The latest Whisky in Leiden festival had two (official) festival bottlings, both selected from the Creative Whisky Co. stocks: an undisclosed Islay 2011 and this Glentauchers 2008 . A whole list of these #9001xx casks have been bottled in the past few months.

Glentauchers 8 yo 2008 (53,5%, The Exclusive Malts for Whisky in Leiden 2017, sherry butt #900179, 250 btl.)

Nose: hints of mulled wine up front, raspberries, blood oranges, then tobacco and ginger cake. Caramel. Dark bread. Juniper berries. Also hints of polished brass. Not a classic sherry nose, and slightly winey for my taste. Mouth:...

House of Hazelwood 21 year old 40%...

Royal Brackla 16 year old 40%

Tasted: Nov 2015

Nose: Quite mature and oily aromas with a little fragrant oak and barley. A good dollop of stewed fruit follows along with hints of lime, apple and vanilla.

Palate: Oily and barley’d with drying tannins, coffee and stewed fruit. Mature and lightly earthy with some balancing, creamy, slightly sawdusty American oak.

Finish: Good length with the light honey balancing the drier oak notes.

Conclusion: Gentle and mature. The perfect dram, to unwind to after a hard day at the office!

Royal Brackla 21 year old 40%

Tasted: Jan 2017

Nose: Intense...

Highland Park is making several changes to its range of single malt whiskies. The brand announced a new whisky called Valkyrie, featuring a higher proportion of peated whisky than the core 12 year old, that will launch in juni. The NAS, limited-edition single malt will cost $80 and replaces Highland Park Dark Origins, which is being discontinued. In addition, two new expressions—Magnus and Full Volume—will debut in the next few months. To cap it all off, Highland Park is rolling out new packaging for its core range. The redesign will hit UK shelves first, appearing in the U.S. next month....

Last Saturday, coinciding with World Whisk(e)y Day 2017, Redbreast hosted a Facebook Live Tasting from the Midleton Distillery. Head Blender Billy Leighton and Apprentice Blender Dave McCabe unveiled a very rare whiskey dubbed #RedbreastDreamCask. They sent out 100 blind samples beforehand.

In case you missed it, you can revisit the livestream here:

It turned out to be a 31 year-old Redbreast, single pot still, distilled 31st of oktober 1985 and initially matured in refill bourbon wood. In 2011 it was re-casked to a sherry butt, then at 48,3%. We tried it at cask strength 46,7%.

It’s part of...

Another Caol Ila 2006 , this time bottled by Whisky-Fässle for the Swedish whisky club Maltes Vänner . No ducks this time, but a squirrel. We had this head-to-head with the very similar Liquid Art release.

Caol Ila 10 yo 2006 (53,6%, WHisky-Fässle for Whisky Klubben Maltes Vänner 2017, hogshead)

Nose: certainly more buttery on the nose, compared to the Liquid Art bottling. Other than that, similar round lemony notes, oily eucalyptus, wet chalk and subtle camphor. Light hints of oil paint and a vegetal edge. More sweet ashes than in the sibling release, more punch as well....

Heaven Hill Brands , which makes Elijah Craig , Evan Williams , Larceny , Henry McKenna, and other whiskeys, has named Denny Potter as vice president of operations, in addition to his existing role as master distiller. Potter has been with the company since 2013, serving as master distiller and Bernheim plant manager after Parker Beam stepped down due to his battle with ALS. Beam passed away in januari .

Before joining Heaven Hill, Potter worked in various production capacities with Maker’s Mark and Cruzan Rum . In addition to overseeing distilling, his new role will see him directing operations at Heaven Hill’s bottling...

Distell is rolling out a series of limited-edition bottlings across its portfolio of single malt scotches—which includes...

Redbreast Dream Cask

Tonight, maj 20th at 7PM Dublin time, Redbreast will host a Facebook Live Tasting from the Midleton Distillery. Head Blender Billy Leighton and Apprentice Blender Dave McCabe presented a very rare whiskey dubbed #RedbreastDreamCask

During the 20 minute streaming video, they announced the details like cask type, provenance, age, etc.

During the past few weeks, there have been competitions in which you could win a sample of the liquid, but even if you didn’t manage to get one, be sure to join the tasting over at https://www.facebook.com/RedbreastSinglePotStill/ I’ve had a sneak peak and it is an absolutely cracking...

I’m not sure whether Dutch Springbank Lovers is an actual organisation but this Springbank 20 Year Old single cask was specially selected for them. Obviously from a fresh sherry cask.

Springbank 20 yo 1995 (54,2%, OB 2016, fresh sherry cask, 192 btl.)

Nose: rich, potent dry sherry, almost Karuizawa style. Roasted chestnuts. Rum raisins, prunes and preserved cherries, a bit of burnt cake and some of the Springbank coal smoke. Tobacco. Mocha. Toffee and cinnamon pastry. It’s got a faint dusty side, with a little plastic, but that’s fine here. Mouth: punchy and peppery, with lots of herbal...

A brand-new bottling from the Belgian bottlers Liquid Art . As usual, the label for this Caol Ila 2006 was made by a local artist, Silvia Bonotto.

Caol Ila 2006 (52,1%, Liquid Art ‘The lonesome Captain’ 2016, 120 btl.)

Nose: very clean, perhaps a little narrow as well. A lot of ashes and eucalyptus oil. Some lemon and grapefruit, but not a fruity whisky. Hints of moist fabrics and damp earth. Mouth: after a balanced nose, a fairly powerful attack on brine, big lemony notes and pepper. This pepper cuts right through the palate, developing into mustardy notes....