July 9, 2016
Longmorn 16 year old single malt whisky was released to replace their 15 year old as part of the relaunch of Longmorn distillery. The discontinued 15YO by the way, is a high rated single malt in Whisky Connosr community – with an average of 91 points it used to be […]
February 6, 2016
Friend of mine told me about a German importer from Berlin, who has released bottlings under the name of Jack Wieber since 1998. Jack Wiebers Whisky World is a wholesale business operating in Wiener Strasse, Berlin. Owned by Lars-Göran Wiebers, the whisky shop is specialized in independent and rare bottlings. And they do release […]
January 4, 2016
GlenDronach has made a great reputation with its sherry matured whisky, offering quality drams with age statements. Just like The GlenDronach 15 year old Revival, this 18 year old Allardice has been matured in Spanish Oloroso casks. The GlenDronach distillery was founded in 1826 – being one of the first licensed Scottish distilleries owned by BenRiach nowadays. The […]
December 1, 2015
Bunnahabhain distillery is a good divergent from the region of Islay, because their whiskies are usually lightly peated. Like this entry level Bunnahabhain 12 year old, which nowadays comes in a redesigned bottle and at higher strength. It is also declared to be un-chill filtered and natural coloured. Bunnahabhain has […]
November 29, 2015
Black Bull is a Deluxe Blended Soctch whisky brand by Duncan Taylor. Deluxe, because along with a non age statement called Kyloe, they also have very old blended whiskies under the label. They have Black Bull 21, 30 and 40 year old whiskies. I myself am not a fan of […]
November 26, 2015
Benromach 2004 Peat Smoke is a 9 year old peated single malt from the smallest distillery in Speyside region. It’s been matured in first fill Ex-Bourbon casks and it has a phenol level of 53ppm – it has no added color and un-chill filtered. Benromach distillery is owned by Gordon […]
November 20, 2015
Deanston Virgin Oak is a Highland single malt whisky from Deanston distillery, which has been certified by the Organic Food Association. So you can always feel good about yourself, while trying their Scotch. They are the largest distillery owned by Burn Stewart Distillers Ltd, who also own Bunnahabhain and Tobermory […]
October 29, 2015
Like the title says, this is a single malt whisky without chill-filtering by the Aberlour distillery. 12 years old and matured in Ex-Sherry butts and Ex-Bourbon casks. There’s also been a 12 year old Aberlour, which has been chill-filtered. Comparing those two would actually be a great blog post subject. […]
October 22, 2015
Connemara 12 year old is another peated Irish single malt whiskey by Cooley distillery. Unlike many Irish whiskeys (which are triple distilled), Connemara is double distilled. Other brands under the Cooley distillery include Kilbeggan, Greenore and Tyrconnell. Because of new Irish invasion of distillers, Cooley malt can be found from […]
October 15, 2015
Mackmyra Brukswhisky is a core single malt in the range of the first Swedish whisky distillery. Brukswhisky has been matured primarily in first fill Ex-Bourbon barrels, yet it also contains some Ex-Sherry cask and Swedish oak cask matured whisky. It has some smokier malt too, so we are surely talking […]
October 12, 2015
Finnish whisky producer Teerenpeli released the first Finnish 10 year old single malt in 10/10/2015. Well, actually they did offer a cask strength version of a 10 year old whisky in 2014, but this newest version is going to be released for retail also. The cask strength version (ABV: 58,5%) […]
September 27, 2015
Hazelburn 12 year old single malt is a triple distilled whisky from Springbank distillery in Campeltown. First released in 2009 as a limited release of only 3900 bottles. Like Longrow (another brand by Springbank), Hazelburn gets its name from a long closed Campbeltown distillery. Springbank increased the Hazelburn 12yo production a bit and 4500 […]
July 17, 2015
Kilchoman is a young, promising farm distillery in Islay. Started at 2005, Kilchoman Loch Gorm 2013 release was also their first release of this sherry cask matured, peated single malt whisky. Kilchoman is a small distillery with 90 000 litre capacity per year. They are one of the 6 Scottish […]
July 13, 2015
Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey broke some barriers against bourbon for me. Not quite so long ago, in 2013, Buffalo Trace was my first good encounter with bourbon. Somehow I had only tried American whiskey such as Jack Daniel’s or Jim Beam, for example. It is not amazing, that […]
July 8, 2015
Few years ago, Balblair wanted to be different by replacing age-statement with vintages, like we are used to in wine. I got a chance to taste the 2nd release of Balblair Vintage 1997, matured in first fill American oak, Ex-Bourbon barrels since 1997. According to them, they are the oldest […]
