The appeal of Halloween fades every year for 20- and 30-somethings when they catch a glimpse of themselves in a shop window dressed as Dracula before hopping onto the tube at 6pm.

We appreciate that turning up to Halloween parties fully-costumed is (for some) no longer viable – a sobering moment, for sure, but we’ve got you covered. If you don’t fancy donning a costume on Halloween, here are some must-have props that will help you celebrate in style.

1. PISTONHEAD CRUDE OIL LIQUORICE CHILLI LIQUEUR

Great name. Turn up with a bottle of this under your arm and you...

Wemyss Malts – Batch Strength is a new series of cask strength versions of the existing The Hive , Spice King and Peat Chimney , three blended malts that have been around for quite a while now.

The Batch Strength releases have been selected and blended with casks of single malt whiskies from over 10 Scottish distilleries.

They seem to have dropped the 8 Year / 12 Year age statements that were on the previous lower-strength bottlings. All of them will be available soon for around € 50-55.

Wemyss The Hive ‘Batch strength’ (54,5%, Wemyss Malts...

The new Time series from The Whisky Exchange also includes this Glen Moray 8 Year Old . Perhaps a lesser known name, but one that shouldn’t be underestimated .

Glen Moray 8 yo (57,8%, The Whisky Exchange ‘Time series’ 2016, 251 btl.)

Nose: nice. There’s a sweet fruitiness, some light herbal notes (thyme syrup) and lemon candy. Unripe pineapple. Gummi bears. Vanilla biscuits and rice custard sprinkled with cinnamon. A light hint of wax and gouache as well. A pleasant surprise, young, very vibrant. Mouth: same brightness and sweet side. Plenty of citrusy freshness, sherbet notes and tinned...

Compass Box Spice Tree Extravaganza is a special edition which celebrates the tenth anniversary of the original blended malt The Spice Tree.

It was composed as an older version of the original, with more first-fill sherry cask influence and some of the hybrid casks that had Sessile oak cask heads. It includes malt whiskies from Glen Ord , Benrinnes , Allt-a-Bhainne , Clynelish , Dailuaine and Teaninich .

Spice Tree Extravaganza (46%, Compass Box 2016, 12.240 btl.)

Nose: rather sweet, with a round fruitiness.  Blackberries and raspberries, plum jam, peach candy and baked pear. Rather candied. Some vanilla...

One of the most anticipated expressions in Diageo’s Special Releases , now that most of the others are aimed at collectors: Lagavulin 12 Year Old .

Actually for me this is also one of the most boring releases. Not that it’s bad whisky, but the fact that it’s always there and always good makes me more interested in the truly special releases somehow. In any case it’s a favourite of many whisky lovers, for good reason.

Lagavulin 12 yo (57,7%, OB 2016, 16th release)

Nose: it seems to be getting more fierce (some would say more focused) year after year....

Glenfiddich Project XX (‘Project Twenty’) is part of a new Experimental Series , together with the Glenfiddich IPA . Glenfiddich maj not have a long-time fame for being the most creative or experimental distillery, but they’re proving us wrong by releasing the first of supposedly many new, unique experiments. The concepts will be very wide, from wood experiments over different yeast strains and malt types to conceptual compositions.

Project XX is a vatting made by all twenty brand ambassadors of Glenfiddich . They came together at the distillery and picked six casks each, based on the age, wood type and...

Craigellachie will soon launch a Double Casked Limited Edition , a 21 years old whisky, distilled in 1994 and bottled at cask strength 56,2%. Not much details about the cask are given on the label, but should be a robust whisky, lusciously spiced, with vanilla and aniseed, imbued with the richness of Oloroso sherry . Only 456 bottles are available.

Tullibardine launched a 46 years old 1970 vintage in the Custodians Collection . It is bottled at 40,5% (supposedly cask strength) and only 400 bottles are available. It is composed from two sherry hogsheads, both first- and second-fill.

Ledaig seems...

Arran 1999 10 YO Flying Peacock (for Juul’s), 58,1 % Just a quick review today, as I am more busy than usual. This is an old Arran bottling for the great whisky shop Juul’s in Copenhagen. The Arran 1999 10 YO Flying Peacock was distilled on 1999-09-28, matured in a single Amontillado sherry butt (cask #29), and […]...

A single bottle of Yamazaki 50 year old set the new world record for the most expensive standard-sized bottle of whisky sold at auction. The record-breaking hammer price of $109,585/£84,520/HK$850,000 was set at Poly Auction, Hong Kong this month during their Prestige Collections sale (with buyer’s premiums added: HK$1,003,000).

The first release of Yamazaki 50 year old became the most expensive Japanese whisky on the market on its release in 2005, priced at ¥1,000,000, equivalent to approximately $9,500, or just 8.6% of its new record auction price. This Japanese single Maltwhisky was distilled in the 1950s and fully matured...

The Half-Century Blend is the third release by The Blended Whisky Company , a subsidiary of Master of Malt / Atom Supplies.

This blend is over 50 years old and contains malt and grain whiskies distilled before the ‘whisky boom’ of the late 1960s and 1970s – before the shift towards increased yields, they say. In a way this blend honours less efficient barley strains, floor maltings, inefficient yeasts, lenghty fermentation times and direct-fired stills.

The Half-Century Blend 50 yo (45,5%, Master of Malt 2016, Batch #1, 768 btl.)

Nose: lovely buttery apple aromas, alongside polished furniture and warm...

In times when distilleries are hiding the age of their whiskies because they fear consumers would think the price is not justified, artisan whisky creators Compass Box add a couple of litres of 3 years old whisky to an otherwise old blended malt. They prominently name it 3 Year Old Deluxe and thus probably create the most expensive 3 year-old in the history of Scotch whisky.

Is that a middle finger or what? And beautiful PR as well. It’s sad that some people were appalled by the price and didn’t get the joke…

They are not legally allowed to disclose...