Coopers Choice Ledaig 1998 (17 year old) 56.5%...

Coopers Choice Craigellachie 2008 (7 year old) 46%

Cask 9464. Port Finish/ Dist: 2008 Btl: 2015/ Tasted: maj 2016

Aromas of hard barley and sweet, almost cloying, syrupy/ jammy red fruits. Hints of manure, pepper, rubber, straw and earthy fruit follow. Natural? Yes! Stinky? Definitely! Slightly grubby? Absolutely! Enjoyable?…. Er… No!

The palate is sweet, sickly, sticky and jammy with red fruit, manure and pepper. The port has swamped the finish, which probably isn’t a bad thing as this Craigellachie is definitely of the industrial persuasion! Medium length with a hot, tannic finish. Although it has a pleasant spicy after-taste,...

Coopers Choice Allt-A-Bhannie 1993 (22 year old) 46%

Cask 9338. Port Finish/ Dist: 1993 Btl: 2015/ Tasted: maj 2016

A pleasant nose of sweet and spicy redcurrant/ sherry with hints of dusty spice and wood smoke. The finish is relatively gentle as a touch of perfumed barley can be discerned along with some apricot, malt and earth.

The palate is relatively elegant and spicy with cinnamon and clove mingling with some fruit pastille-like red fruit and a fair amount of tannin. Hints of straw and barley come through on the middle. Good length with lingering dry woody spice and port...

Coopers Choice Macduff 2008 (7 year old) 46%...

Coopers Choice Glenlossie 1997 (17 year old) 46%...

Coopers Choice Aultmore 2006 (9 year old) 46%...

Glenglassaugh released two new ‘Octaves’ expressions: Glenglassaugh Octaves Classic and Glenglassaugh Octaves Peated . Both have been matured in octave casks, which are made from staves of a used cask and are approximately 1/8th the size of a butt. This results in more interaction between the wood and the spirit. They are bottled at 44% and will be available in the coming weeks.

Also new from its sister distillery: The BenRiach Peated Quarter Casks , matured entirely in casks that are 1/4th of a butt. A similar effect to what Glenglassaugh has been doing. A peaty fruit bomb, they say,...

Hunter Laing Old Malt Cask Inchmurrin 1984 (31 year old) 47.1%

Refill Bourbon Barrel/ Code: OMC2557/ HL12255

Dist: Jun 1984 Btl: Apr 2016/ Tasted: maj 2016

An oily, lanolin heavy nose with an echo of dusty peat. Edgy apricot, tight oak tannins and taught, herbal rye-like notes follow. Suddenly it opens to show malt, fig, lime, Bourbony oak and uber sweet but dusty spice. Very unusual! If I was tasting it blind I would have thought it was some sort of malt/ rye hybrid. Late hints of sweet sherry. It certainly doesn’t feel its age.

The palate opens with candied...

The Exceptional Blend by Sutcliffe & Son, 1 ^st Edition 43%

North British, Strathclyde, Cameronbridge grain with Glenfarclas, Ben Nevis, Balvenie, Kininivie, Glenfiddich, Allt-A-Bhannie, Aucroisk, Glenallachie, Westport (Glenmorangie), Speyside and Macallan malts.

Blended and married in first fill Oloroso butts

Btl: 2016/ Tasted: maj 2016

The nose is mellow and luscious, lightly honeyed apricot and barley is speckled with hints of coriander, cumin and rye-like herbal sherry notes. A touch of gentle peat emerges along with a touch of vanilla, white fruit, greengage and creamy oak and later hints of mature grain.

The palate opens with the nippy grain, followed...

Walcher Gin La Vita è Bella 40%

Italian gin, made with a wheat spirit as a base, and uncommon botanicals, such as mugwort root, calamus root, rose petals, rosemary and valerian root, as well as classic gin botanicals like juniper, fresh lemon and mandarin (from Sicily), coriander, elderflower, cumin and 13 others.

Tasted: maj 2016

The nose is very fresh and lemony with subtle juniper and hints of orange, rosemary, elderflower, ginger and cumin. A slightly earthy, spirit note is just about detectable beneath, but overall it becomes rather too sweet.

The palate is fresh and lemony. Not as complex...

