Earlier today I published some big  Glenmorangie news  and I thought it merit a self-punishment of sitting down and finally completing the cobwebs-coated blog post detailing my visit at Glenmorangie last augusti.

Like I said, I visit Glenmorangie last augusti, but it wasn’t a planned visit and I didn’t book a tour. We were on the way south to from Old Pulteney (my visit recap is here ) toward Dornoch Castle and then Inverness. It was rainy and foggy on the coastal road but just as were near Tain, the skies were mostly blue with a few scattered clouds and then there was a...

Seems like today is Glenmorangie Day on the blog. We have some big Glenmorangie news (With massive thanks Tom for delivering the news!) and later today we’ll have another blog post with a review and short recap (and many photos) from the distillery visit last summer. But first things first: the news!

First of all, there’s a new Glenmorangie Travel Retail bottling out there called “ Glenmorangie Tayne “. Yes, it’s Tayne and not Tain (Tayne is an older form of Tain).

Glenmorangie Tayne is whisky matured in amontillado casks, without an age statement, bottled at 43% ABV and currently is priced...

Kilkerran WIP 7 Sherry Wood, NAS, 46 % I cannot believe I have never reviewed any of the Kilkerran releases from Glengyle Distillery here before. What happened?! majbe I was too pre-occupied with their much more famous neighbor, Springbank? Well, time to change that. William Mitchell founded the original Glengyle distillery back in 1872, and […]...

It’s obvious why this Bowmore 30 Year Old was nicknamed The Seadragon . It’s presented in a ceramic bottle, as part of a small series that also included a 22 and 25 Year Old (‘Seagull’).

From what I’ve found, the first release was in 1996, with two more releases in 2003 and 2006 (for Asia). The last edition was in 2012, in the current style, straighter (glass) bottles.

Bowmore 30 yo ‘Sea dragon’ (43%, OB +/- 2003)

Nose: papaya, mint and subtle smoke. Very smooth, with overripe tropical fruits in the background (oranges with a bit of mango and melon...

As part of their 200th anniversary celebrations, Laphroaig released multiple exciting expressions in 2015 – from the “hero coming back home” 15 yo , through the 21 yo and up to the 32yo . The last Laphroaig expression from 2015 not yet reviewed is the 16 year old that is targeted exclusively at the Travel Retail market and it’s time to amend this!

Laphroaig 16 is the second expression this year that is bottled in half size bottles of 350ml (35cl). The first one to do so was the 21 yo that was available for FoL members and the decision deemed smart...

Whisky Saga is a blog, started in januari 2012, covering the topic of whisky in the broadest sense. The main reason why I continue to spend a lot of time and energy on the blog is that I am passionate about whisky, and I want to share this passion. Whisky is liquid sunshine. Whisky is […]...

Here is the first list of releases for 2016. These 23 whiskies are released at the government owned Vinmonopolet stores on Friday januari 8 at 8 am. The only new regular inclusion in the base selection (basis) is the Talisker Skye, the rest of these are on special order (bestillingsutvalg). A few of these are […]...

2015 was as busy as ever, with loads of new drinks appearing on our shelves and more customers than ever before – thank you for making it such a success. It’s now 2016, and that can mean only one thing: time for our round-up of the past year.

Tastings at TWE Vinopolis

It’s been a bit of a year for our London Bridge shop. We had loads of great tastings, but while it gained a new sibling – The Whisky Exchange Shop at Covent Garden  – it also, sadly, closed. Vinopolis, the building where we were based, is being redeveloped,...

The tenth release from Eiling Lim already: Glenlossie 1992 .

Glenlossie 23 yo 1992 (51,1%, Eiling Lim 2015, 100 btl.)

Nose: a bit shy at first and rather unmodern. Hints of flax and waxy crayons. Apple peel, overripe melon and boiled grains. Hay and old flowers. Wet limestone and chalk. Whiffs of linseed oil and eucalyptus as well. I would probably have guessed this was a Lowlands nose. Mouth: still a subdued, green fruitiness, with more grassy notes and flashes of minerals. Vague peaches but they are gone quickly. Chamomile tea. Faint floral notes. Liquorice and herbal potions,...

