Thy Whisky Fad No 1 ‘Kræn Klit’, 3 YO, 60 % Finally, we have managed to procure a bottle of Thy Whisky, from the craft distillery Nordisk Brænderi (‘Nordic Distillery’) in the north of Denmark (see Nordic Distillery Map). The man behind the distillery is Anders Bilgram. He produces gin, schnaps and whisky. On november 29, […]...

Laphroaig Cairdeas 2015, NAS, 51,5 % The festival bottling for the Feis Ile 2015 was something very special this year for Laphroaig, as they are celebrating their 200th anniversary. The whisky is called Laphroaig Cairdeas 2015. Cairdeas is an old Gaelic word for friendship, and these bottlings are exclusively made available to the Friends of Laphroaig […]...

The start of augusti means it’s time for our new Malt of the Month. This time, we’ve chosen a lighter and summery whisky: Aberfeldy 12 Year Old , and have knocked £4.50 off the usual price – it’s now just £29.95.

Historically, Aberfeldy flew under the radar. Known to whisky connoisseurs and blenders, it wasn’t easy to find. That changed when Bacardi purchased John Dewar & Sons from Diageo in 1998, with the 12 Year Old released the following year. Much of the distillery’s production is used for Dewar’s White Label , just as it was when it opened in...

We’re approaching the height of summer, so what better than a delicious Russian vodka for augusti’s Spirit of the Month. Jewel of Russia Classic is a full-bodied vodka that is rich and creamy with a spicy kick – perfect sipped solo or used as a cocktail ingredient – and best of all, we’re knocking £3.40 off the price of a 70cl bottle, down to just £16.95.

Jewel of Russia Classic is made with winter wheat and rye, then undergoes a five-step ‘slow-flow’ filtration process through special charcoal made from peach and apricot stones. The picturesque distillery is located near Chernogolovka...

So, Danish whisky. Braunstein distillery, which started as a brewery, produces all kinds of spirits (gin, vodka, rum), including whisky since the early 2000s.

They started with a series of limited expressions in a Library Collection (usually two releases per year) and a Cask Edition series which holds one yearly cask strength expression.

Now they have a slightly wider range called Danica , with an unpeated and peated version. Like all of their whiskies, they are organic (although the certification is not complete yet because barrels from organic wood are so hard to get).

Like most young distilleries, they focus...

One of these samples of relatively new whiskies that I’ve had on my desk for too long, because I thought I new exactly what to expect from Port Charlotte 2002 . Still a nice surprise.

Port Charlotte 2002 (55,4%, Malts of Scotland 2015, bourbon barrel, ref. 15011, 238 btl.)

Nose: how nice, this is one of the farmiest, most Brora-inspired noses I’ve had lately. The same goat stables and greasy notes. Hay and ferns. Horse saddles. Then a nice move towards pipe tobacco. Underneath there are hints of yellow apples and vanilla. Quite lovely. Mouth: deeply sooty again,...

A while ago when I tasted the old and new Laphroaig 15yo (see the results here ) I was also bestowed by a friend (Thanks A.!) with a sample of an indie Laphroaig 15yo for scientific comparison ;-)

It’s a single cask from the warehouse of A.D Rattray and it’s actually a 1998 vintage (distilled 04.11.1998) from a bourbon barrel which yielded 226 bottles after it was bottled in 2014 (24.10.2014), so it’s a bit “older” release than the recent new OB 15yo. How does it stand up against the official 15yo?

Laphroaig 1998 15yo A.D Rattray (58.4%, bourbon barrel #10479,...

Bunnahabhain 1991 Wheskykôrka 2 Lightly Peated, 22 YO, 49,7 % The Swedish independent bottler Svenska Eldvatten are at it again. Today we review their Bunnahabhain 1991 Wheskykôrka 2 Lightly Peated. Distilled in november 1991, matured in a bourbon hogshead, and bottled in september 2014 with an outturn of 120 bottles. This whisky was released on april […]...

