Ten days has passed by in the BTC 2015 competition and finally we got to taste the ‘special’ Scotch Maltwhisky Society bottling, which seems to be an annual occurrence. Last year we had a 8 yo Balmenach and last night we got to taste this special Glen Moray that was matured in a First-fill Toasted Oak Hogshead. Take this cask with the extra toasting, add a whisky that was matured in it for twenty years, brought us a whisky imparted with flavors that imitate a wine/sherry cask. In short: a perfect candidate to confuse us at the competition.

I couldn’t...

R Delisle Cognac VS 40%

50% Petit Champagne, 50% Fine Bois

3 year old plus spirit/ Tasted: Sept 2015

Crisp, citric and fresh aromas with a good fruit sweetness. Quite spicy – sweet cinnamon spice with a light herbal character.

The palate is soft and elegant, quite fruity and gently spiced with a lightly mineral finish which balances the sweetness of the eaux-de-vie. Good length and finish.

R Delisle Cognac VSOP 40%

50% Petit Champagne, 50% Fine Bois

5 year old plus spirit/ Tasted: Sept 2015

The nose is aromatic, fresh and herbal, which shows a little more aged fruit...

Hyde No1 ‘Presidents Cask’ 10 year old 46%

Cooley bottled by Hibernia Distillers/ First Fill Bourbon finished in first fill Oloroso

Tasted: Sept 2015

A soft nose of herbal accented barley, honey, toffee, banana, malt and a touch of sherried dried fruit, however it’s the American oak which comes through quite strongly. Late hints of chocolate and spice.

The palate opens with the winey, dried fruit, followed by creamy vanilla and hints of malt, barley and apricot. It fills out well on the middle with some gentle bittering spices. Long, citric and slightly chocolaty finish with an almost salty twang...

Highland Laird Williamson 2006 (8 year old) 46%

Bourbon/ Dist: 2006 Btl: 2015/ Tasted: Aug 2015

Named after a remarkable woman called Bessie Williamson, who became the manager of a certain Islay distillery when it was un-mothballed after the end of WWII.

The nose is very buttery and oaky with plenty of sweet and herbal peat. The oak calms down with time and an almost Tequila-esque pulped white fruit note becomes apparent along with hints of rhubarb, manure, cut grass and a faint whiff of aniseed and biscuity spirit notes.

The palate is full and biscuity with malt and plenty...

Highland...

Highland Laird Macallan 1995 (15 year old) ?abv

Dist: 1995 Btl: 2015

Aromas of gorgeously dusty American oak – vanilla pod and custard powder. Hints of summer flowers, herbal honey, malt and earth follow. With time the aromas darken a little and become very herbal. Hints of acacia and white liquorice appear.

The palate is succulent and moist with honey, apricot, apple, malt and vanilla pod. Like the nose it becomes quite herbal and the alcohol begins to nip a little. Good length with the barley and vanilla lingering.

A drop of water unfortunately brings out the oils to the...

Highland...

Box Whisky Cask Owners Bottling 2015, 3 YO, 53,5 % A few weeks back Swedish distillery Box Whisky released the Box Whisky Cask Owners Bottling 2015. As per usual, they freely give us (way too much?) info. See here for full details, or read on for a short summary: 97,13 % of the vatting was matured […]...

The Hive 8 YO, 40 % Today I am putting the blended malt The Hive 8 YO from Wemyss Malts to the test. This is the ‘honeyed’ blended malt from Wemyss Malts, and you can get it both as an 8 YO, a 12 YO and more recently as a NAS (No Age Statement). This […]...

Compass Box Orangerie, NAS, 40 % Here is a fun one for you. The Compass Box Orangerie cannot be called a Scotch whisky as it has added flavors, but it is still fun. So, I am making an exception. It’s is almost Christmas, and oranges are in style this time of year, so you will […]...

