Two Auchentoshan bottlings. Not from the exact same vintage, but I don’t think that’s the reason for their big differences anyway. Read on.

Auchentoshan 22 yo 1992 (50,7%, Sansibar ‘Samurai’ 2015, bourbon cask, 119 btl.)

Nose: quite classic in the sense that it’s rather fruity (lemon, peach, banana, a slightly Irish combo) while also adding mineral notes (limestone) and whiffs of coconut oil. Floral honey. Wood shavings. Light grassy touches as well as a vegetal edge. Mouth: again quite an Irish profile. Banana and citrus notes, (pink) grapefruit. Vanilla custard. Lightly bittersweet hints of ginger and green oak....

Following Craigellachie and Aultmore, Royal Brackla disitllery are the next distillery being introduced into the market as part of the Last Great Malts series from Bacardi. Royal Brackla is one of two distilleries with the “Royal” word in their name (following a Royal warrant of course) but unlike the other Royal distillery (Lochnagar), Royal Brackla is not a small distillery. With a yearly production of 4,000,000 liter of alcohol, it’s a serious cog in Bacardi portfolio for blenders.

Royal Brackla aims for fruitiness and lightness by having a long fermenting stage of 80 hours comparing to the usual 60-65 hours...

Three sister casks of Glen Keith 1992 in a direct comparison today. All of them are 21 years old and bottled in 2013-2014. I had some other 1992s lined up but I feared it would become too boring, so I decided to throw in the new Glen Keith 1995 in the Liquid Treasures series.

Glen Keith 21 yo 1992 (50,9%, The Nectar of the Daily Drams 2013)

Nose: half fruity, half grassy. Pear, apple and gooseberries. Soft vanilla and marzipan. Then some hay and dried yellow flowers. Hints of clay as well. The grassy touches are joined by...

Following the sad and tragic events this weekend I thought of reviewing some good whisky to boost my mood. The choice fell on a bit sweet whisky to fight the sour and bitter taste in my mouth – a 14 year old single cask Arran, that was bottled for The Whisky Exchange.

Arran 2000 Private Cask #1106 (55.5%, 197 bottles , £70.95 )

Nose : Quite a bold and aggressive nose,  chalky, fruity, vanilla and honey, pears, peaches, pear drops, dark and deep hue fruit juice, whiffs of pineapple. Concentrated red apples juice, soursweet candies. A very rich and fabulous nose. My money here is on a 1st...

Something to start the weekend with – a review of a young and punchy single cask Kilchoman that was bottled for The Whisky Exchange to start whiskying on a high octane note.

So today we have a young Kilchoman from cask 679/2010 which was bottled at 4 year old comparing to the 5 and 6 year old we tend to see. It spent some time in a PX cask to tame down the peat and bring on some sweetness.

Kilchoman 2010 4 Year Old PX Finish (58.3%, 262 bottles , £89.95 )

Nose : There’s no doubt it’s a Kilchoman. That ashy,...

You know the story of BenRiach whiskies – there are so many official bottlings and so many single casks and not all of them works out to be a good (and above) drams. But following yesterday’s review , I recalled another good BenRiach single cask I tasted recently and I thought: why not string them out together on a consecutive days?

Today is a peated 1994 BenRiach Vintage that was bottled in 2014 as part of their 11th batch of single cask bottlings. Distilled in 1994 and bottled in juli 2014 after being finished in Madeira cask. Total of 334 bottles were produced.

BenRiach 1994 20 Year Old Peated...

It’s a kinda busy day here so take a quick review of a great Benriach single cask that was bottled exclusively for TWE this summer. It’s a 1998 vintage (17 year old), triple distilled and finished in a PX cask #7758.

Benriach 1998 17 Year Old Triple Distilled PX Finish (48.9%, 704 bottles,  £99.95 )

Nose : This is quite a  malty and soft nose. Full of sweet apricots and fresh (and a tad rich) perfume fruit orchard, zesty citrus peels, ginger and cacao, A lovely nose!

