Review - Bowmore 'Tempest Batch #5'

This whisky is the latest edition single malt in the Tempest series from Bowmore, the oldest distillery on the famous whisky island of Islay.  The series consists of small batch cask strength whisky that has been matured in ex-bourbon casks, and batches are released annually. The original Tempest was released in 2010.  Batch #5 was released worldwide in May of this year and follows on from the previous four batches, which have proved extremely popular and won numerous awards.

Distillery visit - Laphroaig

Laphroaig (pronounced la-froyg) is one of the most famous names in the world of Scotch whisky and is known for its very peaty and smoky style of single malt.  In fact the 10 years old expression is the biggest selling malt in this category and helps put Laphroaig in ninth place for total sales in 2013*. The name is derived from the Gaelic meaning 'beautiful hollow by the broad bay'.  Laphroaig was one of the whiskies that got us in to the peaty flavour, so Matt C was delighted when he recently got invited for a special tour as part of Beam Suntory's Peated Malts of Distinction launch.

New release - Auchentoshan American Oak

The American Oak is the new entry level whisky in the Auchentoshan single malt range.  The whisky has been created to appeal to new whisky drinkers and has been solely matured in first fill American oak casks, which have previously held bourbon.  It will replace the current Classic expression.  The American Oak was launched in London in late October and the event featured new cocktails and murals being painted live by street artists, such as the one above.

New release - Great King Street 'The Glasgow Blend'

The Glasgow Blend is the second permanent expression in the award-winning Great King Street range, and joins the Artist's Blend. It is a blend of 67% malt and 33% grain whiskies, with an emphasis on rich, rounded smoke and sherry cask influence. This is a high percentage of malt content for a blend and the whisky has been created by John Glaser, the founder of Compass Box.  The original version of Great King Street has won multiple awards and is one of our all time favourite whiskies.

New release - Glenmorangie Taghta

This whisky is the new single malt from the popular Highland distillery of Glenmorangie and has been chosen by their Cask Masters programme. The process of selecting and marketing this whisky began 18 months ago and has seen members of the public choose between three initial whiskies, select a name, design the packaging and photography, and finally choose the venue of its launch event. The result is Taghta, the Gaelic word for 'the chosen one'.  To read more about the Glenmorangie Cask Masters - click here.

New release - Glen Garioch 'The Renaissance - First Chapter'

This is the first bottling in a new series of four single malts from the cult east Highland distillery of Glen Garioch. The Renaissance Collection will showcase whisky that has been produced since the distillery was re-opened by owners Morrison Bowmore in 1997. It had been closed for two years prior to that. This first release is at 15 years old and called First Chapter.  It will be followed annually by 16, 17 and 18 year old expressions.  This new release appeared back in August.

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (November 14, 2014)

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

New release - Old Pulteney 35 years old

This whisky is the latest premium release from the popular Highland single malt brand of Old Pulteney.  It has been matured in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, which were hand selected by Distillery Manager Malcolm Waring, for 35 years.  This makes it one of the oldest bottlings ever to be released from the distillery, second only to last year's 40 year old expression.  This 'new' release was actually launched back in June but we are only now getting around to reviewing it ...

New releases - Diageo Special Releases 2014 (Part 2)

Diageo have announced the eleven whiskies that will make up the 2014 Special Releases collection, which is due for release very shortly. This programme highlights some of the most exceptional single malt stock from within their portfolio of 28 working distilleries, plus remaining stocks from those which have been closed. This year's selection of whiskies are all bottled at the natural cask strength, are non chill filtered and all are limited edition. The collection again places well known flagship distilleries alongside very rare stock from the iconic Brora and Port Ellen, both of which closed in 1983.

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (November 7, 2014)

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

New releases - Diageo Special Releases 2014 (Part 1)

Diageo have announced the eleven whiskies that will make up the 2014 Special Releases collection, which is due for release very shortly. This programme highlights some of the most exceptional single malt stock from within their portfolio of 28 working distilleries, plus remaining stocks from those which have been closed. This year's selection of whiskies (pictured, above) are all bottled at the natural cask strength, are non chill filtered and all are limited edition. The collection again places well known flagship distilleries alongside very rare stock from the iconic Brora and Port Ellen, both of which closed in 1983.

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (October 31, 2014)

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

Distillery visit - Ardmore

The Ardmore distillery is located in the village of Kennethmont, which sits amongst the rugged hills of the east Highlands and is about 45 minutes drive west of Aberdeen. It is a large distillery and one that is not open to the public.  However, Matt C was recently invited for a behind the scenes tour by owners Beam Suntory.  This was to celebrate the launch of their Peated Malts of Distinction initiative, which includes the introduction of the new Ardmore Legacy expression - to read Matt's review of that, click here.

