Islay Feis Ile Festival 2024 Bottles

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© The Islay Festival of Music and Malt

Welcome to the 2024 edition of the Feis Ile bottles guide!

And what do you know? This year we’re celebrating the 10th edition of this guide – a full decade of very informative guide!

As usual it’s recommended to bookmark this post as this page will detail all the available information on the festival bottles and will be update each time more details will be revealed.

 

 

Updates:

25/04/2024 – Updated all Bunnahabhain festival bottles, Added Kilchoman Feis bottle details
21/04/2024 – Some details on Mac-Talla Feis bottle and first SMWS festivals season bottle
12/03/2024 – Initial update with Ardbeg, Laphroaig and Bunnahabhain festival bottles

Let’s get to the list of Feis Ile 2024 bottlings and the available information, all sorted by Festival dates:

Lagavulin – Open day on Saturday 25th May 2024

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Glendronach Distillery Tour (And the beginning of a Pilgrimage trip)

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After a long hiatus here  (except for the Feis ile 2023 bottles annual post) and finally settling down in a new and exciting job, it’s time to resume activity here, albeit I cannot promise it will be too ordered or frequent.

In the coming months, I’ll post some tasting notes as usual but I will also write posts about a long, fantastic and magnificent pilgrimage trip to Scotland I took last October with my good friend Michael (of Malt And Oak Blog), starting with this post.

And what a trip it was… It probably felt even better going on this grand our, after all the delays COVID-19 caused us. The trip was originally planned for April 2020 and was commenced last October, 2.5 years later. We had everything planned perfectly, with flights and accommodations booked and then a world crisis hit us. We slightly revised the plans but basically we followed the original plans: 2 weeks and a lot of distilleries.

We were asked: why do you need to visit so many distilleries? Isn’t it boring to hear (and see) over again and again how whisky is created? The tools and ingredients are the same after all!

My answer: once you’re a serious whisky geek, the slight differences in the whisky creating process and tools do matter as you pursue deeper understanding of this ‘magic’. Also, the visiting experiences are different from one distillery to the other and we were curious to see how whisky tourism progressed and recovered in the last few years.

So we started the trip with a quick stop at Glen Garioch but it wasn’t a full pledged visit – just a quick stop to say hi and the real first visit of the trip was at Glendronach distillery.

I was very excited to visit the distillery as I couldn’t fit a visit there in my previous trip to this area few years ago. the surrounding of the distillery are lovely and peaceful, the distillery is nestled and hidden from the main road and is quite beautiful (perhaps except for the modern look of the still house) Continue reading →

Islay Feis Ile Festival 2023 Bottles

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© The Islay Festival of Music and Malt

Welcome to the 2023 edition of the Feis Ile bottles guide!

The festival is back to normal operation for the 2nd year in row after the COVID-19 years.

As usual it’s recommended to bookmark this post as this page will detail all the available information on the festival bottles and will be update each time more details will be revealed.

 

 

Updates:

04/06/2023 – Added A few single casks and more details for various bottles
19/05/2023 – Added Bruichladdich Official Feis Ile bottle
16/05/2023 – Added Dramfool Official Feis Ile bottle
15/05/2023 – A couple of updates and added Elements of Islay Feis Ile bottle
03/05/2023 – Added Jura Feis Ile bottle
02/05/2023 – Added Lagavulin, Caol Ila and Douglas Laing Big Peat Feis Ile bottles
01/05/2023 – Added Bowmore Feis Ile bottle
27/04/2023 – Updated SMWS and Ardnahoe bottles and filled up a few more details for existing bottles
24/04/2023 – Initial (and late published) update with Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Bunnahabhain and some indie bottlers

Let’s get to the list of Feis Ile 2023 bottlings and the available information, all sorted by Festival dates:

Lagavulin – Open day on Saturday 27th May 2023

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Balvenie 16 Year Old French Oak

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The headline of this latest

The Balvenie 16 Year Old French Oak joins “The Flavours of The Balvenie” range which also includes two Travel Retail exclusives: 15-year-old Madeira cask-finished and an 18-year-old PX Sherry cask.

The French Oak iteration was matured for 16 years (or maybe slightly less) in American oak whisky barrels and then finished for an unspecified period in French oak casks previously used for fortified wine Pineau des Charentes.

