Single malt - WhiskyRant

Whiskies made out of malted barley from a single distillery.

January 16, 2016

Mackmyra Svensk Rök (Swedish Smoke) review

Mackmyra Svensk Rök (Swedish Smoke in English) is the first peated whisky by the artisans of Sweden. Usually Mackmyra releases cask strength whisky, but this is not. Mackmyra website states, that this whisky is made completely out of Swedish ingredients only. Matured in a selection of Swedish oak casks. According […]

January 4, 2016

GlenDronach 18 year old Allardice review

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 18, 2015

Bushmills 21 year old Rare review

I heard lots of good things about Bushmills 21 year old Rare single malt before we had an Irish whiskey tasting with our local whisky club. And believe me, those good things turned out to be true. Truly, a magnificent whiskey by the Northern Ireland distillery, The Old Bushmills. I’ve […]

December 14, 2015

Glenkinchie 12 year old review

Glenkinchie 12 year old single malt whisky is kinda new addition to the core range of this Lowland distillery. This is a entry level bottling released in 2007, replacing the 10 year old by Glenkinchie. Lowland has only six distilleries located in the region. Like the name suggests, Glenkinchie lies […]

December 1, 2015

Bunnahabhain 12 year old review

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 28, 2015

Finlaggan Old Reserve review

Finlaggan Old Reserve is another “bang for the buck whisky” for “peatheads” like me. It comes from Islay and is bottled by The Vintage Malt Whisky Company, but nothing else is being told about the whisky. Even the maturation is a guarded secret, but I’d guess it to be Ex-Bourbon […]

November 26, 2015

Benromach 2004 Peat Smoke review

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 25, 2015

Glenglassaugh Evolution review

Glenglassaugh distillery was closed in 1986 but resurrected in 2008. After the distillery was reopened, they made Glenglassaugh Revival – matured in first and refill bourbon casks and finished for 6 months in first fill Oloroso sherry butts. Glenglassaugh Evolution is a limited cask strength release follow up to Revival. […]

November 24, 2015

Balvenie Single Barrel 15 year old review

I got a chance to try bottle number 19 from batch 8590 of Balvenie Single Barrel 15 year old single malt at our local whisky society blind tasting. Maturation started in Ex-Bourbon casks in August 1997, bottled in October 2012. With a maximum of only 350 bottles per batch, the […]

November 20, 2015

Deanston Virgin Oak review

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 […]

November 11, 2015

Tomatin Cu Bocan single malt whisky review

Tomatin Cù Bòcan gets its name from a legendary spectral dog named Cù Bòcan. Tale tells that the dog has haunted the Inverness based Tomatin village for many years. According to the legend, the dog dissolved as smoke over the moorlands when a distillery worker tried to touch it. That […]

November 2, 2015

Kilkerran Work In Progress Sherry Wood 5th release review

This review is about the 5th Release of Kilkerran Work In Progress Sherry Wood, a product from Glengyle distillery in Campbeltown region. They also make Work In Progress Bourbon Wood. This series is a great way of seeing how the whisky is developing. They are working their way towards Kilkerran […]

October 29, 2015

Aberlour 12yo non chill-filtered feature image

Aberlour 12 year old Non Chill-Filtered review

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 review

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 21, 2015

Bushmills 10 year old review

Bushmills 10 year old Irish whiskey comes from the Norhern Ireland based Old Bushmills Distillery. This triple distilled whiskey from one oldest whiskey distilleries in the world (licensed in 1608) has been matured in Ex-Bourbon and Ex-Oloroso Sherry casks, mostly in Ex-Bourbon. I must say, this experience indeed strengthens the […]

October 15, 2015

Mackmyra Brukswhisky review

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 15, 2015

Aberlour A’Bunadh Batch 47 review

Finally got my hands on a release of this well respected Aberlour A’Bunadh. The name is derived from Gaelic, meaning “return to origin”. That’s because the whisky has been produced according to the methods that were common around 1870’s. I ordered a sample of Batch 47 of the popular A’Bunadh […]

