Consistency is a big thing in whisky. The majority of bottlings are blended from a large selection of casks which are chosen to create a vatting as close as possible to the previous vatting, and the ones 10 or 20 years ago. Winemakers tend to state vintages on their bottles, so you can anticipate variation … Continue reading Balvenie Single Barrel 12 (Cask No. 6561)
New release day for anything related to Mitchell's Glengyle is always something that creates a stir in the whisky community. Kilkerran bottlings are no exception and this heavily peated version was particularly hyped up online, so I reserved a bottle and collected it on release day to be sure of not missing out. I was … Continue reading Kilkerran Heavily Peated
Distilleries can often be pigeon-holed into a "style" of whisky which defines their brand and creates a common theme throughout their entire range. Take Glenfarclas and Aberlour as examples that mature practically all of their bottlings in ex-sherry casks. The spirit produced by both distilleries is particularly robust and well suited to sherry but does … Continue reading Ledaig 10yo
Longrow Red has become something of a phenomenon since it's first release in 2012. I was lucky enough to be in Edinburgh on release day this year and saw a couple of shops that had bottles; however they soon sold out as did online retailers. Longrow Red sells out very quickly every year, and has … Continue reading Longrow Red 11yo Pinot Noir Cask 2019
Many distilleries like to give the impression that they're staffed exclusively by men from the 1800's who spend their days shovelling malted barley and stoking peat fires, before having away with a crafty nip of the end product at lunchtime, straight from the cask. In the days of health and safety and technology, the reality … Continue reading Springbank 10
No-age-statement bottlings can be a little contentious at times. Yes, a lot of them are fairly sub-standard and because of this it can be construed as slightly underhanded to put out a bottling without giving an idea of what's actually in the bottle. After all, the whisky industry spent enough time telling everyone how important … Continue reading Longrow NAS
When you're getting into whisky, there comes a time when you are presented with the problems associated with developing and evolving tastes. The more you taste, the more your palate becomes adjusted to more robust, full drams and the more flavour it takes to satisfy. This means that supermarket staples such as your Glenfiddich 12 … Continue reading Glengoyne 10
Caol Ila distillery is one of the highest producing distilleries in Scotland. This powerhouse produces 6.5 million litres of whisky per year, and is a major component of both Johnnie Walker Black 12 year and the Black Bottle blends. It only began producing whisky for sale as an official bottling single malt in 2002 with … Continue reading Caol Ila 12
Cask finishing is a huge part of Scotch whisky. It is used by distilleries to expand their offerings and experiment, using different spirits, wines and now beers to influence their whisky and create new and interesting expressions with which to separate us from our cash. "Finishing" means to take a whisky that has been matured in … Continue reading Glenfiddich 15 Solera Reserve
Campbeltown is a small town in the extreme west of Scotland which used to claim to be the "whisky capital of the world", with 30 distilleries operating within it's local area. These glory days are now behind it, and with only 3 distilleries now operating in Campbeltown it only just meets the minimum requirements to … Continue reading Kilkerran 12
Mighty Fine Malts 