Whisky News: anCnoc 18 Year Old is launched (and favorite tipple comes to an end)

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Today Knockdhu Distillery announced their new core line addition – the anCnoc 18 Year Old.

When I read the announcement (full text below), I felt it was a weird decision: They have the 12yo, 16yo & 22yo expressions in the line up. Usually distilleries keeps a gap of 3 years between expressions, as most distillery stick to the winning formula of 12yo, 15yo & 18yo, so the logical addition would be 19yo between the existing 16yo and 22yo as 18yo is too close to the 16yo.

ancnoc-16-year-old-whiskySo what does this new release means for the 16yo? I asked for clarification and the answer I got back was simple and clear: The 16yo is coming to an end.

So that means that the favorite anCnoc 16yo (which is widely available for £53) will be phased out and will be replaced by the new 18yo which will retail for around £70.

So if anCnoc 16yo is a favorite of yours, hurry and stock up!

 

anCnoc 18 Year Old launched

anCnoc18-LowResanCnoc Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky has announced a remarkable addition to its multi-award-winning collection. The new 18 Year Old joins the family of single malts crafted at Knockdhu Distillery in true anCnoc style, offering a traditionally distilled, exquisite spirit with a modern twist. It follows a string of highly successful new releases and is expected to be just as popular. anCnoc’s Assistant Brand Manager Stephanie Bridge explains:

“2014 has been anCnoc’s most ambitious year to date. We unveiled our new Peaty Collection in April, two new expressions for Global Travel Retail and our hugely popular 2000 Vintage. We are confident that our new anCnoc 18 Year Old will be extremely popular amongst single malt aficionados with its unique taste profile and striking packaging.”

The Whisky

anCnoc 18 Year Old was matured in top quality hand-selected American oak ex-bourbon and European oak ex-sherry casks. The combination of the two types of wood gives this mature expression of anCnoc an outstanding depth, complexity and balance of flavour. It’s a single malt for the most discerning drinker.

The whisky is bottled at 46% ABV, non-chill filtered and presented at its natural colour. Initially 6,000 bottles will be available in key markets worldwide. The recommended retail price is £70.

Tasting notes

Colour: Pine sap

Nose: Gentle spices and intense sweetness of dried fruits are topped with silky chocolate ganache, a squeeze of ripe orange and a mere suggestion of oiled leather. Intricate and elegant, balancing both maturity and Distillery’s signature character.

Taste: Full-bodied and bold, the palate brings aromatic spices, fruit loaf and candied lemon slices followed by a surge of vanilla custard, honey and runny caramel. European and American casks play in harmony delivering a lush and irresistibly moreish drinking experience while retaining anCnoc spirit firmly at the heart of this whisky.

Finish: Long and rewarding, the finish transforms from peppery and hot to deliciously sweet and smooth with an undertone of bitter pralines.

Whisky Review & Tasting Notes – Talisker 57° North

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Talisker resides on the Isle of Skye, and is the only distillery on the island (for now). Not like distilleries needs excuses but it’s always a good reason to release new whisky expression. And so did Talisker, back in 2008 they released a NAS whisky (in 2008! way ahead of the curve!)  and named it Talisker 57° North for the Isle of Skye that sits on the line of latitude 57 Degrees North.

Unlike most of their other core range bottlings available today and in the past, the 57 North is bottled in a high and special strength of 57% (and surely it’s no coincidence strength). It was matured exclusively in American oak refill casks and so we’d expect some extra fruity and vanilla flavours here. Does it deliver?

Talisker 57° North (57%, £56.73)

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Whisky Review & Tasting Notes – Talisker Storm

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Talisker appreciation week is in full force and we’re now onto the third Talisker review. Third time’s a charm? No, third time’s a storm!

Talisker Storm is fairly recent addition, released in 2013 and followed by 2 more releases – Talisker Dark Storm and Talisker Port Ruigh. Seems like the market demand and the opportunity to earn more money ‘forced’ Diageo to produce additional expressions as part of the core range.

Three new whiskies in a short span but it doesn’t necessary means that the whiskies are were cobbled NAS whiskies to meet the demand. Or are they? Let’s check the Talisker Storm. Continue reading →

Whisky Review & Tasting Notes – Talisker Distillers Edition (2002-2013)

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We continue with our Talisker appreciation week and we move on to the next Talisker in line: The Talisker Distillers Edition. The latest edition (2014) was released only last week to stores (on offer for €45 only here) so we’ll review last year edition.

