This year, the sought-after festival bottlings from The Scotch Malt Whisky Society sported colorful animal illustrations. One of my faves: the chilled orang-utan that peacefully dozes on the label of this bourbon cask-matured Benrinnes 22 Years Old. (more…)
Bourbon Cask
Shock’em’toshan 22yo by Old Scar-ticular (Review)
Tonight is Halloween, fellas – the scariest and most awesome time of the year! To celebrate my favorite holiday in style, I walked over to my cabinet o’ poisons and picked a special sip from it, namely a 22-year-old Auchentoshan… or shall I rather say… Shock’em’toshan (more…)
Ardmore 10yo “66.150 – Smoke, soot and tarry ropes” by SMWS (Review)
In the context of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, the number 66 is a lot more than just two digits clinging to each other. In The Society’s distillery code system it refers to the Beam Suntory-owned Highlands unit Ardmore. And at least in my opinion, this busy production site is always worth checking out. Traditionally, The SMWS has a particularly good nose (more…)
ÜberQuell: “Putting a Belgian Wit beer into a Bulleit cask” (Interview)
The recently released Summer Wit Barrel Aged marks ÜberQuell’s second craft beer with extra maturation in a cask from Bulleit Bourbon. Before, the Hamburg-based mirco brewery already gave one of their annual Julebryg expressions a similar treatment. (more…)
Craigellachie 11yo “44.97 – Sweet, succulent shape-shifter” by SMWS (Review)
In mystery shows like “Supernatural“, shape-shifters often fill the roles of sly and devious antagonists that use their transformation abilities to mislead the heroes and perform their vile deeds unnoticed. This special breed of shape-shifter, which hails from Craigellachie Distillery (more…)
Summer Wit Barrel Aged by ÜberQuell (Review)
Caol Ila 14yo by Gordon & MacPhail (Review)
As a marketer by profession, I am quite susceptible to good storytelling and well-conceived ad campaigns. Still, I am also always happy when a whisky manages to catch my attention without supplementary hoo-ha. This 14-year-old Caol Ila from Gordon & MacPhail’s (more…)
Glenturret 8yo by North Star (Review)
Two times a year, Glasgow’s North Star Spirits releases a new selection of single cask whiskies. And two times a year, I order at least one bottle from their latest series. After obtaining a muscular grain by Port Dundas in round one and a fruity malt by Linkwood in round two (more…)
Glen Elgin 20yo “Tropical Fruit Banquet” by Wemyss (Review)
Most of the time, composing tasting notes for a single cask bottling by Wemyss Malts is pretty easy. Cause thankfully the family-owned independent bottler has a habit of picking very telling names for its whiskies that usually do the character of the associated spirit great justice. (more…)
Arran 5yo by A.D. Rattray (Review)
Some people might say that five years of maturation are not enough to let a whisky develop depth and character. Yet, if you are in the mood for a young and wild whisky, a spirit that did not spend too many years in the cask might be exactly what you have been looking for. (more…)