Review | Scallywag The Chocolate Edition 2023

Scallywag The Chocolate Edition 2023 is the sixth bottling in The Chocolate Edition series from the independent bottling and blending company of Douglas Laing & Co. For this special bottling only whiskies that have been matured in ex-Oloroso or ex-Pedro Ximenez sherry casks included. As with all expressions of Scallywag, of which there are now several, only Speyside single malts have been used. The new whisky is bottled at 48% ABV and is both non chill-filtered and of natural colour. 

Review / Noble Rebel Malts

The Highland distillery of Loch Lomond has announced the release of a new range of blended malts named Noble Rebel. The new range is designed to 'push boundaries in the pursuit of flavour' and consists of three expressions - Orchard Outburst, Smoke Symphony and Hazelnut Harmony. These have been created by Michael Henry, the Master Blender for Loch Lomond. 

Review / Bimber Duality & Compass Box Duality

The Bimber distillery and independent whisky maker Compass Box, which are both based in west London, have joined forces to launch two collaborative whiskies - Bimber Duality and Compass Box Duality. Both are blended malts and feature whiskies sourced from both England and Scotland. They have been created in tandem by Matt McKay from Bimber and James Saxon from Compass Box. 

Review / J & G Thomson & Co. Blended Malts

These three whiskies form part of the core range of spirits from J & G Thomson & Co. - an experimental new Scottish bottling company based out of Edinburgh. Their goal is to bring characterful spirits from high quality casks to a wider audience. As well as the three whiskies, the core range features a gin and a rum. Despite only recently being launched, the bottlings have already collected some top awards at UK spirits competitions. All are produced in small batches and are bottled at 46% ABV.

Review / MacNair's Lum Reek 12 years old & 21 years old

The MacNair's Lum Reek range forms part of the new wider MacNair's Boutique House of Spirits from The Glenallachie Distillers Company. The two whiskies are both blended malts and are joined in the revamped range by three rums from Panama, two at seven years of age and one at 15 years old. MacNair's is a revival of an old Scotch whisky brand that had long disappeared, but that was founded by Harvey MacNair in 1830.

Review / Gladstone Axe 'American Oak' & 'The Black Axe'

These two new whiskies are a pair of Scotch blended malts from wine and spirits company Biggar & Leith. The Gladstone Axe 'American Oak' and the Gladstone Axe 'The Black Axe' are designed to be 'a modern twist on classic Scotch' and are named after four-times UK Prime Minister William Gladstone. The brand and both blended malts have been created by Elwyn Gladstone, the founder of Biggar & Leith and the great great great grandson of William Gladstone. 

Inbox / The Week's Whisky News (June 25, 2021)

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 14, 2021)

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 / Magic Cask

The Magic Cask is from the artisan whisky blending company of Compass Box and was the final limited edition bottling that helped to celebrate their 20th anniversary in 2020. It joined the Hedonism Felicitas, Rogues’ Banquet and Peat Monster Arcana special editions. The Magic Cask is a blended malt made using only Speyside single malts, including some that was distilled from the long-closed Imperial distillery near Aberlour. However, the Magic Cask is so named due to the inclusion of one very special cask (Cask #2) - a first-fill ex-Oloroso sherry butt that was filled by Compass Box with one year old Speyside spirit in 2016 as part of a controlled experiment. 

Review / A Fine Christmas Malt 2020 Edition

A Fine Christmas Malt is the annual festive limited edition bottling from leading specialist spirits retailer The Whisky Exchange. Each year the whisky goes in a different direction and the 2020 Edition is a blended malt that features single malts with a heavy influence of ex-sherry cask maturation. There are just 1,918 bottles and these are only available from The Whisky Exchange website or three stores in London. Bottles can also be engraved with a personal message. A Fine Christmas Malt 2020 Edition is released at 44.5% ABV and is both non chill-filtered and of natural colour. The price is £74.95 per bottle.

Review - Peat Monster Arcana

This whisky sees Compass Box, the innovative whisky blenders, continuing their 20th anniversary celebrations with the release of a limited edition version of their popular Peat Monster blended malt. Peat Monster Arcana is a cask strength version of the original Peat Monster recipe that has then seen a further two years maturation in French oak casks. This was then blended further with aged single malts from the Ardbeg, Miltonduff and Talisker distilleries. It is released at 46% ABV and is both non chill-filtered and of natural colour. There are 8,328 bottles and these will be available via specialist whisky retailers globally. Price - £75/ $95 US.

Allotment Drams - Weller 12 years old & Dalaruan by The Lost Distillery Co.

 

We have two more episodes of our Allotment Drams, the series where we talk about different whiskies in the surroundings of our north London allotment, for you. Firstly watch as Matt opens and tastes the Weller 12 years old wheated bourbon, which is made at the Buffalo Trace distillery on Kentucky, for the first time ever. Learn about what a wheated bourbon is and then hear his thoughts and tasting notes.

