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 - Flaming Heart (5th Edition)

The Flaming Heart is made by Compass Box, the innovative artisan whisky blending company. This is the fifth edition of this award-winning blended malt and has been released to celebrate the company's 15th anniversary.  It remains true to the original 2006 expression of Flaming Heart, but uses older whiskies. This is a marriage of Highland and Islay malts ranging from 14 to 30 years in age, plus a seven years old blended malt featuring three Highland distilleries that has been matured in French oak casks for a minimum of two years. The Flaming Heart takes its names from the famous quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, where he states: "Every great achievement is the victory of a flaming heart".

Review - The Loch Fyne range

The new Loch Fyne range has been launched with three whiskies included - the revamped award-winning Loch Fyne Blend, plus the new Living Cask Batch 1 and Living Cask 1745.  The new products will be joined by further bottlings in time and they coincide with a series of significant improvements to the Loch Fyne Whiskies shop, a new logo (pictured, above) and the launch of the brand new website for the brand.  All have been packaged in a stylish 50cl bottle that aims to bring the brand right up to date and introduce new consumers to it.

Review - Ghosted Reserve

The Ghosted Reserve is the latest limited edition bottling in the Rare Cask Reserves series, which is released by William Grant & Sons.  It is a blended malt.  This term refers to a whisky that is made from two or more single malts blended together.  In this case, there are just two malts included and both are very rare as they come from the Inverleven and Ladyburn 'ghost' distilleries, which have been closed for a significant length of time.  The Ghosted Reserve has been created by Brian Kinsman, the Master Blender at William Grant & Sons.

Review - Compass Box 'The Lost Blend'

This is a new blended malt from the leading artisan whisky company of Compass Box.  The Lost Blend is inspired by the O. Henry book of the same name from 1907, in which the author writes "Distilled elixir of battle, money and high life!"  It also pays homage to Compass Box's own 'lost blend' - the Eleuthera - and combines three single malts (from the Allt-a-Bhainne, Caol Ila and Clynelish distilleries).  The packaging also features other items lost to history, including a gramophone and the dodo.

Review - 'Timorous Beastie'

The Timorous Beastie is a blended malt from the independent bottling company of Douglas Laing & Co. is the third such release and is made from a selection of Highland single malts including Dalmore, Glengoyne and Glen Garioch.  It joined Big Peat, made from Islay malts, and the Scallywag, made from Speyside malts.  Since its release there has been a fourth addition to the range, named Rock Oyster, which is made from a selection of Island malts.

New release - 'Scallywag' by Douglas Laing

The Scallywag is a new whisky that was launched in late 2013 by Douglas Laing & Co.  It is a vatted malt that is made in very small batches and only using Speyside single malts. Amongst those malts named are Glenrothes, Macallan and Mortlach, although more have been used. It is bottled at 46% ABV and is non-chill filtered and of natural colour. The Scallywag is available through specialist whisky retailers and should cost around the £40 mark.

Competition - Win a bottle of Douglas Laing's 'Scallywag'

Please note - this competition is now closed and we will be announcing the winner shortly.

We are delighted to announce that we have teamed up with Douglas Laing & Co, one of Scotland's leading independent whisky bottlers, to offer you the opportunity to win a bottle of Scallywag, their new blended malt.  The Scallywag will be made in small batches and use only Speyside single malts - amongst those named are Glenrothes, Macallan and Mortlach, although more have been used. It is bottled at 46% ABV, is non-chill filtered and of natural colour.

Wemyss Malts Week - Part 2

Over the last few months we have received a series of packages containing whisky samples from Wemyss Malts. As a result of various circumstances, we have not been able to review and taste them ... until now.  We have decided to put all of these samples together and review them in one week - our very own Wemyss Malts Week.  This will be a four-part series which showcases some whiskies from the companies ever expanding range.

Welcome to the second part of the series.  Yesterday, we covered three of the whiskies in Wemyss' eight years old blended malt range, plus a run down of the company's history and ethos.  Click here to read any of this information from Part 1, to save us covering old ground on each of our posts this week. 

