This is a Clynelish expression at cask strength that was only for sale at the distillery. It is believed to be a version of the standard Clynelish 14 Year Old at natural strength. It was a one-off bottling, I don’t think the concept of ‘distillery only’ bottlings has been repeated.

Clynelish ‘available only at the distillery’ (57,3%, OB 2008)

Nose: very naked, with lemon, yellow apple, dried grass and a lot of waxy notes. Wax candles, buttery notes. Mineral and sharp, but it becomes more aromatic after a while, with subtle but impressive lime and raspberry notes in...

Glen Mhor , Millburn, Pittyvaich, Brackla, North Port… those are the five distilleries I have the least experience with (except for completely lost ones of course). Here’s a rare opportunity to try the Glen Mhor 1966 in the Old Malt Cask series.

Glen Mhor 34 yo 1966 (50%, Douglas Laing ‘Old Malt Cask’ 2000, 396 btl.)

Nose: high octane sherry. I get some rich forest fruit jam, raspberry coulis and Heering Cherry liqueur, but also less expected things like bananas and apricots. Then a big herbal side (liquorice, mint) with tobacco, moving towards polished furniture and big hints...

The BenRiach 35 Years Old , according to the distillery, is designed to compliment its award-winning 25 years old which came out in 2006, as a replacement for the 30 Year Old.

If we count back in time, the casks used for this whisky must have been filled in 1979 or earlier . Excellent years for The BenRiach (which was owned by Glenlivet back then), so I have high expectations.

It is a mix of bourbon and sherry casks.

BenRiach 35 yo (42,5%, OB 2014)

Nose: pretty wonderful. A big fruity core of ripe banana, dried apricots, oranges...

This is the second new Signatory bottling for The Bonding Dram :  Dailuaine 1997. The yield is shared with Maison Baelen, Toby Vins and restaurant De Cluysenaer.

Dailuaine 17 yo 1997 (52,1%, Signatory Vintage for The Bonding Dram 2015, hogshead #7188, 215 btl.)

Nose: fairly naked and malty, with sweet apples, meadow flowers and linseed oil. Subtle spices. A bit of heather honey. Slightly overripe oranges. Also hints of asparagus. Hmmmokay then. Mouth: fruitier and quite oily. Stewed apples and pears, oranges again, with lemon candy. Some biscuity notes (vanilla) with candy sugar before moving onto strong spices (quite...

This is the new entry-level expression for Mortlach (in terms of pricing several steps below Mortlach 18 Years and Mortlach 25 Years ). It is a mix of their three styles of spirit (delicate, medium and meaty) matured in a series of different casks: first-fill American and European oak casks, as well as some refill and rejuvenated casks.

Mortlach Rare Old (43,4%, OB 2014)

Nose: I get three main layers. A big malty core, a floral top note and an earthy base. The malty core also brings some biscuits, vanilla and raisins. The floral note moves towards orange...

Glenfarclas – The Legend of Speyside is a small series of three bottlings, originally for the German market but now also available elsewhere.

Alongside Passion and Springs , it is a tribute to important elements in the history of this family-owned distillery.

These expressions are matured in Oloroso sherry casks provided by the Spanish cooperage José & Miguel Martin , a long-time partner of Glenfarclas and other whisky distilleries around the world. It’s based in the province of Huelva, outside of the official sherry triangle . That means their wines cannot be called sherry (hence how would...

Well… rather… my favourite whisky glasses . I am being asked about my preferred whisky glass regularly, and I was planning to write about this for a long time.

In the picture we have seven glasses. I have used them regularly and they all have advantages and disadvantages in my opinion. Let’s have a look, but first, I’d like to stress this is not a scientific comparison . I haven’t tried the exact same whiskies in all of the glasses to see which one works better for which type of whisky, for instance. It’s just a rough summary of...

This whisky has a very interesting recipe and it’s rather well documented. It’s a blended malt , but contrary to the vast majority of blended malts, it wasn’t blended just before bottling, but back then in 2001.

In that year, low-proof (probably quite old) leftovers from Glenrothes and Tamdhu bottlings were poured together. As they couldn’t fill an entire sherry butt, it was topped up with new make (*) spirit from a Speyside distillery that cannot be named (Glenfarclas perhaps?). This mix has been maturing for over 13 years and was now bottled at cask strength in the Archives series.

Three...

Ah, 2006… a time when cask numbers were still disclosed and 1970’s casks were still readily available.

Today: Longmorn 1974 , a sister cask of a Scottish Castles release I reviewed a couple of years ago. Distilled in april 1974 and bottled for The Whisky Fair in Limburg. They also had a wonderful Clynelish 1974 at the same time. Now tell me the whisky landscape hasn’t changed…

Longmorn 31 yo 1974 (49,8%, The Whisky Fair 2006, bourbon hogshead #3494, 135 btl.)

Nose: ah, that lovely 1970’s profile of Longmorn (and neighbouring distilleries). Beehive notes, honey and wax. Apricots,...

Writers Tears is an Irish pure pot still whiskey (triple distilled). It’s a vatting of aged single malt and aged pot still whiskey, both from different distilleries and aged in ex-bourbon casks.

The Walsh Distillery which is behind this blend, started as an Irish coffee and Irish Cream producer – for which they bought whiskey from Irish Distillers (Jameson). It was not until 2007 when their first Irishman whiskey was presented. Writers Tears was created in 2009. Here it’s presented at cask strength , a limited yearly release. If I’m not mistaken, they are now building a new distillery to...

