Cambus 1975 40 YO (Special Releases 2016), 52,7 % I have now managed to get my hands on samples of some of the Diageo Special Release 2016 whiskies. And if you’re wondering; “getting my hands on” means I have tracked them down and paid for them. First off we have the Cambus 1975 40 YO (Special […]...

By Susannah Skiver Barton

This week we have a new straight rye from Ezra Brooks, a new batch of The Exclusive Malts’ single cask bottlings, a very limited 16 year old bourbon, and a whopper of a 50 year old Dalmore.

Ezra Brooks Straight Rye

Style: Straight rye whiskey Proof: 45% ABV Price: $19-$22 Release: januari 2017 Availability: Widely available

Need to know: The Ezra Brooks  range currently includes a straight bourbon, a 7 year old bourbon, a blended whiskey, and a bourbon cream liqueur, all priced for everyday drinking.

Whisky Advocate says:  Brand owner Luxco —which also produces the David Nicholson, Rebel Yell, and...

  By Susannah Skiver Barton

Visitors headed home from the Kentucky Bourbon Trail now have a reason to get to the airport early. Both Louisville International Airport and Lexington’s Blue Grass Airport are opening new bourbon-centric venues to allow travelers to enjoy one last taste of the good stuff before boarding their planes.

At Louisville’s airport, Book & Bourbon Southern Kitchen recently opened, taking the place of a restaurant that focused on the Woodford Reserve brand. The new bar and restaurant features a wide array of Kentucky-made whiskeys. It’s designed to have the look and feel of a library, from leather-bound...

By Susannah Skiver Barton

The whiskey world shines a little less brightly today with the death of Parker Beam, who passed away last night. The longtime master distiller at Heaven Hill , an independent, family-owned distilled spirits company based in Bardstown, Kentucky, Parker had been fighting amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS—also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) for the last six years—a public battle that brought the entire Kentucky bourbon community out to rally around him and push for a cure.

Parker grew up learning from his father, Earl Beam, who was master distiller at Heaven Hill before him. Parker started his...

By Susannah Skiver Barton

This week it’s all about scotch. Read on for freshly launched single cask bottlings from Chieftain’s  and newcomer Chapter 7 , plus a whole new range of age statement whiskies from Glen Moray and a recently released Kilchoman .

Glen Moray 12 year old, 15 year old, and 18 year old single malts

Style: Single malt Scotch whisky Proof: 40% ABV (12 and 15 year olds), 47.2% ABV (18 year old) Price: $40 (12 year old), $55 (15 year old), $90 (18 year old) Release: december 2016 Availability: Widely available, although the 18 year old is...

By Susannah Skiver Barton

Tullamore D.E.W. is bringing back the boilermaker with a roving “D.E.W and a Brew” tour this winter. The brand wants to educate consumers about how different beers complement the flavors of the Irish whiskey. In partnership with the locally focused social publication Time Out , Tullamore D.E.W. brand ambassador Jane Maher will visit breweries and bars in eleven U.S. cities to lead consumer events that showcase local beer pairings. Nine additional cities will feature D.E.W. and a Brew drink specials in local bars and at breweries where it’s legal to serve spirits.

The tour starts on januari 9...

By Susannah Skiver Barton

Scott and Becky Harris (Photo by Kristen Dill)

Last oktober, Constellation Brands caught the craft whiskey industry by surprise when it bought Utah’s High West distillery in a high profile bidding war for approximately $160 million. However, another earlier craft distiller investment by Constellation was revealed in the company’s quarterly earnings report on januari 5th. During the third quarter of 2016, the company took a minority stake in Purcellville, Virginia’s Catoctin Creek distillery . No sale price has been disclosed, but the investment will allow Catoctin Creek to increase its production, expand into new markets, and hire...

The whisky market moves quickly. In the past year, we’ve seen hundreds of new releases at The Whisky Exchange – single casks, special editions, ongoing bottlings and the occasional relaunch. However, with so many whiskies zipping through the shops, it’s impossible to try them all. With so many new fans coming to whisky in the past few years, not only have we (myself included) missed out on loads of drams, but there are lots of older whiskies we’ve not had a chance to try.

Some old bottles, earlier this week

By older I not only mean ‘matured for a long...

The Whisky Exchange blog was busier than ever in 2016, with so much happening in the drinks world to talk about, from shock EU rulings to legendary masterclasses and cool cocktail trends. Here are some of our favourite stories, tastings and discoveries from last year.

Age matters

Three events got a big response on our blog in 2016. The first was the shock news that all spirits, including whisky, would be required by law to carry an age statement by 2017 . The EU legislation required distillers to declare all ingredients and additives on the label, as well as the...

