

More than 125 whiskies are reviewed in the Summer 2019 issue of Whisky Advocate—from single malt and blended scotch to bourbon, rye, Irish, Canadian, Japanese whisky, and more. Here, we highlight the ten highest-scoring whiskies (not featured as Collectibles or Editors’ Choice bottles) that are for sale in the U.S., each netting 92 points or above.

Angel’s Envy Oloroso Sherry Cask Finished Bourbon 93 points, 50% ABV, $200

The confectionary nose of flan and crème caramel comes draped over lovely grainy aromas of warm porridge and pastry crust. Vinous notes of cherry/berry fruit emerge, along with toasted almonds and floral...

In Scotland, Maltwhisky is always made using 100% malted barley. In the U.S. many malt whiskeys (especially those labeled “single malt”) are made with 100% malted barley as well. But they don’t have to be: U.S. regulations stipulate that malt whiskey is only required to have a minimum of 51% malted barley in the mashbill.

Like bourbon and rye, the maximum proofs for distillation and barrel entry for American malt whiskey are 160 and 125, respectively. Additionally, it must be stored in new, charred oak barrels. Therefore, American malt whiskeys are closer kissing cousins to bourbon and American rye...

When formulating the annual Top 20 list, Whisky Advocate’s editors consider multiple factors, including quality—a score of 90 points or higher—availability, and affordability. Beyond that, however, we look for singular characteristics that make a whisky unique—what we call “x-factor.” With its inventive blend of Highland malt scotch and American single malt, finished in a hard cider cask, Virginia Distillery Co.’s Cider Cask Finished Virginia-Highland Whiskey, number 13 in the 2018 Top 20 , had x-factor that simply couldn’t be denied. Distillery director Ian Thomas explains how such a unique dram came to be created.

The post Inside Top 20: Virginia Distillery...