Gift packs can be a fantastic, convenient way to get yourself – and the ultimate recipient of your carefully considered and wildly lavish gift – the absolute maximum in terms of bang/buck ratio. They can also, if done poorly, be full of low-grade toiletries.

Luckily, we’re here to help you navigate the choppy, festive waters of Gift Pack Lagoon, and to sail your Christmassy ship, HMS Generosity, safely into Great Present Bay*.

Anyway, here are our ten favourite gift packs on The Whisky Exchange website right now – those which, we feel, best encapsulate good quality, great value, and just...

With its usual lack of fanfare (followed by a lot of internet-based raging), the latest edition of ‘The World’s Leading Whisky Guide’ has landed – Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2020 .

It’s a big year for Jim. It’s 2020 and matching up (just in time), he has hit a milestone – breaking the 20,000 mark of total whiskies tasted since the first edition appeared in 2003. Whether you agree with his scores and favourites or not, you have to agree that he’s tried a lot of whisky.

Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2020 – my favourite cover yet

Print copies of...

Casks, amirite? Some of them are familiar, some of them are less so – all of them have an irrevocable (or irreparable, depending on where you’re sitting) effect on the spirit matured within them. In honour of Whisky Show and its theme – The Journey of the Cask – today we’re exploring some of the less familiar – or downright odd – cask-matured drinks wandering the spiritscape, from new releases to storied oldies.

Grape Scott! Bacchus to the Future: Part 1

You know what they say: ‘when life gives you left-over grape bits, distil them and whack the resulting high-strength...

Announced back in juli, the Diageo Special Releases 2019 have now been unveiled. The yearly range is a fixture of the whisky calendar, and the past few years have seen a number of changes.

Find out more about what’s changed: Diageo Special Releases 2019 – announced!

This year’s line-up of eight whiskies stretches from a punchy, sherried Cardhu to a surprisingly-smoky Cragganmore, checking in with a few old favourites on the way.

Caroline , Ning , Tom and I got to try them.

SINGLETON OF GLEN ORD 18 YEAR OLD

A cask-strength version of my favourite entry in the Singleton...

Whisky Show 2019 is this weekend! Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 september will see London’s Old Billingsgate transformed into our biggest whisky festival yet, with over 950 whiskies, rums and more to try. My stand is shaping up nicely, with a selection of new whiskies and some old favourites, all exclusive to The Whisky Exchange, including four very special new drams – Whisky Show: The Magic of the Cask series .

Learn more about Whisky Show >

Each year we release a selection of whiskies specially selected for the show. Not only does it give us a chance to dig...

A 24 year-old bourbon whiskey no less! It comes from an undisclosed distillery and was bottled by That Boutique-y Whisky Co .

A huge bottling by the way, close to 9000 bottles. This kind of yield leaves you thinking where it came from and how they got hold of dozens of barrels of this age. Overstock, somehow?

Bourbon whiskey #1 24 yo (48%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company 2018, 8376 btl.)

Nose: nice, lots of cinnamon syrup, leathery notes, pecan nuts and brown sugar. Vanilla filled croissants. Sweet, jammy dark fruits with plenty of rum soaked raisins. Latte. A...

The Whisky Barrel Originals

Specialist whisky shop The Whisky Barrel launched TWB Originals , a series of single casks from different regions and distilleries, three of which are matured in sherry casks from Jerez.

The inaugural batch contains four whiskies:

• Bunnahabhain 10 yo 2009 (57.1%, first-fill Oloroso, 292 btl.)
• Cameronbridge 37 yo 1982 (51%, refill bourbon, 164 btl.)
• Ledaig 11 yo 2008 (54.4%, first-fill Oloroso, 288 btl.)
• Miltonduff 10 yo 2009 (63.4%, first-fill Oloroso, 254 btl.)

GlenDronach 1993 cask #6849 for Scotchwhisky.com

Sad story: the always reliable website Scotchwhisky.com closed down a while ago but they had an exclusive...

