When I picked up this sample from the box, for a moment my brain froze and I was very confused. is it a way to hide the distillery name and wrap it in a shroud of mystery? But then my brain resumed working – Speyside is indeed a whisky region (and geographic area) in Scotland, but there is a real distillery called Speyside in the Speyside region.
I said to myself, wow, what a cool thing (wonder why there’s no Islay distillery on Islay…). This distillery is not generating lots of buzz in the whisky circles or with whisky fans – I admit I knew almost nothing on it so I went to the internet and found out it’s a relatively new distillery, producing whisky only since 1990 and indeed have a very small capacity (only 500,000 liters a year).
So today, another notch for me – my first Speyside distillery whisky, Douglas Laing Old Particular Speyside 17 years old – is it a classic speyside (region) whisky or not? lets get to the tasting notes đ
The entire line up for this series is below (ordered by whisky age):
The Glenfiddich Anniversary Vintage â part of the Glenfiddich Rare Collection â is a 25-year-old expression first casked in European sherry oak on Christmas Day 1987. Malt master Brian Kinsman then selected a small number of centenary casks so that Glenfiddich founder William Grantâs great-great grandson Peter Gordon and his son Dougal could choose which would become the Glenfiddich Anniversary Vintage. Peter Gordon, who is also company director of Glenfiddich, said: âIt was an honour to select this whisky â it truly reflects the pioneering spirit that has underpinned our 125 year history and my great-great grandfatherâs legacy of making âthe best dram in the valleyâ.â With only 286 bottles available, the limited edition expression is said to have notes of fruit cake, almonds, cinnamon, citrus and vanilla on the nose, with spice, sweet sherbet and oak on the palate. âBottled from just one European oak sherry cask and testament to the uniqueness of this exclusive whisky, Glenfiddich Anniversary Vintage has a cask-strength abv of 55.4%. âGlenfiddich has been family-run since 1887 and with the freedom of independence and the foresight of long-term planning, we have created the largest collection of single malt stock anywhere in the world.â Each bottle of Glenfiddich Anniversary Vintage is individually numbered and is finished with a rustic copper and blue design. Officially launched on 9/9/2013, the release comes with an RRP of ÂŁ699.
A special limited-edition bottling of Lagavulin⢠single malt Scotch whisky will again be available at this yearâs Lagavulin Islay Jazz Festival ( #LagavulinJazz ), which starts on Friday 13 September with a concert in the Malt Mill at Lagavulin distillery by the master of American Stride piano, Stephanie Trick. The third in this series of releases, the 2013 bottling comes in an edition of 1,500 individually numbered bottles filled on 19 January 1995 and drawn from hand-selected Sherry Butts. It is bottled at an ABV of 51.9%. âWeâre delighted to announce our third Jazz Festival bottlingâ said Nick Morgan, Diageoâs Head of Whisky Outreach. âThe first two have been of quite exceptional quality, and this year weâve increased the quantity to ensure that it can be enjoyed by visitors who come from all over the world to enjoy the Lagavulin Islay Jazz Festival, and those who follow.â The neck labelling continues the jazz theme of previous editions, again featuring a piano keyboard. Bottles will be available to personal visitors only at Lagavulin distillery (limit of two bottles per customer) at a UK RRSP of ÂŁ99.
Nose: hmm, lovely nose – lots of fruits and sherry notes which throws me at thinking of a summer evening with cool breeze. very malty, sweet freshness, some vanilla and oak hides in there as well.
Whisky Gospel 