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (October 24, 2014)

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

New release - Ardmore 'Legacy'

The Legacy is a new core expression from the east Highland distillery of Ardmore.  The new release will replace the Traditional Cask bottling, which will eventually appear in another form during 2015.  The Legacy is the first release to feature a mix of the traditional peated Ardmore malt and a non-peated version, named Ardlair, which they have been making in small quantities each year since 2001.  The release also coincided with the launch of The Peated Malts of Distinction, a programme which showcases the entry level peaty/smoky whiskies of owners Beam Suntory.

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (October 17, 2014)

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

Distillery visit - Craigellachie

Last month John Dewar & Sons announced The Last Great Malts programme.  This sees the company, which is owned by multi-national drinks company Bacardi, releasing a range of single malts to showcase their five Scottish distilleries.  Four of these - Aultmore, Craigellechie, Macduff and Royal Brackla - have never had a range of malts available before, while the existing Aberfeldy range has been revamped and expanded.

Craigellachie is the first of the four to appear on the market - read our thoughts and tasting notes on the range here - and prior to the launch Karen and Matt C were invited to the distillery, which is not open to the public ...

New release - Glen Moray Classic 'Port Cask Finish'

The Port Cask Finish is a new expression to be launched by Glen Moray, the popular Speyside single malt distillery.  It sees the regular Classic matured in Tawny Port casks for an additional eight months.  This new release is designed to sit alongside the best selling Classic, the distillery's flagship malt, the 10 years old Chardonnay Cask and the 12 and 16 year olds in the core range.  This is bottled at 40% ABV and is of natural colour.  It will be widely available in both specialist retailers and supermarkets.  A bottle has a recommended price of £25.

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (October 10, 2014)

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

New releases - The Craigellachie range

The Craigellachie range is a brand new series of bottlings and represents the first range of single malts to ever be released by the distillery.  The launch is part of a wider programme of single malt releases by Craigellachie's owners John Dewar & Sons, which is part of the Bacardi group.  This programme is entitled The Last Great Malts and aims to showcase Craigellachie and the four other Scottish distilleries owned by the group - Aberfeldy, Aultmore, Macduff and Royal Brackla.

Distillery visit - Mannochmore

At the beginning of May, we paid a visit to the annual Spirit of Speyside Festival. One of the highlights of our trip was a special tour, which is only run once a year during the festival, called The Laich of Moray. This tour takes in four of Diageo's single malt distilleries around the Elgin area of Speyside that are not normally open to the public - Glen Elgin, Glenlossie, Linkwood and Mannochmore.  Our guide for the trip was Eric Walker, the Senior Site Manager in charge of the four distilleries. The final stop on the tour was Mannochmore ....

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (October 3, 2014)

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (September 26, 2014)

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (September 19, 2014)

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

New release - Glenrothes 'Sherry Cask Reserve'

The Sherry Cask Reserve is the latest single malt released in to the Glenrothes core range by owners Berry Brothers & Rudd.  The Glenrothes distillery is located in the town of Rothes in the centre of the Speyside region and has a current capacity of 5.5 million litres per year. The majority of the whisky produced there has traditionally been used in popular blends such as Famous Grouse and Cutty Sark. The distillery was founded in 1878 and has had its fair share of bad luck - two bad fires in 1897 and 1922, plus an explosion in 1903.

New release - Ardbeg 'Supernova 2014 Edition'

This whisky is the third edition of the Supernova bottling from the cult Islay distillery of Ardbeg.  It is released to coincide with the return of a very special sample of Ardbeg.  A couple of years ago, a sample was sent in to space.  This has been orbiting the earth on the International Space Station ever since and it has just landed back on earth.  This sample will be analysed against a sample from the same distillation that has been maturing in a warehouse at the Ardbeg distillery, to determine if weightlessness and zero gravity has any effect on the maturation process.

Diageo Special Releases 2014

Around this time each year, there is always a ripple of anticipation around the whisky industry as they wait to see what Diageo, Scotland's largest producer of Scotch malt whisky, are to release in their annual Special Releases programme.  This programme highlights some of the most exceptional single malt stock from within their portfolio of 28 working distilleries, plus remaining stocks from those which have been closed. Some of these stocks have dwindled to almost critical levels.

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (September 12, 2014)

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

Have just tried - Arran 17 years old

This whisky is the oldest single malt released to date by the independent Arran distillery. It is the second whisky in a special trilogy, which saw a 16 years old released last year and culminates in an 18 years old bottling next year. It was released back in March but we have only just got around to sampling it.  The whisky has been matured in ex-sherry casks and there are just 9,000 bottles released worldwide.  The bottling is said to contain some of the first whisky that was produced by the distillery when it opened in 1995.

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (September 5, 2014)

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (August 29, 2014)

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

New release - Highland Park 'Dark Origins'

The Dark Origins is the newest single malt release from the popular and multi award-winning Highland Park.  The distillery was founded in 1798 by David Robertson, although the legendary 'whisky priest' Magnus Eunson had been illegally distilling whisky on the site for years before that.  It is Eunson and those early shady dealings that they are saluting with this new 'no age statement' whisky. The Dark Origins is quoted as having "twice as many first fill ex-sherry casks as the classic Highland Park 12 years old".

