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 / Kilchoman PX Sherry Cask Matured

This whisky is the latest limited edition from the family-owned Islay distillery of Kilchoman. The Kilchoman PX Sherry Cask Matured is constructed from 33 casks in total - nine full maturation ex-Pedro Ximenez sherry casks and 24 that were finished in ex-Pedro Ximenez sherry casks for between 12 and 18 months. Pedro Ximenez is a sweet style of dessert sherry made from grapes that remain on the vine longer than usual. The whisky has been produced using malted barley with a high peating level of 50ppm, which is a higher level than in regular Kilchoman releases. There are just 12,000 bottles.

Review / Ardbeg 25 years old

This new whisky represents the oldest expression to enter the core range of Ardbeg to date. The single malt is particularly special given that the cult Islay distillery was out of production for large parts of the 1980s and 1990s when this was distilled. During that time, Ardbeg was only operated for short periods each year and often by staff from other distilleries on the famous whisky island. Therefore, the liquid is extremely rare and will be released in small batches. The Ardbeg 25 years old has been created by Dr. Bill Lumsden, the Whisky Director for Ardbeg, using a tiny selection of casks that were filled in the mid-1990s.

Review - Balvenie Peat Week 14 years old

This new whisky is the first permanent addition to their core single malt range of Balvenie for almost five years. The Balvenie Peat Week 14 years old is a peated expression and is the result of trials undertaken at the turn of the century by David Stewart MBE, Balvenie's legendary Malt Master, and Ian Millar, the former Distillery Manager at Balvenie. At that time, not many Speyside distilleries were producing peated malt whisky and ever since Balvenie have dedicated one week per year to it.

Review - Big Peat Christmas Edition 2015

Big Peat is a blended malt that is produced by the independent bottling company of Douglas Laing.  The brand is made exclusively from Islay malts and is known for its punchy, smoky character. It forms part of a wider range of blended malts from Douglas Laing, which celebrate each of the major whisky regions in Scotland.  These are named Rock Oyster (Islands), Scallywag (Speyside) and Timorous Beastie (Highlands).  The Big Peat Christmas Edition was first released in 2011 and is essentially a cask strength version of the regular Big Peat.  The bottling is released annually and has built up a cult following.

Have just tried - Peat Monster 10th Anniversary

This is a special bottling from Compass Box, the artisan whisky blending company, which has been created to celebrate the 10th birthday of one of their most popular creations. The Peat Monster 10th Anniversary is a limited edition release to mark 10 years since the award winning blend (then simply known as The Monster) was launched. That regular bottling of Peat Monster is the biggest selling whisky in the Compass Box range. There are just 5,970 bottles available.