Review / Aber Falls 2021 Bottling

This whisky is the new core product from the north Welsh distillery of Aber Falls. The Aber Falls 2021 Bottling is just the distillery's second ever single malt expression and follows the Inaugural Release from earlier this year. The three year old single malt features whiskies matured in ex-bourbon, ex-Oloroso and ex-Pedro Ximenez sherry, plus virgin oak casks. These have then been married together by Dr. Kirstie McCallum, the Master Blender for Aber Falls. It is bottled at 40% ABV and will be available in the UK via Tesco supermarkets (Wales only), online retailer Master of Malt and from the distillery website www.aberfallsdistillery.com. A bottle will cost £26.

Review / Bankhall Rebellion

This is the first ever release from the new Bankhall distillery, which is located in the English seaside town of Blackpool. The Rebellion is a bourbon-style spirit that has been matured in new American oak barrels for eight months. It was triple distilled through copper pot stills as a single batch sweet mash recipe consisting of corn, rye and malted barley in Autumn 2020. The casks were then monitored by Vince Oleson, the Master Distiller at Bankhall. The Bankhall Rebellion is released at 47.6% ABV and there are just 588 bottles. These will be available via selected online retailers in the UK only. The recommended price is £30 per bottle.

Review / Aber Falls Inaugural Release

This bottling is the first ever single malt whisky from the Aber Falls distillery in north Wales. The Aber Falls Inaugural Release features some of the very first barrels of single malt produced at the distillery back in 2018. This was the first whisky distilled in north wales for 100 years. It has been matured in a combination of three cask types - European oak first-fill ex-Pedro Ximenez sherry casks, American virgin oak barrels and rare European oak ex-orange wine casks. These have then been married together by Dr. Kirstie McCallum, the Master Blender of Aber Falls. The Aber Falls Inaugural Release is bottled at 46% ABV and is limited to just 2,000 bottles. Each bottle was sold for £45.

Review / John Crabbie & Co. 1992 Single Cask

This whisky is a new limited edition single malt from the Edinburgh-based brand of John Crabbie & Co. It joins a core range that features Crabbie's Yardhead and age statements of 8, 12, 15 and 30 years old, plus a growing number of such single cask releases. These have recently included the 1994 25 years old single cask from the Tobermory distillery on the isle of Mull and a 50 years old single cask from an un-named Islay distillery, both of which are still available.

This single cask was distilled at an un-named distillery in Speyside during 1992 and bottled at 28 years of age in 2020. The only clue given is that the distillery is located in the Livet Glen, which narrows the possibilities down to a handful. The whisky has been exclusively matured in an ex-bourbon cask and this has yielded just 260 bottles. It is released at 45.6% ABV and is both non chill-filtered and of natural colour.

Review / Samuel Gelston's Single Pot Still

Samuel Gelston's is an Irish whiskey brand that is owned by Halewood Artisanal spirits. This single pot still has been produced using both malted and unmalted barley in the traditional way at an un-named distillery in Ireland and then matured exclusively in American oak ex-bourbon casks. This Single Pot Still sits within a wider range of whiskeys that includes the Blended Irish Whiskey and single malts at no age statement, five and 12 years of age (three different expressions) plus the 26 years old Very Rare Reserve. The Samuel Gelston's Single Pot Still is bottled at 40% ABV and is available in selected markets globally. A bottle should cost around the £22-25 mark.