In a bust-up for the dubious honour of ‘most mysterious and least-known major whisky-producing nation’ it is, by my reckoning, a straight-up two-way tussle between India and Taiwan –  Japan and  England  having now backed away into relative repute and thus, safety.

And so it is that I leapt at the opportunity to fill one of the many gaping holes in my whisky knowledge and attend an Amrut tasting with famed brand ambassador Ashok Chokalingam.

So, Indian single Maltwhisky, huh?

The first thing to note, we are told, is that India has more distilleries than Scotland, and that the...

American whiskey is on the up. While Irish whiskey maj be the fastest growing in the world, the USA is gaining ground as the connoisseurs choice. Whiskeys like the Van Winkle range are snapped up in seconds and appear at auction for thousands of pounds, but there are still loads of great-value special releases, many of which are now making their way to the UK. We’re very please to have grabbed one for ourselves – a single-barrel release of Eagle Rare 10 Year Old .

Eagle Rare is one of the many whiskeys produced by the folks at Buffalo Trace...

It’s a year for celebrating big anniversaries. Not only has legendary independent bottler Signatory Vintage just turned 30, but it was also the 10th instalment of The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show .

To begin the celebrations, Signatory has bottled some very special whiskies for The Whisky Show’s birthday – all exclusively available from The Whisky Exchange. We’ve worked with the team at Signatory for years, and have chosen sister casks of three of our favourite whiskies that we’ve released with them previously – a Clynelish , a Glenlivet and an Edradour .

You can find more on our Exclusive Signatory...

It’s that time again: Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2019 is landing imminently and Jim’s picks of the world’s top whiskies are in.

After a few years of controversial choices, with Scotch whisky bouncing in and out of the top three, and Japanese and Canadian whisky making headlines around the world, we’re back to safer ground with the most traditional set of results since 2014.

To grab all the results you can grab your own copy of the bible from our website , but in the meantime…

The winner of Jim Murray’s award for 2019 World Whisky of the Year is:...

At The Whisky Exchange, we are very fortunate to be able to bottle some of the world’s rarest and most exclusive whiskies. Joining those hallowed ranks today is a pair of new bottlings from majbe the world’s most sought-after distillery: Karuizawa. These are the next two in our Geishas range – Karuizawa 29 and 31 Year Old: The Murasaki Geishas .

Following on from the Emerald Geishas , launched earlier this year, the Murasaki – aka Imperial Purple for non-Japanese speakers – Geishas are a pair of extremely-limited edition sherry-matured-whiskies.

For more about Karuizawa, check out our introductory blog post...

Last weekend was one of our biggest of the year – The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show . 2018 is a particularly special year, as it marked the tenth edition of the show. Ten years have seen a lot of changes, and the show is now bigger and better than ever – head over to the website  or Tom’s blog post to see what went on.

The thing I look forward to most is the show bottlings. There are two reasons: 1) we choose some really excellent whiskies; and 2) I run the show bottlings stand.

It was a really busy...

Similar to the Black Friday deal of last year, The Whisky Exchange has just released a Christmas Malt , matured for 17 years in Oloroso sherry butts and showing the essential Christmas character at a fair price.

It was distilled in the Speyside region and the combination with sherry casks naturally leads us to an iconic family led distillery…

‘A fine Christmas Malt’ 17 yo (58,7%, The Whisky Exchange 2018, Oloroso sherry butts, 1800 btl.)

Nose: classic, balanced sherry surrounding the malty core. Raisins, vanilla, buttery brioche and a hint of red berry candy. Plenty of toffee notes....

There have been a number of Springbank 1996 bottlings in the Archives series before. Now there’s two more: cask #55 and cask #56, both ex-bourbon hogsheads.

Springbank 22 yo 1996 (54,9%, Archives ‘Shells from the Bay of Caracas’ 2018, bourbon hogshead #55, 259 btl.)

Nose: quite a juicy version, with mineral notes, grassy touches and fresh oak on the one hand, and garden fruits on the other hand. A little pinewood and apples. Candle wax. Classic Springbank, though not really exceptional. Mouth: great now, it’s much more fruity, with peaches, oranges, hints of mango and a Clynelish-style waxiness....

