This is the sad story of how I once went to lunch without my phone and when I got back to the office I found out this Springbank 20 Year Old which I coveted for over a week since I heard on it was suddenly released and got sold – all during lunch. Allow me to add that since then I don’t go out to eat without the phone.

And the whisky itself? A sherried Springbank in a fantastic price. The whisky was distilled 14.03.1997, filled into Sherry Hogshead #108 and bottled 5.09.2017 after 20 years. The cask yielded 268 bottles...

Remember Ardbeg Twenty Something 23 ? I speculated it maj be a start of a series and indeed it seems I was right. Another Ardbeg in the series is set to be released later this year (Summer/Autumn 2018) , this time with a 22 Year Old age statement:

As you can see from the label, it wasn’t bottled yet and they are waiting till juli 1st 2018 to bottle it (and get the 22 number on the label). This time it’s Ex-Bourbon casks and it will be bottled at 46.4%. Based on the Ardbeg Twenty Something 23 pricing, we should...

The Macallan Classic Cut was first released in USA late 2017. It’s a NAS Macallan which isn’t a real surprise but it did surprised the crowds by having a hefty 58.4% ABV. We didn’t see a cask strength release from Macallan for ages, or at least since the Macallan 10yo CS and the Cask Strength releases years ago.

It seems that Macallan has finally realized it’s time for a come back following the rising stiff competition from other distilleries releasing good sherried whiskies (hello Aberlour & Glendronach!) and I’m sure that the constant pleas from the fans didn’t hurt the...

Today we’re going to check out the sixth incarnation in the Longrow Red series – Longrow Red Cabernet Franc.

The Cabernet Franc casks are from De Toren in Stellenbosch, South Africa, same place where the Malbec casks used for last years Longrow Red were taken. The whisky was matured for 9 years in bourbon casks and then additional 2 in the Cabernet Franc casks.

Longrow Red 11 Year Old Cabernet Franc Finish (55.9%,  €89,95 )

Nose : Soft and clean. Staring with some wine influence of tannins and sour red berries, but then it’s more balanced with some vanilla, toffee and...

We’re familiar with the Glenlivet range of products and the changes in the line up such as the introduction of Glenlivet Founders Reserve and the (seems to be temporary) pull of Glenlivet 12 year old from certain markets to ease the pressure on matured stocks.

But some special yet official Glenlivet has popped up late in januari in a certain ‘hot’ whisky market – A sherried 13 Year Old Glenlivet was released exclusively for Taiwan market.

Thanks to a friend, I was fortunate enough to get a bottle and check out how a 40% and chill-filtered sherried Glenlivet tastes like.

Glenlivet...

Ardbeg An Oa is the latest addition to Ardbeg core range. It was released in late 2017 and I totally neglected to review it till now.

Despite the hope we’d get an older Ardbeg with an age statement (say 15 or 18 Year Old), Ardbeg An Oa is like Corryvreckan and Uigeadail and doesn’t carry an age statement. So it’s a NAS whisky and it contains spirit that was aged in PX sherry casks and bourbon barrels that were married together in a French oak vat. Let’s check it out:

Ardbeg An Oa (46.6%, £48.95 / €47,90 / $52.99 )...

After being a bit distracted by the Old Pulteney 2004 we’re back at some more Octomores and today we’re checking Octomore 8.3.

Unlike Octomore 8.1 and Octomore 8.2, Octomore 8.3 is only 5 year old which is more or less in line with previous Octomore generations. The barley was grown in a single field at Octomore farm (Bruichladdich Distillery neighbors) and 56% of the whisky was matured in ex-Bourbon casks and 44% matured in European oak casks. 18,000 bottles at 61.2% were produced.

The 309 PPM (Phenols per million) figure for Octomore 8.3 is mightly impressive, and probably holds the unofficial...

Yesterday we celebrated our 70th Independence day and with such a round nice number our lively local whisky scene didn’t kept quiet. The Golan Heights Distillery released a special limited anniversary edition of their two grain whisky Golani that was finished in a Brandy cask.

The Golani spirit spent 2.5 years in red wine cask (like the regular Golani Vino) and then 50 liters were finished in a 50L cask which held Brandy (distilled at the distillery) for another 6 months. 70 bottles were released to the market bottled at 49.7%.

Golan Heights Distillery Golani Brandy Finish (49.7%, 250NIS/~€57 )...

This morning Diageo announced 9 out of 10 bottles of their Special Releases 2018. For the first time ever since the SP series was launched, there are no Port Ellen and Brora bottles in the list.

Instead we see four bottles destined to the regular consumers market. In addition to Lagavulin 12 CS and Caol Ila  15 Unpeated, we have a Cask Strength 8 Year Old Talisker and 14 Year Old Singleton.

The tenth bottle will be revealed later this year and the series bottles will probably be will during oktober 2018.

The current SP 2018 list:

• CARSEBRIDGE 48 year...

I reviewed Octomore 8.1 last week but I can’t really stop here so let’s head on to the next one in the series – Octomore 8.2.

Just like Octomore 8.1, it’s 100% Scottish barley peated to 167 ppm level and carries an 8 year old age statement.