Talisker Distillers edition takes the Talisker spirit and adds 2nd cask finishing using Amoroso casks – sweet Italian fortified wine casks.

How does the smoky Talisker spirit handles the sweet wine finish? Continue reading →

Whisky Review & Tasting Notes: Talisker 10 year old

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I briefly went through what I already reviewed on the blog and found one big and glaring omission – I didn’t review even a single whisky expression from Talisker. It’s not like I didn’t taste any Talisker whiskies in the past, on the contrary, I have a bottle of Talisker 10 right here and I did taste a few other Taliskers in the past.

So I need to make some amends here, so lets start a Talisker appreciation week where I review a couple of Talisker whiskies, and naturally we’ll start with the core and well known whisky – the Talisker 10 year old.

Talisker 10 year old (45.8%, £35.15 / €30)

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Social Media Distilled – Ashley Westgate of The Lakes Distillery

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Wow, It’s been a while since the last interview in the Social Media Distilled series but here comes another interview with Ashley Westgate, the Online Marketing Manager of the The Lakes Distillery which will start distilling whisky next month (oh what an exciting moment it will be!).

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So far the Lakes distillery released a blended whisky called The ONE and last week released their first Gin release (I’ll review those in the coming few weeks).

As a newcomers who needs to build a brand from scratch and considering the fact they are an English distillery and not Scottish, I was wondering how they are going to tackle this issue and if their attitude and focus on Social Media will be a major part of it. Enjoy!

Please tell us a bit about yourself.

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Whisky Review & Tasting Notes: Duo of Brora Whiskies, 20yo & 24yo Rare Malts

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Time to cross off another distillery from the not-reviewed-yet-on-the-blog, and a silent distillery to boot: Brora.

So much was written on Brora, its history, Diageo decision to close it in the ’80s and the ultra-premium branding and pricing so I’ll spare you that part.

Instead I will just say that the whisky community is awesome! with those high prices for Brora whisky, my only way to sample Broras was via samples and donations from friends and with the help of two friends I got to sample and review those so big thanks to you guys!

Brora Rare Malts 20 yo 1975-1995 (59.1%, USA bottling, £999)

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Whisky Review & Tasting Notes: Highland Park 30 year old 48.1% (previous batch)

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I was told yesterday that I don’t have enough Highland park reviews on the site. I took a look and found out that’s correct – except the recently released Dark Origins there are no reviews of the Highland Park core range (unless you call Einer a core range expression…)

There are also other distilleries which are under-reviewed on the blog (and I hope to fix that sooner than later) but first thing first, lets have another Highland Park official bottling review and we’ll aim high with Highland Park 30.

Highland Park 30 was at the top of HP core range until the 40yo was released and there are at least two batches released: the latest one was released in 2013 and is bottled at 45.7% (you can get it at The Whisky Exchange for £385) and the earlier batches who were bottled at 48.1% (still available at the distillery online shop) which I review here thanks to a sample sent to me from Johnnie Stumbler of The Nosing Arse blog.

Highland Park 30 (48.1%, £400)

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Whisky Review and Tasting Notes: SMWS 29.151 Polished Violines and Vintage Cars (Laphroaig) 24 year old 50.8%

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It’s been a while since I reviewed a whisky from The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, so why not do that and review a dram of my favorite distillery?

There’s not much to add here, only that I’m a bit sorry I didn’t grab a bottle of it back then.

SMWS 29.151 Polished Violines and Vintage Cars (Laphroaig) 24 year old (50.8%, 311 bottles)

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Whisky Review & Tasting Notes – Glenglassaugh Torfa

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Glenglassaugh is the latest baby project of Billy Walker. The Benriach group purchased the distillery in 2013 from the previous owners (who restarted the distillery in 2008 after it was mothballed for 20 years) and if we have learned anything from past experience, Billy Walker knows his stuff.

BenRiach and Glendronach both excels with billy at the helm as evidenced by the growing list of awards, medals and positive reviews for the whiskies they released in the last few years. Can we expect the same from Glenglassaugh?

In the last few years, we had a few releases of bottlings from the old stock before it was mothballed in 1986, among them the 40 yo and a series of single cask releases (a-la Benriach/Glendronach), but there were also new releases with whisky distilled post 2008 when it started production again.

Torfa is the first peated whisky from Glenglassaugh with 20ppm and it was matured in ex-bourbon barrels. Can we expect more magic from Billy Walker here? Continue reading →