New releases ... Double Barrel (Laphroaig/Macallan) from Douglas Laing & Co

Double Barrel is a newly released vatted malt whisky from the independent bottler Douglas Laing & Co. A vatted malt is one that contains two or more single malt whiskies and nothing else. Double Barrel consists of two iconic single malts - Laphroaig and Macallan. Douglas Laing & Co have selected only one cask of each and then vatted these together for a period of time. As a result bottles are limited and one will cost between £35-£50, depending on where you find it.

Laphroaig (pronounced la-froyg) is one of the most famous distilleries in the world. Located on the western island of Islay, the distillery was founded in 1815 and produces the world's best selling smoky single malt whisky (the hugely popular 10 years old). Laphroaig is currently owned by Beam Global, who are one of the world's largest spirits companies, and the distillery has a capacity of around 2.5 million litres a year.

Macallan is another famous distillery and they also produce some of the biggest selling whiskies in the world. They consistently lie in third place for total world sales, behind only Glenfiddich and Glenlivet. The distillery is located in the heart of the Speyside region and is one of Scotland's largest, with a production capacity of 6 million litres a year. It has a lot of stills (21 to be precise!) but each one is small, fat and stands at less than 4 metres tall.

The colour of this Double Barrel is light gold and the nose is light, fresh and vibrant. There is a lot of pungent smoke (think of burning ash and bonfires), although there is also an astringent bitter element to this as well (think of hot tar and antiseptic). There is also some vanilla, malty cereal grains and a fruity sweetness (imagine dried fruits, apricots especially, and honey), although these struggle through the smoky elements and you have to work hard to get them. On the palate, the smokiness is the predominant feature (it is sweeter and more peaty and earthy this time, although the ashy/tarry notes are definately still present). There is some saltiness (think of sea water) and something bitter (imagine iodine and also damp wood). Other elements are present but again they are subtle and have to battle through the smokiness - vanilla, honey, something buttery and baked (reminded me of a biscuit or shortbread) and a hint of dried fruit. Add to this some raw spirit (this indicates that at least one of the two whiskies present is on the young side) and you have an interesting but ultimately unbalanced and zingy palate. The finish is sharp and spirity with a lot of alcohol burn - this is surprising as it is bottled at 46% ABV. It starts with some sweetness (that vanilla and honey again) before turning dry and a touch bitter at the end (that woodiness and iodine again).

This Double Barrel is a difficult whisky to get to grips with. The two iconic distilleries involved are not natural partners in many people's eyes and this can be seen in the final whisky. Laphroaig and Macallan are like chalk and cheese in the whisky world, having their own distinctive styles and fans. Here,the Laphroaig totally dominates and overpowers the more subtle Macallan, which struggles to show its own quality. This leaves me wondering who would buy this for £50? Fans of Laphroaig? Maybe. Fans of Macallan? No. Fans of both? Maybe. The Double Barrel is an definately an interesting whisky and an interesting experiment.

New releases ... Laphroaig 18 years old

Laphroaig (pronounced la-froyg) is one of the most famous distilleries in the world and is located on the western island of Islay. The distillery was founded in 1815 and has been the best selling smoky malt worldwide for the last six years. Laphroaig is currently owned by Beam Global, who are one of the world's largest spirits companies, and has a capacity of around 2.5 million litres a year. At Laphroaig they produce some of the peatiest smoky whiskies in the world and this is achieved by drying the malted barley over a peat fuelled fire for a longer period than at most distilleries - 18 hours. Over this time much of the acrid smoke gets absorbed into the barley grains and this gets carried through the whole distillation process.

The core range from the distillery consists of two 10 year olds (one of which is cask strength), this 18 years old, a 25 years old and a quarter cask (which is matured in smaller casks). This 18 years old has recently replaced a 15 years old in the range and has just been released in the UK. Other limited edition distillery bottlings are released occasionally but are normally extremely pricy. Laphroaig is also popular with independent bottling companies and readily available.

The colour of this Laphroaig 18 years old is a rich golden yellow and the nose is fresh and clean with an instant hit of pungent aromatic smoke. This smokiness is earthy (imagine damp moss and dry peat) and balances with other elements such as vanilla, a briny saltiness and a touch of honey. On the palate, it is robust and powerful. It offers early sugary sweetness that combines the vanilla and honey from the nose again, as well as malty cereal grains and a nice slightly spicy woodiness. This is balanced almost perfectly by the smokiness (less earthy and more like charcoal or burning embers/ash this time), some more saltiness (think of brine) and a bitter twist (imagine iodine). The finish is lovely and very long with a bittersweet mix of vanilla, honey, warm spices (think of a hint of ginger) and a pronounced bitter smokiness (now reminding us of creosote fence paint).

