Shopping online is great. I know we’re biased, but being able to choose what you want to buy from the comfort of your sofa and then having it delivered to your front door makes life very easy. However, there’s one part of the real-life shopping experience that’s really hard to replicate – chatting with folks in the shop.

Those of you who’ve visited our Covent Garden shop will know that having staff who know drinks like the backs of their collective hands is key to a great shopping experience. While we have our Twitter account , Facebook page  and customer...

This is the latest 2016 edition of the Lagavulin Distiller’s Edition , the Pedro Ximénez finished version of the Lagavulin 16 , if you like. It seems to be arriving in most stores, although some will try to wait until their stocks of the 2015 edition are gone of course.

Like the other releases from Lagavulin this year, it carries the 200th Anniversary seal on the box.

Lagavulin 2000 ‘Distiller’s Edition’ (43%, OB 2016, PX finish, lgv. 4/505)

Nose: the downward sweetness trend of the past few years is still going – very good. More menthol and eucalyptus...

One more anniversary bottling from  The Nectar , this time in a more affordable price region:   a Glen Keith 1991 selected from the Signatory Vintage stocks. The Nectar has bottled quite a few Glen Keith 1991-1992 releases in the past and they’ve been consistently pleasant.

Glen Keith 25 yo 1991 (46%, Signatory Vintage ‘Un-Chillfiltered Collection’ for 10th Anniversary of The Nectar 2016, bourbon barrel #73636, 202 btl.)

Nose: rich and fruity, quite typically bourbon matured. Pears, apples and tangerine, a little banana and peaches. Mirabelles. Hints of vanilla sugar, mint and hay. Lightly tropical, very attractive. Mouth: juicy...

Hyde 6 YO No. 4 President’s Cask, 46 % Here at Whisky Saga we have previously tried two releases from Hibernia Distillers Ltd in Ireland (this and that). Their products are released under the label Hyde, and so far this is a very young distillery sourcing their spirit elsewhere (more here). The Hyde 6 YO No. 4 […]...

Mackmyra Moment Urberg, 7 YO, 55,6 % I have recently worked my way through all the releases in the Special Series from Mackmyra. Time now to do some homework on older releases in the Moment Series from Mackmyra. This is a series that is still ongoing, and has seen 19 releases so far. To catch […]...

In a recent Diageo masterclass I was able to try the 2016 editions of the Brora and Port Ellen Special Releases. Not much introduction required.

Brora 38 Year Old , distilled in 1977 .

Brora 38 yo 1977 (48,6%, OB 2016, 15th Annual release, refill American oak hogsheads + refill European oak butts, 2984 btl.)

Nose: a truly unique mix of warm peaches and yellow plums, mixed with lots of oily notes, leather and light farmy touches (not the sheep stables, but hay, leafy notes and wet dogs). Something dusty / musty as well, in the best way...

This single cask Teeling 24 Years was bottled for the tenth anniversary of The Nectar in Belgium.

It is special whiskey in the sense that it was distilled from crystal malt , a practice long utilized at Bushmills . Crystal malts are made by cooking malted barley in a pressure cooker, prior to kilning it. The cooking process breaks down the starches into sugars more efficiently than in the normal procedure. The heat from the kilning then caramelizes these extra sugars which introduces specific aromas and flavours. The spirit was matured in a sherry cask .

Teeling ‘Vintage...

Balvenie Tun 1509 Batch 3

Release: oktober 2016 Price: $350 Proof: 104.4 Availability: 2,100 bottles (8,850 worldwide) Style: Single malt scotch

Need to know:  The third edition in the series from Balvenie malt master David Stewart includes 31 casks: 12 sherry butts distilled between 1989 and 1992, 11 American oak hogsheads distilled in 1989 and eight refill American Oak butts distilled in 1992 and 1993.

Whisky Advocate says:  The inaugural release of Tun 1509, which refers to the large vessel in which the casks are married, scored 91 points in the Whisky Advocate Buying Guide. In addition to a unique...

Whenever a new “Limited Edition” whisky expression is released to the market you can hear the rising “oh no” cries from the casual drinkers and distillery fans mixed with their excitement and the glee of whisky investors and flippers. Too often, those limited editions are either too expensive for their age and/or quality and their circulation is too small to sate the market demand and so they are hard to find or get sold out very quickly.

But there are exceptions. Some expressions and some distilleries do manage to find a proper balance of price and bottles count, making sure even late comers...

Jim Beam Double Oak, 43 % The Jim Beam Double Oak was recently added as a new core expression to the Jim Beam line-up. This is what they say about Jim Beam Double Oak on the official website: “[..] unblended bourbon whiskey that was aged a second time in a new American white oak cask, following […]...

After the amazing day on Islay visiting Laphroaig Distillery: Could day 2 possibly be better? Lagavulin Distillery Rachel (Wild and Magic Islay) picked us up after breakfast Thursday 15 september 2016. The first stop that day was Lagavulin Distillery where Sara (at 09:30am!) took us through five glasses of Lagavulin, each paired with different chocolates. […]...

In the UK, Bonfire Night has barely passed before stores put up their Christmas decorations and supermarkets launch their heartstring-tugging festive adverts. Not so in the USA, where my home country sets its sights on the most patriotic holiday of them all: Thanksgiving.

Politics in the USA is incredibly divisive, but one thing most Americans can agree on is the joy of getting nearly a half a working week off to celebrate Thanksgiving.

What’s great about this holiday, and why Americans love it so much, is that it is an American holiday that no one else celebrates. We invented it...

Christmas is a time to relax and enjoy a well-earned rest, accompanied by delicious food and drink. It’s also a time for festive parties and friends popping round at a moment’s notice, so it’s important to have a well-stocked drinks cabinet. But don’t panic – we’ve picked five essential bottles that are all crowd-pleasers, and will ensure your guests go home happy.

Your five festive essentials: whisky, port, Champagne, vermouth and Cognac

1. WHISKY

Well, you wouldn’t expect us to start with anything else, would you? If you’re after a versatile dram, you can’t go wrong with Benriach 12 Year...

Throughout the year, The Nectar has been releasing Anniversary Edition bottlings. Number 9 in this series is this 24 years old Highland Park 1992 .

Highland Park 24 yo 1992 (50%, The Nectar of the Daily Drams 2016)

Nose: lovely fruity start, with plenty of apples and fresh oranges, moving towards grapefruits and a Clynelish-like waxy, mineral side. Hints of heather and dried herbs. Ginger, perhaps a hint of eucalyptus. Soft smoky touches. Just a bit of green banana. All good, great spirit and little cask influence. Mouth: same zesty notes, initially lemons, then more luscious pink grapefruit....

A lot of exclusive releases for The Nectar lately on the blog of course – they are probably the biggest whisky importers in our country and obviously they’re doing what they can to impress at their own festival…

This is a bespoke bottling by Compass Box for the Tenth Anniversary of The Nectar in Belgium. John Glaser took some input from The Nectar and created a blended malt with two major parts.

Around 50% is Ardbeg matured in recharred American barrels. The other half is the classic ‘Highland malt’ blend which is used by Compass Box for so many...

This is the other member of the Experimental series so far: Glenfiddich IPA Experiment .

The Speyside Craft Brewery created an IPA using British hops (Challenger hops among others) which was filled into American oak casks that had previously held Glenfiddich for around 12 years. The beer acquired some of the taste of the whisky and was bottled. The casks were then filled with an aged Glenfiddich for a finishing period of a few months.

They didnt’t try to create a whisky that tasted like beer, they were simply aiming for an extra layer of aroma. To me it sounds a...