Today, we turn our attention to the Wemyss Malts range of 12 years old blended malts.  These follow the same idea as yesterday's eight years old range, as they are all named to reflect the flavour profile and give the consumer a clue as to its characteristics.  Each whisky in the range is made from a hand selected selection of single malts, which are married together for a period of time before bottling.  They are all bottled at a strength of 40% ABV and retail for £35 each.  For further information about Wemyss Malts, their ranges and to purchase, please visit www.wemyssmalts.com.

The Hive - 12 years old
The colour is a vibrant golden yellow and the majority of the single malts used here are from the Speyside region of Scotland.  The nose is packed with honey aromas (we guess the clue was in the name, right?), along with plenty of vanilla and malty cereal grains. There are other aromas of golden syrup, stewed apple and a pinch of baking spice. On the palate, this feels a little tangy with some unexpected orange zest up front.  It then settles down an plenty of sweet honey notes are present, along with vanilla, toasted nuts, burnt sugar, some wood/baking spice (especially nutmeg) and some malted barley which gives a pleasant bittersweet edge and stops it from being too sweet.  This maltiness seems to increase in to the finish and gives the whisky a good grip in the mouth.  The finish is short-ish but with another good dollop of honey towards the end, plus a hint of faint tobacco leaf.

The Spice King - 12 years old
The colour is golden amber and the signature malt here is from one of the islands of Scotland.  The nose is rich and full of harmonious aromas - honey, vanilla, candied citrus peel, sultana, stewed apple, baking spice (especially cinnamon), plus hints of custard and soft, gentle peat smoke.  On the palate, this feels soft and velvety before a hit of peat smoke and spice kicks in to add some vibrancy.  The dominant notes are sweet - think of honey, cereals and dried fruits in particular - with plenty of candied and spiced orange coming later.  There is a pudding-like apple crumble type note also.  The underlying spices and peat become softer and mellower with time.  The balance is very good with the spice/peat combination stopping it from being too sweet and sugary.  The finish is of decent length with a highly enjoyable combination of brown sugar, cinnamon, honey, soft peat and tangy orange peel.  The eight years old version was good but this raises the bar to a new level.

The Peat Chimney - 12 years old
The colour is golden yellow and this is a complex blend of 16 single malts, with the emphasis on the smoky Islay whiskies. The nose is packed full of punchy peat smoke aromas and these have a fresh, bracing quality.  The peat is sweet and fragrant.  The other aromas are also sweet with notes of honey, brown sugar, vanilla and malty cereals all present.  Underneath is a whiff of salty brine and something vegetal and a bit mossy.  On the palate, this is obviously sweet and a little sugary (think of icing sugar) but then ... boom, the spicy and peppery hot peat smoke kicks in.  The feeling creates a mouth watering freshness.  Once the heat and smoke settle, an underlying malted barley note is joined by other more delicate flavours - vanilla, honey, fresh green pear, lemon zest, oatcake biscuit and a pinch of cinnamon and ginger spice.  There is also some of the salty tang from the nose detected.  The finish is long with the strength of the peat smoke combining delightfully with the sweet honeyed notes.  Very good, especially for the price point of £35.

Join us tomorrow for Part 3, where we move on to sample and review some single cask offerings from the Wemyss Malts range.

Wemyss Malts Week - Part 1

Over the last few months we have received a series of packages containing whisky samples from Wemyss Malts. As a result of various circumstances, we have not been able to review and taste them ... until now.  We have decided to put all of these samples together and review them in one week - our very own Wemyss Malts Week.  This will be a four-part series which showcases some whiskies from the companies ever expanding range.

Wemyss Malts is a Scottish based company which specialises in hand crafted whiskies.  It forms part of the larger Wemyss brand, which includes Darnley's View gin and two wine brands - Fonty's Pool from Western Australia and Rimauresq from Provence, France.  All are owned by the Wemyss family (pronounced weems), whose base is Wemyss Castle in Fife.  The castle overlooks the famous Firth of Forth estuary and has been the family home since 1421 when it was constructed by Sir John Wemyss.

