Courageous and creative indie bottlers Brave New Spirits picked their name for a reason. After all, the Glasgow-based whisky mavens often release bottlings that have colorful designs, curiosity-raising names, and out-of-the-ordinary maturation histories. Whereas their latest outturn – Cask Noir – took inspiration from the hard-boiled detective movies of the 1940s and 1950s, (more…)
When Distell Group’s Brand Ambassador for Germany, Chantalle Seidler, asked me if I wanted to join a tasting with the group’s Master Distiller at Whiskyplaza in Hamburg, I did not have to think twice about it! After all, Chantalle is well known for putting incredible bottles on the table (more…)
From 26 to 28 January 2023, Hanse Spirit returned to my hometown of Hamburg. With a colorful roster of exhibitors, the popular whisky and spirits fair made a strong bounce-back from its two-year break. As compared to the last installments (more…)
Founded in 2019 by whisky mavens Victorija and Kenny Macdonald, Scottish indie bottler Dràm Mòr Group Ltd. has quickly risen to make a name for itself in the whisky world. So far, the busy bees from Dumbarton have released ten outturns with three to eight bottlings each. (more…)
These days, you might not get too many chances anymore to try old-styled Scotch whisky as it was made in the 90s, 80s, or even further back in time. With stocks dwindling and prices skyrocketing, it certainly does not get any easier to lay hands on a truly time-honored release. (more…)
“How do you supercharge a blended Scotch whisky with an extra-amount of most-delicate smoke?” – This question resided at very heart of the conception of Black Bottle’s fourth “Alchemy Series” bottling Smoke & Dagger. And resourceful as they are, the whisky makers (more…)
Andean oak – also known as Quercus Humboldtii – is a rare commodity in the Scotch industry. At least to my knowledge, the recently released Andean Oak entry into Black Bottle’s experimental “The Alchemy Series” is the first-ever whisky from Scotland to be drawn from such wood. (more…)
When I did an interview with FABLE Whisky’s co-founder Andrew Torrance earlier this year, he predicted that at the end of the company’s first outturn “there could still be something special, like a hidden chapter”. Now the cat is out of the bag: The mentioned supplement (more…)
This 4-year-old Lowlands malt from Lindores Abbey has a pretty unconventional coming-of-age story: Originally, the spirit started out in a Port pipe. After two-or-so years, however, the distillery team discovered leakage. So they moved the soon-to-be whisky into an Oloroso Sherry cask. (more…)
“I love working on Black Bottle Blended Scotch Whisky,” said the Distell Group’s Master Blender Julieann Fernandez early on in this virtual launch event via Zoom. “It is such an experimental brand that constantly allows me and my colleagues to challenge existing conventions (more…)
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