Highland Laird Clynelish 1997 (17 year old) 52.9%

Sherry Hogshead/ Dist: 1997 Btl: 2014/ Tasted: april 2015

Fragrant barley aromas mingle with straw, mature honey, herbs, grass and hints of malt. This is a very complex nose and opens to show hints of wheat germ, bran, lemon bonbons and lime. The sherry influence is very subtle so the oak is more toffee’d in character.

The palate is soft with fragrant barley and light honey. It darkens slightly on the middle as some malt arrives along with hints of coffee and toffee. Quite alcoholic and piquant but the juicy barley makes...

Ben Nevis 1996 17 YO Cask #1472 Cooper’s Choice, 46 % Ben Nevis distillery is located in the region Highland in Scotland. The Vintage Maltwhisky has released this whisky in their Cooper’s Choice range. This Ben Nevis was distilled 1996, then matured in sherry butt #1472 before bottled in 2014. The outturn was 360 bottles. The […]...

Havana Club is one of the biggest-selling rums in the world, and they’ve earned their spot at the top. They can trace their rum-production pedigree back over 130 years, and in that time they’ve seen revolution, trade embargoes, trademark disputes and more, but have still continued to produce excellent spirit.

Some casks of rum, waiting…

The Havana Club name appeared in 1934, created as a new brand by the Arechabalas, a Cuban distilling family. They sold the rum both at home and abroad for a few decades, until a small political matter got in the way: the Cuban revolution. Castro’s fledgling...

I know some friends who have open bottles of Karuizawa , but they were usually opened before the prices exploded. Who still opens them now?

This Karuizawa 1981 cask #152 was part of the 2014 collection from La Maison du Whisky, which included four Karuizawas from the late 1970s and 1981.

Karuizawa 33 yo 1981 (54,5%, OB for LMdW 2014, sherry cask #152, 566 btl.)

Nose: the nicest humidors, with lots of tobacco notes (cigars but pipes even more) and exotic woods like cedar and thuja. Big fruity notes too, strawberry jams and blackberries. Thyme, dried porcini. Some...

Rest & Be Thankful Whisky Company Octomore 2007 (6 year old) 63.8%

Sauternes Cask/ Dist Nov 2007 Btl: Nov 2014/ Tasted: Apr 2015

An intensely herbal and salty nose with a lovely combination of medicinal peat and dry, earthy peat. Quite youthful (obviously!) with some herbal marc-like notes along with hints of boiled sweets and honey coated dried grape. Seriously sinus clearing and forceful but the Sauternes cask adds a little balancing sweetness.

The palate opens with the cask notes – dried grape and honey followed by a profusion of herbal and medicinal peat, coffee, earth, dry, smoky peat phenols...

Peat’s Beast 46%

A vatting of Benriach, Laphroaig, Ardbeg and Caol Ila

Tasted: Mar 2012

A pleasant nose of youthful cereal and briny-peat. Slightly perfumed with hints of sugar coated barley and herbs.

The palate displays plenty of youthful and briny Caol Ila with a fresh coastal edge, but beneath is a good depth of apricot and sweet barley with a gentle herbalness. The finish is quite sugared with hints of coffee but the brininess balances.

Peat’s Beast 46%

Re-Tasted: ?

Quite a sweet and phenolic nose of young, crealy ‘phraoig(?) leading off, but tempered by some Coal Ila(?) Quite...

Mackillop’s Choice Ardbeg 1993 (21 year old) 54.3%

Bourbon Cask 1289/ Dist: Sept 1993 Btl: Dec 2014/ Tasted: Apr 2015

Quite a fresh and fishy nose with ozone, iodine, medicinal peat, salt and fisherman’s friends. Beneath lies some thick, set honey and barley which begins to force their way through the peat. With time hints of roses, manure and coffee can be detected. Wonderfully invigorating and wonderfully mature!

The palate opens with some lightly oiled barley followed by brine, violets, fish oils, dusty peat, iodine and building medicinal notes. The oak sits beneath adding structure and light Columbian coffee notes. Quite...

