Category Archives: Reviews

Glenglassaugh Wood Finishes – Port and PX Sherry – Review

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Glenglassaugh distillery is the quiet little sibling in the Glendronach/BenRiach/Glenglassaugh group which was bought by Forman Brown back in 2016.

Billy Walker and BenRiach Distillery bought Glenglassaugh back in 2013 and except for a small burst of releases in the first 2 years after the acquisition (Revival, Evolution and Torfa), we didn’t any new releases from the spirit distilled after the distillery was revived until the new wood finishes releases late 2017.

There were four releases in total, two unpeated expressions and two peated expressions, all finished in different casks, all bottled at 46%.

Today we’ll check the tow unpeated expressions – The Port wood which was finished in ruby Port pipes and the PX wood which was finished in, well, Pedro Ximenéz casks…

Glenglassaugh Port Wood Finish (46%, £54.95/€44,90)

Nose: Malty, Sweet citrus blossoms and a tiny bit floral , unripe strawberries and cranberries, nutty and brioche. Continue reading →

Tomatin Cu Bocan 2006 Review

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It’s been a while since I reviewed something from Tomatin Distillery so let’s check out their latest peated whisky, Cu Bocan 2006 which was released last fall.

Cu Bocan 2006 is vatting of sherry and bourbon casks from 2006, so the whisky is 10 or 11 year old. It was bottled at 50% and 12,000 bottles were made available around the world.

Tomatin Cù Bòcan 2006 (50%, £49.45/€56.50)

Nose: Malty, subtle honey and then sweet peat. Feels light and fresh and after a few minutes, bread and cookies dough, a bit of vanilla, weak pears and peaches. After some more oxidization there are soft smoked red fruit. With a few drops of water more fruitiness with stronger peaches smell, less malt/bread and very subtle smoke. Continue reading →

Golan Heights Distillery Golani Black Cask #24 (For Whisky Live Tel-Aviv 2018) Review

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Whisky Live Tel-Aviv 2018 is happening right now and along the new Milk and Honey release there’s another new release – a new single cask offering from Golan Heights Distillery. It’s a new cask (number #24) of Golani Black (distilled mash of malted barley and wheat), matured for 37 months in a virgin American oak cask.

This time, there’s a real nice touch to the release – it’s a “bottle your own” offering as you actually fill the bottle from the cask during the show. Real cool thing!

Like with previous Golan Heights Distillery releases, it’s a non chill filtered whisky, natural colored and this cask was bottled at natural cask strength, a whopping 61.9% ABV.

Golan Heights Distillery Golani Black Cask #24 (For Whisky Live Tel-Aviv 2018) (61.9%, 241NIS)

Nose: There’s lots of toffee and butterscotch (I shouldn’t be surprised with this note by now), mint, herbs, honey, orange peels and honeyed lemon tea. Continue reading →

Glendronach Peated Port Wood Finish Review

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The Glendronach Peated Port Wood that was released last November is the second Peated release from the distillery. The first one, which was young and is a straightforward bourbon maturation whisky raised my brows because it wasn’t a proper Dronach for me.

But this second release, which had a second maturation in port pipes from the Douro Valley in Portugal, could fit the Glendronach image because we’ve seen port finishes from the distillery albeit at a far more aged whisky.

Glendronach Peated Port Wood Finish (46%, £59.95/€56,95)

Nose: Clean peat, young malt notes, strawberries and lots of cranberries, mezcal, and a vegetal notes that come and go, vanilla. After a few minutes there’s soft smoke and berries perfume, real nice. Continue reading →

Milk and Honey Experimental Cask #2 (Lightly Peated) Review

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Whisky Live Tel-Aviv 2018 is starting tomorrow. I already reviewed the special show bottling (a 37 yo Port Ellen), but there are a few more interesting new releases for the Whisky Live show and the first one is the second single malt whisky from Milk and Honey Distillery.

The Milk and Honey distillery released their first single malt whisky in 2017 and now the distillery releases it’s second one for Whisky Live 2018, both whiskies bottled by the distillery under the Experimental casks series brand.

What are those experimental casks? It’s quite simple. A few casks were distilled back in 2014 at the beginning of the road for the distillery, from before there was a permanent location and before most of the equipment was installed. The distillery’s master distiller Tomer Goren distilled those different casks, with the help of the late Dr. Jim Swan (The distillery adviser), in order to play and find out how different new makes will behave and develop in our climate.

This specific cask (cask 2014-0002) was distilled in April 2014 from a lightly peated malt (using local peat source!) and bottled in November 2017 after 43 months. The whisky spent its first 32 months in a virgin oak (american oak) cask and then was finished for additional 11 months in ex-bourbon cask in the distillery warehouse in Tel-Aviv.

A total of 324 bottles (500 ml) were made from this cask and it’s will be available to purchase at Whisky Live Tel-Aviv 2018 this coming Wednesday and Thursday.

Milk and Honey Experimental Cask #2, Lightly Peated (46%, 449NIS/~$130)

Nose: Sweet, slightly smoky, pears and a bit of apricot, fresh oak spices, vanilla, gentle maltiness and white pepper. Rounded and mellow, feels way older than 3 years old (local climate works its wonder). Continue reading →

BenRiach Authenticus 30 Year Old Review

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Following yesterday’s review of BenRiach 21 Four Oak let’s have another BenRiach review for the road for those who goes back to work today after the beautiful spring weekend.

Since it was a great weekend, full of greenery and flowers, let’s review something special, a very old peated BenRiach, the BenRiach Authenticus 30 Years Old.