The Laphroaig 18 years old is excellent and is a welcome and complimentary addition to Laphroiag’s core range of whisky. It is bottled at 48% ABV which allows the whisky to express itself fully. It has a tough job to replace the classic and popular 15 years old (one of our favourite drams ever) but it copes well. A bottle should cost around £65 from selected specialist whisky retailers.

* The image in this post is temporary and will be replaced with a regular image shortly.*

The mystery dram revealed

Thank you to everyone who read and left comments about the ‘mystery dram’ post from earlier in the week. We can now reveal that the ‘mystery dram’ in question was the new Laphroaig 18 years old. A special thanks must go to John Campbell, the master distiller at Laphroaig, who kindly sent us the sample. The full review will be posted very shortly.

Well done to all of those that guessed correctly – Oliver Klimek, Jeff the ScotchHobbyist, Ruben @ Whisky News and Chandalf. A couple of others were close but not quite correct. It looks like it was too easy this time, so we will have to make it more difficult when we do the next ‘mystery dram’!

Have just tried ... Pittyvaich 12 years old 'Flora & Fauna'

Pittyvaich (pronounced pitty-vek) is a little known and closed distillery that used to be located in the town of Dufftown - the heart of Scotland's Speyside whisky region. It has one of the most short lived histories of any distillery. Pittyvaich was founded by Arthur Bell & Sons in 1974 to produce whisky for their popular Bell's range of blends. It later became part of United Distillers (which in turn later became Diageo) and they had numerous other distilleries that did a similar job to Pittyvaich. They decided to close it down and the last whisky flowed from the stills in 1993. Since then, it has been used to distil Gordon's gin for a short period in the late 1990s and also as a training facility for Diageo employees. The equipment was sold off to Clynelish distillery in 2002 and Pittyvaich was demolished and consigned to history.

Pittyvaich whisky is hard to find, even in specialist whisky retailers, and is becoming harder as time goes by and stocks diminish. Diageo still own most of the remaining casks and release this 12 years old single malt as part of their 'Flora & Fauna' range. This range showcases whisky from some of the lesser known distilleries in their portfolio. Pittyvaich is even harder to get from independent bottlers but some are available especially from Douglas Laing & Co and Gordon & MacPhail.

The colour of this 12 years old is a dark amber with a reddish brown tint, indicating a heavy sherry cask influence. The nose confirms this and is rich and sweet with heaps of dried fruit (think of raisins and sultanas), exaggerated malty cereal grains and caramel. It is highly aromatic with an interesting citrus note (imagine candied orange peel or marmalade) and is a touch reminiscent of a Cognac or Armagnac. On the palate there is again an obviously high influence of sherry cask. The rich sweet maltiness from the nose is battling with powerful dried fruit (those raisins, sultanas and candied orange peel again), a sugary sweetness (more like treacle than caramel this time) and woody spices (think of cinnamon bark or nutmeg). Underneath there are some darker, more bitter notes (imagine dark chocolate and espresso coffee). The finish is surprisingly short but intensely spicy (think of cinnamon again) and quite dry and woody. There is also a hit of raw alcohol, which is a bit unpleasant, but this is soothed a little by the other sherry cask characteristics.

Pittyvaich 12 years old is a strange one. It has all the lovely characteristics that you associate and enjoy from a sherry cask but they are too concentrated and exaggerated, which throws the whole whisky out of balance. The whisky is pleasant enough and it is worth trying if you get the chance, so that you can tick off a rare distillery and taste an example of too much sherry cask influence (for my taste anyway). If you can find a bottle, this should cost £55-60.

Have just tried ... Bladnoch 16 years old 'Old Malt Cask' from Douglas Laing & Co

Bladnoch is Scotland's most southerly whisky distillery. It is located in the lowlands region, close to the town of Wigtown in Dumfries and Galloway. The distillery stands on the banks of the River Bladnoch and is also one of Scotland's smallest with a current production capacity of just 100,000 litres per year. Bladnoch was founded in 1817 and has had a chequered history, especially during the 20th century when it suffered significant periods of closure between 1905-1911, 1937-1956 and most recently 1993-2000. A variety of market reasons have contributed to these closures but the main one is the remote location of the distillery.