Palate : Spicy with white pepper, oak wood spices, ginger, citrus, vanilla, cacao...

Gentleman Jack, NAS, 40 % A classic is on the test bench today. I am putting the Gentleman Jack from Jack Daniel’s to the test. You might already know this, but Jack Daniel’s makes what they call Tennessee Whiskey. This is basically bourbon with a the added step of charcoal filtering. The Gentleman Jack is […]...

Hayes Parker Reserve Bourbon, 0 YO, 45 % Here’s a first for me, and that has me excited. Have you ever heard of the TerrePURE process? Using chemistry rather than oak barrels to ‘mature’ whiskey? This process is claimed to remove impurities in the distilled spirit, improve its quality, and reduce the cost of the […]...

AnCnoc 18 YO, 46 % This is a rather new addition to the core range from Knockdhu Distillery. The AnCnoc 18 YO was launched late 2014. Earlier this week I reviewed the AnCnoc 12 YO. The main difference between the 12 and the 18, except for the age – obviously, is that the 18 is […]...

Caol Ila 1996 18 YO Old Particular (Cask #10790), 48,4 % Time to review a whisky in the Old Particular range from Douglas Laing again. It has been awhile now. This series of releases from the independent bottler is (almost always) bottled at 48,4 %. Caol Ila is of course on of the Islay distilleries; […]...

The Winter 2015 issue of  Whisky Advocate  will be on the newsstand early next month. The Buying Guide includes over 130 whiskies reviewed plus a selection of beer. Today we offer a sneak preview by revealing the top 10 whiskies reviewed in this issue.

#10 –  Ardbeg Supernova 2015 Release, 54.3%, $160

Apparently this is the final Supernova release and the Ardbeg team has ensured it goes out with all guns blazing. Although it seems calm initially—there’s a minty and sweet spicy element to the fore—the smoke begins to push through in the guise of creosote, then sootiness which, in...

Continuing our brandy-focused week, we’re moving on to arguably the best-known example:  Cognac . Where better to start than with the very first house, Augier ?

The current Augier range. L’Océanique (far left) will arrive soon

Founded in 1643 by wine merchant Philippe Augier, they were both buyers and négociants in the early years. Records have been lost as to the exact nature of the business for much of the following two centuries, until they were sold to Canadian distillers Seagram  in 1966, which in 1987 bought one of Cognac’s big four: Martell . With global spirits sales declining, Seagram sold...

At The Whisky Exchange, we don’t like to blow our own trumpet, but now and again it’s nice to share a little good news. Last week, we were delighted to be named E-commerce Business of the Year at the Digital Entrepreneur Awards 2015.

Stuart Peskett (middle) and Raj Chavda (right) of The Whisky Exchange collect the E-commerce Business of the Year award from Cube3 CEO Karl Barker

The ceremony was held at Manchester’s Palace Hotel, with high-profile judges including Ann Summers CEO Jacqueline Gold; Ben Gallop, the BBC’s Head of Sport Interactive; and Phil Jones, MD of Brother UK.

The...

After a summer of fruity cocktails and unaged spirits, autumn comes as a lead-in to a winter of rich and heavy brown drinks. To bridge the gap between the light and the dark, we’re going to spend the next week or so looking at the classic autumnal spirit – Brandy. To start with, Armagnac.

Of the more mainstream spirits that we have on the shelf here at TWE, Armagnac is the one that I’ve always wanted to know more about. Luckily I’m not the only person who knows this, and had the chance to go and learn more about the spirit from...

GlenDronach released three new bottlings earlier this week. The most unusual expression of the trio is the new GlenDronach Peated which has been distilled using peated malted barley and matured in Oloroso and PX sherry casks.

The GlenDronach 19 Years Old Madeira Cask Finish was initially matured in European oak casks and thereafter finished in a very small batch of Madeira hogsheads, giving the final whisky its own range of flavours and aromas.

The trio was completed with the GlenDronach Cask Strength Batch 5. See our reviews of Batch 1 , Batch 2 and Batch 4 to get an idea...