Akashi 5 YO Single Cask, 50 % The Eigashima company actually got their license to distill whisky as early as 1919, four years before Japan’s first whisky distillery, Yamazaki, was established. Eigashima did not use their license, however, until 1984, when they built their White Oak Distillery. Eigashima released their first single malt in 2007, […]...

Millstone 2001 12 YO Sherry Cask, 46 % This is a first! Any first is exciting – a chance to explore, to experience something new. This is the first whisky from the Netherlands reviewed here at Whisky Saga HQ. The Millstone 2001 12 YO Sherry Cask is produced by Zuidam Distillers, of Baarle-Nassau in the Netherlands. […]...

Koval Single Barrel Bourbon, NAS, 47 % Koval is a small distillery in Chicago, Illinois, established in 2008 – the first distillery in the city since the mid-1800s. They produce organic whiskey, liqueurs and specialty spirits. From day one they decided to make organic spirits from scratch, avoiding the common industry practice in the USA of bottling spirits […]...

Audny Series 3 Single Cask, 4 YO, 46 % This is the third release in the Audny series from Norwegian Distillery Det Norske Brenneri (formerly Agder Brenneri). The Audny Series 3 Single Cask is a four year old, sherry matured whisky. It is released in a limited run of 1000 50 cl bottles The Audny […]...

Aultmore 2007 7 YO A. D. Rattray Single Cask #900015, 56 % I am not so familiar with the independent bottler A. D. Rattray, yet. I have only tasted eight of their whiskies. All of them have been good. Well, I am not so familiar with Aultmore either. I have only tasted four whiskies from […]...

We ran a piece by Geoff Kleinman on Portland, Oregon’s “Distillery Row” in the current issue (“Beer and Whiskey”, Summer 2015). It’s a good piece, but Geoff had a lot more material, so we decided to run it here. This is the first part, about House Spirits. Enjoy!

In many ways House Spirits Distillery been one of the more precocious of Portland’s craft distillers. As one of the early tenants of Portland’s Craft Distillery Row , House Spirits helped craft and shape the community and culture of Portland’s craft distilling scene. This was a natural outcropping of the deep roots...

First thing you need to know: this is not a story about whiskey . At least, not on the surface. It’s about gin. But it’s very much about the kind of innovative thinking small distillers are bringing to the shelf, and that encompasses whiskey. Read on, you’ll see.

I took a vacation with my family (my wife, and our two adult children) recently. We traveled to Iceland (where we visited the Eimverk distillery ), then Scotland (where we dropped in at Talisker), then wound up in Ireland. While we were relaxing in Lismore after some long driving days, I took...

We’re rather obsessed with summer at TWE at the moment. English memories are short, and each year the warm summer surprises us, with gasps all around as we realise that for a few weeks we won’t need jumpers and umbrellas. So, during this brief respite from our usual, more active weather, we’re jumping on the long-drink bandwagon, and trying as many summery beverages as we can. Today’s candidate for examination: Aperol .

When it comes to brightly coloured Italian bitters, Campari has had the market sewn up for years. However, all is not as it once was in bittersland, with...

Our Summer Party Kit contains almost everything you need to make a pair of summery long drinks

Nothing says summer quite like an al fresco drinks party. Following on from our popular Summer Gin Cocktail Kit (we only have a few left), we’ve put together a Summer Party Kit , with almost everything you need to make a brace of delicious and refreshing long drinks:

• a 70cl bottle of Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge
• two 20cl bottles of Fever-Tree Tonic Water
• two 20cl bottles of Fever-Tree Ginger Ale
• a Grand Marnier pitcher
• four Grand Marnier glasses

We say almost everything – you’ll...

Louis Roederer, producer of Cristal, is one of the last remaining family-owned Champagne houses

There are certain drinks that become icons. One of them is Cristal , Louis Roederer ’s flagship Champagne , and we are delighted to announce that 2006 Cristal is our Champagne of the Moment for juli, with £15 off our normal price.

Cristal was created in 1876 by royal demand. Tsar Alexander II of Russia asked Louis Roederer to reserve their best wines for him, and Roederer duly obliged. To distinguish the bottle from others, it was made in a transparent lead-crystal bottle, from where Cristal takes...