A few bottlers recently released a Tennessee bourbon , matured in the US but apparently bottled in Scotland. Although their ages are far apart, I think we can assume they’re from the same producer?

We’ll start with the NAS release from Eiling Lim . Note that her label says Tennessee whisky without an ‘e’. This should give us a clue about the distillery. It is a sour mash bourbon , distilled and charcoal mellowed at one of the oldest Tennessee distilleries. That gives us enough clues to decide between Jack Daniel’s and George Dickel, right?

We’ll compare it to a...

The Whisky Fair in Limburg is coming up (april 22-23) so it’s not surprising that new releases are being prepared at The Whisky Agency . The theme of this batch is Art Nouveau Ladies .

The series includes an Irish single malt 1990, a Tennessee bourbon 2003, a Cragganmore 1989, Glen Keith 1993 and this  Speyside Region 1973 . We’re putting it head-to-head against a sister cask bottled by Sansibar in their new Chinese Mask series.

Speyside Region 1973 (46,9%, The Whisky Agency ‘Art Nouveau Ladies’ 2017, sherry butt)

Nose: almost entirely on precious woods, a little turpentine and big,...

Even through the green glass, you can tell this was heavy sherry… Isle of Jura 1966 bottled by Douglas Laing back in 1999.

Isle of Jura 33 yo 1966 (50%, Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask 1999, sherry wood, 343 btl.)

Nose: perhaps closer to an actual Oloroso sherry than to whisky. Not that we’re complaining. Entirely on leather, blackberries and raspberries, polished furniture, rum & raisins and truckloads of pipe tobacco. Caramelized figs. It’s quite heady, with something that reminds me of tiger balm and shoe polish. Herbal notes and mint in the background. Mouth: old-style sherry that...

The Duchess is the indepdent bottler brand of the Dutch retailer Best of Wines. In their Shieldmaiden series the first bottling was this Ardbeg 1991 single cask.

Remember Ardbeg was closed from mars 1981 until 1989, and was only operating for two months every year between 1989 and the next closure in juli 1996. Back then Iain Henderson of Laphroaig was the Caretaker Manager – both distilleries were part of the Allied Distillers group. Very little stock from this era remains – as a first bottling this is quite impressive.

Ardbeg ‘Malin’ 25 yo 1991 (49,8%, The Duchess...

Still working our way through some of the new Whisky Exchange exclusives. Here’s a single bourbon cask Bruichladdich 2002 .

Bruichladdich 13 yo 2002 (52,7%, OB for The Whisky Exchange 2016, Micro provenance, bourbon cask #12/214, 240 btl.)

Nose: lemon pie, green apples, apricots. Also cheese cake and poached pears. Biscuits. It also shows a typical grassy / chalky note that I often find in Laddie. Very soft maritime notes. Mouth: thick and bittersweet. Apple peel and grapefruit zest, then also some slightly tropical notes (guava, melon, pineapple) but they struggle to get past this grapefruit bitterness, even...

Based on the pink salmon colour, you know this recent release from That Boutique-y Whisky Company had some wine influence. It was sourced from a Secret Distillery in the Highlands region.

A quick look at the label gives us some necessary clues. It features sixteen hybrid swan-men with particularly long necks, some around 26 feet tall. Enough said, right?

Secret distillery 15 yo (51%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company 2016, Batch #2, 50 cl, 124 btl.)

Nose: this must indeed be a red wine cask. Starts a bit musky. Raspberry jam, mint. Poached pears and strawberry sherbet. Hints of...

Islay’s Bruichladdich Distillery is rolling out three limited-edition 10 year old single malts—The Laddie 10, Port Charlotte, and Octomore—as well as its fifth edition of Black Art. Read on for details.

Bruichladdich The Laddie 10 Second Limited Edition Style: Single malt scotch Origin: Islay Proof: 50% ABV Price: $66 Release: mars 2017 Availability: 18,000 bottles for the world

Need to know: Distilled in 2006 from 100% Scottish barley, this unpeated whisky was matured in first-fill ex-bourbon, sherry, and French wine casks. It’s coloring-free and non-chill filtered.

Whisky Advocate says: Once upon a time, the Laddie 10 was a standard release,...

You know the annual ritual of Ardbeg fans: late mars, rushing, hammering and encountering an overload Ardbeg site, then curse, gets angry when site goes down, makes F5 key stuck forever and all just to grab a bottle (or case) of the latest Committee Release which precedes the Ardbeg Day general release. But the truth is that nowadays the site is usually more responsive and manage to handle the load, but the other part stays true and the bottles are quickly gone usually within the hour (site downtime notwithstanding).

I have to admit that up to Ardbog, the 2013 Ardbeg...

I’ve finally lay my hands on a bottle of the hyped and highly sought-after Springbank Local Barley 11. It’s a refreshing change after striking out with last year’s 16 year old.

It’s the second Local Barley release (out of planned five) and this time it’s Bere Barley (Last year it was Prisma) grown in Aros Farm in Kintyre (near Campbeltown). It was malted in Springbank malting floor, distilled februari 2006 and bottled in 2017. Let’s check it out!

Springbank Local Barley 11 Year Old (2006-2017) (53.1%)

Nose : What a weird nose at first after opening it. Big time funk with...

Our founder and longtime Editor & Publisher, John Hansell, is retiring from Whisky Advocate at the end of this month. Taking the reins is Marvin R. Shanken, chairman of M. Shanken Communications, who acquired the magazine in 2010, welcoming it into the elite company of Wine Spectator and Cigar Aficionado .

As always, Whisky Advocate’s highest priority will remain giving you, our readers, quality information and access to everything that matters in whisky, from the stories of the people who make it to our database of thousands of reviews and ratings.

Please join us in thanking John and his wife,...