The Wemyss family have traditional ties to the whisky industry and these remain, as barley grown on their estate is still used by leading distillery companies.  The ties date back to the beginning of the 18th century when the family allowed a tenant called John Haig to build his first distillery on some of their land.  His whisky, called Haig's, proved to be very popular and remains a best seller today.

The range of Wemyss Malts are all hand crafted and designed to make things easier and more accessible for the consumer.  The are split in to two categories - blended malts and single cask malts - and each release is given a name relating to its flavour profile, rather than the distillery of origin.  This is to help with the consumer recognising what the whisky will taste like and selecting one through their personal preferences.

The whiskies are all from casks which are hand selected by the family under the guidance of whisky legend Charles Maclean.  The blended malt range are all bottled at 40% ABV and appear at age points of five, eight and 12 years.  The single cask malts are of a variety of ages, are all taken from premium single casks within the Wemyss collection and bottled at 46% ABV.  For further information about Wemyss Malts, their range and to purchase - visit www.wemyssmalts.com.

We kick off our Wemyss Malts Week with three offerings from the eight years old blended malts range (pictured, above).  Each of these contains just single malts whiskies, with up to 16 blended together in some cases, and each has a definitive flavour style which lends its name to each blend.  The minimum age of any whisky included is eight years old. Once selected and blended, each of the new whisky combinations are left to marry together for a number of months to give the most integrated flavour profile possible. All are £29 for a bottle.

The Smooth Gentleman - 8 years old
The colour is golden yellow and the majority of the malts in this are from the Speyside region. The nose has a decent and sweet scent that includes aromas of caramel, dried fruits (think of raisins and sultanas), malty cereals and a hint of spiced orange.  It seems youthful with some vibrant spirit showing through.  Underneath are some aromas of honey and cinnamon bark.  On the palate, this has initial notes of malted barley and bitter orange.  The sweeter honey, caramel and dried fruit notes fight through once the youthful spirit settles down and this leads to a pleasant and refreshing end to the palate and finish.  There is also a hint of faint tobacco-like smoke present. The finish is initially sweet with plenty of caramel present. It becomes drier towards the end, with some good wood spice notes finish things off. Slightly disappointing and not particularly 'smooth' to our palates.

The Spice King - 8 years old
The colour is golden yellow with a hint of amber and most of the malts included are from the Highlands and islands of Scotland. The nose is vibrant and the 'spice' in the name is present in the form of an interesting peppery note. There are also aromas of golden syrup, light earthy peat smoke, caramel, fresh orange zest and sultanas. On the palate, the peat smoke is more evident and is the first element to hit the taste buds. Then comes the spicy peppery note followed by some sweetness which adds balance, depth and complexity.  The sweet notes include honey, brown sugar, caramel and dried fruits.  A twist of bittersweet orange zest creates further interest.  The finish is quite long and enjoyable with the damp earthy peat smoke and some bittersweet cereals lingering for ages. This is a lovely whisky that offers plenty on all levels, although it seems more smoky than 'spicy'. Delicious and a very well constructed whisky.

The Peat Chimney - 8 years old
The colour is golden yellow and the majority of the whiskies present are from the famous whisky island of Islay. The nose is vibrant and a little feisty with plenty of peppery, almost chilli-like peat smoke. Underneath are aromas of sweet honey, vanilla, green fruit (maybe some apple?) wet moss, heavy malted cereal grains and some dried grass.  Considering the strength of characterful aromas, this comes across as being quite light and heady. It's all very promising.  On the palate, there is a lovely initial mix of sugary (almost icing sugar-like) sweetness and burning damp peat smoke. Some honey, vanilla and oatcake notes add depth and the combination works very well.  The sweet honey continues to build with time. Towards the end, a pinch of drying wood spice appears and the sweet smoky element in heightened by this.  The finish is full of malty sweet cereals and smouldering bonfire-like smoke, and hangs around for ever.  A very impressive dram, especially for the price of £29, and our favourite of the three whiskies tasted today.

Join us tomorrow for Wemyss Malts Week - Part 2, where we sample and review some more of their blended malts range.