Now I bet you’re probably wonder what kind of fortified wine is Pineau des Charenes. I know I wondered as I have never heard of it before this new Balvenie release. So this is an aperitif that is made from fresh/unfermented grape juice, mixed (or fortified if you’d like) with Cognac eau-de-vie and then matured in barrels (French Oak barrels of course).

According to the official press release and official notes, this finish is supposed to impart the Balvenie spirit with candied fruits and spices with some apples notes. Let’s check it out then.

Balvenie 16 Year Old French Oak (47.6%, £119.95)

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Glenallachie 10 Year Old Cask Strength Batch 5

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Billy Walker purchased The Glenallachie back in 2017, and in 2018 the new line up was released to the market and I reviewed it back then with the 12 Year Old coming on top but just barely ahead of the 1st edition of the 10 Year Old Cask Strength.

My complaint back then was that the minerality is a tad too dominant, and it seems like there was more feedback like that as the formula was tweaked with more sherry casks and more active casks to further balance the minerality. In addition, the color of the next editions got darker and darker, maybe not only to balance the taste but to also appeal to dark-color whisky buyers – you know, the darker the more sherried it is and more people buying it.

Anyway, along the road, Glenallachie 10 Cask Strength went from strength to strength (and from color to darker color), leading to this Batch 5 which started a new casks formula for the whisky: PX, Oloroso, Virgin Oak, and Rioja Casks. This formula seems to be a real winner as it was repeated for Batch 6 & 7 (which is the latest released to the market). Shall we check it out?

Glenallachie 10 Year Old Cask Strength Batch 5 (55.9%)

Nose: A fruity bomb, layer of stone fruits with ripe peaches and apricots and on top of that another sherry/wine fruitiness with dried berries, fresh raspberries and strawberries and cranberries juice. Here comes the minerality but it’s less pronounced than the 1st edition, cinnamon, oak spices, caramel, milk chocolate and dark chocolate, medium roasted beans espresso, sweet oak, cinnamon paste, very fresh and lively. Continue reading →

Bruichladdich Port Charlotte SC:01 2012

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Springtime is here and so is the 2022 release of Port Charlotte Cask Exploration series.

Last year we had PAC:01 2011 that was finished in French wine barrels from the Pauillac region and the year before we had OLC:01 in Oloroso casks – and I think both were fantastic. This year we have something special: not only we’re having Sauternes finish, we also have a release that contains 100% Islay grown barley. The barley was harvested in 2011  from farms surrounding the distillery and then distilled in 2012 and filled into Sherry butts, first fill and refill American oak casks (A.K.A ex-bourbon) and then re-casked (or finished if you prefer this term) into Sauternes casks.

There’s quite a complex route and formula, but what we care about what Adam Hannett created for us and is how is final result.

Bruichladdich Port Charlotte SC:01 2012 (55.2%, £95)

Nose: Sweetness, sweet peat, sweet grapes and stone fruits, nuttiness,, honey, honeydew melon, red fruits peels bubble up from the bottom, fragrant vanilla filled muffins, bakery, pears and more peaches, soft peat smoke, almonds. a relaxed and settled nose. Continue reading →

The Macallan A Night on Earth in Scotland

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It’s been a while since I reviewed a Macallan whisky here but eventually I do have one today – “A Night on Earth in Scotland”. This whisky is a seasonal release to celebrate Hogmanay (pronounced “hog·muh·nei”) which is Scotland’s New Year’s Eve festivities.

We have here Bourbon & Sherry casks, each bringing different flavours into the whisky profile: rich dried fruit and spiciness from American and European oak sherry casks and a rich  and sweet shortbread-like note from the ex-bourbon casks.

Macallan are even suggesting a food pairing for this whisky: Sip it neat with shortbread on the side. Probably to enrich the shortbread ‘experience’.

The Macallan A Night on Earth in Scotland (40%)

Photo: thewhiskyexchange.com

Nose: Honey candies, honeyed porridge, vanilla pods, gentle oak spice, white pepper. lemon, citrus peels, nutmeg, fruity with juicy peaches and pears, cranberries, almonds croissant, slightly perfumed. Good mellow and balanced nose but it could benefit from a slightly higher ABV and you can actually imagine the shortbread here! Continue reading →

Laphroaig 10 Year Old Cask Strength Batch 014

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Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength series is a Laphroaig series dearly loved by me, Laphroaig fans and peat lovers generally. I had the honor to taste and review all the batches out there with a review of batch 013 published just a few months ago.

