Many words were written and many pixels were darkened discussing and dissecting Diageo change of heart with Mortlach and rebooting the entire line up after the move towards premiumization of the distillery failed.

The new line up is back to basics with 700 ml bottles, age statements and using more sherry casks to restore some of the glory Mortlach achieved with their meaty and sherry whiskies.

The entry level in this new line up is the 12 Year Old which employ both ex-bourbon casks and ex-sherry casks. It’s named ‘ The Wee Witchie ‘ after the smallest Mortlach pot still (must...

Officially it’s Springtime but here we’re having some heat waves and already deeply descended into summer time when drinks are considered. One notable new release I was curious about, thinking it maj be a good summer drink is the recently released Compass Box Affinity spirit.

Yes, It’s not a whisky but a spirit because it’s a mix of whisky and Calvados. For those who didn’t encounter Calvados in the past, Calvados is a brandy made from apples (and pears) in Normandy region in France.

Here, look at the recipe:

That means we have 37.5% Calvados from Christian Drouin, a very...

Campbeltown Malts Festival 2019 has started yesterday (or at least the warm up did) and the tradition dictates Campbeltown whisky reviews during the festival, right?

So today we’ll have a 18 Year Old Glen Scotia distilled back in 1992, matured in Sherry hogshead cask #141 and was bottled in november 2010. Yeah, more than 8 years has passed since then but I got to taste this not long ago and let me tell you – it’s a good one!

Glen Scotia 1992 18 Year Old (Kintra Whisky) (52.6%)

Photo credit: whiskybase.com

Nose : Tobacco, sweet dried fruits, earthy greenery and...

Yesterday it was Glen Scotia open day at Campbeltown Malts Festival 2019 which we celebreated with a review of a lovely sherried 18 Year Old Glen Scotia from Kintra Spirits.

Today is Springbank Open day at the festival and of course we’ll have a celebratory twofer review: A Springbank whisky bottled by Cadenhead!

This 13 Year Old Hazelburn was distilled back in 2005 and was bottled last winter after 13 years in Cadenhead’s Authentic Collection series at 54.6% abv.

Hazelburn 2005 13 Year Old (Cadenhead’s Authentic Collection) (54.6%)

Photo Credit: whiskybase.com

Nose : Cidar and honey, grease, pears, green with...

Last month I reviewed the Port Askaig 10 Year Old that Elixir Distillers released to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the brand but it wasn’t the only new Port Askaig release to celebrate the occasion. Along with the easily accessible and reasonably priced 10 Year Old whisky, came this 28 Year Old Port Askaig which carries a heftier price tag and a far more years on its belt.

Does this 28 Year Old also hails from Caol Ila? Let’s check it out.

Port Askaig 28 Year Old (45.8%, £295 / 318.90€ )

Nose : Peated with sweet smoke, lemon, gentle...

Earlier this year Glengyle distillery released their first batch of Heavily Peated whisky, following the road they took for the standard Kilkerran whisky with slightly semantic difference – Instead of “Work In Progress” it’s called “Peat in Progress”. And in a few years we’ll have the first standard heavily peated Kilkerran whisky (the cousin for Longrow).

You’re probably asks: “Heavily peated? Just how heavily peated is it?” and the answer is: very heavily peated with 84 PPM, which is almost twice (more or less) of the PPM levels for the south Islay distilleries and second only to Bruichladdich’s Octomore whiskies....

The peated Port Charlotte whisky (from Bruichladdich distillery) is a fan favorite, very much liked just like the ultra-peated Octomores. I’ve had my share of previous official Port Charlotte limited editions and of course many independent bottlings (which I must add that many of them are excellent) But I was looking forward this kind of release, a core line-up release.

This Port Charlotte 10 Year Old was released last maj and is the first on-going and permanent release of age-statement carrying Port Charlotte bottling and while I’m late in reviewing it, it kinda beat the alternative which is finishing the...

Ben Nevis distillery garnered a lot of positive publicity in the last 2-3 years with lots of successful independent releases. We even see shortage of stock for the official 10 Year Old in the markets as it becomes a fans favorite.

I have a few opened Ben Nevis bottles at home but today I’ll focus on another Ben Nevis – a 27 Year Old from 1990 which appeared in the latest blind tasting competition I participated in (sort of).

This Ben Nevis was a bottling for the 40th birthday of SCOMA shop in Germany. It was distilled in 14.12.1990, filled...

I don’t think I need to introduce Talisker to you my readers, but it’s a review way long overdue as I was always delaying reviewing and publishing the Talisker 25 Year Old 2013 review.

But then I tasted the Talisker 25 Year Old 2017 Release in a blind tasting competition and the opportunity to have a side by side review of both edition was so tempting that I finally gave up and went for it. Let’s check out which edition is better.

Talisker 25 Year Old 2013 Edition (45.8%, 5,772 bottles, £262 )

Nose : Soft smoke, honey, dried fruit...

The Glenfiddich Experimental series proved to be so successful that the first 2 expressions in the series (IPA and XX) are still produced and their life support stretch far beyond the experimental state and are unofficially entrenched in the official line up.

