Review / Smokehead Twisted Stout

Smokehead is an innovative Islay single malt whisky brand owned by Iain Macleod Distillers. The Smokehead Twisted Stout, as the name suggests, has been part-matured in ex-stout beer barrels. It will be available from www.smokehead.com and specialist whisky retailers worldwide. It joins the core range products of Smokehead, High Voltage, Rum Rebel, Sherry Bomb and Terminado. The Smokehead Twisted Stout is bottled at 43% ABV and will cost £50 a bottle. 

Review / Smokehead Terminado

The Smokehead Terminado is the latest limited edition from the Islay single malt brand. This new bottling follows the brand's recent experimentation with different cask types that has included the Rum Rebel ex-rum cask finish and the Twisted & Stout ex-stout beer barrel finish. Terminado has seen a similar finishing period in ex-tequila casks that have been sourced from Jalisco in Mexico. The exact number of bottles has not been revealed. Smokehead Terminado is released at as no age statement and 43% ABV. It is initially exclusive to the Amazon and Smokehead websites. Wider distribution will follow. A bottle will cost £69/ US$83.

Review / Tamdhu 12 years old

This whisky is the cornerstone of the core range from the Speyside distillery of Tamdhu (pronounced tam-doo). This range also features a 15 years old expression and the annual Batch Strength release. These are joined by occasional limited editions and single casks. The brand has a commitment to just one style of cask maturation and only use those that have been previously seasoned or filled with Oloroso sherry. However, these ex-Oloroso sherry casks can be made of American or European oak and of differing sizes. These include butts, hogsheads and puncheons. In the case of this 12 years old they have used whisky matured in both first-fill and re-fill ex-Oloroso sherry casks.

Allotment Dram - Smokehead

For those of you that follow us on Instagram (if you're not, why not? - click the tab at the top of the right hand column), you will know that we regularly post pictures of our 'allotment dram' - the whisky we are enjoying whenever we visit our allotment in North London to do some work or gardening. In these strange times, we have decided to bring this to life and record a brief tasting of each one, along with an update on the allotment's progress.

For this episode, Matt is visiting and working at the allotment on a much more traditional 'April Showers' type of day than we have experienced recently. He has picked an 'allotment dram' to suit the colder and damper conditions - Smokehead, an Islay single malt whisky that packs a peaty punch. Enjoy.

#allotmentdram

Review - Smokehead

Smokehead is an Islay single malt brand that is owned and bottled by Iain Macleod Distillers. The company also own the Glengoyne and Tamdhu single malt distilleries, and are currently renovating the fabled Rosebank distillery after almost 30 years of closure. Smokehead was first released in 2006 and stirred up the whisky category at the time with its then unconventional look and contemporary packaging. This has since had a revamp a couple of years ago. This whisky carries no age statement and is from an un-named distillery on the famous whisky island of Islay. There is much speculation as to which distillery it may be - tap it in to a search engine if you do not believe us.

Review - Rosebank 1993 Casks #433 & #625

These two highly exclusive whiskies are from the Lowland distillery of Rosebank, which is currently being reborn under Ian Macleod Distillers. The two very special single casks were both distilled in 1993, the year that Rosebank was last in production. Both casks are re-fill ex-bourbon hogsheads. The Rosebank 1993 Cask #433 has yielded just 280 bottles and is released at its natural strength of 53.3% ABV. Cask #625 has yielded only 259 bottles and is released at 50.4% ABV.