Review - Lagavulin Jazz Festival Edition 2020

This whisky is the latest in the annual series from Lagavulin released as part of their sponsorship of the Islay Jazz Festival. This year's limited edition bottling is 22 years old, an age chosen to celebrate the 22 years that the annual festival has been held on the famous whisky island of Islay. The 2020 festival will be the first ever to be broadcast online due to the global Covid-19 pandemic and will be streamed live via the Lagavulin and Friends of the Classic Malts Facebook pages on October 3. The Jazz Festival Edition 2020 has been matured in both re-fill American and European oak casks, before some of the whisky has undergone a further finishing period in ex-red wine casks. 

Allotment Drams - Jura 21 years old & Bowmore 15 years old

We have two more episodes of our Allotment Dram series for you and both take us across to the Hebrides. Firstly Matt takes a look at the Jura 21 years old, which sits at the pinnacle of the the island distillery's core range. The single malt has been matured in American oak ex-bourbon casks before a finishing period in virgin oak. Watch to find his thoughts and tasting notes.

On his next visit to the allotment he hops over the water to Islay and talks about Bowmore, the oldest distillery on the famous whisky island. Watch to discover his thoughts and tasting notes on the award-winning 15 years old. We hope that you enjoy both videos.

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Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (September 25, 2020)

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. Within Inbox we aim to write a few lines detailing each press release/piece of news/PR event that we have received and provide links, where possible, for you to find out further information. Here is the news from this week ... 

 

Review - Benriach The Twelve & The Smoky Twelve

These two whiskies form part of the newly revamped core range of single malts from the Speyside distillery of Benriach. The new range is designed to showcase Benriach's unique eclectic range of casks from around the world, which come from close to 20 different origins, and the three different spirit styles that are produced their - classic Speyside, peated Speyside (which is only produced for 5-6 weeks each year) and triple distilled (produced for just 1-2 weeks each year). The range has been entirely created by Dr. Rachel Barrie, the Master Blender for Benriach. 

Review - Glenmorangie A Tale of Cake

 

A Tale of Cake is a new limited single malt that is the brainchild of Dr. Bill Lumsden - the Director of Whisky Creation at Glenmorangie. For this release, he has been inspired by memories of baking pineapple upside down cake, firstly with his grandmother and then with his daughter. The spirit involved was earmarked for use as Glenmorangie Original, having been matured in American oak ex-bourbon barrels. This was then finished in ex-Tokaji dessert wine casks from Hungary. These highly prized and rare barrels were sourced and hand selected by Dr. Bill for A Tale of Cake. The release also features bespoke packaging designed to represent a cake and the whisky is bottled at 46% ABV.

Allotment Drams - Talisker 8 years old 'Hepburn's Choice' & Tomintoul 25 years old

 

Two more episodes of the Allotment Dram for you following a couple more visits to our north London plot. Firstly, Matt delves in to the world of the independent bottlers and takes a look at a single cask of Talisker 8 years old from Hunter Laing. Watch as he talks about the Hepburn's Choice range that it is part of, the new packaging and then gives his thoughts and tasting notes.

Then on his next visit, Matt has selected one of the jewels in the crown of our personal whisky collection - the Tomintoul 25 years old. Watch as he talks about this single malt from an under rated Speyside distillery, plus gives his thoughts and tasting notes. We hope that you enjoy both videos.

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Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (September 18, 2020)

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. Within Inbox we aim to write a few lines detailing each press release/piece of news/PR event that we have received and provide links, where possible, for you to find out further information. Here is the news from this week ...

Review - Benriach The Original Ten & The Smoky Ten

These two whiskies form the entry point in to the newly revamped core range of single malts from the Speyside distillery of Benriach. The new range is designed to showcase Benriach's unique eclectic range of casks from around the world, which come from close to 20 different origins, and the three different spirit styles that are produced their - classic Speyside, peated Speyside (which is only produced for 5-6 weeks each year) and triple distilled (produced for just 1-2 weeks each year). The range has been entirely created by Dr. Rachel Barrie, the Master Blender for Benriach. 

