The square or cube shaped bottles of Aberlour 8 Year Old have a great reputation for being relatively easy-to-get, nicely old-style whisky. From 1957 until 1985, most Aberlour was filled into this type of bottle, most importantly for the Italian market but also for France, Germany and the USA.

There’s definitely batch variation and it’s quite difficult to know which version you’re dealing with. Some of them have a distillation and/or bottling year on the front or neck label. Some of them say “8 Year Old”, others “8 Years Old”, “Over 8 Year Old” or “Over 8 Years Old”. Some of them have...

Läs mer http://www.whiskynotes.be/2014/aberlour/aberlour-8-year-old-small-cork/

It’s cold, it’s dark, people are starting to wear winter coats, and Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible has appeared. There’s still one thing missing: the Diageo Special Releases.

The full set of Diageo Special Releases 2014

While Rocky got a pre-pre-launch tasting a few weeks ago, the main launch party was on Tuesday night, and the bottles have hit our shelves today. If you’re in a rush, you can find the complete list of available bottles here . If you’re after the Port Ellen or Brora, I’d head over there immediately – they don’t usually last long.

In case you’ve not heard of...

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Läs mer http://www.whiskyfun.com/2014/Glenfiddiching-again.html

In the Small Batch series from Cadenhead there is this 21 years old Clynelish 1992 . In fact there is also a 50,4% version specifically bottled for The Nectar in Belgium (a ‘Christmas bottling’ of 222 bottles) but we’re now reviewing the general release.

We haven’t seen much Clynelish 1992 lately (1996-1997 is all over the place) but quite a few 1992’s have been bottled around 2005-2007. I wonder whether this is a leftover cask or the first of a new wave?

Clynelish 21 yo 1992
(51,6%, Cadenhead Small Batch 2014, bourbon hogsheads, 792 btl.)

Nose: powerful, even a...

Läs mer http://www.whiskynotes.be/2014/clynelish/clynelish-1992-cadenhead-small-batch/

Bruichladdich maj have reduced their myriad number of bottlings in recent years, but they still know how to grab a headline or two. The progressive Hebridean distillers have just unveiled two latest additions to the range, one of which is the most heavily peated whisky of all time.

The first, 2008 Port Charlotte , uses Islay barley from six farms, and is matured in a mixture of US and European oak. The second, Octomore 2009 Edition 06.3 , uses barley from Octomore Farm and is cut with Octomore spring water, so they could have called it Octomore³. Its peating level...

Läs mer http://blog.thewhiskyexchange.com/2014/11/new-octomore-from-bruichladdich/

Läs mer http://www.whiskyfun.com/2014/Only-two-Springbank.html

Most distilleries are going down the path of launching NAS expressions, usually by introducing new bottlings. Sometimes old expressions are discontinued at the same time and you keep thinking they’re simply lowering the bar a little…

In the case of Ardmore , it’s not just lowering the bar but also watering down. Ardmore Traditional Cask , a rather well-respected dram (kind of the underdog for Islay whisky), has recently been discontinued and replaced with Ardmore Legacy . The old one was bottled at 46% and unchill filtered, the new one is bottled at the bare minimum of 40% and comes...

Läs mer http://www.whiskynotes.be/2014/ardmore/ardmore-legacy/

Läs mer http://www.edinburghwhiskyblog.com/2014/11/04/lady-of-the-glens-latest-releases/

Nytt whiskyslipp på polet, fredag 7.november 2014. Det er 78 whiskyer på denne listen fra Vinmonopolet som dekker bestillingsutvalget. Både jeg og Vinmonopolet tar forbehold om at det kan bli små endringer. Ikke alt på listen er nye whiskyer, noe er også relanseringer. En del spennende er det selvsagt. Jeg vil spesielt trekke frem følgende: Big […]...

Läs mer http://www.whiskysaga.com/whisky-nyheter-pa-polet-november-2014/

Nytt whiskyslipp på polet, fredag 7.november 2014. Det er 78 whiskyer på denne listen fra Vinmonopolet som dekker bestillingsutvalget. Både jeg og Vinmonopolet tar forbehold om at det kan bli små endringer. Ikke alt på listen er nye whiskyer, noe er også relanseringer. En del spennende er det selvsagt. Jeg vil spesielt trekke frem følgende: Big […]...

Läs mer http://www.whiskysaga.com/whisky-nyheter-pa-polet-november-2014/

Läs mer http://www.whiskyfun.com/2014/A-short-trip-down-there.html

This is the other release in the hard rock / metal-inspired series by The Whiskyman , a Bowmore 2003 . Like the Glen Scotia 1992 , it is nicknamed after an Iron Maiden song.

Bowmore 2003 ‘Children of the Dramned’  (47,6%, The Whiskyman 2014, 183 btl.)

Nose: starts very clean, coastal and sharp, but it grows wider and gains roundness. Still it’s quite minimal and focused on briney notes, olives and mezcal. Wet chalk. Some sugared lemon notes and a faint waxy sweetness. More coastal than peaty. A nice old-style metallic edge too. Mouth: again superbly clean and...

Läs mer http://www.whiskynotes.be/2014/bowmore/bowmore-2003-whiskyman/

Update : If you want to see all of the winners in stock then head to our Whisky Bible 2015 page .

The latest edition of Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible  has hit the shelves, and in usual fashion, his results are a little controversial.

While the number two and three positions in his top five whiskies are held by two of his Buffalo Trace Antique Collection favourites, the sold-out William Larue Weller and Sazerac Rye 18yo from last year, his number one is a first.

It’s a Japanese whisky – Yamazaki Sherry Cask 2013 .

It went on sale on our...

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Läs mer http://www.whiskyfun.com/2014/Three-Glen-Garioch-some-extreme.html

SIA Scotch Whisky is the brainchild of Carin Luna-Ostaseski and the first whisky that I’ve heard of to be funded with a Kickstarter crowd-sourcing project. She managed to get more than $ 45.000 from 245 backers and realize her dream: create her own whisky. A really innovative concept, which we’ll probably see more in the future.

SIA (Gaelic for six ) is a blended whisky, matured and bottled by Douglas Laing. It features a relatively high malt to grain ratio (40/60) with malts from Speyside (50%), the Highlands (40%) and Islay (10%). It is currently only available in the States. The...

Läs mer http://www.whiskynotes.be/2014/blends/sia-scotch-whisky/

Läs mer http://www.whiskyfun.com/2014/Malternatives-on-Sundays-today-claro-and-hard-rums.html

Another in our occasional series of Tweet-style interviews. As always, it’s 140 characters or less (we don’t count the spaces) in the answers. Ewen Mackintosh is the new managing director (CEO) of Gordon & MacPhail, the renowned independent whisky bottler based in Elgin on Speyside and owned by the Urquhart family. Ewen will be the first non-Urquhart for four generations to be running the company. 

What’s the view from your office window?

Today: beautiful blue skies and Boroughbriggs Football Stadium – home to Elgin City FC.

No need to buy match tickets then. What’s it like living on Speyside?

...

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