The x.2 suffix in the series is reserved for wine maturation or finish, but this year it’s kind of extreme as the casks composition is complex. At first, the Octomore spirit spent six years in one of three different types of wine casks (all second fill casks):

• French Mourvedre
• Austrian sweet wines
• French...

Whenever The Whisky Exchange has a new single cask exclusive it is quite a thrill. Usually Sukhinder Singh does his magic and conjure some uniqe and good (or interesting at least) cask. I had my issues with their last Kilchoman exclusive but this time he actually managed to get Old Pulteney Distillery to bottle him a sherried Old Pulteney.

How rare is it? I can’t recall any fully matured sherried Old Pulteney from the last few years besides this one and the LMDW bottling. and to boot – this single cask is a first fill sherry cask (a sherry butt...

Earlier this month the first official bottlings from the Speyside based GlenAllachie distillery were launched – a series of six single casks bottlings from 1991, 1990, 1989 and 1978 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the distillery.

We knew it’s only a precursor to the real deal – a standard core line up is to be established and we know from the distillery website to expect 10, 12, 15, 18 and 25 year old expressions. But now we have more solid information on those expressions, thanks to the new labels that popped up at the Federal Database.

Based on the...

Last oktober I reviewed the Balvenie Peat Week 2002 14 Year Old which I quite liked but I neglected to review its sibling Peated Triple Cask 14 Year Old which is an exclusive offering for Travel Retail market so it’s time to fix that.

The Balvenie Peated Triple Cask 14 was matured in three (hence the Triple brand) different cask types: first it was matured in first-fill bourbon, then in refill bourbon and finally in sherry casks.

Let’s check it out and see how it compares to the Peat Week 2002.

The Balvenie Peated Triple Cask 14 Year Old (48.3%, £71.79...

Currently we’re having here a short spell of rainy days and a bit colder weather (unfortunately just a bit) which is refreshing to have in april after yet another too dry winter. Let’s use the occasion to check out a heavily peated whisky, Bruichladdich Octomore 8.1.

This Octomore 8.1 is peated to 167 ppm level, was d istilled in 2008 using only Scottish barley. The casks used for this expressions are all  first fill american oak casks. According to Bruichladdich casks from Buffalo Trace, Clermont Springs, Four Roses, Heaven Hill & Jack Daniels were used here and the long list...

The label for the forth installment in Glenfiddich Experimental series has popped up in TTB database and is called Fire & Cane .

This is a peated Glenfiddich spirit (most likely 22 ppm) that was finished in Rum casks (like the 21 Year Old Reserva Rum Cask Finish). This label partially surprised me as I expected a PX finish to be #04 but I not truly surprised from the appearance of a peated Glenfiddich in the series as I predicted it following the visit of Struan Grant Ralph, Glenfiddich Ambassador, a few months ago (See my in depth review of...

We’re in the midst of Passover holiday which means no whisky for me at the moment so let’s explore something else today – Rum.

It’s been ages since I reviewed Rum on the blog, but I explore Rum in my local (and great) Rum club and even have a few rum bottles at home. A while ago I got a surprise in the mail – a Rum sample from a Nils, a Dutch friend who also also operates as an independent bottler, bottling Whisky and Rum under ‘The Duchess’ brand name.

It’s their second Rum release, a 10 year old...

After I reviewed Glengoyne 25 yesterday for the International Whisky Day, I really had to raise the bar today so let’s check out Glengoyne 30 Year Old which was released a few months ago.

Glengoyne 30 Year old is a vatting of ~33% first fill European oak sherry butts and ~66% refill sherry butts (split the remaining 1% between them…). It’s un-chill filtered, natural colored and  6000 bottles were made to the public at RRP of £600.

Glengoyne 30 Year Old (46.8%, £539.94 / €588,95  )

Nose : Old sherry, sherry vinegar and balsamic vinegar, dried fruit, milk chocolate. Lots of sherry fruits...

The label for the second release in Highland Park Viking Legend trio was revealed. Highland Valknut is the follow up release to Valkyrie in the series created with Jim Lyngvild, a danish designer who’s an expert in Norse mythology....

It’s been close to four years since I last tried Glenlivet Nadurra Oloroso. I tried it when it first came out to the market and I didn’t like it much back then. But since 2014 there were more batches and not only those bottled at 48% for Travel Retail market but also some that are bottled at cask strength.

Since Nadurra Oloroso Cask Strength OL0816 (bottled 08/2016) was available at the recent Whisky Live 2018 in Tel-Aviv, it was time I’ll grab a dram at the Glenlivet stand and check it out.

Glenlivet Nàdurra Oloroso Batch OL0816 (61.3%, £42.90 /...

Glenmorangie Astar (Gaelic for “journey”) was first released back in 2008. Casks from oak growing in Missouri Ozark mountains which are slow growing variant were used to mature this whisky. Such casks aren’t very common (and some would say they are scarce), couple that with the fact that Dr. Lumsden isn’t too much in favor of cask strength releases, and you can understand why it took lots of public demand and additional 9 years to get together another edition.

The 2017 Astar was bottled at 52.5% (far below the 57.1% strength of the 2008 edition), isn’t chill filtered and comes...