Belgian micro-bottler Liquid Art is celebrating its fifth anniversary with a 35 year-old Secret Highland 1983 . It’s a single malt bottled from a sherry butt and part of the yield is available in Holland with a WhiskyNerds label. At the same time the Nerds are bottling a 1987, also a secret.

Secret Highlands distillery 35 yo 1983 (48,2%, Liquid Art & WhiskyNerds 2019, sherry butt #82, 246 btl.)

Nose: old-style ‘fireplace’ whisky. A chalky note, waxed papers, rusty tools. Also worn leather, dried herbs and chamomile. Hay. There are vague fruity notes in the background, but that’s...

Dalwhinnie 30 Years is a mix of casks from 1987 and 1988 , making it one of the oldest expressions every released. It was matured in refill hogsheads and butts.

It’s one of the distilleries where the house style bottle format was sacrificed for the consistency of the Special Releases theme. Not sure why it happened for Dalwhinnie but not for Mortlach though.

Dalwhinnie 30 yo (54,7%, OB ‘Special Releases’ 2019, refill hogsheads + butts, 7586 btl.)

Nose: meadow flowers, leathery notes and baking spices. Ginger cookies, some wet pebblestones. Hints of wax candles. Baked apple and white...

The Whisky Exchange has an ongoing tradition of selecting a special Christmas Malt for the festive season (see last year’s edition ), typically showing great value for money.

This year they selected a Linkwood 10 Year Old single malt matured in ex-bourbon and sherry casks.

Linkwood 10 yo ‘A Fine Christmas Malt’ (54,2%, The Whisky Exchange 2019, bourbon + sherry casks, 2696 btl.)

Nose: tarte au citron with meringue. Then green apples and lemon peels, with hints of vanilla yoghurt. Rhubarb. Fresh white bread. Light whiffs of jasmin and mint. Leathery notes. Slightly more waxy and buttery when...

Old Pulteney 25 Year Old , the premium addition to the core range which was introduced in 2017, had been retracted in 2018 as part of the redesign of the whole portfolio, and re-introduced this summer.

It is a combination of second-fill ex-bourbon casks and first-fill Spanish oak butts which previously held Oloroso wine according to the press release. They seem reluctant to use the term sherry on all of their new packaging, so they’re probably using similar (but much cheaper) wines from another denomination of origin, like Huelva or Montilla, and/or casks that have been seasoned in Scotland instead...

Elixir Distillers has recently unveiled a new series of small-batch single malts in the Single Malts of Scotland range, all marriages of four to six casks selected by whisky-maker Oliver Chilton and bottled at 48%.

This Reserve Casks series has a first batch ( Parcel No.1 ) with three bottlings. They are intended as introductions to the brand, leading up to the higher strength single cask releases. The labels even mention the amount of angel’s share over the years, a nice touch.

Glen Elgin 13 yo 2006 (48%, Single Malts of Scotland ‘Reserve Casks’ No. 1 2019,...

For some reason the Pittyvaich Special Releases have always been 1989 casks. Past bottlings were quite interesting, from a peculiar distillery which only operated for 18 years before falling victim to industry consolidation in 1993 – casks are becoming rare.

Pittyvaich 29 yo 1989 (51,4%, OB ‘Special Releases’ 2019, PX + Oloroso seasoned cask finish, 4976 btl.)

Nose: quite bright and vividly fruity, with sour plums, unripe pineapple and plenty of citrus. Green herbs, hay and gingery notes, floral honey as well. Some vanilla cake and a yeasty, bready touch. Mouth: creamy and spicy. Grapefruits and oranges, with...

Clynelish Distillery Exclusive

Clynelish announced a new limited edition only available at the distillery . It is a mixture of ex-bourbon and rejuvenated casks, without an age statement and bottled at 48% ABV. Just 6000 bottles are available for £ 90.

Christmas Malt 2019 (The Whisky Exchange)

As part of an ongoing tradition, The Whisky Exchange selected a special whisky for Christmas. For 2019 it is a refined 10-year-old single malt from Linkwood distillery, matured in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. It is bottled at cask strength 54,2% 2696 bottles.

I will review it next week....