Holy Dram is a Facebook group with whisky aficionados in Israel. They’re discussing spirits but also organizing local tastings and such. They already invested in a cask of Milk & Honey spirit and now they’ve selected a single cask Inchmoan 2004 exclusive to Israel.

Cask #68 was a recharred hogshead filled with peated Inchmoan spirit. They are currently preselling it in the local market.

Inchmoan 14 yo 2004 (54,2%, OB for Holy Dram IL 2018, recharred hogshead #68, 220 btl.)

Nose: this particular blend of robust ashy peat and a bit of an Irish fruitiness. Lime, sweet bananas,...

Glenfiddich Winter Storm was the third bottling in the Experimental Series , after Project XX and IPA .

It was matured for 21 years in standard American oak barrels, and then finished for 12 weeks in French oak Ice Wine casks sourced from Peller Estates Winery in Canada. The first edition was very popular so they quickly released this second batch.

Glenfiddich 21 yo ‘Winter Storm’ (43%, OB ‘Experimental series’ 2018, Ice Wine finish, 8000 btl.)

Nose: lots of candied fruits, apricots and candy apples, mixed with vanilla and whiffs of potpourri. Some tropical notes (pineapple, papaya) and...

No such thing as too much Caol Ila , even though it’s already the most reviewed distillery on this blog, just ahead of GlenDronach and Bunnahabhain. We’re now trying a Caol Ila 2000 that was part of the latest series of single cask bottlings by Master of Malt .

Caol Ila 17 yo 2000 (68,6%, Master of Malt 2018, bourbon cask)

Nose: very briney, with lots of salted almonds, seaweed and anchovies. Iodine. A light hint of apple vinegar. Grassy notes. Green olive tapenade. Oak char and coffee beans. After a while there’s more flax, leather and a...

Compass Box Stranger & Stranger

A new blended malt with 1% non-Scotch whisky, that’s Compass Box Stranger & Stranger , a limited edition to celebrate ten years of collaborations with the package design company Stranger & Stranger .

The blended malt contains a one year old grain spirit they used to season some experimental barrels. It is said to contain intense wood spice and exotic shades of vanilla. Bottled at 46% ABV, with 4802 bottles available.

Compass Box Peat Monster

Compass Box will also launch a new version of its Peat Monster . Some time ago I already mentioned...

The Perfect Measure Whisky Glass

I’ve written about whisky glasses several times before, check my overview of the best whisky glasses or my reviews of the Norlan whisky glass or the 1920s Blender’s Glass .

Recently Elixir Distillers (the bottling / product development branch of The Whisky Exchange) presented The Perfect Measure Glass , said to be the ultimate whisky & fine spirits tasting glass . It is designed by The Whisky Exchange team in collaboration with Glencairn Crystal. I ordered two boxes and used them for most of my reviews for about two weeks now.

Compared to the...

Flanders Cask Selection is a group of Belgian whisky shops: Windels, Broekmans, Single Maltwhisky Shop and Dram 242. They selected this cask of Glen Ord 2005 from the Cadenhead stocks, together with Vinothek Massen in Luxembourg.

Ord 13 yo 2005 (54,9%, Cadenhead for Massen & Flanders Finest Cask Selection, bourbon hogshead, 306 btl.)

Nose: fresh nose with lots of fruit eau-de-vie notes. Green apples, juicy pears and greengages. Malty youth. A little honey and vanilla yoghurt. Dried grasses. Some bready notes too. Mouth: similar thoughts. Malty, biscuity notes with a fruity sweetness. Green bananas, melons, lemons. Soft...

Liquid Art and Beacon Spirits teamed up for this joint bottling of an Irish Single Malt 1993 . Only 99 bottles are available.

Irish Single Malt 1993 (48,1%, Liquid Art & Beacon Spirits 2018, 99 btl.)

Nose: more on the honeyed side. Also stewed apples and peaches on syrup, hints of mango and puréed bananas. Vanilla custard in the background. Also a great waxy, almost creamy side. Hints of guimauves. More oak spices than in the 1991s for instance. Mouth: more of these sweet bananas, melons and mangoes. Guava. The fruit basket comes with a generous dose of...