The 30 Year Old is the logical successor after BenRiach has released following the 21 Year Old and 25 Year Old in the past,  it’s a non chill filtered, au naturale colour and bottled at 46%.

BenRiach Authenticus 30 Years Old (46%, £300/€498)

Nose: Great mellow and subtle smoke and you feel the age impact on the peat. Sweet honeyed fruit, and just like with the 35 yo it has a tropical edge, melon, peach, and kiwi but laced with smoke. After a while also pink grapefruit.  Velvety and perfumey. Continue reading →

BenRiach 21 Year Old Four Oak Casks Review

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It’s time to make a dent in the back log of samples and notes waiting to be published. For today I’ve picked the BenRiach 21 Years Old Matured in four different casks since such a high count of different casks seems to be getting a tad more popular lately (Yes, Laphroaig Four Oak and Jura Seven Oak, I’m looking at you).

This whisky was aged in four different casks: Bourbon, Virgin Oak, PX and Red Wine Casks and then was blended together by BenRiach master blender, Rachel Barrie and bottled at 46%.

The BenRiach 21 Years Old is one of the first new products Rachel Barrie, formerly of Bowmore Morrison Distillers, created for BenRiach when she joined the BenRiach group (also consisting of Glendronach and Glenglassaugh), but we don’t know much about how was the whisky was splitted between the casks not the time period it spent in each cask type (was a portion of the whisky here fully matured in virgin oak for 21 years?).

Let’s check it out and see how the casks shaped this whisky.

BenRiach 21 Year Old Four Oak Casks (46%, £125/124,99€)

Nose: Sweet, lots of nuttiness: with nutmeg and a bit of cinnamon, honey, pears and peaches, a bit of gooseberries, strong vanilla note like the tip of iceberg (promise for much more below surface). Then the virgin oak sweetness and oak spices shows up but it’s kept in check and isn’t overpowering, a touch of coconut. After a few minutes more spices, pepper and cooked cinnamon. Continue reading →

Port Ellen 1979 37 Years Old (For Whisky Live Tel-Aviv 2018) Review

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In exactly one week, Whisky Love Tel-Aviv 2018 will be in full swing. I’ll be there and I hope my Israeli readers will visit this great exhibition too. But what is an exhibition without a commemorative bottle? Of course there’s one but Tomer Goren, the man behind the event decided to bottle a special whisky for Whisky Live and what a special whisky it is: a 37 Years Old Port Ellen.

Yup, this is no mistake. We have a Port Ellen bottling for the Whisky Live show. It was distilled in 1979 and bottled in 2017 after it spent 37 years in a refill Sherry Hogshead that yielded 241 bottles at 44.8%.

For such a pedigree, the price is very very reasonable especially when comparing to other independent bottlers Port Ellens out there. Shall we check it out?

Port Ellen 1979 37 Years Old (For Whisky Live Tel-Aviv 2018) (44.8%, 3000NIS/€700)

Nose: Aged gentle wet peat. Very farmy at first but after a while it’s morphed to earthy peat kind. Sweet red fruits in the background with fresh strawberries and raspberries. Hay and dried grass, moss, hints of apricots and honey. After a while there’s nuttiness and it becomes smoky like a smell of an empty chimney. Continue reading →

Kilchoman 10 Years Old (5th Club Edition 2016) Review

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Two weeks ago I reviewed a 10 Years Old Kilchoman bottled for the Whisky Exchange which disappointed me. In hindsight, I now understand that another 10 years old Kilchoman I tasted a few weeks before the TWE one, The fifth Kilchoman Club Edition, the first official 10 Year Old whisky from the distillery was a major reason for that disappointment.

Back in November 2016, Anthony Wills the managing director of Kilchoman, picked two casks from their first full year of production in 2006: one first fill oloroso sherry butt and one fresh bourbon barrel. Those 10 year old casks were vatted these together and bottled at 57% to create the 5th club edition.

Kilchoman 10 Year Old (5th Club Edition 2016) (57%)

Nose: Peat, bonfire smoke and that ashy flavor, It’s a Kilchoman – there’s no doubt. but father time did his trick as it’s tamed and rounded. Sweet honey and lots of creamy vanilla, with the peat very bourbon-y at first, tobacco leaves. After a few minutes the ashes takes the backseat, and some fruit sweetness rise. After a while also getting some red fruits with a dash of cinnamon, iodine and green herbs. Continue reading →

Dalmore 12 Year Old Review

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When 2018 has started, I had a few new resolutions for the new year and one of those was related to the blog: To review in 2018 some of those beginners and entry level whiskies I tasted and had in the early stages of my whisky journey (and surely before I started this blog). Now we’re in early March and it’s time to gear up and do something about this.

So today I’ll be reviewing Dalmore 12 Year Old, a whisky I had many times in the past but not in the last few years, so I sourced a sample for the purpose of this review.

Dalmore 12 Year Old spends its first nine years in American white oak ex-bourbon casks. Then half of it is transferred to sherry casks for a three years maturation period (with the 2nd half staying in the ex-bourbon casks) before final vatting. The whisky is then bottled at 40%, probably chill filtered and with added caramel.

Let’s check it out and see how I feel about it after all those years.

Dalmore 12 Year Old (40%, £40.45/€39,95)

Nose: Sweet sugar, caramel, toffee, nuts, dried fruit, wet (or very damp) wood, citrus whiffs muffled by artificial sweetness and the damp wood. After letting it rest in the glass for a while it’s slightly better and there are added sherry notes, milk chocolate and a better and stronger dried fruits note. Continue reading →