Glenmorangie 25 Year Old ‘Quarter Century’ was launched in 2010. It is the oldest member of the core range and was composed of American oak barrels, Oloroso sherry casks and French burgundy casks.

Glenmorangie 25 yo ‘Quarter Century’ (43%, OB +/- 2014)

Nose: a tad ‘darker’ than I expected. Lots of apricots, honeydew melon, mirabelles, majbe strawberries, vanilla and beeswax. Ripe yellow plums. Also pollen, some almonds and biscuity notes. Honey. Some floral notes too. Great profile. Mouth: again very fruity, with a creamy texture. Almonds, praline, with some Caperdonich-like jammy fruits in the background. Apricots. Bramble....

It’s no news that Diageo release 2 affordable whiskies each year with their Special Releases annual series, The Lagavulin 12 and an unpeated release from Caol Ila.

The Lagavulin 12 2015 was already reviewed here  (very favorable), so let’s check the other candidate this year: a 17 yo unpeated Caol Ila.

Interesting to see that it boast a jump of two years over last year’s release so it’s not coming from the same stock.

Caol Ila 17 Unpeated Style (Special Releases 2015) (55.9%,  £89.95 / €107 / $144.99 )

Nose : Dusty, oh so dusty, much more dusty than the 15 yo, that I had to...

Not all whisky releases were born equal as some of those releases are highly sought after for various reasons such as excellence, investment, collectability, distillery preference, etc. But setting price to such whiskies is a tricky job. Take the new Springbank Local Barley 16 YO as an example.

The Springbank Local Barley series has a great reputation, and Springbank has a large group of loyal followers and since the last LB bottling was in 2001, it’s understandable why it flew off the shelves in a matter of hours, even with quite a large batch size of 9000 bottles and a RRP of £95....

Kininvie 17 YO Batch 001, 42,6 % The Kininvie 17 YO Batch 001 is a Travel retail exclusive from the ‘hidden distillery’ that is located more or less in the backyard of Balvenie Distillery. This whisky consists of single malt where 80% has been matured in 1st fill ex-bourbon casks, and 20 % in sherry […]...

Teerenpeli Distiller’s Choice KARHI, 6 YO, 43 % Time for another new release from Teerenpeli distillery in Finland. This is the fourth new release from them in just a few months. The Teerenpeli Distiller’s Choice KARHI has matured for 5-7 years in bourbon casks, and was then finished for 1 year in 1st fill Madeira […]...

With a year of 200th birthday celebrations behind them, you’d think that the folks at  Laphroaig might want to have a rest. That’s not their style, and they have kicked off 2016 with a new ongoing release – Laphroaig Lore .

The idea behind Laphroaig Lore comes in two parts – the taste and the name. The former  comes from Laphroaig’s tagline: ‘the most richly flavoured of all Scotch whiskies’. While Laphroaig is typically pretty rich – smoky and intensely flavoured – there isn’t a whisky in the lineup designated ‘the most richly flavoured of all Laphroaig whiskies’. With the release...

It should be obvious that Blairfindy is synonymous for Glenfarclas . This 1968 cask was bottled by Blackadder in 2004 in the Raw Cask series.

Glenfarclas ‘Blairfindy’ 35 yo 1968 (53,7%, Blackadder 2004, cask #4161, ref #BA 2004/203, 406 btl.)

Nose: nice old-style sherry, quite dry. Lots of chocolate notes but also smoke, bread crust and praline. Some raisins but without the sweetness, if that makes sense. Roasted almonds. Herbal notes, giving way to musty cellars and old books. Mouth: more sweetness and more fruity notes, some jammy hints and fruit eau-de-vie. Again some chocolate and rum &...

As ever, Batch 54 of Aberlour a’bunadh has been drawn from Oloroso sherry butts. Around 60-80 casks are used for each batch, which are bottled with no chill filtering and no colour added.

Aberlour a’bunadh (60,7%, OB 2016, Oloroso sherry butts, batch n°54)

Nose: impressive. Lots of raisins, blackberries and rich cherry liqueur. Black Forest cake. Spicy figs and hints of tobacco leaves. Also bright oranges. Hints of brioche with a burnt edge. Whiffs of old cellars and oak dust as well. Very nice, on par with some of the best GlenDronach single casks that are much more...

Kininvie 23 YO Signature, 42,6 % With this brand new release William Grant & Sons, the owner of Kininvie Distillery, have decided to move away from numbered batches of their 23 YO. The Kininvie 23 YO Signature is the first core expression from the distillery. They have previously released three numbered batches of the 23 YO (see […]...

A few weeks ago, Longmorn launched The Distiller’s Choice , a NAS expression which replaces the old Longmorn 16 Year Old. This new release is a triple cask matured single malt (hogsheads, Oloroso sherry casks and ex-bourbon barrels).

The 16yo had a lot of fans and they will probably not be happy with the drop in alcohol from 48% to 40%, the lack of an age statement (I assume this is now under 10 years old) and a price level that’s almost the same. Also the name is slightly paradoxical, suggesting some kind of special selection or something premium in...

The inevitable has happened and it seems finally that an aged Ardbeg release, at least according to the new label that popped up on the TTB site, will be on shelves later this year.

It’s been like forever since we saw a new age statement Ardbeg (especially if you exclude ardbog, aged 10yo but not it wasn’t mentioned on the label) and it makes me giddy with excitement and also fills me with dread from the expected price tag (which I bet will be around the £250-£300 mark).

If you put aside the excitement and the fact that most of...

A new TTB approval revealed the label of an upcoming Ardbeg 21 Year Old , matured in 200-liter ex-bourbon casks (typical bourbon barrels). It will be bottled at 46% alc./vol.

The back label says:

Ardbeg Twenty One. A rare glimpse into Ardbeg’s precarious past. A shining example of its unwavering quality. This momentous bottling contains whisky distilled during some of the most precarious days of Ardbeg’s past, when only a handful of casks were set aside. Sumptuous and soothing, melding pepper, rye and Ardbeg’s famous peaty smoke, this is a golden dram born from adversity, determination and dedication.

We...

Highland Park Ice Edition, 17 YO, 53,9 % Just last week Highland Park distillery on Orkney launched their new whisky; the Highland Park Ice Edition. This is their first special release since they finished the The Valhalla Collection with the great Odin. The Valhalla bottlings came in wooden cradles shaped like longships. The Highland Park Ice Edition […]...

A while ago I reviewed  Macallan Rare Cask Black but it was not the first expression in the Rare Cask line up as before the Black there was the blank one ;-) (Or if you prefer, the one without an adjective). The Rare Cask whisky was released in the US late 2014 and it arrived to UK/Europe mid 2015.

In line with all their recent releases, this one is a NAS whisky and bottled at 43% so I assume it was chill filtered (the Rare Cask Black is bottled at 48% and non chill-filtered). So while the Rare Cask Black predecessor is lacking...