Review / Caol Ila Fèis Ìle 2022 Edition

The third day of the annual Fèis Ìle festival is always Caol Ila Day. Each year the event takes place on the famous whisky island of Islay. Each distillery on the island hosts a special day and release a limited edition whisky to celebrate.The Caol Ila Fèis Ìle 2022 Edition is bottled at 15 years old. It has also been matured in re-fill American oak ex-bourbon hogsheads and finished in virgin American oak barrels. 

There are just 3,072 bottles and these are released at the natural cask strength of 55.2% ABV and is both non chill-filtered and of natural colour. It is on sale from Caol Ila Day (today, May 30) onwards. As Caol Ila is currently closed for major refurbishment, Caol Ila Day events will be held at the nearby Islay House instead. Bottles will be on sale there on a first come first served basis, at Lagavulin distillery and via www.malts.com. A bottle will cost £165.

Review / Lagavulin Fèis Ìle 2022 Edition

Today is Lagavulin Day, the opening event at the annual Fèis Ìle festival on the famous whisky island of Islay. Each distillery on the island hosts a special day and release a limited edition whisky to celebrate. Lagavulin is always the first which makes this even more exciting. The Lagavulin Fèis Ìle 2022 Edition features casks selected by the distillery team including new Distillery Manager, Jordan Paisley. 

The whisky was initially matured in re-fill American oak ex-bourbon hogsheads, before being finished in virgin American oak barrels. It has been released at 12 years of age and there are just 6,336 bottles in the batch. It has been bottled at the natural cask strength of 57.7% ABV and is both non chill-filtered and of natural colour.

Inbox / The Week's Whisky News (May 27, 2022)

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. 

Review / Tamnavulin White Wine Cask Edition

This new whisky is the latest addition to the core range of Tamnavulin, the up-and-coming Speyside single malt brand. The Tamnavulin White Wine Cask Edition follows a series of successful ex-red wine cask expressions that have been launched over the last two years. The new whisky was initially matured in American white oak ex-bourbon barrels before being transferred for a finishing period in ex-Sauvignon Blanc wine casks. White wine casks are used much less than red or fortified wine casks for maturing whisky. The Tamnavulin White Wine Cask Edition is bottled at 40% ABV and is available now in the UK and USA, and will be shortly available in selected European markets. A bottle will cost £32/ $42 US/ €38.

Inbox / The Week's Whisky News (May 20, 2022)

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. 

Review / White Heather 15 years old

The Glenallachie Distillers Company have just released this new blended Scotch whisky. The White Heather 15 years old joins the 21 years old expression in the White Heather range, which was first launched last year, and forms part of the wider MacNair's Boutique House of Spirits. This includes the Lum Reek blended malt and Exploration Rum brands. The White Heather is blended by Billy Walker, the Master Distiller and co-owner of Glenallachie. It features single malts from Islay, the north Highlands and Speyside plus single grain whisky. These have been matured in a combination of virgin oak, ex-bourbon, ex-Oloroso and ex-Pedro Ximenez sherry casks. 

Review / Cotswolds 'Hearts & Crafts' Rum Cask

This new whisky is the latest addition to the Hearts & Crafts Collection from the English distillery of Cotswolds. The series of limited edition whiskies is inspired by the work of designer and craftsman William Morris, who lived in the Cotswolds at Kelmscott Manor. The new release has seen the spirit made from 100% Cotswolds barley, which was traditionally floor malted in nearby Warminster, and then matured in rejuvenated French oak ex-red wine casks that were seasoned with Caribbean rum. All bottles are presented in a William Morris design tube. The exact number of bottles was not revealed in the press release.

Review / Fettercairn Warehouse 2 (Batch 003)

This whisky is the latest limited edition release from the east Highland distillery of Fettercairn. It is the third bottling to appear in the Warehouse 2 series. Batch 003 follows the first two batches from 2021. The series is designed to showcase some of the hidden gems maturing within Fettercairn's 14 dunnage warehouses. There are three cask types that feature in this new batch - ex-bourbon and ex-rum barrels, plus ex-red wine barriques from France. These have been used in the percentages of 57%, 16% and 27% respectively. All were distilled and filled in 2015. The casks were hand-selected and then married together by Gregg Glass, the Whisky Maker for Fettercairn.

Review / Glenallachie 8 years old

This new whisky is the latest expression to enter the core range of the Speyside single malt distillery of Glenallachie (pronounced glen-alla-key). The Glenallachie 8 years old sees whisky from four different cask types married together. These are virgin oak casks, ex-red wine barriques, plus ex-Oloroso and ex-Pedro Ximenez sherry puncheons. The casks were hand selected by Billy Walker, the Master Blender for Glenallachie, for this first batch. It is bottled at 46% ABV and is both non chill-filtered and of natural colour. The Glenallachie 8 years old will be available via specialist whisky retailers worldwide and is expected to retail for £42.50/ $55.50 US.

Inbox / The Week's Whisky News (May 13, 2022)

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. 

Inbox / The Week's Whisky News (May 6, 2022)

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.