Today we’re gonna look at one of the two latest Travel Retail releases from Laphroaig. The Four Oak was released in early 2017 and as the name states, it was matured in four different oak casks: Ex-bourbon barrels. Small quarter casks, virgin American oak barrels and larger European Oak hogshead.

You know the saying “too many cooks spoil the broth”? In our cask it will be: Will too many cask types spoil the whisky? Since it follows two very mediocre and similar releases (Yes, I’m looking at you Laphroaig QA and Select), I was a bit wary of this one....

Another Old Particular from Douglas Laing that arrived here is Glen Garioch 21 Year Old and it was the top of the line offering before getting sold out. It was distilled back in september 1995, just before it was mothballed for a few years so it’s a precious old liquid from an age long gone. It was then aged in refill hogshead and bottled in november 2016. Total of 290 bottles were produced.

Old Particular Glen Garioch 21 Year Old (51.5%, DL11471, £85.49 / 500NIS )

Nose : Sugar barley, perhaps a wee whiff of peat smoke as it went and never...

Back to normal programming after recovering from the summer vacation and reviving the computer and phone who died while on vacation and so we continue with a few more Douglas Laing whiskies that reached our shores. The youngsters single malts were reviewed and now we move up to the older Old Particular single malts, starting with a Glenrothes 12 Year Old that was distilled 2005, matured until mars 2017 in a sherry butt that yielded 402 bottles.

Old Particular Glenrothes 12 Year Old (48.8%, DL11601, €78.75 / 330NIS )

Nose : Starts with porridge along with a big and velvety...

The second review of the week is another young whisky bottled under the Provenance brand that reached our shores, and this time it hails from Bunnahabhain distillery on Islay.

Yes, Although it’s young and we see a lot of young peated Bunnahabhains (Moine) released around of the same age range, but this is no Moine, just a pure standard unpeated Bunnahabhain. This cask was distilled in 2008 and bottled in maj 2016, yielding 451 bottles.

Provenance Bunnahabahin 8 Year Old (46%, DL11561, 245NIS )

Nose : Oily and heavy, malt, gentle honey sweetness, and weak fruitiness, vanilla laced porridge.

Palate...

After a few years absence, Douglas Laing whiskies are back in Israel whisky market, represented by a new importer, Sipil Premium Alcohol. This time around we get to enjoy the full Regional malts line up and a few single malts, all priced very reasonably, so those are great news for whisky drinkers over here.

The single malts range at launch consists of two entry level Provenance whiskies and two Old Particulars, so naturally we’ll start with one of the Provenances, the Mortlach 8 Year Old.

Over the last few years, since Diageo has started Mortlach premiumtization process ,the count of...

The Longrow Red 13 Malbec is the fifth entry The Longrow Red series and is the third Campbeltown whisky review I post in the last 10 days, I’d say they were busy there in the last few months, ah?

This year edition was delayed and so we earned another year on the age statement going up from 12 to 13  this year (Noticed the creeping up trend? We’ve started with 11 years old statement for the first three releases). It  was aged  for 12 years in bourbon barrels and then finished for another 15 months in Malbec casks. I loved...

Along with the Hazelburn 13 release I reviewed a few days ago , there was another eagerly waited Campbeltown release, the Kilkerran 8 Cask Strength.

The official Kilkerran 12 Year Old is a smashing success with a few batches bottled so far and now comes the younger sibling, the Kilkerran 8 Year Old. But to compensate for its youth, we do get to enjoy it at cask strength of 56.2%

The last cask strength Kilkerran was the Work In Progress 7 Bourbon Cask which was simply brilliant, but this time we’re 3 years short and with far more active casks...

Quick tasting notes blog post to close the weekend and we’ll go with a 1989 vintage Glenrothes that was bottled in augusti 2016 (That’s 26 year old whisky, saved you the calculation). It was matured in Hogshead #8172 that produced 241 bottles when it was bottled by Speciality Drinks Ltd under the Single Malts of Scotland brand.

Glenrothes 1989 26 Year Old (Single Malts of Scotland) (53.8%,  £110 )

Nose : Malt porridge, quite lemony, generous dose of oak spices, some floral perfume in the background, yes even some lavender, vanilla, honey and pears.

Palate : Vanilla, damp oak, quite...

It’s pretty rare that I post two reviews in a single day, and I don’t think I ever did that on a Sunday where for half a world it’s a weekend day. But I couldn’t help myself today’s as it’s the 50th birthday of Martin Markvardsen, the Highland Park Senior Brand Ambassador and hands down the best social networks communicative brand ambassador I have ever crossed paths with. So in honor of Martin’s birthday, here’s a review of a tasty and special HP whisky, The Highland Park Hobbister.

Here’s what Highland Park has to say on Hobbister:

Highland Park Hobbister...

Islay is a small island with a population count hovering around 3,300 people. Many of them are working in the whisky and tourism industry and so it’s logical that some of them rose to fame and can even be celebrities for whisky lovers. But not all Islay celebrities are human, as some would argue that Crofter, a dog owned by Steve Bavin, now of Islay Ales and formerly of Bruichladdich distillery, can also be considered as a local celebrity, especially during the yearly Feis pilgrimage.

Crofter, a dog who entertains his owner Steve and other Islay visitors over the years...