Yellow Spot is part of the Spot series of Single Pot Still Irish Whiskeys produced at the Midleton distillery . For now there’s Green Spot (NAS) and Yellow Spot 12 Year Old . A Blue Spot and Red Spot might follow in the future.

The series is inspired by the original Yellow Spot which was last bottled in the early 1960s. The colours were derived from Mitchell & Son’s practice of marking their casks of maturing whiskey with a mark or daub of coloured paint to determine the age potential of the whiskey.

Yellow Spot has been matured...

The latest trip to the Signatory Vintage warehouses resulted in this Ledaig 2004 , as well as a Dailuaine 1997 which we’ll review soon. Quite some Ledaig releases out there but few of them are from a sherry cask.

Ledaig 10 yo 2004 (46%, Signatory Vintage for The Bonding Dram 2015, first fill sherry butt #15/453, 379 btl.)

Nose: very tarry and ashy with lots of tobacco notes up front. Slightly acrid smoke and motor oil. A lot of wet wool / canvas as well. Anchovies in salt. Becomes sweeter after a while, with almonds, blood orange and...

Kilbeggan is the blended whiskey from the Irish Cooley distillery . Their latest expression is 21 years old and is composed of different casks: ex-bourbon, Port, Madeira and Sherry.

Kilbeggan 21 yo (40%, OB 2015)

Nose: sweet start with fruity aromas, ripe banana, (over)ripe apples and good deal of vanilla. Increasingly drier over time, first dried coconut, then also sandalwood and a little nutmeg with a mentholated edge. I can’t say all these cask types are noticeable. Mouth: quite minty and oaky right away. Lots of tea notes, a hint of eucalyptus and a slight grainy bitterness. Hints...

Bushmills celebrated the 400th anniversary of distilling in 2008. They meant distilling in the area around Bushmills by the way, not at the Old Bushmills distillery where this was made.

Bushmills 1608 is a blend of three different spirits: Bushmills’ own triple distilled malt whiskey with a lighter irish grain and a malt whiskey they made using crystal malt – a caramelized version of the normal malted barley. Maturation takes place in bourbon and sherry casks.

After the 2008 release, new batches have been made available so it’s still around. Bushmills 1608 was named Best Irish Blended Whiskey (No Age...

Irish single malts from independent bottlers are currently selling like hotcakes. We’ve seen old 1988 and 1989 expressions, the wonderful (peated) 1991s and several younger examples distilled early 2000s . All good to outstanding.

Also on a more global scale, Irish distilleries achieved some excellent results and are growing at a much faster rate than their Scottish neighbours .

For me a good reason to focus on Irish whiskey for a while, but not the independent European bottlers this time. Over the next couple of days, I’ll present a couple of interesting drams from different categories (blends, malts, pot still)....

Like the original Tullamore D.E.W., Tullamore D.E.W. 12yo Special Reserve is a triple distilled blend of all three types of Irish whiskey (pot still, malt and grain). However, it has a high proportion of the first two, matured in a combination of bourbon and Oloroso sherry casks, for 12 to 15 years. A very fine aged whiskey with great complexity.

The Tullamore Dew brand was bought by William Grant’s in 2012. The 12yo Special Reserve (originally a travel retail exclusive) was re-introduced recently with an updated presentation.

While they still rely on Midleton at the moment, they are also building...

Well, officially the label says for The Netherlands and Japan but they nicknamed themselves Whisky Nerds. We know they are actually Bram Van Glabbeek and Floris Kooistra who are linked to the Dutch Usquebaugh Society, together with the Japanese distributor Whisky.E.

GlenDronach 19 yo 1995 (55,1%, OB for The Netherlands and Japan 2015, Oloroso butt #2380, 628 btl.)

Nose: good, heavy sherry. Dried figs and dates, Black Forest gateau, with some coffee liqueur and leather in the background. Red berry jam (or make that blackberry). Waxed furniture and subtle hints of pipe tobacco. Chocolate too, of course. Mouth:...

Italian bottler Samaroli released two sister casks of Jura 1997 in 2014, cask 9119 at 50% and cask 9118 at 43% (which says II release on the label). There also seems to be a blend of both – a bit confusing.

Isle of Jura 1997 (43%, Samaroli 2014, cask #9118, 2nd release, 350 btl.)

Nose: a coastal profile, slightly austere. Minerals and grassy notes. Green tea and mint. Dried seaweed and a fresh sea breeze. Underneath is a layer of sweet cake batter and buttercups. Subtle cooked apples as well. Rather discrete but not unpleasant. Mouth: again a...

We’ve had some excellent independent Littlemill expressions in the past few years, but the official bottlings don’t have the same reputation. While the indy early 90’s versions are expressive fruit bombs, the older officials tend to be shy, dusty and cereally.

In our glass we have the Littlemill 1975 , released in 1999 in the typical green dumpy bottle.

Littlemill 1975 (40%, OB 1999)

Nose: a lot of apple skin with hay. Cider apples. Apple seeds as well. A vague sweetness of berries. Some buttery tones. Some musty wood and a bit of wet newspaper. Very old-fashioned. Mouth:...

On the occasion of 200 years of the Ardbeg distillery , they launched Perpetuum. It’s a mix of “very old” and young Ardbeg, from both bourbon barrels and sherry casks.

There has been a Distillery release at 49,2% but we’re trying the wider release at 47,4%.

Ardbeg Perpetuum ∞ (47,4%, OB 2015)

Nose: quite warm, with deep sooty notes and some simmering ashes. Hints of wet tarmac. On the other side there is enough honey, vanilla and chocolate to make it rounder. Some candied lemon, as well as a few floral notes. It’s not very complex and seemingly...