Bladnoch has been owned by some real industry heavyweights during its history and it is currently one of the few distilleries to be independently owned in Scotland. The current owner is Raymond Armstrong, who rescued the distillery from extinction in 1995. Due to a legal wrangle, he could not restart distilling until 2000 and since then he has been producing whisky but with restrictions in place. The range of Bladnoch whisky on the market is a bit messy with some being released by previous owners Diageo (in their Flora & Fauna range), some by independent bottling companies as well as the relatively new range released by Armstrong's company. These whiskies are bottled at 6 years of age and they have experimented with different cask finishes and also made the first ever peated Bladnoch.

This release is from the Glasgow based independent bottling company Douglas Laing & Co and forms part of their Old Malt Cask range. This range consists of single casks bottlings at 50% ABV and this is one of just 295 bottles and costs roughly £60. The colour is a pale lemon yellow and the nose is light and fresh. The predominant aroma is that of grass (think of dried grass or hay though) with some subtle sweet vanilla, honey and cereal notes coming through. On the palate, this is again light with initial sweet, almost sugary, vanilla and toffee elements giving way to the grassiness, honey and cereal grains from the nose. There is also a zingy zesty note (think of lemon zest) and an interesting hint of something floral (reminding me most of honeysuckle flowers). The overall effect is refreshing and palate cleansing. The finish switches direction by being quite bitter (that dried grass again) and drying in the mouth. This is accompanied by an alcoholic fiery burn (imagine peppercorns or chilli) but this is not really a negative as it balances the sweetness experienced earlier well. A touch of water nullified this but also flattened out the whole dram. Perfect and refreshing for a hot day ... if we ever get one soon.

A mystery dram ... but what is it?

We have just received a sample of a newly released whisky at Whisky For Everyone and thought that we would do something a little different with it. Below is a review with tasting notes of this 'mystery dram' and we thought it would be fun if we asked you to try and guess what this whisky is! This can be done by clicking on the 'comments' section at the bottom of this post, following the instructions and leaving us your guess/answer. There are a few clues in there to help (hopefully).

The answer will be revealed on Friday when we will post a full review. This will incorporate these tasting notes and also include distillery history and facts as well as information about the whisky in question. There are no prizes for guessing correctly but correct answers will be mentioned in the final article, so please leave your name! If you like this idea, then also let us know and we will do this again next time we receive a 'mystery dram'.

The colour is a rich golden yellow and the nose is fresh and clean with an instant hit of pungent aromatic smoke. This smokiness is earthy (imagine damp moss and dry peat) and balances with other elements such as vanilla, a briny saltiness and a touch of honey. On the palate, the 'mystery dram' is robust and powerful. It offers early sugary sweetness that combines the vanilla and honey from the nose again, as well as malty cereal grains. This is balanced almost perfectly by the smokiness (less earthy and more like charcoal or burning embers/ash this time), some more saltiness (think of brine) and a bitter twist (imagine iodine). The finish is lovely and very long with a bittersweet mix of vanilla, honey, warm spices (think of a hint of ginger) and a pronounced bitter smokiness (now reminding us of creosote fence paint). The 'mystery dram' is excellent and is a welcome and complimentary addition to the producer's range of whisky. It is bottled at 48% ABV which allows the whisky to express itself fully.

So, what do you think the 'mystery dram' is? Find out on Friday ...

Have just tried (Spanish edition) ... DYC Pure Malt

On our trip to Spain last year, we had our first taste of some Spanish whisky. We tasted the regular DYC blend, which costs around €8 a bottle and has a large cult following. This time we decided to track some more down and found this Pure Malt, which is DYC's only single malt whisky release and also another blend with an eight year old age statement which will be reviewed shortly. Many people do not even realise that Spain has a whisky industry (including us before we discovered DYC last year!) but it makes sense when you learn that Spain is the fourth largest consumer of whisky in the world, behind only France, the USA and the UK.

DYC is the abbreviated company name of Destilerias y Crianza del whisky, which opened Spain's first whisky distillery in 1959. The distillery is located in the town of Palazuelos de Eresma in the Castilla y Leon region to the north west of Madrid. It is a massive distillery complex that has the capacity to produce 20 million litres of spirit per year (this is double the capacity of Scotland's biggest whisky distillery at Glenfiddich). DYC is now owned by the multi national drinks company Beam Global and they make other alcoholic spirits under license at the distillery. The whisky is marketed to be low budget and is popular in Spain as it is much cheaper than the imported Scottish, Irish or American whiskies. It is designed to be mixed with non alcoholic beverages or ice and to be easy drinking in the hot weather.

