Another Deanston whisky review but this time it’s a limited edition cask strength Oloroso sherry whisky. Until now the widely available official releases have been ex-bourbon based, with special editions (such as Deanston Spanish Oak, wine casks and BYO) available at the distillery only, so it’s a good sign that Deanston embraces the sherry route for wider availability – we even got a few bottles of this in Israeli stores!

Deanston 20 Year Old (55.3%, 8400 bottles,  £100 / €129,50 )

Nose : The creamy note is apparent here, with sweet honey and butterscotch, but slowly the sherry influence sneaks onto...

World Whiskies Awards 2016 World’s Best Single Malt: Old Pulteney Vintage 1989 World’s Best Single Malt Single Cask: Kavalan Solist Amontillado Sherry Single Cask Strength World’s Best Blended: Suntory Hibiki 21 Years Old World’s Best Blended Limited Release: Glen Alba 22 Years Old World’s Best Blended Malt: Reference Series III.2 World’s Best Bourbon: Abraham Bowman […]...

Talisker Skye, NAS, 45,8 % The Talisker Skye is the latest NAS addition to the core range from Talisker Distillery. It was released around one year ago. Talisker Skye has been matured in a combination of refill American oak ex-bourbon casks and rejuvenated (freshly charred) casks. We are told this cask selection will give us a whisky […]...

Nick Morgan is a very public face of Diageo as their head of whisky outreach.  He’s a roving, yet targeted, advocate of Diageo’s whiskies, not to mention new developments.

He started working life as an academic – a historian – who taught history at Glasgow University and came into whisky marketing by an unusual route: working on all the Diageo archive material. Known also for his guitar-playing talents and a fondness for jazz and blues, he always presents, debates, and responds to questions in a very considered fashion. I caught him just after a recent visit to the U.S.

You seem...

Today is the start of Whisky Live London (tickets still available here ) and that means that last night marked the announcement of the winners of the World Whiskies Awards 2016 .

The World Whiskies Awards judges – if you look very carefully you can see the top of my head

I’ve been a judge for the awards for the past two years, and have been waiting patiently since the beginning of februari to find out which whiskies have won this time. The judging process began back in december, when the panel of judges received packs of anonymously labelled samples...

Tomorrow is St Patrick’s Day, and while I will inevitably drink a pint of Guinness and a shot of Jameson , I try to spend the day looking at another side of Irish drinks. Last year I delved into the world of Irish cream liqueurs , but this time I’ve decided to step further back into Ireland’s drinking history and look at the original Irish spirit – poteen aka poitín .

These days, whiskey is the best-known spirit produced in Ireland, but back before commercial distilling, poteen was what people made and drank. Poitín, pronounced ‘potcheen’ and often anglicised as poteen...

This is from a rare heavily peated run at Jura distillery . It was distilled on 17 december 1989 and bottled on 10 april 2015 by Signatory Vintage .

Similar barrels in the #30700-30730 range have been bottled in the past few years.

Isle of Jura 25 yo 1989 (60,9%, Signatory Vintage 2015, bourbon barrel #30729, 194 btl.)

Nose: like it. A layered nose, with obvious peat, ink and soot. A few tarry notes and maritime elements. It combines nicely with a big vanilla sweetness (custard) and something of strawberry marshmallow. Also herbal / floral notes. Mouth: a...

One of the single casks in Batch 12: BenRiach 1995 cask #74743 . It was bottled from a bourbon barrel .

BenRiach 20 yo 1995 (58,9%, OB 2015, bourbon barrel #74743, 186 btl.)

Nose: could be the profile of an aged grain whisky, or a virgin oak maturation. Think lots of vanilla, coconut cream and a tropical fruitiness (pineapple, melon). marshmallows. Hints of cinnamon rolls and fig jam. Mouth: punchy, very thick with a syrupy sweetness. Big vanilla, big coconut, some banana and maple syrup. Some citrus candy. Cinnamon rolls and marshmallows again. Hints of mint as well...

