Almost 3 years I reviewed the first batch of Arran ‘The Bothy’ which is Arran’s offering of a young yet fast matured cask strength whisky to the masses. It’s matured 1st Fill American Oak Ex-Bourbon Barrels before a legnthy finish in small (Quarter size) casks.

This third batch was bottled a year ago in september 2017 at 53.2%. 13,800 bottles were circulated from this batch and some are still available although the majority of the Arran ‘The Bothy’ bottles in the markets are from the 4th batch.

Arran ‘The Bothy’ Quarter Cask Batch #3 (53.2%, £46 / €44.95 )

Nose :...

Championship celebrations often call for beer and champagne (and goggles), but for the 50th anniversary of a legendary soccer win, Chivas Regal is rolling out a highly collectible and rare whisky. Chivas The Icon 50th Anniversary Limited Edition will commemorate Manchester United’s 1968 European Cup victory, in which they became the first English club to take the tournament, beating Benfica 4 goals to 1. The whisky, a special blend for the brand, will be bottled at 43% and is the oldest Chivas ever released.

The limited-edition whiskey will consist of only four bottles, one for each United goal scored, each...

Created by Pamela Wiznitzer, formerly creative director at Seamstress in New York City, this cocktail can be served with a side of candied nuts. “Lace your drink with pecan syrup and spices from the bitters to evoke the flavors of pecan pie,” Wiznitzer says....

Created by Katie Ontiveros, bartender at the ...

Created by Liz Pearce, beverage director at...

Created by Steva Casey, bartender at...

It’s officially pie season—when we highlight the best flavors of fall by mixing fruits or nuts with spices and baking it all between buttery, flaky crusts. These same flavors work surprisingly well mixed with whisky and served in a glass.

“The flavors from pies are great inspirations for drinks such as the Old-Fashioned because bourbon extracts a lot of nuances from the wood barrels, such as spice notes, vanilla, caramel, and dried fruits,” says Pamela Wiznitzer, creative director at New York City’s Seamstress bar.

Here, four popular pies—apple crumb, pecan, pumpkin, and sweet potato—inspire cocktails that are balanced, never sweet,...

There’s something for everyone in the ten highest-scoring whiskies from our Fall 2018 Buying Guide, which covers new releases and old favorites from Scotland, the U.S., Ireland, Canada, Japan, and beyond. If you’ve got plenty of money to spend, then go for the very old stuff: Dalmore 45 year old, Canadian Club 41 year old, Royal Salute 28 year old, or Gelston’s 25 year old Irish single malt. Feeling less flush? Try the latest Booker’s  bourbon, Knob Creek Cask Strength rye, a new whisky from Forty Creek , and the newest Noble Collection release from Crown Royal . If you’re...

Remember a time when devotees of the Manhattan had few options when it came to choosing a vermouth to stir with their whiskey? An era when Martinis were mixed so dry that it mattered little what was misted on top? Vermouth, a wine fortified with distilled spirits, was once a sleepy mixer gathering dust on the shelf. Thanks to the rebirth of cocktail culture, those days are over.

More Than Manhattans: Try These Whisky-Vermouth Cocktails

Born in the Piedmont region of northwest Italy in the 16th century or even earlier, vermouth was originally used to make medicinal herbs more palatable....

There’s a new whisky for just about every taste this week, from bourbon and Tennessee whiskey to an array of peated and non-peated scotches.

Jack Daniel’s is rolling out its latest single barrel, a limited-edition whiskey that was aged in so-called “heritage” barrels made in a 19th-century style with more toasting and a lighter char. Priced at $65 a bottle, just 200 barrels are being bottled.

Woodford Reserve has announced plans to release not one, but two Master’s Collection whiskeys this year: Select American Oak, a bourbon aged in Ozark oak barrels, and Oat Grain, a bourbon made with—you guessed...

Last weekend marked The Whisky Exchange’s 10 ^th annual Whisky Show . I went along for, rather shamefully, the first time – and had my preconceptions utterly annihilated.

InchDairnie’s Ian Palmer and Dave Broom manning a stand at the ScotchWhisky.com Future Trends Lab.

The first – perhaps point-of-this-post-defeating – statement I’d like to make, is that The Whisky Show 2018 was excellent fun. It would be easy to get bogged down in the ‘how’ and ‘why’ and ‘what’ of the show; in analysis and deduction and to make grand, sweeping statements about the state of whisky today. There’s value in...

Here are the two 1993 casks from Batch 16 of the GlenDronach single cask releases .

As you know GlenDronach is nowadays merely mentioning sherry butt on most of the labels, whereas this used to be specified as Oloroso or Pedro Ximénez. This can mean two things: either they don’t know (which would be surprising as they have mentioned it for other casks filled on the exact same date) or there was some re-racking involved (not uncommon at The GlenDronach). Or they simply don’t want to tell us, which would be sad.

We’ll start with cask #445 filled in februari...

Earth, Water, Fire, Wood, Metal. These five elements are at the core of whisky making and they make up the Tomatin Five Virtues series launched in 2017. All NAS releases at 46%.

Tomatin Wood is drawn from a combination of 70% French oak, 20% American oak and 10% Hungarian oak, representative of the many varieties of the 177.000 casks they hold in their 14 warehouses. The spirit was distilled between 1999 and 2006.

Tomatin Fire was matured in heavily charred casks, stimulating new, fresh vanilla flavours. The casks were filled in 2005.

Tomatin Wood (46%, OB ‘Five Virtues’...

The last time I reviewed a Caperdonich was back in 2013… Not that I didn’t get to try any, but somehow recent releases were always disappointing if (like me) you ‘grew up’ with Caperdonich 1972. And you know, prices for lost distillery bottlings are rising through the roof these days.

Here’s a new Caperdonich 1995 , a single cask bottling for Master of Malt .

Caperdonich 22 yo 1995 (59,2%, Master of Malt 2018, bourbon cask)

Nose: starts on flinty notes and lots of pipe tobacco, sunflower oil and fresh barley. Walnuts and hazelnuts. After a while there...

Stuart and Richard Urquhart, the managers of Gordon & MacPhail , are identical twins. That makes it extra special that today they are launching ‘Twin’ Longmorn 1961 whiskies, the oldest Longmorn single malts ever released. A great opportunity to taste a piece of Scotland’s liquid history.

Both are first-fill sherry hogsheads filled 2nd Februrary 1961 and bottled exactly the same day in 2018 at cask strength: European oak cask #508 bottled at 45% ABV and American oak cask #512 bottled at 40.8% ABV. Sold as a pair, with only 97 sets of decanters available.

Each set will be priced £...

Speyside Malt 1973 / Irish Malt 1989

The Whisky Exchange have just released two *very* interesting bottles:

• Irish Single Malt 1989 (Whisky Agency for TWE, 46.8%, 205 btl.)
• Speyside Region 1973 (Whisky Agency for TWE, 47.4%, 568 btl.)

Both are Whisky Agency bottlings exclusive to TWE. We’ve seen very similar releases before, all excellent (check this or this ), so we have high hopes. Expect a review next week.

The Whisky Show 2018 – show bottlings

In its tenth edition, The Whisky Show celebrates the Future of Whisky theme with three limited editions:

• Ben Nevis 21 Years (47.5%,...