Nginious! Original Swiss Blended Gin 45%

Produced from 18 botanicals which are distilled in 4 separate batches before being blended together. Batch 1 (Fruity) – juniper, barberry and laurel berries. Batch 2 – (Citrus) – lemon, sweet orange peel and fresh grapefruit. Batch 3 (Herbal) – These herbs are native to Switzerland and include, hay flowers, clover blossom, bee balm, verbena, hyssop, chamomile, blackcurrant leaves, iris, carline thistle root, galingale and liquorice root. Batch 4 (Rooty) – whole peeled cardamom.

Tasted: Mar 2017

The nose is quite smoky with an aroma akin to pine sap. The cardamom is very noticeable...

Take your rock and rye to the next level with this funky Mint Julep variation, created by mixologist Trevor Landry....

The carnivore’s variation on the traditional Old Fashioned was created by Laura Royer of the ...

Feis Ile, the yearly Islay Festival of Music and Malt , is a fixture of the Scotch Maltwhisky scene. Every year, the population of the isle of Islay doubles for a week at the end of maj, as whisky fans from around the world descend on the island. Hotel bookings are made more than a year in advance and you even need to get in months early to get a pitch at one of the island’s campsites. Suffice to say, it’s a big thing in the whisky world.

The Islay Festival of Music and Malt

It started in the...

Gin is such a fast-moving drinks category that new releases are appearing every day and old favourites sometimes get forgotten. In an attempt to make sure that you don’t miss out, here’s a list of some great gins that you should really know about.

1.  Edinburgh Gin

Edinburgh Gin also makes a range of gin-based liqueurs

Scottish gin is booming and Edinburgh Gin was one of the first to appear that was brazen about being distilled north of the border. Along with the flagship gin, the distillery also make a range of very popular fruity gin liqueurs . The Scots might...

One in three people living on Orkney have Scandinavian ancestry, so it was no surprise when Highland Park embraced this heritage with its Warriors Series, a range of whiskies named after proud Vikings: Sigurd , Harald , Einar , and the like. But the next stage in the conquest has arrived: the Viking Legend series, the first of which is Valkyrie , named after the female spirits with the power to choose who would live or die on the battlefield.

For even more authenticity, the distillery enlisted the help of Danish designer Jim Lyngvild, who can trace his lineage all...

Blending whisky is a skilled job. From combining hundreds of casks to make batches of large-scale blends such as Johnnie Walker to marrying a pair of casks for one-off single malt releases such as our exclusive Glenfarclas , it takes care to ensure that the character and flavours of the different whiskies work together. I was recently given a chance to try it out for myself with the aid of  Grant’s global ambassador, Rob Allanson. So how did I get on?

Blending whisky takes precision

We arrived at the makeshift blending lab and were presented with a raft of equipment to...

There are a confusing number of types of Scotch whisky. From single malts to vatted grains and blended whisky, people call whisky lots of different things. This month we’re focusing on blended whisky, so it’s time to answer some questions and dispel the myths about the most popular type of whisky in the world.

What is blended whisky?

Legally, there are five types of Scotch whisky, each with a slightly different definition:

1. Single Maltwhisky – whisky made at one distillery using pot stills and only malted barley.

2. Single Grain Whisky – whisky made at one distillery using...

Whisky has historically been seen as an after-dinner or late-evening drink, but from a taste point of view, what is the most effective time of day to drink whisky? And when are your taste buds at their most receptive? I spoke to a number of people from across the drinks world to find out.

The Retailer – Dawn Davies MW, Speciality Drinks buyer

‘The best time to taste is before I’ve eaten anything, when my palate is clean. I like to taste early in the morning so that my palate isn’t tired. It’s fresh; it knows what it’s tasting. When you’re...

Whether it’s the raging debate about no-age-statement releases, or questions about how old a whisky I’m pouring at a festival around the world is, age is currently a hot topic. Something I’m often asked is how older whiskies compare to younger ones.

George Grant, sales director at Glenfarclas , recently hosted a tasting of six bottlings from The Family Casks series, one each from the 1950s through to the 2000s. It inspired me to find out more about if older whisky tastes better – or is it just different?

Production methods have changed since the 1950s, and there are three main...

Joy Spence, master blender at Appleton Estate, was special guest at the latest Whisky Exchange tasting to share her favourite bottles and to spread the word about Jamaican rum.

Appleton Estate is located in Jamaica’s Nassau Valley in the west of the country

About Jamaican Rum

The story of Jamaican rum began in 1749, with the establishment of Appleton Estate , although the site itself dates even further, to 1665, when the British took Jamaica from the Spanish. By the late 19th century, there were more than 100 rum distilleries in Jamaica, but now there are just a handful.

Joy Spence :...

There’s currently a whole list of middle-aged Glenrothes bottlings, all heavily sherried. We’re trying three 1997 expressions from German bottlers Liquid Treasures , The Whisky Fair and Whisky-Fässle .

Glenrothes 19 yo 1997 (59,4%, Liquid Treasures ‘Faces of Angkor’ 2017, refill butt)

Nose: starts on wet chalk, with hints of cake and a little porridge. Quite a heavyweight dram, a bit of a meaty spirit. Then some pear liqueur and orange blossom. Aniseed. A little butter. Mouth: fresher, fruitier as well, almost a fruit spirit. Lots of orchard fruits, apples and pears. Touches of white grapefruits as well....

Summer is here and micro-bottler Beacon Spirits presented a new Irish Single Malt XO . No distillery and no age.

Irish Single Malt XO (51,8%, Beacon Spirits 2016, 77 btl.)

Nose: light, sweet and fruity. marshmallow, pear eau-de-vie and banana candy. Something of tinned pineapple. More grassy notes than in the older undisclosed Irish bottlings, as well as a slight hint of nail polish remover. Mouth: round and fruity again. Slightly more tropical: bananas, melons, mango sherbet. Grapefruit syrup. Similar minty / grassy notes too, with green spices and something of latte. Not as wide as the vintage...

Dun Eideann is a sub-brand of  Signatory Vintage , and they bottled this Caol Ila 1974 for their Italian importer Donato back in 1996. A number of sister casks in the #124xx and #125xx series have been bottled in other series from the same bottler.

In 1974 Caol Ila had just reopened after having been rebuilt for two years (with the typical glazed curtain walls) and extended from two to six stills. As you know, these special moments can produce special whiskies. In general you could say that pre-1972 Caol Ila is heavier than the cleaner, lighter spirit produced from...