This is the second release in the Springbank Green series, denoting the barley used in the production was organic. It has been matured for 13 years in sherry casks , following on from last year’s 12 year old bourbon matured version .

Springbank 13 yo ‘Green’ (46%, OB 2015, sherry casks, 9000 btl.)

Nose: quite malty / porridgy at first (Frosties) just like the 12yo, but sweeter this time, with more baked apple and hints of raisins. Pear drops. Also coastal notes and leathery overtones. Very light hints of damp earth. Mouth: sweet, with lovely fruity notes to...

Burns Stewart Distillers were busy last year with many new releases, from the 18yo for Deanston and Ledaig up to the 42yo Ledaig. I have found out (via Michael ) that BSD official importer in Israel managed to bring a few crates of those new releases so it’s a good excuse to review some of them.

The first one on the operation table is the Deanston 18 Year Old. It was aged in hogsheads and then finished in first fill ex-bourbon casks for extra sweetness. As usual with BSD, it was bottled at the customary ABV of 46.3%

Deanston 18 Year Old...

Glen Grant The Major’s Reserve, 40 % The Glen Grant The Major’s Reserve is an entry level whisky with no age statement from Glen Grant Distillery in Speyside. From what I gather it was released first time around 2010. It is matured exclusively in bourbon casks, and that is about the only information on this whisky on […]...

Box Whisky The Archipelago Baltic Sea 2016, 3 YO, 56,5 % At the Cinderella Whisky Fair 2016 in mid-januari 1000 bottles of the limited release Box Whisky The Archipelago Baltic Sea 2016 were sold. Last year Box Whisky also released a special bottling for the Cinderella Whisky Fair. That was an unpeated release and the […]...

After a whisky-heavy beginning to our tastings calendar, we jumped away from Scotland for something more exotic – Plantation Rum .

Alexandre Gabriel and the TWE Spirit of the Year, Plantation Barbados XO

We were joined for the evening by founder and master blender Alexandre Gabriel, who brought with him a wide range of rums to demonstrate the various different ideas that drive Plantation. If you’d like to learn a bit more about the company, have a read of this post from earlier in the year, but today I’m going to focus on the rum.

In short, Plantation is an...

The highlight of the Fulldram tasting: a single cask Glengoyne 1972 from sherry oak. A winning recipe indeed.

It was distilled in september 1972 and bottled in oktober of 2003.

Glengoyne 31 yo 1972 (56%, OB 2003, sherry cask #2970, 510 btl.)

Nose: very aromatic, with the typical sherry bomb aromas (figs, dates, raisins) but also more juicy fruits. Cherries, blackberries and plenty of redcurrants. A huge amount of polished, exotic wood and dusty books too. Pepper and cardamom. Touches of balsamic and linseed oil. Aniseed. Mouth: big and intense. Huge sherry notes of course. Raisins and blackberries,...

Feis Ile 2016 is not far off, so it’s time for the annual post (third year in a row!) of the Feis Ile Festival bottles.

This year, the festival will run from 21st to 28th maj 2016 with Lagavulin day as the probable highlight of the festival due to the distillery 200th anniversary celebrations (following last year’s events at Laphroaig and Ardbeg), so it will probably be a very interesting and exciting festival (I keep saying that in the annual post, but it’s the truth!).

This post will detail all the available information on the festival bottlings and I’ll update it each...

Arran whisky lovers – rejoice!

The Arran Banner weekly newspaper revealed this weekend (12 mars 2016) that a new distillery site is set to be built in south Arran by Isle of Arran Distillers Ltd.

The proposed new distillery will be located in Lagg and will have a separate visitors center and will produce peated whisky and maj also produce additional spirits.

If all goes according to the plans, work will start in september this year with the goal of completing it by end of 2018.

In addition, the original site in Lochrnza will also be expanded with the addition of...