In 2010 the Belgian whisky shop TastToe presented six whiskies from the 1960s, bottled under their own label to celebrate a new logo and restyling of the shop:

None of the bottles has a bottling date, nor an age statement, and as there were only 24 bottles of each, it’s safe to assume they were shared casks. While researching this Glenrothes, I stumbled upon a Peerless series from Duncan Taylor . One of their batches has exactly the same whiskies, all bottled at exactly the same strengths, with more details:

• Bowmore 40yo 1968 , cask #3824 (42,3%)
• Glenrothes 40yo...

Invergordon 1973 Distilling is an Art, 42 YO, 52,4 % This rare, old Invergordon grain whisky is a joint release from two independent bottlers in Belgium; Liquid Art and Beacon Spirits. The Invergordon 1973 Distilling is an Art was distilled in 1973 and bottled in 2016. The type of cask used is not specified, but it is […]...

Labor Day maj be the unofficial close of summer, but with sunny skies here in the northeast we’re celebrating with a few luxury whisky wearables, crafted from the barrels that once housed some delicious spirits.

Glenmorangie has collaborated with British eyewear company Finlay & Co., manufacturers of wooden sunglasses, to create some stylish shades from American white oak casks that previously housed Glenmorangie whisky. The exclusive sunglasses are individually numbered and stamped with their Glenmorangie pedigree ($450). There’s no whiff of whisky remaining; the supple texture and fresh sanded aroma of the unfinished wood is more reminiscent of high school...

Growing Malagousia at Ktima Gerovassiliou in Greece

Before I started writing about whisky, I wrote about wine . It’s still one of my favourite things, and no matter how many whisky dinners I attend, for me, wine is the best thing to pair with food. When I was getting into wine, I didn’t know where to start. Should I choose a bottle by country? By style? Price? But the more I learned, I realised that the single-biggest factor in a wine’s flavour is the grape variety.

We all enjoy the big four – Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah/Shiraz...

This Longmorn 1969 ‘Book of Kells’ is one of the benchmark (sherried) Longmorns and I’m quite excited to try it.

This bottle comes with two different back labels. Bottles n°001 to 192 are bottled for The Mash Tun & Kask Tokyo , while n°193 to 460 are bottled for Japan Import System . We’re trying the JIS version.

When I see the name Japan Import System , Longmorn is my first association. They also bottled 1969 cask #5293 in the same year – and several more legendary Longmorns from 1964-1965-1966- 1967 .

Longmorn 39 yo 1969...

The cheapest option in the Fortuna Merita Collection from The Dalmore (see The Dalmore Luceo that we tried earlier). The Dalmore Regalis was finished in Amoroso sherry casks.

The name Amoroso isn’t allowed on the labels of sherry bottles any more (you have to call it Medium or Cream now, depending on the amount of sugar), but González Byass and The Dalmore insist on using it for their sherry casks. Anyway it is an Oloroso sweetened by adding a bit of Pedro Ximénez.

As a side note: González Byass used to call its Amoroso sherry Bristol Milk , as a...

Aberlour A’bunadh Batch #55, NAS, 60,9 % Time to review another release in the long running A’bunadh series from Aberlour. The Aberlour A’bunadh Batch #55 is currently on sale, although not in Norway as the ABV is above 60 % (Yeah, I know, stupid old rules). The A’bunadh series has been running since 1997. The […]...

Benromach Hermitage 2007

Release: september 2016 Price: £40 Proof: 90 Availability: 3,300 bottles Style: Single malt scotch

Need to know: Initially matured in bourbon barrels for 6 years, the spirit was transferred to oak casks that once nurtured wine from the Hermitage wine region of France, and finished for a further 31 months.

Whisky Advocate says: Since being brought back to life by independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail in 1998, Benromach has applied creativity to classic Speyside malts, with previous releases of Benromach Wood Finish expressions including an Hermitage 2005, Château Cissac 2006, and Sassicaia 2007.  The Hermitage Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée,...

As soon as you look beyond the whiskies released by distilleries, there’s a whole new world out there – the world of independent bottlers .

Distilleries don’t own every cask of whisky hidden in the warehouses of Scotland. They might make the spirit, but as soon as it leaves the still, all bets are off. Distillers swap and sell both new spirit and casks of mature whisky, and behind the scenes there is a network of brokers who keep the whole process running.

The end result is that there are lots of other whisky companies out there, independent of the distilleries who made the...

The Syndicate is synonymous to a series of Lagavulin expressions bottled in the 1990s and 2000s. There are several 14yo, 15yo, 20yo, 25yo, 30yo…

The Syndicate was a group of gentlemen who selected casks they liked and then had them bottled by their friends from the independent bottler Murray McDavid which in turn was related to Bruichladdich, until it was sold in 2013 to the whisky broker Aceo Ltd. The Syndicate’s bottlings are well respected and widely considered to be of very high quality.

There’s also an earlier (1993-1994) version of a Lagavulin 15yo with the same strength but a slightly...

Sister distilleries Glen Scotia and Loch Lomond will launch seven expressions in the travel retail market. Prices range from around € 35 to € 90, and it’s quite an untraditional list of whiskies, if you ask me:

• Loch Lomond Single Grain (distilled with malted barley)
• Loch Lomond Signature , a blend produced in a 100-cask solera process
• Loch Lomond 12 year old , a single malt which contains spirit from two types of stills
• Loch Lomond Inchmurrin Madeira , a second single malt which comes exclusively from their pot stills with the rectifying head
• Glen Scotia Campbeltown 1832
• Glen Scotia...

Today’s dram is another fine example from Gordon & Macphail “The Wood Makes the Whisky” campaign. It’s a 16 or 17 years old BenRiach, distilled in 1997 and bottled in 2014 and it was matured in refill Sherry hogshead casks.

BenRiach 1997 Connoisseurs Choice (46%, Bottled 2014, £58.50 )

Nose : Elegant and light sherry notes at first: sweet dried fruit with some fresh berries thrown in for a good measure accompanied by cinnamon. Then honey, cereals, pears and white fruit, soft and creamy vanilla with crushed nuts, quite a rich nose and after a while the lovely sherry notes comes...

A couple of months back a few good friends of mine and I got the brilliant idea to try and set a new ‘world record’ in tasting the most Springbank whiskies in one day. We wanted to have a Springbank Extravaganza! We pooled our resources (ie. our respective Springbank collections), and decided on a date. Why Springbank, […]...

The undisclosed Islay malt Finlaggan released a limited edition vintage distillation for Feis Ile 2016 . It was only available at The Islay Whisky Shop in Bowmore during the festival.

Rumour has it that The Vintage Maltwhisky Co uses mainly Lagavulin , but also Caol Ila or Laphroaig casks to create their Finlaggan whiskies.

Finlaggan 2006 (50%, OB for Feis Ile 2016, single hogshead, 350 btl.)

Nose: quite pungent and incisive, with lots of iodine, seashells and saline peat. Nice camphor. It opens up nicely, with some citrusy hints. and a good dose of malty notes. A...