Let’s start the week with a new review from a new distillery on this site, the English Whisky Co. Distillery.

English Whisky Co., the brainchild of James Nelstrop (and his child Andrew), is the first distillery opened in England for over 100 years. They take pride for having pure water in an aquifer beneath them and access to local barley grown in the area (Norfolk).

So I thought that the best way to start the relationship between me and the distillery would be trying their classic whisky, but not their ordinary classic one. Instead, we’ll try the Whisky Exchange exclusive...

One third of oktober is already behind us. It means we’re closer to X-mas, the Whisky Exchange Show is behind us and a new a new Maltwhisky Yearbook was released. I got my signed copy of the 2016 edition (Thanks Micheal!) just in time to accompany me during the weekend.

This year, the book have a new layout, making it feels fresher but the content is mostly unchanged. Like every edition, the book is generally divided into four sections:

• The first section contains different articles – new ones every year, yeah? :-)
• The second and the largest one is  the distilleries information section which is divided into...

There are still a few more distilleries visits posts in the making, but it takes time to sift through all those pictures I took during the visits, select the proper ones and process them for the posts, so I needed a distraction and therfore I decided to throw in a few whisky reviews here and then to sweeten your time.

Besides, it’s not like there’s shortage in new whiskies releases (and notes of old ones) as we are gearing toward x-mas and the shelves are being filled with shiny new bottles. From ultra rare and expensive bottles (nowadays it means everything...

Highland Park 16 YO – tasting Highland Park in Stockholm I had a great weekend at Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival last weekend! On Friday I was lucky enough to get a place at the Highland Park masterclass with senior brand ambassador Martin Markvardsen. During my whisky ‘career’ I have tasted quite a few Highland […]...

Old Pulteney 35 YO, 42,5 % This is a real treat, I have to admit. No reason to hide it, this is classy. The Old Pulteney 35 YO was released in 2014, limited to only 1350 bottles. It has been matured in American oak ex-bourbon casks and Spanish oak ex-Sherry casks. The whisky has not been subjected to […]...

Laphroaig 32 YO, 46,6 % The 200th Anniversary releases from Laphroaig keep coming. I have previously reviewed the Laphroaig 15 YO 200th Anniversary, the Laphroaig Cairdeas 2015 and the Laphroaig 21 YO Friends of Laphroaig. Now the time has come for the most exclusive of the lot, the Laphroaig 32 YO. This whisky has been matured in a mix […]...

The whole experience Last weekend I visited the Stockholm Beer and Whisky Festival 2015. I have been to this enormous festival several times before, and I have a somewhat ambivalent feeling towards it. On one hand it is fantastic, with the enormous amount of whisky, beer and other sorts of spirits available to try. There’s also […]...

Springbank 12 YO Cask Strength Batch 11, 53,8 % The Campbeltown distillery Springbank recently released the Springbank 12 YO Cask Strength Batch 11. I have tried several of the previous batches, but for reasons unknown I have not posted reviews – must be too many whiskies and too little time. Anyways, here’s the review for batch […]...

Box Whisky The Festival 2015, 3 YO, 54,5 % It is time again for a new release from Box Whisky, Sweden. The Box Whisky The Festival 2015 was made available exclusively to attendees at the Box Whisky Festival this summer. You can read all about the festival itself and the mad queuing for this special […]...

Shortly before Whisky Advocate managing editor Lew Bryson finished the first draft of his Tasting Whiskey book—sometime around augusti, 2013—we had a conversation about what might go into the chapter on rare whiskey collecting and auctions. Ahead of the curve, I promised him that American whiskies were going to be huge . At the time, most bourbons at auction were shabby-looking Prohibition bottles peppering the numerous pages of single malts in the Bonhams catalog.

It was written in the stars: accumulated years of over-subscribed releases of limited-edition bourbons were being received by a world waking up to the fact that...