Le Gin 1 & 9 40%

French gin, which is double distilled with only juniper, with the other botanicals – coriander, orange peel, orris root, cinnamon, angelica and cardamom macerated.

Tasted: maj 2016

The nose is very intense, with smoky juniper, coriander and earth. The earthy cinnamon and cardamom spices build pleasantly and give the nose a lovely, natural feel.

The palate is crisp with sweet-ish juniper, coriander and angelica. Less earthy and smoky than the nose suggests, with the emphasis on the sweet juniper. Good length with a subtly floral and spicy ginger and sweet vanilla finish. Actually the...

Carn Mor Celebration of the Cask Speyside 1994 (22 year old) 58.2%

Sherry Hogshead?/ Dist: 1994 Btl: 2016/ Tasted: maj 2016

Deep and fragrant, Armagnac-esque aromas of prune, raisin and walnut. Intensely herbal with hints of menthol and rye-like notes. Layered and fresh with hints of gooseberry, lime, cocoa powder and dark chocolaty spices.

The palate is intense and full with plenty of dried fruit – fig, prune, plum and raisin. Lavishly sprinkled with cocoa powder, walnut and spice. Long and herbal with a touch of vanilla and rye-like spices. A little drying at the death as the spices become...

Carn Mor Celebration of the Cask Dailuaine 1992 (24 year old) 53.7%

Bourbon Hogshead 3135/ Dist: 1992 Btl: 2016/ Tasted: maj 2016

A very mature and lovely nose of dusty American oak with hints of grass, white liquorice, pear and herbal rye-like notes. Excellent balance and complexity with late hints of peach skin, vanilla and earthy spice.

Crisp white fruit with hints of honey, barley and sweet oak on the palate. Slightly herbal with developing dusty spices and citrus. Lovely citric intensity on the middle with hints of peach and rose petals. Long with a forceful dry spice finish, entwined...

Carn Mor Strictly Limited Knockdhu 2009 (6 year old) 46%...

J E Pepper 1776 Straight Rye 50%

90% Rye Mashbill

Tasted: maj 2016

The aromas are soft with a combination of sweet and herbal rye notes. Hints of corn and sweet oak appear along with hints of earth, coffee, leather, orange and sweet spice.

The palate has the softness of the nose but it the rye character is slightly more edgy with a lightly herbal character. A touch of coffee, sweet oak and corn follows but the herbal rye intensity builds and becomes a little bitter. There’s more wood spice than you can shake a stick at on the middle...

Ardbeg Dark Cove, NAS, 46,5 % On Ardbeg Day (maj 28) the Ardbeg Dark Cove was released. I was invited to a release party here in Oslo, but I was unable to attend. I how had the chance to try the Ardbeg Dark Cove now though, and you can find my verdict below. First off […]...

Today, we’re highlighting 2 new whiskies announced this week: Dickel 17 year old and Toki from Beam Suntory.

A Tennessee-only bottling, George Dickel 17 year old , will be available this month at select retailers and the George Dickel Cascade Hollow distillery’s visitor center in Tullahoma. It’s bottled at 43.5% with a mashbill consistent with Dickel No. 8 and No. 12: 84% corn, 8% rye, and 8% malted barley. Dickel 17 year old is a limited release and carries a suggested retail price of $75.00.

See the press release for further details.

Suntory’s newest release, Toki , will be available in the U.S. this...

This Saturday is World Gin Day , returning for an eighth year of juniper-related ridiculousness. With the British summer almost certain to disappear with a rumble of thunder and a weekend of pouring rain, there maj not be that much al-fresco drinking, but any excuse to drink gin is a good one.

Over the past few years, I’ve used World Gin Day as an excuse to talk about new gins – with new releases popping up every week, we’ve been spoiled for choice. However, with it also being the end of Negroni Week , my favourite classic cocktail, this year...

Father’s Day is approaching rapidly and with it a busy time for The Whisky Exchange – you really like buying your dads tasty drinks. This year, we’ve decided to ramp up the celebrations by a few notches with a competition. Well, not one competition, but 11 of them – welcome to #WhiskyDad .

We’ve got a pool of great prizes – a big stash of whisky from around the world – and we want to give them away. All you need to do to be in with a chance of grabbing one is tweet us.

What we’re looking for is...