Then on his next visit he takes a look at the Dalaruan, part of a series of blended malts from The Lost Distillery Co. that give modern interpretations to long closed distilleries. Dalaruan was located in Campbeltown and closed in 1925. Watch as Matt talks about the creative project and then gives his thoughts and tasting notes.

To keep up-to-date with our videos or to subscribe to our YouTube channel - please click here.

#AllotmentDram

 

Review - The Three Drinkers Cask Selection No.1

Introduction by Matt Chambers. Tasting notes & thoughts by Tobias Gorn.

The members of the Amazon Prime TV series The Three Drinkers have teamed up with retailer Master of Malt to release their first whisky - The Three Drinkers Scotch Whisky Cask Selection No.1. The whisky is a 17 years old blended malt inspired by different distillery locations within the first series of the show and is bottled at 45% ABV. It is non chill-filtered and of natural colour with only 300 bottles, which have been individually numbered and also signed by The Three Drinkers. The Cask Selection No.1 will be sold via Master of Malt and is available now. A bottle will cost £40.

Review - Nectar Grove

The Nectar Grove is a blended malt created using Highland single malts and finished in ex-Madeira wine casks. It is released in to the Limited Edition series, all of which are bottled at 46% ABV. The series has been crafted from whiskies held within the Wemyss family's portfolio of casks and the names reflect the expected flavour characteristics of each whisky. In the case of Nectar Grove this is a distinct fruity character from the Madeira wine. Other expressions in the Limited Edition series include Kiln Embers and Velvet Fig.

Review - Exotic Cargo

Exotic Cargo is a new whisky from The Scotch Malt Whisky Society and is the first ever blended malt that they have released. The new whisky continues the expansion of their core range of products which has recently added American whiskey, Cognac, gin and rum to the portfolio. Exotic Cargo has been created using whiskies all distilled on the same day in 2006 and all have been matured in ex-sherry hogshead casks. It has been bottled at 10 years of age and at a strength of 50% ABV. It is also non chill-filtered and of natural colour. There are just 1,937 bottles available and each will cost £45.

Review - Treacle Chest & Vanilla Burst by Wemyss Malts

The Wemyss family have released these two new whiskies as the first in a new series called The Family Collection. The collection has been crafted from whiskies held within the Wemyss family's own private portfolio of casks. These first two releases - entitled Treacle Chest and Vanilla Burst - represent two differing styles of whisky, one has been matured in ex-Sherry casks and the other in ex-bourbon casks. The names refer to the expected flavour characteristics from each cask type.

Review - Compass Box Spice Tree Extravaganza

The Extravaganza celebrates the 10 year anniversary of the legendary Spice Tree release. This was famously banned by the Scotch Whisky Association due to un-traditional maturation methods when it was first released. The new expression is a blend of three single malts - Allt-a-Bhainne, Benrinnes and Glen Ord - and three pockets of 'Highland Malt Blend' (consisting of whiskies from Clynelish, Dailuaine and Teaninich) that have been matured in 'hybrid' casks.  This is a limited edition release and there are just 12,240 bottles available, which is presented in special commemorative packaging.

Review - Compass Box 3 Year Old Deluxe

The 3 Year Old Deluxe is a new limited edition that formed part of artisan whisky company Compass Box's Autumn releases.  It is a blended malt formed of just three components, one of which is just three years old. This makes up just 0.4% of the whisky but legally has to be named - the youngest whisky included must be shown if declaring an age statement.  The whisky is released to support Compass Box's Scotch Whisky Transparency campaign - to read more about that, click here.  This was launched after Compass Box were informed that they were communicating information about the components within their whiskies in an illegal way.

Review - Timorous Beastie 40 years old

This 40 years old expression is the latest limited edition in the Timorous Beastie series from independent bottler Douglas Laing & Co. As with the regular bottling of Timorous Beastie this blended malt whisky is created using single malts from Highland distilleries. In this case the minimum age of the whiskies are 40 years and include malts from Dalmore, Glen Garioch and Glengoyne amongst others. Timorous Beastie forms part of Douglas Laing's Remarkable Regional Malts range - this features blended malts from each whisky producing region of Scotland and includes Big Peat (Islay), The Epicurean (Lowlands), Rock Oyster (Islands) and Scallywag (Speyside).

Review - Chivas Regal Ultis

Chivas Regal Ultis is the first ever blended malt, a whisky made solely from single malts, to be released by the renowned premium brand.  It has been crafted using five rare single malts from within the Chivas Brothers portfolio of Speyside whiskies - Allt A'Bhainne, Braeval, Longmorn, Strathisla and Tormore.  The use of five malts reflect the fact that Chivas Regal has only ever had five Master Blenders since it was first released in 1909, with Ultis being created by the current Chivas Brothers blending team. The name is a combination of two words - 'Ultimate' and 'Fortis' (meaning 'strength' in Latin).