Something a little different for our latest TWE Vinopolis tasting – Indian single malt. It has taken time for Indian whiskies to be taken seriously by traditional whisky drinkers, but the best now stand toe-to-toe with their Scotch counterparts – and sometimes beat them. Our host was the engaging Ashok Chokalingam from Amrut Distillery , based in Bangalore in southern India.

In Their Own Words – Ashok Chokalingam

‘ When you say “India”, you say “chicken tikka masala” or “Bollywood” , but “single Maltwhisky”? No chance!’

‘ India is the largest consumer of whisky in the world – 350 million cases a...

Each month, we choose a whisky  and a  spirit that we particularly like and knock a chunk off the price. Now and again, we do the same thing with and Champagne . We’re nice like that. oktober is no exception, and we’re delighted to be able to offer three cracking deals on a trio of great products: the whisky is a rich, smoky dram from Caol Ila ; the rum is a dark, full-flavoured bottling from Bacardi ; and the Champagne is a classic example from the renowned house of Veuve Clicquot .

Let’s start with our Malt of the Month...

Back in april, I wrote about Midleton Dair Ghaelach , a new Irish pot still whiskey finished in Irish virgin oak. That post concentrated more on the sourcing and treatment of the wood; this post is all about the whiskey, which has just arrived at TWE HQ.

Midleton’s master of maturation Kevin O’Gorman (left) shares a toast with master blender Billy Leighton

Dair Ghaelach (‘Irish oak’) is a blend of whiskeys aged between 15 and 22 years in refill bourbon casks, before a 10-month spell in Irish virgin oak. Midleton began experimenting with Irish oak several years ago, and were...

La Maison du Whisky presented its Collection 2016 which contains a whole list of new releases for the coming year. Nicknamed ‘Still Life’, the catalogue features something for everyone.

A couple of highlights:

• Glenlivet 40yo 1974 ‘Artist #5’ (46,8%, 240 btl.)
• A lot of Gordon & MacPhail exclusives
• Two exclusive GlenDronach single casks (1995 and 2003) and a BenRiach 1998 triple distilled
• Yula 20yo , a new blended malt from Douglas Laing
• The new Nikka 12 Year Old
• Two Chichibu single casks (beer barrel and Madeira hogshead)
• Amrut The Trilogy (bourbon, 100 peated and peated bourbon)
• Puni Alba,...

Oban means Little Bay in Gaelic, so it’s a pretty obvious name for the latest addition in the core range (now that stories are worth more than age statements).

In its recipe we find different ages of whisky, matured in three types of casks : European oak sherry casks, refill casks with new oak cask ends and refill American oak hogsheads. The resulting whisky was married in small oak casks.

Oban is one of Diageo’s smallest distilleries and it hasn’t been in the spotlight, but Oban Little Bay shows that it’s still alive and kicking.

Oban Little Bay ‘Small...

This is the oldest member of the revamped Royal Brackla core range: 12 Year Old , 16 Year Old and 21 Year Old .

Royal Brackla 21 yo (40%, OB 2015)

Nose: nice, subtle aromas. Candle wax and leather, with oak polish and exotic spices (ginseng, clove). Green tea. Eucalyptus and menthol. Orange and apple peels, damsons, very light grassy notes. Great old-style elegance and waxiness. Mouth: subtle and quite waxy again, vaguely fruity (lime, bergamot). Star anise. Something of dried mango. Becomes darker, maltier and more chocolaty towards the end. Vanilla. Straw. Hints of old wood –...

We’ve had a look at some of the latest Golden Cask releases from The House of Macduff / Cumbrae Supply. For starters: Tomatin 1994 .

Tomatin 21 yo 1994 (53,9%, Golden Cask Reserve 2015, ref. CM221, 257 btl.)

Nose: creamy and aromatic, with lots of sweet vanilla marshmallows and creamy custard. Stewed apples. Honeysuckle. Bananas flambéed and papaya. Butter pastry. Light potpourri and nail polish, which works well here. Also a growing hint of polished oak. Really nice. Mouth: thick and fruity with a syrupy sweetness to it. Cantaloupe, apples, pineapple and papaya again. Honey. Slowly moving towards...