Regular blog readers maj remember I wrote about Kavalan in maj , when master blender Ian Chang hosted a TWE tasting . Inspired by this, I took a trip to Taiwan to see the distillery for myself.

Kavalan distillery is located on the edge of Yilan City in north-eastern Taiwan

The eastern Taiwanese region of Yilan County, where Kavalan’s distillery is located, has the purest spring water in the country. The site was originally founded as a bottling plant for owner King Car’s Green Time Natural Drinking Water, which still takes place there today, with the whisky-producing element being added...

There are hundreds of reasons why you might find yourself in a bar or party and not want to drink, and it certainly isn’t something to be judged or punished for, let alone find yourself relegated to the children’s table. I’d go so far as to say there’s a particular place in Hades reserved for bartenders who make you sip sickly-sweet mixtures of juice garnished with an umbrella while your friends enjoy a sophisticated Manhattan.

The cocktail industry has completely transformed itself since the 1990s, but for some reason, mocktails were left behind doing the Macarena with Emma Bunton. While...

Yesterday I realized that I needed more Glenkinchie reviews. Sure, it’s not a distillery that comes along often, but still it’s part of the Classic Malts so it deserves some attention.

It turns out I had a sample of a Glenkinchie 1975 bottled by Malts of Scotland in 2009. In fact this was part of the first batch ever from this bottler .

Glenkinchie 33 yo 1975 (57,2%, Malts of Scotland 2009, sherry hogshead #2968, 174 btl.)

Nose: lovely plums, dried pears and polished oak. Bananas flambéed. Blackcurrants. Then some drier aromas, like walnuts and lovely pipe tobacco....

An age statement English single Maltwhisky from That Boutique-y Whisky Company, distilled at St. George’s distillery in Norfolk. I’ve had quite a few and never really bothered to publish my notes.

English Whisky Co. 5 yo (49,5%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company 2016, 964 btl.)

Nose: light, clean spirit. Apples and pears, oranges, hints of vanilla biscuits. Soft, sweet grassy touches. A faint hint of darker, dusty, slighly charred oak in the background. Mouth: not much fruits here, except for hints of sweet yellow apples. A good dose of peppery notes. Plenty of vanilla cream. Quite robust, there’s...

Ben Nevis today, a comparison of five expressions from different independent bottlers: Sansibar , Whisky-Fässle , Maltbarn , Liquid Treasures and Claxton’s .

As you know I find comparing similar casks only interesting if there is at least a certain deviation. In this case we have slightly different ages and profiles: mainly bourbon casks but also one sherry butt. I tried them in the order below, but I took a pause before tackling the sherry cask (which was lower in alcohol). They’re all between 17 and 20 years old. Interestingly there’s also a deviation in pricing, from € 90 to...

This is the oldest Glenkinchie so far in the Special Releases series (there have been three so far) and the first from European oak .

Glenkinchie 24 yo 1991 (57,2%, OB 2016, refill European oak butts, 5928 btl.)

Nose: very bright, almost sour, with a lot of lime and blossomy notes. Yellow plums, Granny Smith apple and fruit gums. Lemon frosting on vanilla cake. A light grassy note. Quite some varnished oak as well, but it fits in nicely. Mouth: sweet citrus again, although it has more body than you’d expect. A little unripe pineapple. Rhubarb. Gingery heat...

Cambus is a grain distillery near Alloa, built in 1836 and operational until 1913, the year it caught fire. This caused the production to be halted for 23 years. In 1937 it was opened again, but United Distillers (now Diageo) closed it permanently in 1993.

Although it is quite rare to find 1970s Cambus today, independent bottler Hunter Laing bottled a 1975 single cask in 2015 and sold it for around € 250.

Today we’re trying a similar Cambus 1975 bottled as part of Diageo’s Special Releases 2016 . Probably the first official release of Cambus?

Cambus 40...

The Glenlivet Cipher was a marketing experiment: all the details about age, vintage, cask types used, tasting notes… were hidden and were to be discovered in an online deciphering game. It is presented as a mysterious whisky and comes in a fitting opaque black bottle that looks really classy.

My first impression was quite reserved. Would people spend € 115 on a blind bottle with no clues whatsoever, only to play a game and find out whether they like it? Nonetheless I gave it a try.

The accompanying website includes a few introductory videos and invites you to select six...

One of the most highly anticipated releases of 2016 was the Springbank 16 Years Local Barley . Not only did it refer to one of the most iconic Springbank series ever, it also delivered. Big time.

The modern Local Barley series will see five annual expressions, and in 2017 we’ll see a new Springbank 11 Year Old Local Barley . It was distilled in februari 2006 from Bere Barley from the Aros Farm on the Kintyre peninsula and it is planned to be bottled in februari 2017.

The label submission in the TTB database indicates a strength of 53,1% but...