Box Whisky The Messenger, 3 YO, 48,4 % Here we are then, ready to review the fourth and final release in the Early Days Collection from Swedish distillery Box Whisky. The Box Whisky The Messenger was released on december 4 2015. The details about this expression is in short as follows: 76 % of the whisky […]...

Last month Kilchoman Distillery auctioned a single bottle from the first cask that was filled in the distillery in december 2005. All the proceeds went toward The Beatson Cancer Charity (a very worthy cause!) and the winner had to shell £7,000 to enjoy the bottle and the first 10 year old Kilchoman whisky.

However, it’s not the first bottling to use whisky from this cask. During Feis Ile 2015, Kilchoman released a special bottle to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the distillery and check this paragraph from their website:

The 10th anniversary release is a vatting of sherry and bourbon casks...

Region – Bangalore, India – ABV – 62.8%

True story:

A handful of months back  my company bottled a 5yo single cask of Amrut under our Single Cask Nation label (as of 4th Jan, 2016, we still have a handful bottles left, btw).

Around this time, a single cask of Amrut was bottled for the WhiskyBase shop out of the Netherlands.

Back in november 2015, Serge Valentin over at the wonderful whiskyfun.com reviewed 6 different Amruts . Both our bottling and the WhiskyBase bottling were amongst the reviews and we both captured the highest rating of 89 points !

As...

If you’re a fan of rum then you’ve probably heard of Plantation . Exploding onto the scene a few years back, they’ve already grown to become one of the most-awarded rum bottlers in the world, including one gong that we (modestly) think is worth trumpeting – The Whisky Exchange Spirit of the Year 2016 .

While it was the Plantation Barbados Extra Old 20th Anniversary rum that caught our eye this time, they’ve long been a favourite at The Whisky Exchange – along with great drinks, we also like a good story, and Plantation’s origins are very different from other rum bottlers....

While the regular Hedonism is a vatted grain, this Compass Box Hedonism – 10th Anniversary Limited Edition was a single grain whisky, distilled in 1971 at the Invergordon distillery.

Contrary to other Compass Box releases, this was bottled from a single cask , which means it was very very limited.

Invergordon 38 yo 1971 Hedonism – 10th Anniversary (46%, Compass Box 2010, cask #3, 120 btl.)

Nose: closer to a good bourbon than a grain whisky, I’d say. Nice leather and banana notes, some toasted oak and wood glue / varnish. Vanilla cake. Quite fruity (figs, cherries). Hints...

Today we have a review of the last of the four samples that spearheaded “The Wood Makes the Whisky” Campaign from Gordon & MacPhail. It’s a Glen Grant that was distilled way back in 1954 and was bottled in 2006 for a whopping 52 years in the cask.

While G&M did release recently a 65 year old Glen Grant (for Wealth Solutions), even this ‘young’ whisky can teach us a lot on cask selection. Think about it: 52 years in the cask. You can’t pick up just any cask if you want the whisky to age well for such long time...

Today Whisky Saga actually turns 4 YO! I never quite expected it to last this long when I started my first few (horrible) articles in early januari 2012. Now here I am, typing up my review of 2015. It’s been one fantastic ride so far, and I have no plans of stopping just yet. 2015 […]...

Region – Islay – ABV – 63.8% – now sold out but was $228 .

A bit of a rarity here – an independently bottled single cask of Octomore which was bottled at 6 years of age at the nice ABV of 63.8%.

Being that Comus 4.2 (Bruichladdich’s 5yo Sauternes cask matured Octomore)  was easily my favorite Octomore (still to this date), when I saw this bottling released, I had to have one.

The difficult part for me was in purchasing a bottling from an independent bottler I was not familiar with.  The packaging seemed nice enough and, hey, single...