Review - Mackmyra Jaktlycka

This is the latest single malt in the seasonal limited edition series from Swedish distillery Mackmyra. Bottlings in the series are released each Spring and Autumn and this Autumn's whisky is named Jaktlycka, meaning 'hunting luck'. The whisky is inspired by the ancient forests that surround the distillery and come to life with fruit and berries each Autumn, and are popular hunting grounds for Swedes. Jaktlycka has been matured in American oak and Swedish oak casks that have previously held blueberry and lingonberry wines from the Grythyttan winery in Sweden.

Allotment Drams - Glen Scotia 25 years old & Benriach The Original Ten

 

We have two more episodes for you from our Allotment Drams series, our whisky review videos that are recorded in the surroundings of our north London allotment. Firstly, watch as Matt talks about and samples the Glen Scotia 25 years old from Campbeltown. Listen to find out a bit about Campbeltown's whisky heritage and Glen Scotia's part in it, plus his thoughts and tasting notes of this whisky that sits at the pinnacle of their core range.

 

On his next visit, watch as Matt talks about the brand new Benriach The Original Ten, part of a totally revamped core range with new packaging for the Speyside distillery. Find out about the inspiration behind the redesign and the new whiskies, before he then gives his thoughts and tasting notes on The Original Ten - the entry point in to the new range of single malts.

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Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (September 11, 2020)

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. Within Inbox we aim to write a few lines detailing each press release/piece of news/PR event that we have received and provide links, where possible, for you to find out further information. Here is the news from this week ... 

Review - Green Isle

The Green Isle is a blended Scotch whisky that sits as an entry point to The Character of Islay range. This range includes the single malts of Aerolite Lyndsay 10 years old, Grace Île 25 years old and The Legend of Fiona Macleod 33 years old. At its core are a number of single malts from Islay distilleries and these are blended together with a Speyside malt and a Lowland single grain whisky. The resulting whisky takes its name from the novel The Green Isle of the Great Deep by Neil Gunn, where he describes Islay as being 'an island off the west coast of Scotland only accessible via a whirlpool'. The whirlpool in question is the world famous Corryvreckan. 

Allotment Drams - Sexton Irish Single Malt & Glendronach Kingsman 1989 Vintage

 

Here we have two more episodes from our increasingly popular Allotment Drams series, our short videos where we talk about and review different whiskies in the surroundings of our north London allotment. First watch as Matt goes Irish and takes a look at the Sexton Irish single malt. Find out a bit about the brand and his thoughts and tasting notes.

Then join him for a very special whisky and the most expensive one reviewed to date - the new Glendronach Kingsman 1989 Vintage. Watch to discover the background behind the release, along with his thoughts and tasting notes as he huddles from a downpour in the allotment shed! We hope that you enjoy both videos. 

To subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch more of our videos - click here.

 

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Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (September 4, 2020)

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. Within Inbox we aim to write a few lines detailing each press release/piece of news/PR event that we have received and provide links, where possible, for you to find out further information. Here is the news from this week ...

Review - Glendronach Kingsman 1989 Vintage

This whisky is the second release of the limited edition and super-premium Kingsman single malt from the east Highland distillery of Glendronach. The Glendronach Kingsman Edition 1989 Vintage has been bottled at 29 years of age and as with the first edition, which sold out rapidly, it is released in collaboration with The Kingsman movie franchise. The latest film in the series, The King's Man, is released by 20th Century Fox and MARV this Autumn. 

The whisky has been crafted by Dr. Rachel Barrie, the Master Blender at Glendronach, using just six ex-Oloroso sherry casks sourced from Jerez in Spain and all distilled and filled in 1989. These were then finished in ex-Pedro Ximenez sherry casks before being married together. 

Allotment Drams - Ardbeg 'The Shortie' Smoky Porter & Fettercairn 16 years old

We are back with the two latest episodes in our Allotment Dram series, where we talk about different whiskies (or in the case of one of these episodes, beer) in the surroundings of our north London allotment. First watch as Matt swaps whisky for beer as he talks about, tastes and gives his thoughts on the Ardbeg Smoky Porter - a charitable collaboration between the Islay single malt distillery, William Bros brewery and Brewgooder.

Then he returns to sample the new Fettercairn 16 years old, which has just joined the core range of the east Highland distillery. Watch to find out a bit about the history of the distillery and brand, plus his thoughts and tasting notes of this new malt. We hope you enjoy both videos.

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