Talisker Skye is the latest release from this distillery, which is effectively on the Isle of Skye. It’s the fourth (and supposedly youngest) No Age Statement release in under two years (after Talisker Storm , Talisker Dark Storm and Talisker Port Ruighe ). Apparently it’s here to stay as a permanent extension of the core range.

Talisker Skye is matured in refill and toasted American oak casks, with that last type having the biggest proportion.

Talisker Skye (45,8%, OB 2015)

Nose: fairly sweet and youngish with pears, orange juice and a little apricot. This mixes with a soft,...

The facts The Bergen International Whisky & Beer Festival is a brand new festival. Hopefully this is the start of a great new tradition. It is impossible to talk about this new festival without also mentioning Whisky-Meet, which has been around for a few years (six times in total, see more here). Frode Harring was […]...

Compass Box Hedonism Blended Grain, NAS, 43 % Compass Box Whisky Company was established in 2000. Their business is to blend whiskies. They have released a lot of different styles of whiskies. My husband har reviewed Flaming Heart, The Spice Tree and The General. Here is what Compass Box says about Hedonism: Our bottlings of Hedonism are made […]...

Is there a shortage of bourbon? Will there be one soon, as booming demand dumbs down age statements and kills off favorite brands? Or is there plenty of good bourbon, with just a few hyped bottles in short supply as the collectors scurry to fill their shelves? We knew two writers with very different opinions, so we invited them to have it out. This Friday, in the Plenty O’ Bourbon corner, Colonel Charles K. Cowdery. Next week it’s Fred Minnick’s turn to argue the gloom and doom side of the issue. Feel free to leave your own opinions in the...

Once upon a time (several times actually) there was Whisky-Meet, a great whisky festival in Bergen. The wizard in this particular whisky tower was Frode Harring, then whisky manager at Terminus Whisky Bar. Frode traveled the world, dreamt dreams, and planned plans. One day he found that the time had come and the time was […]...

Ian MacLeod bottled a whole series of Rosebank 1990 casks. Sister casks #611, 612 and 614 were all bottled in 2008.

Rosebank 18 yo 1990 (48%, Ian MacLead Dun Bheagan 2008, sherry butt #611, 618 btl.)

Nose: a solid, sweet malty base, with some butter pears, apple and mango. Honey. It shows a bit of an old-style side as well, think waxed dental floss and library dust. Mocha. Hints of walnuts and ginger. Mint. Of course there’s also the typical lemony side. Mouth: sweet fruity notes (peach, pear, orange) alongside slightly bitter fruits (grapefruit). Grassy and herbal touches, even...

We are very happy to announce several pieces of great news from Det Norske Brenneri (The Norwegian Distillery). This company was previously called Agder Brenneri, and was the distillery that launched the first ever Norwegian single malt back in 2012. Since then they have new owners, and the duo that pull the strings now are […]...

Isle of Jura distilled mars 1966 and bottled mars 1984. It’s 18 years old.

This is one of the old dumpy Cadenhead bottles with black label. I’m always surprised when I see the typography of these labels, the distillery names tend to be set in funky (sometimes cheapo) fonts that are so typical of the 1980’s. As if someone at Cadenhead’s bought one of these cd-roms with 50.000 “professional” fonts.

Jura 18 yo 1966 (46%, Cadenhead 1984, dumpy brown bottle, 75 cl)

Nose: a highly mentholated profile with quite some sappy notes. Hints of metal polish and huge tobacco...

Bladnoch 1992 22 YO Exclusive Malts, 53,3 % This will be my last tasting note from Cinderella Whisky Fair 2015. I tasted this little gem at Svenska Eldvatten. Svenska Eldvatten is a Swedish independent bottler. In addition they carry some bottlings from Creative Whisky Company, amongst others. Today’s whisky is a 22 YO Bladnoch from the […]...

There is one grain whisky in the recent batch of Wemyss releases: Invergordon 1988 ‘Caribbean Crème’ .

Invergordon 1988 ‘Caribbean Crème’ (46%, Wemyss 2014, barrel, 171 btl.)

Nose: a creamy nose, full of popcorn, vanilla and wood varnish. Butter pastry. Minty notes. Pineapple yoghurt and coconut cream. Fresh oak shavings with some nutmeg. Typical middle-aged grain whisky, nice enough. Mouth: very sweet, with popcorn, caramel and vanilla cream at the centre. Some lemon zest and grapefruit, giving it a bitter edge. Also a slightly harsh alcoholic side that I find a bit too loud. Pepper and ginger. Finish: long,...

Braunstein 14:2, NAS, 46 % The whisky under review today is the Braunstein 14:2, the second Library Collection release of 2014 from this Danish distillery. This whisky has been matured in bourbon and oloroso sherry casks, and it was bottled on 2014-09-10. It holds an ABV of 46 %, and is sold in 50 cl […]...

A couple of years ago, The Whisky Agency set up a kind of Taiwanese link. Some of the releases are now exclusively available in Taiwan . You rarely hear of these bottlings over here in Europe, so we’re pleased to try a couple of them.

Let’s start with the nicest label, designed by two artists who also signed each bottle and the accompanying wooden box. This Clynelish 1996 is nicknamed ‘Eagles want to fly’. From what I’ve heard, it is a commemorative bottling for some kind of bird research programme. I hope Google Translate didn’t let me down here.

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Cask Norway is one of the exciting whisky importers in Norway. The company was established in januari 2009 when Marius Vestnes purchased Spirits AS, an established beer and spirit importer in the Norwegian market. Cask Norway AS is part of the Cask Owners group and have a sister company in Sweden called Cask Sweden AB. […]...