Balblair moved away from its vintage expressions in March 2019 and launched a new core range with age statements. We’ll have a look at their offering, starting at the bottom with the Balblair 12 Year Old. It is matured in ex-bourbon casks as well as double-fired American oak casks. Nose: rather lightweight, fresh and bourbonny, with butter cream, lemon meringue and floral honey. Sweet vanilla cake (of course), pears and muesli. Subtle hints of peach yoghurt. Mouth: easy and h

After it was relaunched and re-labeled in 2017, Ben Nevis was said to have difficulties sourcing enough casks for their excellent Ben Nevis 10 Year Old. There had been a general shortage already and the 10 was rumoured to contain quite a lot of older (+/- 18 year-old) casks, which probably contributed to its success. Ben Nevis 10 Years relied mostly on refill casks, so to take away some pressure from this expression, they launched this limited edition Ben Nevis 10 Year Old Ba

After it was relaunched and re-labeled in 2017, Ben Nevis was said to have difficulties sourcing enough casks for their excellent Ben Nevis 10 Year Old. There had been a general shortage already and the 10 was rumoured to contain quite a lot of older (+/- 18 year-old) casks, which probably contributed to its success. Ben Nevis 10 Years relied mostly on refill casks, so to take away some pressure from this expression, they launched this limited edition Ben Nevis 10 Year Old Ba

I was quite surprised to see two Littlemill bottlings in Germany earlier this year, but it turns out there’s more where that came from. Now Master of Malt released a Littlemill 1991 single cask expression. Nose: sweet, on melons, lime and pear, mixed with chalky touches and buttery vanilla. Typical notes of paraffin and carbon paper. Just a hint of banana bubblegum and almond paste. A little hay. Mouth: a great tropical fruitiness that comes close to some Irish whiskeys, with

I was quite surprised to see two Littlemill bottlings in Germany earlier this year, but it turns out there’s more where that came from. Now Master of Malt released a Littlemill 1991 single cask expression. Nose: sweet, on melons, lime and pear, mixed with chalky touches and buttery vanilla. Typical notes of paraffin and carbon paper. Just a hint of banana bubblegum and almond paste. A little hay. Mouth: a great tropical fruitiness that comes close to some Irish whiskeys, with

Earlier this year Glengoyne launched a new series of annual releases called The Legacy series, which would highlight different elements of the distillery heritage. The Legacy Series: Chapter One is the first expression. It focuses on Cochrane Cartwright, the 19th century distillery manager who decided to focus on sherry casks for maturation and introduce the ‘slow’ distillation process, now two key elements for Glengoyne’s profile. Chapter One is a mix of first-fill European

Earlier this year Glengoyne launched a new series of annual releases called The Legacy series, which would highlight different elements of the distillery heritage. The Legacy Series: Chapter One is the first expression. It focuses on Cochrane Cartwright, the 19th century distillery manager who decided to focus on sherry casks for maturation and introduce the ‘slow’ distillation process, now two key elements for Glengoyne’s profile. Chapter One is a mix of first-fill European

Brora 40 Year Old Diageo will release a new Brora 40 Year Old celebrating the 200th anniversary of the distillery. It is a vatting of 12 American oak hogsheads from 1978, bottled at 49.2% ABV. Only 1819 bottles will be available, reflecting the year of opening. At around € 5000 this doesn’t come cheap, but interestingly it is cheaper than the Brora 40 Years released in 2014 which was around € 7500. Brora is set to reopen next year – construction work is underway. Karuizawa Am

Brora 40 Year Old Diageo will release a new Brora 40 Year Old celebrating the 200th anniversary of the distillery. It is a vatting of 12 American oak hogsheads from 1978, bottled at 49.2% ABV. Only 1819 bottles will be available, reflecting the year of opening. At around € 5000 this doesn’t come cheap, but interestingly it is cheaper than the Brora 40 Years released in 2014 which was around € 7500. Brora is set to reopen next year – construction work is underway. Karuizawa Am

The second Gordon & MacPhail exclusive celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Whisky Exchange is this Caol Ila 2005, bottled from a refill sherry hogshead. Nose: clean but surprisingly medicinal as well. Creosote, smoked bacon and iodine. Lemon juice and cold ashes. Gets sweeter as it opens up, with vanilla cake in the background. Mouth: strong, showing plenty of medicinal peat again, ashes, but now slightly richer due to a bigger amount of sweet notes. Yellow raisins, toffe

