Läs mer http://www.whiskyfun.com/2014/Another-bag-of-rum.html

Whisky makers: while we want secure whisky, whisky that can be collected or consumed with confidence, we’ve got a problem with getting at the stuff in the bottle. We need less wax, and better closures.

I’m on the warpath. It all started with this furious Tweet I sent out just after the new year, one that was retweeted and well-commented upon:

I’m COMPLETELY serious: stop putting wax on goddamned whisky bottles! I almost sliced my hand, and your dumb wax is in my toaster!

What happened was that I was opening one last sample bottle to review, and it was...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2014/01/17/wax-blood-and-crumbling-corks/

Läs mer http://www.whiskyfun.com/2014/Tradition-vs-modernity-two-new-Talisker.html

Kintra is regularly bottling casks without telling us what is really is. While the contents remains confidential, most of our sources claim it’s a “teaspooned” Balvenie . A very small amount of another whisky is added, in this case probably from the neighbouring Glenfiddich distillery. Technically not a single malt, but close enough.

4th Confidential Cask, 20 yo 1993 (50,3%, Kintra 2013, bourbon hogshead #1791, 295 btl.)

Nose: quite a modern, oak-driven profile (vanilla galore). A lot of biscuity notes with garden fruits like green apples and pears. Hints of flower honey and orange blossom. Pepper and ginger....

Läs mer http://www.whiskynotes.be/2014/balvenie/kintra-4th-confidential-cask/

Läs mer http://blog.thewhiskyexchange.com/2014/01/compass-box-general/

Läs mer http://www.edinburghwhiskyblog.com/2014/01/16/ewbs-5th-birthday-bash/

Läs mer http://www.whiskyfun.com/2014/Three-Glenmorangie-including-Companta.html

Douglas Laing seems to have bought quite a few Isle of Jura 2003 casks and they’ve started to bottle them. There were at least 2 or 3 similar releases in 2013.

Jura 9 yo 2003 (46%, Douglas Laing Provenance 2013, ref. 9305)

Nose: gristy, grainy and peaty. It’s really young spirit, with newmakeish notes of pear drops, porridge and spearmint bubblegum. That doesn’t mean it’s bad – there’s a nice oiliness to it and a pleasant dustiness. Hints of walnut husks. Mouth: very sugary. It’s fairly rounded, with vanilla, honey and cinnamon sweets. Peaty notes, some iodine. Unfortunately...

Läs mer http://www.whiskynotes.be/2014/jura/jura-2003-douglas-laing-provenance/

It’s hard to know precisely what a distillery looks like these days, but I’m not expecting one that shares a building with a boxing gym, an Islamic Arts Centre, a cinema, and a bar. The blue neon sign declaring “The London Distillery” looks like some post-modern irony rather than a working plant. Outside, the muddy coffee waters of the Thames flow under Albert Bridge. Not, as I said, the location you think of when talking whisky.

In the tiled, high-ceilinged main room is a highly burnished, 650 liter copper pot called Matilda, built to the firm’s specifications by Christian Carl....

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2014/01/15/whisky-returns-to-london/

Läs mer http://www.whiskyfun.com/2014/A-few-Scotch-blends.html

The youngest from the Age Matters series by The Whiskyman . Fifteen years old  Ledaig 1997 .

Ledaig 15 yo 1997 (51,9%, The Whiskyman ‘Age Matters’ 2013)

Nose: what the… There are a few aromas that I usually don’t appreciate in whisky. Dirtbin odours, rubber, porridge with milk… This one has them all. It’s buttery, peaty and quite raw, almost industrial. There are hints of wet things: hay, leaves, sheep… Then some brighter fruity notes, but only in the background. It’s not exactly a gentleman, but I admit, it possesses an authenticity and a certain beauty. In the same way Permeke’s lying...

Läs mer http://www.whiskynotes.be/2014/ledaig/ledaig-15-1997-whiskyman/

Läs mer http://www.whiskyfun.com/2014/A-short-Littlemill-verticale.html

Dun Eideann is a sublabel of Signatory Vintage, the independent bottler founded by Andrew and Brian Symington in 1988. Dun Eideann was primarily intended for export markets like Switzerland, France, Spain and Italy, where Donato & C. is still the distributor).

From this series we’re trying a Springbank 1967 bottled in 1989.

Springbank 20 yo 1967 (46%, Dun Eideann for Donato & C. 1989, cask #3131 – 3136)

Nose: old-style, dusty sherry, not too aromatic but nicely complex. Starts citrusy, with lots of oranges, then it settles on dried figs, Nutella (both hazelnuts and chocolate) and plenty of...

Läs mer http://www.whiskynotes.be/2014/springbank/springbank-1967-dun-eideann/

It was revealed today that Beam, the all-spirits company spun off by Fortune Brands in 2011, has agreed to be acquired by Suntory for $13.62 billion, upon approval from Beam Inc. shareholders. Suntory already distributes Beam’s products in Japan, and Beam distributes Suntory’s products in several other Asian markets. The deal is targeted for completion in the second quarter of 2014.

Given numbers from the Impact Databank, the deal will make Suntory the world’s fourth-largest spirits company, behind Diageo, India’s United Spirits Limited, and Pernod Ricard; Bacardi will now be fifth. By dollar amount, this is a bigger deal than...

Läs mer http://whiskyadvocate.com/whisky/2014/01/13/suntory-bids-for-beam/