After a few years that Springbank Distillery was quiet on their Hazelburn (Springbank unpeated triple distillation) front, in the last year we’ve been treated with two special/limited editions of Hazelburn in different casks. First came the Hazelburn 9 Year Old that was finished for a few years in Barolo wine casks, which was real good whisky. And now we have a 13 Year Old Hazelburn that was aged in a mix of first fill and refill Oloroso casks. Now, first fill Oloroso casks can be very dominating and with the delicate nature of Hazelburn spirit and with extra four years...

Highland Park has embarked on a new series since oktober last year. 14 (and counting) single casks were released in the new Single Cask Series (so far), and all of them were directed into very specific markets: shops and airport exclusives and one cask was even bottled for the biggest Highland Park Facebook fan group called Highland Park Appreciation Society  (or HPAS as it’s widely known among its members).

I was looking into acquiring a bottle when it got released but getting one was deemed too complicated with no direct shipping route from the shop to me. Thankfully, some HPAS...

Douglas Laing, the Independent bottlers, has been building upon their regional malts brand success in the last year. First there were the 5 regional malts, Big Peat, Scallywag, Timorous Beastie, Rock Oyster and The Epicurean along with three Cask Strength variants: Big Peat X-mas, Scallywag CS and Rock Oyster CS. But in the last year, we’ve seen a wave of limited editions with age statements. It started with Timorous Beastie 21 & 40 (note to self: post the review already!) and then came Scallywag 13 Year Old which is the subject of today’s review. There is also a duo of 18...

Today’s the Last day of Feis Ile 2017 and it’s Ardbeg day, also celebrated in Ardbeg embassies all around in the world. I’ve already reviewed the committee edition of this year Festival bottling, the Kelpie , so let’s go and close it out with a bang, reviewing an indie Ardbeg – a 1991 25 year old Ardbeg, bottled by my friend Nils an Rijn, who’s behind the  Dutch shop Best of Wines  under the  The Duchess  brand.

A bit of history: Ardbeg were closed since early 1981 until 1989 and then was working a mere two months a year, operated by...

We’re approaching the end of Feis Ile 2017. Only two more distilleries left: Bunnahabhain today and Ardbeg tomorrow. Here’s your Bunnahabhain fix for today: a 23 year old sherried bunna from the Whiskybase.com Archives series. A sherry butt #52 that was distilled on 12/1990, bottled 02/2014 yielding only 201 bottles (might be a cask share).

Bunnahabhain 1990 23 Year Old (Archives The Fishes of Samoa) (47.9%)

Nose : Dried fruit and despite the low ABV it’s quite intense and punchy at first. Lots of raisins too, feeling a bit lighter due to some fresh red fruit and berries puree/mash, some...

Kilchoman (and Jura) day at Feis Ile 2017 so it’s logical to post 2 posts, one for Kilchoman and one for Jura. However, I’m short of time today so instead I’ve opted to go for a single post on Kilchoman whisky. But we’ll still get two reviews as the post will cover a duo of young Kilchomans, both finished in Caroni Rum Casks, bottled exclusively for LMDW 60th anniversary.

What’s so special about those bottles? Glad you’re asking. First of all, Caroni distillery isn’t your ‘average’ rum. It’s sitting in the opposite direction of Zacapa, Applelton and all those sugary...

Another day, another distillery open day and today belongs to Bowmore distillery, the officially oldest active distillery on Islay (although some would disagree).

This is a 1987 vintage Bowmore that was bottled back in 2014 that I had the pleasure of tasting it at Whisky Live Tel-Aviv last year.

Wemyss Bowmore 1987-2014 ‘Sweet Peat Posy’ (46%, 231 bottles)

Nose : Malt, sweet lemonade, then the sweet peat comes through although it’s very lightly smoked, sweet heavy floral notes. After a while some milk chocolate and sea breeze. Very sweet one and very very floral, mind you it’s not FWP but...

Today is Caol Ila day at Feis Ile 2017 and let me tell you something: Caol Ila maj be the least sexy (or most boring – up for you to decide) distillery on Islay. We’re so familiar with their standard and unchanged lineup expressions and with no new expressions popping out from the distillery, it seems like Caol Ila is a bit forgotten. But let me tell you something: the spirit they produce at Caol Ila? It is underrated.

There are some jolly good whiskies coming out from those copper stills. Old Caol Ila whiskies are amazing and even...

It’s my favorite Islay distillery day at Feis Ile – Laphroaig distillery. Despite some recent disappointing (or even bad) releases from Laphroaig, there are still some good official releases. Let’s go back one year and review one of them, the 2016 Cairdeas that was matured in bourbon barrels and then finished in Madeira casks.

Laphroaig Cairdeas 2016 Madeira Cask (51.6%, $79.99 )

Nose : At my first tasting of this whisky I thought it wasn’t quite well with disharmony between the peat and the fruitiness of the Madeira cask but a few weeks later it’s better with gentle peat, red grapes...

Today’s the second day of Feis Ile 2017, so happy Laddie day y’all!

In honor of Laddie day, I’ve decided to review a two years old whisky which surprisingly can still be found in many web shops – The Port Charlotte PC12 “Oileanach furachail”. The PC12 signaled the start of Adam Hannett hegemony at Bruichladdich and leads a different way from the PC11.

Oh, and while we’re at it, I’ve also thrown in a bonus review of the PC7, always interesting to see how things develops over time.

Bruichladdich Port Charlotte PC 12 “Oileanach furachail”(58.7%,  €119,99 )

Nose : I think...