Mackillop’s Choice Mortlach 1991 (23 year old) 56.6%

Sherry Cask 5887/ Dist: Aug 1991 Btl: Jan 2015/ Tasted: Apr 2015

A nose of gritty coffee’d spices/tannins and sweet, herbal notes. Thankfully there is a good depth of dark chocolate infused dried fruit to counter the tannins. The herbal notes become a little rye-like and with time a hint of sweet barley appears.

The palate is uber soft but the tannins put in an appearance pretty quickly. Hints of treacle and liquorice counter allowing the lovely, aged dried fruit to emerge. The battle continues on the middle and it’s the herbal...

Tomatin 1999 Norway Tomatin Trilogy – Bourbon Cask Edition, 14 YO, 55,2 % This whisky is the first release in what is hoped to be a trilogy of Tomatin single cask releases exclusively bottled for Norway. The Tomatin 1999 Norway Tomatin Trilogy – Bourbon Cask Edition was matured in a 1st fill bourbon cask (cask #34150), distilled […]...

Glenfiddich 12 YO, 40 % Here is a real classic for you. The Glenfiddich 12 YO is produced by William Grant & Sons, and is a product with a long history. In their marketing they now say this is the world’s most awarded single malt Scotch whisky. The basis for this claim is that the Glenfiddich […]...

Smögen Jubilee, 3 YO, 60 % Time really does fly. It is now 5 years since Smögen Distillery started production, on the west coast of Sweden. This coming Saturday, augusti 29, there will be a big birthday celebration. Pär Caldenby, the owner and master distiller, is releasing a special single cask release to commemorate this […]...

A reputation is a terrible thing. You post one thing on the internet , more people than expected read it, and from that day on you are ‘that guy who likes Jack Daniel’s Honey ‘.

So, when a new JD liqueur hits our shores, who’s the person who gets presented with a bottle and told to write tasting notes? That would be me. The new release in question: Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire .

Jack Daniel’s fans are an active, watchful and vocal group. Within minutes of JD producer Brown-Forman announcing a limited, experimental roll-out of a cinnamon-flavoured JD liqueur across...

The Wild Turkey distillery was opened in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, in 1869

Associate distiller Eddie Russell led a tasting of his Wild Turkey range at our Vinopolis shop earlier this month. As well as taking us through his excellent range of whiskeys, Eddie talked about how his father Jimmy still rules the roost at the age of 80, and what he likes to drink when he’s not sipping bourbon…

Eddie Russell, associate distiller at Wild Turkey

IN THEIR OWN WORDS – EDDIE RUSSELL

‘ My dad Jimmy refers to me as “the new guy ” – he’s been here more than 60...

I had a really nice tasting with friends the other day, and although the focus was a little less on whisky than it would have been three years ago, everyone brought some cracking old stuff. This week I will post my thoughts on five of the most memorable whiskies of that evening (well, except for a few that I had already reviewed like this , this or this ).

This Brora 1975 is a bit of an outsider, as it only exists in 20 cl. bottles in this strength. It was part of a Rare Malts box set which also included Caol...

In our flight of Brora, we also had this Port Ellen 1983 in the exclusive Private Stock series of The Whisky Agency .

Actually I think the Brora 1975 Rare Malts was better than this Port Ellen, so I’m reviewing them in the wrong order. I had the Brora 1972 Alambic Classique lined up instead (thanks for your sample, Dominiek) but I forgot I had already reviewed it some time ago… So here’s a bottle that didn’t really make the top-5.

Port Ellen 27 yo 1983 (55,6%, The Whisky Agency ‘Private Stock’ 2010, refill sherry cask, 96 btl.)...

The Nikka Taketsuru range unites blended malts from the Yoichi and Miyagikyou distilleries. The Taketsuru 35 Year Old is the oldest available, very limited (1000 bottles) and originally reserved for the Japanese market.

Masataka Taketsuru was sent to Scotland in 1918 to learn the secrets of whisky making. He came back with a suitcase full of luggage, and Rita Taketsuru, his Scottish wife. Both would play an important role in the development of Nikka and Japanese whisky in general.

Nikka Taketsuru 35 yo (43%, OB 2008, 1000 btl.)

Nose: quite exceptional. It’s remarkably fruity and tropical (mango and...