In that review I mentioned my surprise on the release of batch 014 since up to this batch we were getting them once a year like a clock and suddenly there’s 014 a mere few months after the release of batch 013. It may be related to John Campbell leaving the distillery after serving as the distillery manager for 16 years but we don’t know for sure the reasons behind this release. Maybe there was higher than expected demand for CS Laphroaig?

In addition there was a US label for batch 015, but I strongly suspect it’s the same as batch 014 with the same ABV and bottling month but it can be a different beast so we’ll have to taste and verify it if and when it’s out 😉

So back to batch 014 which sticks to the same ol’ successful formula of previous versions: matured in ex-Bourbon barrels for 10 years and then bottled at cask strength of 58.6%.

Laphroaig 10 Year Old Cask Strength Batch 014 (58.6%, £71.95)

Photo: thewhiskyexchange.com

Nose: Sweet, getting sweeter and in fact it’s the sweetest peat smoke I ever had in this series. No dry ashes (and that’s a big advantage for those like me who love the older profile of Laphroaig), medicinal, bandages and plasters, sweet oak wood extracts (just like in rums), so  there’s active casks influence here, smoked meat, pears and apricots, wet ashes and eventually, finally, after a while some dry stringent ashes. Continue reading →

Highland Park 15 Viking Heart

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In my last post where I reviewed the Lindores Abbey first release I remarked that new distilleries have long road ahead of them to establish themselves, using stories, anecdotes and unique bottle and packaging designs.

However, even well established distilleries resort to gimmicks and special or unusual designs from time to time. It definitely looks like an easy (even if not so cheap) way to grab attention, headlines and generally draw eyes to specific products.

Highland Park distillery went this way with the latest core range release, the Highland Park 15 Year Old Viking Heart. Instead of using their regular and well-known bottle design they went for a ceramic bottle. And the reason?

Why a ceramic decanter? Rewind a century or two and our whisky would have been stored in earthenware vessels.

Now, this is all cool and nice but we should remember this is a release intended to refill a niche between the 12 Year Old and the 18 Year old that was missing since they stopped producing the 15 Year Old 5 or 6 years ago.

So what do we have here? A whisky that contains a high percentage of first-fill European sherry casks, then some first-fill American oak (all sherry seasoned) and a few refill casks. This sounds like a good formula for a good whisky, even without going the extra mile with this special bottle design but that extra step shows you just how crowded is the market, even for A-level distilleries.

Highland Park 15 Viking Heart (44%, £79.95/€84.95)

Nose: Chocolaty and creamy, dried berries, Creme Brulee, mocha and cinnamon, earthiness, subtle smokiness and leather. Then I was surprised to nose fresh raspberries and cranberries, nice touch. After a while in the glass, more peat smoke and heather. Continue reading →

Lindores Abbey Distillery MCDXCIV Lowland Single Malt

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Lindores Abbey is one of the new distilleries that popped up in the last decade like mushrooms after the rain and like many new distilleries it’s based in the Lowlands whisky region, near Perth and the Tay river.

With so many new distilleries, each new distillery has a story, design and marketing points to set them apart and above the other distilleries as competition is tough, in the whisky buyers minds, on shelves and search engine results. After all, they all have young single malt spirit or whisky to sell and it’s way too early to forecast and imagine what shape and route will their new whisky take in a decade or two.

In the case of Lindores Abbey they went for a unique (and nice) bottle shape that really differentiate them from most of the new new distilleries. But more important, they have a trumping marketing card – in Lindores there’s the earliest proof of first whisky distillation in Scotland which happened back in 1494, hence the usage of MCDXCIV in the name.

Their first wide spread commercial release is this three years old whisky and they too went the route of mixing wine casks in the formula to speed up the aging and diminish the newmake/spiritiness notes. Here, they used Bourbon, Sherry and Wine Barriqué casks and bottled at 46% sold for a very decent price. Let’s check it out.

Lindores Abbey Distillery MCDXCIV Lowland Single Malt (46%, £42/€39.9)

Photo: thewhiskyexchange.com

Nose: Sweet, cereals more bakery, biscuits, fatness and chewiness, honey, tannins, young but pleasant, fresh oak spice and after a while also red fruits peels with honey and cinnamon. More and more bakery smells, dry red wine and cranberries. Continue reading →