This Pure Malt is bottled at 40% ABV and has no age stated on the label or packaging. The colour is golden yellow and the nose is light and fresh with an interesting mix of characteristics. There is an initial hit of obvious malted barley and vanilla that is then followed by something herbal (think of dried grasses or hay), some fruit (the best we could think of was a combination of unripe plums and melon) and a hint of some toffee or fudge. Some raw spirit is present, indicating that this whisky may be quite young, but this diffuses the longer that it sits in the glass. The palate is light again with a strange structure. It begins with no flavour! After a delayed time of a few seconds, the whisky then explodes in your mouth with a blast of herbal bitterness (that dried grass or hay again) and spicy white pepper. Despite this note sounding great, it is actually quite enjoyable. This fades and lets the sweet vanilla, cereal, green fruit and toffee notes from the nose through. Before you can even think about it, the finish has gone with just an alcoholic burn and a touch of honey left to remind you that you have actually just drunk something. This is slightly disappointing.

This DYC Pure Malt is a very pleasant and easy drinking whisky that improves with time in the glass. It has elements of a Scottish Lowland malt but also has a number of distinct individual characteristics that make it unlike any other whisky that we have tried for a long time. This would be perfect with a mixer or ice on a warm day, which is exactly what it is designed for. Pure Malt is more limited than the regular DYC blend and is only available in selected stores in Spain. A bottle should cost around €15, which is a bargain price for this decent whisky.

Explain about ... Additives in whisky

You may be wondering what additives could possibly be in whisky? However, it is rare to buy a whisky exactly as it has left the cask in the distillery warehouse. This form of the whisky is called ‘cask strength’ and refers to the natural state and strength of the spirit, which is usually between 50-60% ABV depending on age (the ABV drops as a whisky gets older). More can be read about this in our Explain about … Cask strength article. The sales of cask strength whiskies are growing rapidly and more distilleries and bottlers are releasing whisky in this form but it still remains a niche market. However, whisky companies deploy a number of techniques to make their product more appealing to their mass market consumers.

Water
The process of adding water to the cask strength whisky is called 'cutting'. This is done so as to bring the alcoholic strength down to a more palatable ‘standard’ level. Basically, they dilute it. This new level is usually 40% (the legal minimum for which something can be called whisky) or 43% ABV. The water used is generally from the same source (usually spring water) that a distillery will use during the whisky distillation process, although this is not always the case. By doing this, the producers can consistently control the alcohol level of the whisky and don’t have to change their labels with every release, as different casks of the same age will have subtly different strengths.

Caramel
The use of caramel when bottling whisky is a traditional process that is still commonly used today. Caramel (the flavouring E150, not actual caramel made from burnt sugar) is added in order to make the whisky look darker and therefore give the perception that the whisky may be older than it is (and in the consumers eyes, be better than it is!). The caramel is added prior to bottling in tiny amounts and this helps the bottler to consistently control the appearance of their whisky. The amounts added are small and do not generally alter the whisky’s flavour, unless added in highly excessive quantities. This is done for purely cosmetic reasons and if caramel has been added, it must be legally labelled as such (although this can be done in a slightly cloak and dagger way by using the German for ‘with caramel’ which is ‘mit farbstoff’). An extreme example of the addition of caramel is the black whisky Cú Dhub, although others are done much more subtly than this.

Chill filtering
Not an additive but a removal! This is the process where substances that are seen as undesirable in whisky are removed. These substances are the naturally occurring fatty acids and oils that make a whisky go cloudy when cooled, mixed with water or with ice. This is seen as an undesirable side effect by many consumers, so the producers will filter these substances out prior to bottling. This is done by chilling the whisky down to a low temperature so that these natural acids and oils solidify and then passing the whiskt through a series of metal mesh filters, with these are separated. For further information on the chill filtering process, please read our article Explain about … Chill filtering.

In summary, with each of these processes the distillers and manufacturers are giving the majority of consumers what they want from a whisky – a lower ‘easy drinking’ alcohol strength, a darker colour and/or no cloudiness. They are reacting to customer perceptions of what is good or bad. Is it too strong? The darker the colour, the better? Cloudiness in whisky is bad, right? It gives them additional control when they mix different casks over a period of time for different releases of the same whisky. As each cask will have subtle differences, the distillers and bottlers employ some or all of these tactics to maintain a consistent level of quality in their whisky and leaves the consumer knowing what to expect each time. Therefore, each time you buy a bottle of a certain whisky it should look and taste the same, whether you bought it last year, this year or will buy it in two years time. The distillers and bottlers claim that none of these processes alter or detract from the original flavours of the whisky, but others argue that they must do. However, that is a whole new debate …