Inbox - August 22, 2014

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

Distillery visit - Glenlossie

At the beginning of May, we paid a visit to the annual Spirit of Speyside Festival. One of the biggest highlights of our trip was a special tour, which is only run once a year during the festival, called The Laich of Moray. This tour takes in four of Diageo's single malt distilleries around the Elgin area of Speyside that are not normally open to the public - Glen Elgin, Glenlossie, Linkwood and Mannochmore.

Our guide for the trip was Eric Walker, the Senior Site Manager in charge of the four distilleries.  The third stop on the tour was Glenlossie, where we were shown around by Sandy McIntyre, the Site Operations Manager.

New release - Bowmore 'The Devil's Casks II'

Following on from the acclaimed first release, The Devil's Casks II is the new limited edition single malt release from Bowmore, the oldest distillery on the famous whisky island of Islay. The whisky is so named as it is believed in local legend that the devil once hid in a cask of Bowmore to hide from angry residents and escape to the mainland. We are not sure about this story, but it is said that the circular church in the village of Bowmore (pictured, below) was built in such a shape so as to prevent the devil having any corners to hide in.

Inbox - August 15, 2014

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

Have just tried - Bulleit Rye

The Bulleit Rye is the newest addition to the Bulleit Bourbon range.  It was first launched in the USA in 2011 and proved extremely popular. This has resulted in it being rolled out in selected other markets in late 2013, including Australia and the UK.  The Bulleit Rye is made using a mash bill of 95% rye grain and 5% malted barley.  This rye content is high compared to most other American rye whiskeys on the market.  The minimum percentage to be legally called a rye whiskey is 51%.

Inbox - August 8, 2014

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

Distillery visit - Glen Elgin

At the beginning of May, we paid a visit to the annual Spirit of Speyside Festival. One of the biggest highlights of our trip was a special tour, which is only run once a year during the festival, called The Laich of Moray. This tour takes in four of Diageo's single malt distilleries around the Elgin area of Speyside that are not normally open to the public - Glen Elgin, Glenlossie, Linkwood and Mannochmore. Our guide for the trip was Eric Walker, the Senior Site Manager in charge of the four distilleries.  The second distillery of the glorious Spring day was Glen Elgin ...

New release - Glen Garioch 1998 Wine Cask Matured

This whisky is the first ever bottling from Glen Garioch to have been fully matured in ex-red wine casks. The casks in question were sourced from Saint-Julien in the famous French wine region of Bordeaux and the whisky has been maturing in the wine barriques for 15 years.  The spirit used was all distilled on June 23, 1998 and the casks have been hand selected and married together by Rachel Barrie, the Master Blender at Morrison Bowmore.

Inbox - August 1, 2014

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

Have just tried - Aberfeldy 12 years old

This whisky is the flagship single malt from the Highland distillery of Aberfeldy.  It has just recently been re-launched with new packaging.  This is pictured above and focuses on numerous aspects of the distillery's history and heritage, with the gold lettering paying homage to the discovery of gold particles in the local river.  This new identity, which is the first re-branding for Aberfeldy since 1999, forms part of a larger plan for its single malts - the current 21 years old expression has also been given new look, a new travel retail exclusive 18 years old has been added with more ages planned to join the 12 and 21 year olds in the core range.

Inbox - July 18, 2014

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

Inbox - July 11, 2014

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

New release - Stronachie 10 years old

Stronachie is a single malt released by the independent bottling company A.D. Rattray. This new 10 years old bottling coincides with the 110th anniversary of the original Stronachie single malt, which was first sold in the early 1900s. The whisky was produced at a distillery of the same name in a remote part of Perthshire in the Highlands between 1890 and 1928. A.D. Rattray (then known as Dewar Rattray) distributed that whisky and revived the name some years ago after buying an original 1904 bottle at auction.

Inbox - July 4, 2014

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

New release - Balvenie Single Barrel 15 years old 'Sherry Cask'

This whisky is the latest addition to the single malt range of the popular Speyside distillery.  The Balvenie Single Barrel 15 years old Sherry Cask replaces the old 15 years old Single Barrel, which has been in the core range for a number of years, and joins the 12 years old Single Barrel First-Fill Bourbon Cask which came out last year. The release will see European oak ex-Oloroso sherry butts bottled one at a time, with no more than 650 bottles ever being available from each cask.

Inbox - June 20, 2014

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

Distillery visit - Linkwood

A few weeks ago we headed north and paid a visit to the annual Spirit of Speyside Festival.  One of the highlights of our trip was a special tour, which is only run once a year during the festival, called The Laich of Moray.  This tour takes in four of Diageo's single malt distilleries around the Elgin area of Speyside that are not normally open to the public - Glen Elgin, Glenlossie, Linkwood and Mannochmore.  Our guide for the trip was Eric Walker, the Senior Site Manager in charge of the four distilleries.  So, on a bright Spring Saturday morning we boarded a minibus full of European malt fanatics and headed for Linkwood, our first distillery of the day and one which we knew very little about.