July 6, 2015
Highland Park has released six NAS (no age statement) whiskies for their Warrior Series, made for European travel retail market: Svein, Einar, Harald, Sigurd, Ragnavald and Thorfinn (in order of price). Named after Einar, one of the most feared vikings of his time. Einar was tough and successful, making lots […]
July 3, 2015
I was already fascinated about the package design of this Swedish single malt, so when I bumped into it at my local tavern, I had to try it. There was also No.1 Dubhe 5 year old single malt available but I decided to go with the 6YO No.2 Merak. The second […]
June 30, 2015
Four Roses Small Batch 2014 is a 9 year old bourbon, containing also bourbons up to 11, 12 and 13 years old. This is a cask strength limited edition by the Four Roses distillery from Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. Every year they release a small batch of this heavier alcohol per volume […]
June 30, 2015
I haven’t bumped into any confirmed info about the maturation of Highland Park 12 year old single malt whisky, but I’m guessing it’s Ex-Bourbon and Ex-Sherry casks. Probably re-fill sherry casks. They do talk about the usage of Oloroso sherry casks, so probably those and some American oak. But I […]
June 30, 2015
This is a whisky from the independent bottler Murray McDavid and it is part of their “turquoise series”. I had a chance to try it on our way to Teerenpeli distillery tour in Lahti, Finland. It is Longmorn 12 year old single malt from 1994 and it has been matured in a bourbon but. Finished on […]
June 30, 2015
Well, it’s been two years since the tasting of this one but what the heck, better late than never with the reviews…Ardbog is a limited edition whisky by the Ardbeg distillery, famous for its peated whiskies from Islay. Ardbog was released during Fèis Ìle whisky festival and it was produced […]
June 24, 2015
Elements of Islay Bn4 is the fourth batch from Bunnahabhain distillery, bottled by the independent bottler Speciality Drinks. This dark and sweet character felt like a nice addition into the Elements of Islay series, even though I only had a chance to take few sips of it on our way to Taivaanranta […]
June 22, 2015
Nikka Whisky From The Barrel is a marriage of malt and grain whisky blended together. It has been bottled directly from the re-casked whisky barrels. This Japanese blend is a prize winning dram – it got the top prize in its category at the World Whisky Awards in 2007 and […]
May 28, 2015
The Glenlivet 12 year old single malt plays a great part in my memory lane. I received a bottle of this smooth Speysider while celebrating the birth of my second kid in 2011. So my opinion might be biased because there’s lots of emotions going on with this whisky. Then […]
May 26, 2015
This BenRiach, the 13 year old Madeira Finish, also known as “Maderensis Fumosus” (smoky Madeira in Latin), was my favorite in Speyside blind tasting within our local whisky community here in Finland. In overall scoring it came second just behind GlenDronach 21YO Parliament. I did manage to guess the distillery and […]
May 17, 2015
My BenRiach filled May continues with 18 year old Tawny Port Finish 1994 specially selected and bottled for Finland by the great Speyside distillery. The one I’m reviewing was bottled October 2012, cask number 3585 and bottle number 102 of 301. BenRiach 1994 18YO Tawny Port Finish for Finland is […]
May 16, 2015
Made from a mashbill of 95% rye and 5% malted barley and comes in small batches, so you have to expect a top notch rye whiskey. And that’s just what Bulleit “95” Rye Whiskey is. This rye whiskey doesn’t have an age statement, it contains 4 to 7 year old […]
May 6, 2015
This dram is BenRiach 15 year old single malt whisky matured in ex-bourbon American oak casks and after that, finished in Jamaican dark rum casks. Released in 2006, it is part of BenRiach’s “Wood Finish Series”, there’s been 350 six-packs made available world-wide. The series also includes Pedro Ximenez Sherry, […]
May 4, 2015
Like The Whisky Exchange puts it, “a slightly crazy entry” this BenRiach’s 10th single cask release – malt whisky triple distilled, unlike their regular double distilled spirit. It’s been matured for 15 years and finished in a Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon. 630 bottles has been released. Mine was only a […]
April 18, 2015
Smokehead 18 year old single malt is a 6000 bottle limited release by Ian Macleod – a mystery dram from Islay. There’s also a non age statement whisky under the Smokehead brand, launched in 2006. It is much cheaper and presumably, better available than this 18YO Extra Black. The name, […]