Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (January 25, 2019)

Welcome to Inbox, our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our WFE email. 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.

Our Top 10 Whiskies of 2018

Another year has passed and it is time for one of our favourite blog posts - our top 10 whiskies from last year. Everyone will have a different opinion about what should and should not be on such a list. Our list is simply our favourites with no criteria, such as price or availability applied, or agenda.

2018 saw seemingly more whiskies released than ever before. New distilleries bottled their first ever products (Cotswolds and Eden Mill), established brands put new whiskies in to their core ranges (Aberlour and Glenlivet amongst others), classic whiskies were re-released (BenRiach and GlenDronach) and some distilleries celebrated landmarks with anniversary bottlings (Balcones and Benromach). The competitions that we both judge on saw record levels of entries, reflecting this vibrancy at the moment.

As with previous years it has been a struggle to narrow our choices down to just ten. We have sampled many nice whiskies, reviewing numerous of them. As with the last couple of years, we have decided to again list the final ten in alphabetical order, rather than ranking them.

Review - Bunnahabhain 20 years old Palo Cortado Finish

This whisky is part of a new annual limited edition programme for the three Scotch brands of Distell - Bunnahabhain on the isle of Islay, Deanston in the Highlands and Tobermory on the isle of Mull. The programme has been named 'The Malt Gallery' and the first set featured two expressions from Bunnahabhain and Ledaig (the peated version of Tobermory) and one each from Deanston and the classic style of Tobermory.

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (January 18, 2019)

Welcome to Inbox, our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our WFE email. 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.

Review - Cotswolds Founder's Choice

This whisky is the first ever cask strength single malt to be released by the Cotswolds distillery in south western England. It was bottled in October 2018 and has been matured in STR (shaved, toasted and re-charred) casks made from American oak. These had previously been seasoned with red wine and were coopered in Portugal. Just nine were selected for this release and there are just 3,000 bottles available. It is non chill-filtered, of natural colour and bottled at the cask strength of 60.9% ABV. A bottle will cost £65 and is available in selected specialist whisky retailers and via the company's website www.cotswoldsdistillery.com.

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (January 11, 2019)

Welcome to our first Inbox of 2019.  For those new to WFE or who have discovered us over the festive break - Welcome!

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.

Review - John Walker & Sons Midnight Blend 28 years old

John Walker & Sons, the super premium branch of the popular Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky brand, has announced the fifth and final part of their limited edition Private Collection - the 28 years old Midnight Blend. The collection, which was first launched in 2014 and has been released annually since, is designed to champion the some of the oldest and rarest single malt and grain whiskies in Diageo's portfolio. They have been created by Johnnie Walker's Master Blender Jim Beveridge and his team.