For this immensely popular Glenfiddich 15 Year Old Solera (probably their second best selling expression after their Glenfiddich 12 Years ) the distillery works with whiskies aged separately in European oak sherry casks and American oak barrels (part of which is then finished for 3-6 months in virgin oak casks). These three components are then poured into a huge Solera vat , a 37.000 litres Douglas Fir tun inspired by the sherry bodegas of Spain.

The Solera vat (first used in 1998) is never emptied . Whenever they take whisky from it (never more than 50%), it is...

Balblair 1999 is a travel retail expression. This whisky is matured in first-fill and second-fill American oak bourbon casks, followed by a finishing period of in first-fill European oak sherry butts.

Balblair 1999 (46%, OB 2016, 1st release)

Nose: lively and fresh. Fresh pineapple juice, banana, green apple. Rather estery, with a tropical edge. Then some honeyed notes, as well as hay, hints of lemon balm and floral notes (orange blossom). Fairly light but mouth-watering. Mouth: pineapple freshness again, but with a firm spicy side from the European oak. Ginger, hints of chilli. Zesty citrus, including the slight...

Happy New Year! Best wishes for 2017.

We won’t start our 2017 tasting track until we’ve looked back at some of the highlights of the past year.

Whisky highlights of 2016

My two favourite new releases (94 points) were the undisclosed Speyside 1975 bottled by Sansibar and the Brora 38 Year Old from this year’s Special Releases.

We’ve had more undisclosed Speyside whiskies – all pretty excellent. We seem to be particularly fond of the 1975 expressions (Whisky Agency, Maltbarn, Whisky-Fässle) but there was a whole list of 1973 and 1977 siblings, e.g. the great Speyside 1973...

This is the 2014 edition of Laphroaig 25 Year Old . There have been earlier editions (2007, 2009) and new editions in 2015 and 2016 as well.

It was matured in a combination of first-fill Oloroso Sherry casks and ex-American bourbon barrels, before being bottled at cask strength.

Laphroaig 25 yo ‘Cask Strength’ (45,1%, OB 2014)

Nose: a slightly restrained, but nicely farmy nose. Wet dogs, embering coal ashes. Mellow peat. Something of melted butter. A little vanilla. Sweet hints of lychee syrup underneath. Then back to drier, more medicinal notes (iodine, hessian), but always with a jammy...

Lagavulin distillery concludes its 200 ^th anniversary year with a special single cask bottling of a 24 year old whisky distilled in 1991 .

All proceeds of this Lagavulin 1991, exceeding £0.5 million, will be divided between seven charities on the island.

The Lagavulin 1991 sherry butt of just 522 bottles was carefully selected by the distillery team and Ivan Menezes, CEO of Diageo. Bottles can only be purchased via a special ballot on The Whisky Exchange that launches today, 31st december, with bottle No. 1 being auctioned separately to raise even more charitable funds, and one bottle being donated...

Back to basics. Johnnie Walker Red Rye Finish is the first expression in a new Blender’s Batch series. It is not usually the kind of whisky I write about, but in this festive season it is all over the place, here in Belgium you don’t have to wait long for a Red Rye commercial when you turn on the TV.

The Blender’s Batch range is all about variation and experimentation. For this first release they used whiskies matured in first-fill American oak which were blended and finished for six months in casks that previously held rye whiskey . It is...

The year 2016 will be remembered for the list of deceased artists… and for the list of undisclosed Speyside whiskies. Today a single malt  Old Speyside 1973 bottled by Eiling Lim .

On her website she says: I bought his from a whisky broker and no matter what I did or how I begged, no information was spared . Then we shouldn’t guess, right?

Old Speyside 43 yo 1973 (47,8%, Eiling Lim 2016, 12th release, Fino cask, 118 btl.)

Nose: full of beehive notes, beeswax, pollen, with some old and rather fragrant, minty oak, or sandalwood. Quite some...

We’re having three young Caol Ila bottlings from independent bottlers today. We’ve been talking about the stunning accuracy of this distillery, yet these casks turn out to be quite different. The price as well, by the way.

Caol Ila 9 yo 2006 (51,3%, Sansibar ‘Samurai label’ 2015, bourbon hogshead, 340 btl.)

Nose: nice combo of bright fruits and mentholated and iodine notes.  Eucalyptus, Tiger balm. Wet wool. Unripe pineapple, perhaps a little rhubarb. Lemon peel and pretty clean peat smoke. The freshness of the mint / menthol is great. Mouth: same thoughts, very mentholy, minty and herbal. Definitely...