Have just tried (Spanish edition) ... Cardhu 12 years old

On our recent trip to Spain, we just had to try Cardhu. In a land where the blended whisky is king, Cardhu 12 years old is the single malt of choice and outsells any others by a large amount. The brand is hard to find in the UK, despite being in the world's top 10 for single malt sales, as the majority of the whisky released is exported to southern Europe. Spain is its main market and it is also popular in France, Greece, Italy and Portugal. The distillery is currently owned by drinks giant Diageo and only 30% of the whisky produced at Cardhu (around 2 million litres per year) is released as a single malt. The other 70% contributes as a major ingredient for Diageo's famous Johnnie Walker range of blended whiskies.

Cardhu means ‘black rock’ in Gaelic and is located in the heart of the Speyside region, close to the village of Knockando. The distillery was founded in 1824 by farmers John and Helen Cumming. Previous to this, they were famous in the local area for illegally producing a particularly potent whisky and this was sold from the farm’s kitchen window. Once legalised, their whisky was sold as Cardow, from which today's name is derived. The distillery remained in the Cumming family until 1893, when it was sold to blender John Walker and Cardhu has been involved in the Johnnie Walker blended range that he invented ever since.

The colour of this Cardhu 12 years old is golden amber and the nose is robust and has an interesting combination of aromas. There is lots of sweet caramel and vanilla with some honey (imagine honeycomb biscuit), citrus (think of lemon zest) and something herbal (imagine dried grasses or hay) creeping in underneath. On the palate, this is lighter and fresher than the nose suggests with the caramel element becoming more sugary and the honey and citrus notes particularly prominent. There is also some nuttiness and a grainy cereal note that comes through. The finish is disappointingly short and is gone in an instant, however this is refreshing and palate cleansing - perfect for hot climates.

Upon adding water, this became very refreshing and easier to drink. There is a pleasant combination of sweet vanilla, caramel and zingy citrus. It would also be good with ice, in a cocktail or in a long drink with soda water and a slice of lemon as this would compliment its characteristics well. This must be why it is so popular in warmer countries. When drunk straight it is just a bit flat and one dimensional. A bottle should cost about £35-40 from specialist retailers in the UK or for around €25 from anywhere that sells alcohol in Spain.

Have just tried (Spanish edition) ... Dimple 15 years old

Dimple is one of the world's most popular aged blended whiskies. Most blends do not carry any age statement but when they do it indicates the youngest whisky that is present in the blend. Therefore, the youngest whisky here is 15 years of age and the blend includes over 30 different single malt and grain whiskies in total, some of which are much older. The main single malts included in Dimple are Glenkinchie and Linkwood.

Dimple was first released in 1890 by Haig's. The company's founder was John Haig, who opened Scotland's first grain distillery - Cameron Bridge - near the town of Dunfermline in Fife in 1824. He produced high quality grain whiskies that were to later become widely used within the blending industry. As the popularity of blended whisky grew during the 1880s, Haig was persuaded by his son (also called John!) to develop their own blend and the first form of Dimple was born. The distinctive three sided bottle was introduced in 1893 and this original design remains in use today. It is a classic piece of opulent late Victorian design and resembles a half deflated rugby or American football surrounded with gold wire cord.

The Dimple brand name is now owned and marketed by drinks giant Diageo, although Haig's still produce the whisky. It is the fourth biggest selling aged blend in the world and its main markets are southern Europe (especially Spain, where we tried it, and Greece), Germany, south east Asia (especially Korea), the USA (where it is known as Dimple Pinch) and Mexico. Versions at 12 and 18 years of age are also released, although these are more limited.

Dimple has a colour of dark amber and the nose is full of sherry cask influence - especially dried fruits (think of raisins, sultanas and candied peel) and warm woody spices (like cinnamon and nutmeg). On the palate this feels rich, creamy and buttery. There is a slightly unpleasant alcoholic burn to begin with but this dies away slowly to reveal some rich, sweet caramel and some woody oaky vanilla. Some honey and warm spices (especially cinnamon) are also present and these add to the rich feeling. The finish is fruity (that dried fruit again) with an interesting woody bitter note and is shorter than expected for something of this richness and sweetness. We decided to add some water as it was a hot day and this certainly helped Dimple become more refreshing and palatable. More sugary caramel, honey and fresh rather than dried fruit came out (the combination reminded us of toffee apples). The feeling was that it would also handle ice well, although we did not try this. As Dimple 15 years old is an aged blend then it costs more than regular blended whiskies, retailing for £35-40 a bottle in the UK.