The second Gordon & MacPhail exclusive celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Whisky Exchange is this Caol Ila 2005, bottled from a refill sherry hogshead. Nose: clean but surprisingly medicinal as well. Creosote, smoked bacon and iodine. Lemon juice and cold ashes. Gets sweeter as it opens up, with vanilla cake in the background. Mouth: strong, showing plenty of medicinal peat again, ashes, but now slightly richer due to a bigger amount of sweet notes. Yellow raisins, toffe

This Speyside Blended Malt is classified as a tea spooned whisky because the distillery can’t be named, but maybe the small manor on the label of this ‘Le Gus’t’ bottling hints towards another manor in a famous Speyside estate, responsible for the biggest part of this whisky? Nose: it’s the classic, dry, full-bodied sherry with tobacco leaves, walnuts and caramel brioche. Brownies, hints of hay, dried mushroom and burnt wood. Quite autumnal, very good. Mouth: quite punchy, st

This Speyside Blended Malt is classified as a tea spooned whisky because the distillery can’t be named, but maybe the small manor on the label of this ‘Le Gus’t’ bottling hints towards another manor in a famous Speyside estate, responsible for the biggest part of this whisky? Nose: it’s the classic, dry, full-bodied sherry with tobacco leaves, walnuts and caramel brioche. Brownies, hints of hay, dried mushroom and burnt wood. Quite autumnal, very good. Mouth: quite punchy, st

Balvenie has a range of Single Barrel expressions: 12 years (first-fill bourbon), 15 years (sherry cask) and 25 years of age (traditional). Traditional Oak means refill ex-bourbon casks in the case of this Balvenie 25 Year Old Single Barrel. Each bottling is limited to 300 bottles at most. Nose: quite fresh and vibrant, with hardly any make-up for the spirit. Banana candy, crushed mint leaves and floral honey. Some carpenter aromas. Grapefruit peel and a hint of ginger. Fragr

Balvenie has a range of Single Barrel expressions: 12 years (first-fill bourbon), 15 years (sherry cask) and 25 years of age (traditional). Traditional Oak means refill ex-bourbon casks in the case of this Balvenie 25 Year Old Single Barrel. Each bottling is limited to 300 bottles at most. Nose: quite fresh and vibrant, with hardly any make-up for the spirit. Banana candy, crushed mint leaves and floral honey. Some carpenter aromas. Grapefruit peel and a hint of ginger. Fragr

Easy to guess there would be Gordon & MacPhail bottlings to celebrate The Whisky Exchange’s 20th Anniversary. Two have been released this month: a Caol Ila 2005 and this Highland Park 2001. Nose: a punchy all-rounder with pine needles, very subtle floral smoke and minty notes, as well as hints of honeyed pears, pineapple and vanilla latte. Barley sugar. A little cake. Mouth: full-bodied, with sweet and fruity notes at first (sweet resin, mead, grapes and pink grapefruit), mov

Easy to guess there would be Gordon & MacPhail bottlings to celebrate The Whisky Exchange’s 20th Anniversary. Two have been released this month: a Caol Ila 2005 and this Highland Park 2001. Nose: a punchy all-rounder with pine needles, very subtle floral smoke and minty notes, as well as hints of honeyed pears, pineapple and vanilla latte. Barley sugar. A little cake. Mouth: full-bodied, with sweet and fruity notes at first (sweet resin, mead, grapes and pink grapefruit), mov

In 2018 Douglas Laing rebranded its Rock Oyster whisky to Rock Island. Apparently oysters have a negative connotation to some people and they feared it put off consumers. Therefore it was simply named Rock Island – after all it represents the Island (maritime) whisky character in the Remarkable Regional Malts range, mainly composed of whiskies produced on Orkney, Arran, Jura and Islay. Still a small batch whisky with slight differences between batches. In July 2019 they broad

In 2018 Douglas Laing rebranded its Rock Oyster whisky to Rock Island. Apparently oysters have a negative connotation to some people and they feared it put off consumers. Therefore it was simply named Rock Island – after all it represents the Island (maritime) whisky character in the Remarkable Regional Malts range, mainly composed of whiskies produced on Orkney, Arran, Jura and Islay. Still a small batch whisky with slight differences between batches. In July 2019 they broad

Highland Park Triskelion The upcoming Highland Park Triskelion is named after the triangular shape that represents wisdom and inspiration, used in the Norse / Viking symbolism. In this release it also symbolises three Master Whisky Makers that play an important role at the distillery, mentioned on the label: Gordon Motion (whisky maker, 21 years of experience), Max McFarlane (whisky maker, 44 years of experience) and John Ramsay (43 years). The whisky is bottled at 45.1% ABV.