At this time of year, there’s one spirit on our minds here at TWE – rum . With Independence Day of Jamaica next Thursday, it gives us a chance to highlight our comprehensive range, starting with today – Black Tot Day . At 11am on this day in 1970, sailors in the British Royal Navy were given the daily rum ration (aka the daily tot) for the last time after a tradition that had lasted since 1655. The occasion was marked with a sombre ceremony, recreated by Gosling’s in 2011:

To celebrate, we’re running a terrific prize draw; simply buy...

Sometimes you get really excited about a dram ( Glenglassaugh is one of the distilleries that had an above-average production in 1972 ), only to find out you’re actually experiencing a flash-back… A Carn Mor flashback today.

Glenglassaugh 40 yo 1972 (43,1%, Càrn Mòr ‘Celebration of the Cask’ 2013, sherry butt 13/08/01, 200 btl.)

Nose: a lot of polished oak, with hints of glue and even some hair spray in the background. After some airing this becomes beeswax and pollen with a lot of bright, flowery notes. Mango, tangerine, bergamot. Granny Smith. Very good, but be sure to...

Knockdhu is the distillery that makes the current-day anCnoc . This is a young expression in the Connoisseurs Choice series (brown label) from Gordon & MacPhail .

Knockdhu 10 yo 1974 (40%, Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice +/- 1984, 75cl)

Nose: a lot of sweet grains, with hints of pear schnapps. Some silver polish and mint. Pine wood. A little paraffin. Musty warehouses. Almonds and wet papers. It’s not very expressive but it’s certainly not unpleasant either. Mouth: sweet start, quite soft yet a little spirity and bitterish. There’s grapefruit and lemon zest, mixed with wet cardboard and...

Did you notice we’ve been reviewing more old bottlings lately? It is rather quiet in the whisky scene – summer, you know.

Gordon & MacPhail has a tradition to do special bottlings to commemorate royal weddings (we’ve tried Andrew & Fergie before). For the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Di on 29th of juli 1981 they released vattings of 1948 and 1961 casks . There’s Glen Grant, Glenburgie and Strathisla , as far as I know.

Strathisla 1948 / 1961 ‘Royal Wedding’ (40%, Gordon & MacPhail 1981, for Charles & Diana)

Nose: majbe not the freshest nose...

It has been a while since we’ve reviewed a rum, but I stumbled upon this interesting one through my sherry exploration.

Dos Maderas (which means Two Woods ) is a molasses rum produced by the sherry bodegas Williams & Humbert . They start from Caribbean rums, matured for 5 years in Barbados and Guyana. These are shipped to Jerez de la Frontera, where they are blended and finished for three years in Palo Cortado casks (used in the solera of the very good 20 year-old Dos Cortados VOS sherry ).

They also have a 5+5 version (which is the 5+3...

This Karuizawa 1988 was part of a duo that was bottled for The Whisky Fair in 2007. A small part of this sherry butt was bottled by Whiskysite.nl in their Great Cask series.

You know, I believe this maj well be one of the last Karuizawas I’ll ever review. I have no samples left and with the current prices, who can afford to actually open one, let alone share it with others?

Karuizawa 19 yo 1988 (58,3%, The Whisky Fair 2007, refill butt, 480 btl.)

A surprisingly pale colour on this. Nose: a rare chance to try Karuizawa...

Sometimes I tend get bored of modern malts and I turn to my sample archive to dig up a sample I collected long ago. Bottles that nobody opens these days… too expensive. Today: Glen Garioch 1968 hogshead #625 which is the best cask from this era, according to some.

Glen Garioch 29 yo 1968 (57,2%, OB 1997, hogshead #625)

Nose: ah yes, one of these glorious sherry casks. Full of blackberries, juicy strawberries and dates. Rum & raisins. Black Forest gateau and chocolate. Dark baked pastry. Hints of cigar boxes. Underneath is a layer of toasted oak and...

This is the third and last of the Signatory Vintage casks that were bottled exclusively for The Whisky Exchange . It is a sherried Clynelish 1996 .

Clynelish 18 yo 1996 (55,5%, Signatory Vintage for The Whisky Exchange 2015, refill sherry butt #6509, 606 btl.)

Nose: not the cleanest start, with a earthy and slightly sulphury hint, but this disappears. Overripe melon. Then some nice baked apple and raisins, rhubarb jam, even a bright hint of raspberries. Lots of leathery notes and pepper. Hints of waxed paper as well as some very light potpourri. Mouth: sweet and spicy....

For many years, there was only one single offering from Tamdhu. Before the relaunch of Tamdhu brand in 2013 it was a NAS offering (probably around 8 years old) and after the relaunch it was the 10 year old.

And now the NAS offering is doing a comeback but as an addition to the line up and with a totally new profile – matured exclusively in sherry casks and offered at cask strength. Do we have yet another NAS sherry bomb on our hands?

Tamdhu Batch Strength #1 (58.8%,  £56.95 / €69.99 )

Nose : feels youngish on the nose but it maj...

I  reviewed Benromach 10 Year old 100 Proof 6 months ago. I went against the majority of reviews out there and declared my big disappointment as I just couldn’t understand what’s all the fuss about and felt it was worse than the standard 10 yo. Best you go and read that review before resuming and reading the rest of this post…

OK. I assume you did your due diligence and read that post so let’s move on. A couple of months ago but well after the initial tasting and review, I tasted it again but this time I wasn’t aware...

Arran OddPopp 15 YO Bourbon Barrel, 56,5 % This is the third ‘music whisky’ released in Norway over the past three years. In 2013 we saw the Cragganmore Frank Znort Quartet-15th Anniversary Old Malt Cask, then in 2014 we had the Clan Denny Frank Znort Quartet 16 YO Craigellachie. Now we get the Arran OddPopp 15 YO […]...

Amrut 2009 Single Cask PX #2697, 4 YO, 56,5 % Amrut distilleries certainly know how to make whisky to my taste. I recently shared my tasting notes on Amrut Naarangi. Today it is time to taste one of their Single Cask releases. My husband has already shared his thoughts on the Single Cask Portpipe. This […]...