October 12, 2015

Teerenpeli 10 year old review

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%) […]

October 5, 2015

Glenmorangie 10 year old The Original review

Glenmorangie 10 year old, aka The Original single malt whisky comes from far north from the Highland region in Scotland. Glenmorangie distillery is known for the tallest stills in Scotland, where only the lightest and purist spirit vapours reach the top. That gives Glenmorangie its signatory floral and fruity character. […]

October 3, 2015

Dailuaine 16 year old Flora and Fauna review

This Dailuaine 16 year old single malt is part of the Flora and Fauna collection by Diageo. Dailuaine malt whisky distillery was founded in 1852 and is located in Charlestown-of-Aberlour, Strathspey in the Speyside region. Weird, but only 2% of its malt whisky is actually sold as single malt by […]

October 2, 2015

Springbank 12 year old Cask Strength batch 10 review

Welcome to my review of Springbank 12 year old Cask Strength version. Springbank is a fairly small distillery with an annual production capacity of 750 000 litres. Owned by the Mitchell’s, which is the same family who founded the distillery in 1828. That makes Springbank the oldest distillery continually owned by […]

October 1, 2015

Balvenie 14 year old Caribbean Cask review

Balvenie 14 year old Caribbean Cask is an interesting dram from the Dufftown based distillery in Speyside. This single malt whisky has been matured for 14 years in traditional oak casks and after that, transferred to Caribbean rum casks to give some extra character. Always intrigued to try a rum […]

September 27, 2015

Hazelburn 12 year old review

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 […]

September 26, 2015

GlenDronach 21 year old Parliament review

GlenDronach 21 year old Parliament is a single malt matured in a mix of Oloroso and sweet Pedro Ximenez dessert sherry casks. 21 year old whisky from the great Speyside distillery surely sounds promising, even though I’m usually not a fan of sweet sherried whiskies. And yes, GlenDronach is officially […]

September 15, 2015

The Ultimate Glenrothes 1995 17YO review

The Ultimate Whisky Company is an independent bottler founded in 1994 by Han and Maurice van Wees. Since then they have released over 500 malt whiskies, the list of products can be found here along with distillation and bottling dates, ages, cask types and numbers. All of The Ultimate whiskies […]

September 10, 2015

Talisker 10 year old review

Talisker 10 year old is truly a seaside dram. Powerful single malt whisky from the Isle of Skye, filled with coastal notes and strong character – classic Scottish Island dram. I am not a big fan of seafood and if you have to name one whisky that resembles seafood, Talisker […]

September 6, 2015

Kavalan Solist Ex-Bourbon Cask review

Kavalan is Taiwanese single malt produced and bottled by King Car Kavalan distillery. They started bottling of Kavalan in 2008 and their whiskies have good reputation, which has been growing fast. It also shows in the price tag and availability, which is why I’m reviewing a sample. My 5 cl […]

September 2, 2015

Auchentoshan Springwood review

Auchentoshan Springwood was created for travel retail by the “Glasgow’s Malt Whisky” (the nickname comes from the close proximity to Glasgow). Auchentoshan is also known as “the breakfast whisky” – their whisky is triple distilled, which makes it delicate. This Lowland distillery produces smooth and light whiskies. They usually make […]

August 16, 2015

Hammer Head 1989 23 year old single malt whisky review

Hammer Head 1989 23 year old single malt whisky has a great backstory. Distilled just before the Czechoslovakian Velvet Revolution, every ingredient is local. Barley, water and even the oak casks were made out of Czech wood. Purchased by Stock Spirits Group, the whisky had been forgotten for 20 years […]

August 5, 2015

Hyde 10 year old Presidents Cask review

Hyde 10 year old No. 1 Presidents Cask is a single malt Irish whiskey by Hibernia Distillers – who are planning to make their own whiskey in five years or so, but until then – are sourcing their products from up and running distilleries. A familiar business model by other new […]