HE8 His Excellency 8 year old Blended Scotch 40%...

Highland Laird Tennessee Whiskey 2011 (6 year old) 60%

Distilled at George Dickle/ Dist: 2011 Btl: 2016(?)/ Tasted: juni 2016

The nose displays plenty of soft but vibrant herbal rye with dark chocolate, coffee and astringent sour mash notes. However the developing sweet oak balances. Quite spicy with hints of perfumed rye and grippy, spicy rye. Wow! This is a rye fest! A touch of malt biscuits, toasted corn and violets appears with time. Raw and young but showing some lovely complexity and polish.

The palate opens with the soft, toasted corn, treacle, toffee and sweet oak. The herbal rye...

Highland Laird Jura 1988 (22 year old) 52.4%

Bourbon/ Dist: 1988 Btl: 2016(?)/ Tasted: juni 2016

Hard barley, white fruit and cider apple on the nose with hints of lime, greengage and a touch of oak. It develops hints of decomposing rose petals, pear, sweet vanilla, dusty oak, creosote and wet stones.

The palate displays more sweet barley and mature, dusty, sweet oak. Like the nose there is a faint cider apple character with barley husks and oxidised apricot. Edgy and hard with rather intrusive alcohol. Pleasantly spiced finish with a touch of walnut oil, earth and sweet, balsamic notes....

Highland Laird Auchentoshan 1992 (21 year old) 52.1%

Refill Sherry Butt(?)/ Dist: 1992 Btl: 2013(?)/ Tasted: juni 2016

The nose opens with a balsamic character, but it’s not overly dark and quite fresh, which leads me to believe that it’s been aged in a refill Butt. Hints of pruney dried fruit, raisin and green nuts along with a light rose petal note. Pleasantly mature with late olives, citrus and warm spice.

The palate is quite malty with oat cakes and creal, followed by light treacle, rose petals and fresh citrus. Like the nose it is showing a good maturity and...

Highland...

Blackadder Raw Cask Ben Nevis 1996 (18 year old) 53.3%

Dist: 1996 Btl: 2015/ Tasted: juni 2016

Thick, chunky, bready and forsquare with hints of sherry laced prunes, olive oil and dusty, mature oak. Lovely, sub-Armagnac-esque rancio and a touch of buttery/ toasty oak with time. Very complex and impressive.

The palate is moist and juicy with raisin, dates, plum and a touch of coffee and sweet treacle. Like the nose it is pleasantly dusty and mature with a lovely aged rancio. Hints of violets, toast, walnut butter and sweet spice follow. Long and spicy with a touch of crisp,...

Douglas Laing Old Particular Loch Lomond Grain 1996 (19 year old) 51.5%...

Mackmyra 2002 12 YO Reserve Cask #02-165, 43,1 % I am reviewing a private cask from Mackmyra today. Since this is not to be considered an official product I am not including this review in the Nordic Whisky review series. It is quite interesting to have a chance to taste a 12 year old Nordic whisky […]...

Chichibu 2010 5 YO Cask #745, 61,4 % Here is a special treat. A single cask whisky from Japanese distillery Chichibu, released by independent bottler Blackadder. The Chichibu 2010 5 YO Cask #745 has been fully matured in an ex Cognac cask (cask #745). It was distilled on 2010-03-25, bottled in april 2015 and the total […]...

As well as showing off his impressive rum range, Foursquare master distiller Richard Seale was a man on a mission at the latest tasting at The Whisky Exchange’s Covent Garden shop this week. The big issue for Seale is the way rums are classified by colour, as opposed to the way they’re made.

One of Foursquare’s stills

Seale has devised a new structure for the way rums are labelled, named after his business partner Luca Gargano of rum importer Velier . Seale said: ‘We are proposing a new rum classification. We have to get away from talking about rum in...

This undisclosed whisky from “a Speyside distillery” was distilled oktober 1977 and bottled by Whisky-Doris in december 2015. Looking at the specifications and the dark colour, this could be similar to the one bottled by Sansibar .

Speyside 38 yo 1977 (47%, Whisky-Doris 2015, sherry butt #25, 578 btl.)

Nose: one of the most sherried expressions among all these undisclosed Speysiders. Plenty of raisins, fruit cake and tobacco, this time also stronger associations of coffee, dark chocolate and walnuts. Prunes and dates add some sweetness. Hints of cured meat as well. Very rich. Mouth: high octane sherry, with...

The last Octomore I tried was 06.3, the Islay Barley edition. This is Octomore 07.1 , which went up to 208 ppm of phenols in the smoked malt. That’s pretty heavy but not the peatiest they’ve ever produced, although you should also keep in mind that this ppm isn’t necessarily an indication of the smokiness of the distilled spirit, only of the malt that was used.

Octomore 07.1 ‘Scottish Barley’ 5 yo 2009 (59,5%, OB 2015, 208 ppm)

Nose: very peaty, but – we say this every time, don’t we – not as gobsmackingly peaty as you maj...

The Whisky Exchange / Speciality Drinks are working overtime. We’ve had new Signatory exclusives , then a new batch of Single Malts of Scotland and now four new Elements of Islay bottlings:

• Elements of Islay Ar6 (Ardbeg)
• Elements of Islay Ln1 (Lochindaal, medium peated Bruichladdich)
• Elements of Islay Lp7 (Laphroaig)
• Elements of Islay Ma1 (Margadale, heavily peated Bunnahabhain)

Let me know which one you’d like to have reviewed first. I’m thinking Lochindaal majbe?

Also new, and expected early augusti, is Exile Casks The Wanderer , a follow-up for their Trojan release. It’s called The Wanderer because...

Better late than never but it’s about time I’ll check out the latest batch of Scallywag Cask Strength. I had the magical opportunity to be at Douglas Laing HQ when the original Scallyway was released and I loved it so lets check it out and see if this batch of the Cask Strength (4800 bottles) manages to keep up to the high standard of the original.

Douglas Laing Scallywag Cask Strength Batch #2 (54.1%, £45.98 / €54,90 )

Nose : Malty which isn’t surprising as I assume it will be young, and energetic (thanks to those extra %), strong sherry impact, dried berries,...

An undeniable highlight among the new bottlings in the Single Malts of Scotland series is this Bunnahabhain 1980 . A sherry butt which was bottled in 2014 but released just now, two years later.

Bunnahabhain 34 yo 1980 (46,6%, Single Malts of Scotland 2014, sherry butt #847945, 257 btl.)

Nose: yes, yes, richness and delicacy all the way. Classic fruity notes (oranges, dried apricots, pineapple), with a light waxy edge and some leathery touches. Cinnamon and mint. Also almond notes and restrained oak. In the background I got a slight burnt sugar note. Mouth: fruity start (rhubarb jam,...

Going back to Scotland after a short detour to SA, let’s check another one from the latest batch of The Whisky Exchange exclusives, a peated young Caol Ila.

It’s a 2007 vintage that was bottled in maj 2016 making it a 8 Year Old whisky. 320 bottles were bottled from this 200L barrel thanks to a non cask strength ABV of 46%.

Caol Ila 2007 8 Year Old Signatory Vintage for TWE (46%,  £55.95 , Cask #315325)

Nose : Starts with sweet peat and smoke which mostly dissipate after a minute or two. I have to say I was a bit surprised to notice...