A lot of undisclosed Speyside bottlings these days… and the Limburg Whisky Fair is traditionally the preferred moment for The Whisky Agency to present some of its best bottlings of the year. We’ll start with this Speyside Region 1975 from a Fino sherry cask .

The new TWA series is nicknamed Good Vibes and features some funky, colourful illustrations on the labels. We’ll have a look at other releases in the coming days and weeks (there’s more undisclosed goodness, as well as two Arrans, Caol Ila 2007, Cragganmore 2004 and Ben Nevis 1996).

I’ve been wondering about the distillery, and I’ve...

Aberlour distillery doesn’t have a wide range of official releases. There’s the 12 year old entry level and the 15 year old playing the role of the older sibling. But there’s also the uber successful a’bunadh release, there’s no age statement but it’s punchy at cask strength and is a full blown sherry bomb.

Unfortunately there’s no matured sherry bomb in their line up, but The Whisky Exchange came to the rescue with a new and exclusive 16yo Aberlour from a first-fill sherry cask bottled at cask strength of 53.5%.

Aberlour 16 Year Old Single Cask #4738 TWE Exclusive (53.5%,  £99.95...

Springbank 16 YO Local Barley, 54,3 % The time has finally come for a new local barley release from Springbank Distillers, Campbeltown. The Springbank 16 YO Local Barley was released earlier this year, in a limited run of 9000 bottles. It has been flying off the shelves, so if you want to try it, you had better […]...

Smögen 2010 5 YO Single Cask #3/2010, 61,3 % This is the third single cask release from Smögen Whisky in Sweden. You can read all about the first and second single cask releases elsewhere on this blog. The Smögen 2010 5 YO Single Cask #3/2010 was released on mars 10, and sold out within seconds. The label […]...

Last week saw the end of the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival – five days of events across Scotland’s most densely packed whisky-producing region. We watched enviously as tweets, Facebook posts and the occasional bragging text message told tales of great whisky, music, food and general shenanigans. So as not to feel left out, we’ve been having our own minimalistic Speyside whisky festival at TWE HQ, with one very special new bottling.

Announcing our latest exclusive:  Aberlour 16 years old, single first-fill sherry cask #4738 .

It’s a hard life as a whisky tester for Aberlour…

Sat at the southern end of the town of Charlestown of...

Glendalough 13 Year Old is an Irish single malt whiskey, made in small batches in copper pot stills and matured in first-fill bourbon casks.

I’ve read the original plan was to release this as a 12-year-old but it was matured an extra year in honour of rugby great Brian O’Driscoll, a shareholder in the company. O’Driscoll wore the No.13 jersey for Ireland.

Glendalough is currently producing spirit with its own Holstein stills, but until this reaches maturity, they’re buying external malts for their bottlings (7 Year Old and 13 Year Old). They also sell gin, a single grain...

Along with the surprising Laddie Eight, Bruichladdich has released a new Port Charlotte edition to the Travel Retail market to replace the PC12. The new release, Port Charlotte 2007 CC:01 was matured for 8 years, yes, both releases boast the 8, and in French casks that were previously used to mature Cognac, hence the CC in the release name (Cognac Cask).

2.5 years ago, Octomore 6.2 which was matured in Cognac casks was released and I think it’s one of the best Octomores every released. Due to timing, I have a hunch that both Octomore 6.2 and the new Port Charlotte shares the...

Following the very successful line of a No Age Statement Cask Strength releases from the sister distillery Glendronach, BenRiach distillery have seen fit to join the foray and release a similar release of their own and release the first batch of BenRiach Cask Strength expression.

The only question was why did they wait till now to release it, while Glendronach has already released 5 batches. I’d guess it’s related to the fact that sherry matured casks can be used in younger age relatively to ex-bourbon casks and BenRiach didn’t have comparable casks on hands due to the slumber between 2002 and 2005. They...

Deadhead 6 year old Rum ‘Arutum Trophy Tsanta’ 40%...

Claxton’s The Single Cask Glentauchers 1996 (18 year old) 48%...

Claxton’s The Single Cask Tomatin 1994 (21 year old) 48%

Refill Bourbon Hogshead 1503-11247

Dist: Oct 1994 Btl: 2015/ Tasted: Apr 2016

Aromas of dusty barley and dark wood spices. Lightly scrubby and herbal with a touch of heather and honey. Showing a delicate baked fruit maturity along with a touch of vanilla.

Mature, baked fruit to begin with on the palate, followed by vanilla, barley and developing, freshening citrus notes. The dark spices come through on the middle and the finish is long with a lovely combination of mouth-wateringly crisp barley and soft, creamy oak. Vibrant and wonderfully balanced....

Claxton’s The Single Cask Tobermory 1995 (20 year old) 48%...

Independent whisky bottler Lombard (Isle of Man) was established in the 1960s when the company began to lay down fillings at distilleries and hold, mature and bottle from its own stocks.

In fact the family has a history in the drinks business stretching back almost 300 years, owning vineyards in France, cork factories in Portugal and breweries in England. Their Jewels of Scotland series is one of their best known brands.

In our glass we have a Springbank 1965 , bottled in 2002 from one of many sister casks bottled by this company since the 1990s.

Springbank 1965...

Following the Octomore 7.4 review, let’s keep the Bruichladdich theme for a little more while. Recently Bruichladdich released two new expressions, exclusively to the Travel Retail market and it was an interesting choice to release a young unpeated Laddie with a single digit age statement: the Bruichladdich Laddie Eight.

It it an interesting release for two reasons. The first one is that we have an age statement for young whisky instead of going the more familiar and used route of a NAS release. In fact, it’s the second major release this year to boast such an age after the Lagavulin 8 and both distilleries got praised...

Kininvie Special Release #1 ‘The First Drops’ 63%...

The Blended Whisky Company, The Golden Age Blend 46.4%...