BenRiach 17 YO Septendecim, 46 % Say hello to the ‘BenRiach seventeen year old seventeen’! You see ‘Septendecim’ is latin for seventeen. Very well, BenRiach 17 YO Septendecim it is then. This is a peated BenRiach expression, and it is now part of their peated core range. Other peated whiskies from BenRiach include the Birnie Moss NAS, […]...

BenRiach 18 YO Dunder, 46 % The BenRiach 18 YO Dunder is part of the new heavily peated range from BenRiach. It was launched on 2015-04-30, and is a limited release of 1888 bottled. The BenRiach 18 YO Dunder was first matured in American oak casks, then finished in Dark Rum barrels. The ‘Dunder’ name is […]...

Glengoyne 18 YO, 43 % I have now worked my way through most of the core range from the Highland distillery Glengoyne. I have previously reviewed the 10 YO, Cask Strength, 15 YO, 21 YO and 25 YO. Time now for the Glengoyne 18 YO. This product was released about three years ago, and replaced […]...

DISTILLER OF THE YEAR – MGP Ingredients

Ten years ago, very few people knew that there was a big whiskey distillery in the little Ohio river town of Lawrenceburg, Indiana; if you talked about it, people often assumed you meant the Four Roses or Wild Turkey distilleries in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. Those of us who did know mostly just knew that there was supposed to be some truly good whiskey being made up there…but it was being used to make Seagram’s 7. And we despaired, thinking we’d never see the straight stuff.

Ten years later, after some exceptional releases of Lawrenceburg-sourced...

Region – Speyside – ABV – 46%

Excited that I’ve got a Dailuaine in my glass.

Primarily used in blends, Dailuaine is another distillery you never see bottlings from unless they’re independently bottled or in a “Flora and Fauna” bottling.

Having said that, Diageo have just released a bottling of a 34yo Dailuaine for around £380/$550.

Not a bad price for a 34yo whisky, I suppose. Could be worse! Could be an over hyped, over-priced bourbon. (I’m looking at you Pappy van Stagg-Weller.)

Dailuaine is a favorite of mine and often times reminds me of one of my favorite...

Region – Speyside – ABV – 46.6% ABV

**UPDATE** Shortly after I posted about this whisky, an announcement has been made that a 65yo Glen Grant will be bottled/released by the same Wealth Solutions/Gordon & MacPhail team. I *just* received this email. Kismet !

I’ve been sitting on this sample of the Wealth Solutions/Gordon & MacPhail Glen Grant 66yo single malt for a bit over a year now.

There was never one singular moment in time that seemed like the right time to taste this. I’m not sure there would ever be *THE* right time to taste it.

Because of...

Region – Islay – ABV – 55.4%

Advent Calendar day # 23.

I can’t believe we’re almost near the end!  This has been a fun ride and I can not thank Secret Spirits enough for asking me to join in on their Calendar review this year.  Thank you, thank you.

A thousand times, thank you!

You know life is good when you can try a new whisky every single day for 25 days.  I hope you properly thanked the person that purchased this calendar for you.

If you purchased this calendar for yourself, well, you’ve been thanking yourself for...

Region – Island (Mull, to be exact) – ABV – 57.3%

Not to be confused with Martin Mull, the Isle of Mull is home to a single distillery: Tobermory.

Tobermory is owned by Distell (the same company that owns Bunnahbhain and Deanston) and produces a non-peated whisky known as “Tobermory,” and a heavily peated whisky called “Ledaig.”

Ledaig is pronounced “Le’Chig.” …exactly as it’s spelled.

We’ve had a few really nice whiskies from Maltwhisky Company. I am very curious to know what this 21yo tastes like. Even at 21 years of age, this whisky has a nice, high ABV –...

Region – Speyside – ABV – 48.7%

The day that I’m writing this review is the day after I saw the new Star Wars film. I plan on seeing it again tomorrow, and then again a day or two after that. Yes, people, it was that good. JJ Abrams done right by Star Wars and helped me to forget the atrocities that are Episodes 1, 2 & 3.

Wait, this is a whisky blog and not a Space movie blog, right? Right.

This is the very first Glentauchers that I am publicly reviewing. I’ve had a few in my...