Tomatin unveiled a new limited edition: Five Virtues . It draws inspiration from the nature’s elements: the expressions are named Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water, and they come in a packaging adorned with contemporary Scottish art created by Eva Ullrich.

Here are further details:

• Wood is matured in French, American and Hungarian (!) oak casks
• Fire is matured in heavily charred oak
• Earth is matured in ex-peated casks
• Metal is inspired by the distillery’s copper stills, not sure how that relates to the actual spirit
• Water is also a bit vague, it refers to the distillery’s water source...

I don’t really like all these concepts like ‘International whisky day’, ‘International Silly Walk Day’, ‘World UFO day’ or whatever, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I missed a great opportunity to publish a tribute to a famous woman of the whisky industry yesterday, on International Women’s Day.

Eiling Lim just bottled Bessie’s Dram , a new release in her ‘100% Premium Quality NAS’ series. Look it up if you don’t have a clue about the distillery. It’s on Islay .

In the same series there’s also a new undisclosed Tennessee whisky (mind the spelling).

Bessie’s Dram...

In 2014 the Kilbeggan Distilling Company (we still refer to them as  Cooley ) released their oldest expression to date, the Connemara 22 Year Old .

Cooley distillery, a former potato alcohol plant converted by John Teeling, started producing whiskey in 1987 but the peated runs didn’t start until 1991 so it must be composed from those very early stocks.

Connemara 22 yo (46%, OB 2014, first-fill bourbon barrels, 3996 btl.)

Nose: a gentle nose, not a peat monster but a very deep, smooth ashy start. Some toffee sweetness and vanilla ice cream underneath, and brighter hints of orange...

Spring is almost upon us (or already upon us as far as I’m concerned) and you know what does it mean, right? Yes, time for the annual post of the Feis Ile Festival bottles.

This year, the festival will run from late maj into juni 2017 (26st maj to 3rd juni 2017) and unlike the previous two years, there will be no special celebrations this year, just a “normal” festival but still it will be a exciting festival.

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...

Woodford Reserve Sonoma-Cutrer Pinot Noir Finish, NAS, 45,2 % A fun (?) twist on a bourbon today. Pinot Noir wine cask finish on a bourbon? Hmm. This is a fairly recent release in the Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection. Here is what they say about the release themselves: “The Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection Sonoma-Cutrer Pinot Noir Finish […]...

Today is International Women’s Day, so what better way to show our support than by looking at the way women have shaped our industry over the years. I started out in the industry more than 15 years ago; at the time, there were just five female sommeliers in London and it was very much an industry dominated by men. I am glad to say that today things have changed, but I am still frustrated when I walk into a tasting and am confronted by a sea of male faces.

Women have always played a part in the drinks industry, from...

Fight of the day: Glentauchers 1996 .

In the right corner, we have a semi-official bottling of Glentauchers 1996 bottled in 2016. Although the description mentions first-fill sherry casks, the colour doesn’t really show it.

Gordon & MacPhail is well known for this concept of whiskies that are bottled ‘officially’ by them, under license from the distillery. Usually these relationships go back a long time. Other distilleries that are licensed by G&M include Ardmore, Balblair, Glen Grant, Glenburgie, Imperial, Linkwood, Longmorn and Strathisla.

In the left corner, we have a slightly younger single cask Glentauchers 1996 bottled by Whisky-Fässle ....

Last few weeks I’ve been very busy hunting down a bottle of Springbank Local Barley 11 Year Old (after totally missing out acquiring one of the 16 year old the previous year), so in honor of this pursuit let’s review one of Springbank distillery popular line up anchors – The Springbank 12 Year Old.

Unlike the other members of the core range which are bottled at 46%, the 12 Year Old is bottled in Cask strength with 14 different batches so far and Batch 12 is the one reviewed here today thanks to a friend who supplied me a hefty sample.

This batch...

Grythyttan 2011 5 YO Sherry Darling, 58 % Here’s a special one. The first ever release of single malt from now closed Swedish distillery Grythyttan that I have tried. The whisky is released by Bergslagens Independent Bottler. Bergslagens is also a distillery, currently mothballed but hopefully soon to re-open. They purchased the stock of maturing whisky […]...

When exploring the Buying Guide in our Spring 2017 issue, don’t miss the top ten highest-scoring whiskies.

10. Spice Tree Extravaganza, 93 points, $140

9. Sheep Dip Islay Blended Malt, 93 points, $60

8. Ohishi Single Sherry Cask (cask 1257), 93 points, $75

7. Masterson’s 10 year old Rye (batch PSF3), 93 points, $89

6. Kavalan Solist Moscatel Cask, 93 points, $599

5. Michter’s Celebration Sour Mash (bottle 108), 94 points, $5,000

4. Kavalan Solist Amontillado Cask, 94 points, $599

3. Black Bull 40 year old, 7th Release, 94 points, $1,400

2.  Masterson’s 10 year old Rye (batch PSA3), 95...

There has been a list of Blair Athol 1988 releases in the past three years or so (mostly from Signatory stocks) but nearly all of them were wine treated butts of refill sherry butts. This brand-new release from Maltbarn comes from an ex-bourbon cask.

Blair Athol 28 yo 1988 (49,6%, Maltbarn 2016, bourbon cask, 111 btl.)

Nose: starts on freshly cut green apple, oranges, later also apricots. Nice fruitiness, including a bright sour note. Sweet barley underneath, light vanilla and a blossomy note too. There’s also a nice herbal hint which reminds me of my daughter’s thyme-based cough...

Last week I posted my Whisky Of the Year 2016 review (Kilkerran 12) but I think that 2016 deserves a little more. While not a full year review or recap, here are a few points on 2016 whisky market:

• 2016 was not the year that the whisky bubble burst. In fact, I’m not so sure we’re close to this point as I thought a year ago.
• World (AKA non Scotch) whisky is rising steady, headed by the Irish whisky boom.
• Volatile Markets has somewhat stabilized (Surprise!), providing boost to the earnings of Scotch industry.
• Transparency movement gained a lot of...

Hanyu 2000 15 YO – The Final Vintage of .., 46,5 % I recently had the opportunity to try the Hanyu 2000 15 YO – The Final Vintage of. This is a limited edition of 3710 bottles. It was distilled in 2000 and bottled in 2015. The Hanyu 2000 15 YO – The Final Vintage of […]...

Two recent Glenrothes 1980s bottlings that have something to do with The Whisky Exchange .

The first is bottled in the Single Malts of Scotland series, a sister cask of the Glenrothes 1989 they had in the same series last year. Strangely enough this cask is #8172 and last year they mentioned #18173, a small mistake there?

The other one comes from Gordon & MacPhail and was one of the show bottlings at the Whisky Show Old & Rare in Glasgow (see Balblair 1986 ).

Glenrothes 26 yo 1989 (53,8%, The Single Malts of Scotland 2016, refill...

The Spring 2017 issue of  Whisky Advocate magazine hits newsstands in early mars. We’re counting down the top ten highest-rated new releases as reviewed in the  Whisky Advocate Buying Guide. For our Editor’s Choice, Value Pick and more great whiskies,  subscribe now !

#1— Chivas Regal Ultis , 40%, $160

Captivating, enticing, and wonderfully charming, this first blended malt from Chivas Regal contains selections of five Speyside malts: Strathisla, Longmorn, Tormore, Allt-a-Bhainne, and Braeval. Red apple, cherry, raspberry fudge, peach and mango fruit salad, dusting of cinnamon, and dry heather sprigs. In essence, it’s rich and satisfying, with dark vanilla, apricot, Bourneville-covered...