It’s been a while, but remember Kintra ? A Dutch bottler, managed by Erik Molenaar . Since 2009 he has been selecting casks from all over Scotland.

 

Blair Athol 23 yo 1989 (50,8%, Kintra 2013, bourbon hogshead #6465, 117 btl.)

Nose: very natural, a bit malty, a bit grassy. Underneath is a nice layer of honey sweetness and peach preserve. Grows sweeter and sweeter. Apple syrup, muesli, candied ginger, some pineapple after a while. Hints of butter cream. Some fresh garden herbs. Mouth: a malty core again, with a general fruity sweetness. Cake. Vanilla. Almond cream. Then more herbal...

Läs mer http://www.whiskynotes.be/2013/blair-athol/blair-athol-1989-kintra/

The guys from De Tongerse Whiskyvrienden , a whisky club in the Eastern part of Belgium, hunted down this cask of Laphroaig 1997 in the stocks of Signatory Vintage. The remaining part of the sherry hogshead went to Vinothek Massen in Luxemburg.

 

Laphroaig 16 yo 1997
(55,4%, Signatory Vintage for De Tongerse Whiskyvrienden & Vinothek Massen 2013, refill sherry hogshead #3369, 292 btl.)

Nose: the higher sweetness points to sherry, but other than that, it’s not a sherry bomb like some 1989’s or 1991’s for example. Obvious peat, some red apples and walnuts. Classic Laphroaig medicinal notes. Olive juice...

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Santa Claus is coming to town on wobbly legs. And he has a stack of Whisky Advent Calendars for good boys and reasonably well behaved girls. I’ve seen some cool things in my time – dancing bears, very ugly babies, women holding hands, but this is up there. When the postie delivered this beautiful big [...]...

Läs mer http://www.edinburghwhiskyblog.com/2013/11/15/whisky-advent-calendar/

At each Spirits in the Sky festival there is always a new selection of The Nectar of the Daily Drams releases.

Among others: Auchroisk 1990, Glen Keith 1992, Glenturret 1977 and this 25 year-old Glenrothes 1988 . There were also three joint bottlings by The Whisky Agency & The Nectar, as well as a series of officials for The Nectar (Bowmore 2001 Blackadder, Arran 2001, Jura 1989 SV, Glenburgie 1983 SV, Kavalan sherry, Elijah Craig…).

 

Glenrothes 25 yo 1988 (50,6%, The Nectar of the Daily Drams 2013, refill sherry)

Nose: quite full, with a spicy sherry character rather than a...

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Monday 11th november saw the eagerly anticipated return to Vinopolis of Colin Dunn, Diageo Whisky Ambassador and recently deserved inductee into the Keepers of the Quaich. Star of such classic tastings as “Barley and the Chocolate Factory featuring Johnnie Walker” …...

Läs mer http://blog.thewhiskyexchange.com/2013/11/caol-ila-masterclass-colin-dunn/

Balblair are re-launching The Gathering Place; their online community and discussion forum for all things Balblairy. I was asked to jot down a few vaguely coherent thoughts for them to celebrate the revamp and to review one of their upcoming new releases, the 1983 vintage. My mumblings have appeared on the Balblair website but you [...]...

Läs mer http://www.edinburghwhiskyblog.com/2013/11/14/balblair-1983-yes-please/

You know these ‘urban’ dictionaries on the internet these days, to look up slang words? I didn’t know the word Scallywag , so I looked it up and I found this :

A person who is known to be a treacherous lying son-of-a-bitch, and usually smells bad.

Funny! I’m quite sure the name wasn’t chosen based on the smell of the whisky…

Scallywag is the latest product from Douglas Laing . It’s a small batch vatted malt, created using only Speyside malts, including Mortlach, Macallan, Glenrothes and others. Kind of a Speyside version of the Big Peat concept.

The packaging...

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Jan Vissers is the owner of The Single Maltwhisky Shop in Zammel (Belgium) and a proud ambassador for the Arran distillery .

For Jan’s 35th birthday, distillery manager James MacTaggart selected a 16 years old cask that was released as a Private Cask bottling. It’s clearly from a sherry hogshead and probably the darkest Arran so far.

 

 

 

Arran 16 yo 1996
(55,7%, OB Private Cask for Jan Vissers 2013, oloroso sherry hogshead, 174 btl.)

Nose: nicely aromatic, with a wide array of sherry aromas. Juicy cherries (hints of Ginjinha), Christmas pears in wine, redcurrants, red plums....

Läs mer http://www.whiskynotes.be/2013/arran/arran-1996-jan-vissers-private-cask/

Another year, another burst of whisky-related discussion and outrage on the internets – Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2014 is out. Over 4500 whiskies, along with Jim’s tasting notes and scores, packed into one pocket sized mini-tome, ready to be pored …...

Läs mer http://blog.thewhiskyexchange.com/2013/11/jim-murrays-whisky-bible-2014/

Here it is: a sneak preview of Whisky Advocate ‘s winter 2013 issue’s Buying Guide. Revealed here are the top 10 rated whiskies. We begin the list with #10 and conclude with the #1 highest-rated whisky of the issue.

#10: Forty Creek Heart of Gold, 43%, C$70

Each fall, whisky lovers in Canada and Texas anticipate John Hall’s new limited edition whisky. This year’s sits squarely in the golden heart of classic Canadian rye. Tingling gingery pepper is bathed in ultra-creamy butterscotch, woody maple syrup, black tea, and barley sugar. Prune juice and ripe dark fruits dissolve into dried apricots and...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2013/11/12/whisky-advocates-winter-issue-top-10-buying-guide-reviews/