The series continued with the expensive Winter’s Storm for 3 batches and now comes the forth and latest release ‘ Fire And Cane ‘. Here in this release Glenfiddich Malt Master Brian Kinsman used both peated and unpeated Glenfiddich whisky and finished them for 3 months in rum casks from South America. This a very intriguing release as...

Happy 2019 to you all! I’ve been quite dormant lately here on the blog but I can hope that 2019 will be far more productive here on the blog than 2018 was.

Let’s start 2019 with a bang with a review of a mature whisky – the 2018 batch of Tomatin 30 Year Old. I love old and matured Tomatin whiskies as they usually have lots of tropical fruitiness and I’m sucker for those notes.

Tomatin 30 isn’t a totally new expression – we had some previous incarnations of Tomatin 30 Year Old until the early 201x but it went...

Glenlivet distillery likes mystery. After two releases that centers around secrecy in the form of Glenlivet Cipher (releases in 2016) and Glenlivet Code (Released in 2018), we will get a third installment in the series....

Ledaig, the peated whisky from Tobermory distillery on the island Mull, is quite on the rise in the last two years. It’s getting recognition beyond the inner hardcore whisky lovers circles and is very good. We’ve seen it hailed as the present in the latest Whisky Show by TWE and some of the special releases by the distillery are good.

But today we’ll check one of the core line up offering – Ledaig 18 Year Old which is released in batches and under the microscope today is the latest batch – Batch number 3.

It’s finished in Oloroso sherry casks...

© The Islay Festival of Music and Malt

Yeah, Welcome the annual Feis Ile bottlings 2019 edition. I didn’t expect to work on this list so early (we’re still in 2018!) But information has already started to trickle out so that left me no option but to fire up this post In 2019, the festival will run from late maj into juni 2019 (24th maj to 1nd juni 2018). This post will detail all the available information on the festival bottles and I’ll update it each time more details will be revealed. If you look for the full festival information,...

We’re in the midst of this Black Friday/Cyber Monday thing (No, I didn’t buy anything and don’t plan to buy anything. Unless you consider a holiday tickets as part of this shopping craziness), So I thought it would be great to try and inject some sanity into this time period (at least for me) in the form of a new review – habits helps stabilize the mind I hear…

But it’s a Sunday and since It’s been half a year since my last non-whisky review (I should be ashamed, I know) it makes sense to go and review a non-whisky...

Yesterday was all about Cladach the blended malt in Diageo Special Releases 2018 and today it’s all about the most eagerly waited member of the line up (at least for me) – Talisker 8 Year Old at Cask Strength.

Until now we didn’t see any young Talisker at Cask strength in the Special Releases line up, hence the hype and expectations for this 2009 vintage targeted at the masses and bottled at a hefty 59.4% ABV.

Talisker 2009 8 Year Old (59.4%, £67.50 )

Nose : Sweet with honey and pears, then comes soft peat smoke. There’s Crème brûlée, a...

Last month Compass Box introduced a new permanent release in their core range called The Story of the Spaniard . In the official press release there’s a nice story about John Glaser and his experiences while traveling in south Spain and this is the result – a blended malt of Highland malt whiskies aged in Spanish Sherry and Spanish red wine casks and some ‘standard’ (by Compass Box standards at least) casks to balance it all. Here’s the recipe as officially published by Compass Box:

The Story of the Spaniard recipe

As you can see, in this initial batch (bottled juni...

Along with the new release of The Story of the Spaniard, Compass Box also released their 6th edition of Flaming heart, the follow up to the very successful and tasty 5th edition released back in 2015.

Compass Box Flaming Heart 6th edition recipe

Most of the major ingredients that were part of the great 5th edition, are in the 6th edition as well, albeit with different proportions and ages (want to know the ages? contact Compass Box and they will tell you!) and there’s a subtle sherry cask influence that was not presents in 2015 edition but in the 2012 edition....

After reviewing two blended malts from Compass Box let’s have a third blended malt review and one that has some high pedigree after being included in a high profile series. Yes, we’re talking about Cladach which is the blended malt that was included in Diageo Special Releases 2018 (2nd year in a row with a blended malt for Special Releases).

Cladach means shoreline / coastline and the whisky uses only single malts made at Diageo coastal distilleries: Inchgower, Clynelish, Talisker, Oban, Caol Ila and Lagavulin.

It was bottled at cask strength of 100 proof (57.1%) and was matured in an assortment...

We’re seeing an improvement trend within the new Highland Park Travel Retail series with Loyality of the Wolf 14 Year Old  on the cusp of being real good whisky. Will the next whisky in the series, Highland Park Wings of the Eagle 16 Year Old continue this thread?

Highland Park Wings of the Eagle is 16 Year Old, fully matured in sherry casks (both American and European oak) and bottled at a very respectable ABV of 44.5%. Sounds promising but does it deliver?

Highland Park Wings of the Eagle 16 Year Old (44.5%, €84.90 )

Nose : Hello sweetie! This...