New release - Balvenie Single Barrel 15 years old 'Sherry Cask'

This whisky is the latest addition to the single malt range of the popular Speyside distillery.  The Balvenie Single Barrel 15 years old Sherry Cask replaces the old 15 years old Single Barrel, which has been in the core range for a number of years, and joins the 12 years old Single Barrel First-Fill Bourbon Cask which came out last year. The release will see European oak ex-Oloroso sherry butts bottled one at a time, with no more than 650 bottles ever being available from each cask.

Inbox - June 20, 2014

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

Distillery visit - Linkwood

A few weeks ago we headed north and paid a visit to the annual Spirit of Speyside Festival.  One of the highlights of our trip was a special tour, which is only run once a year during the festival, called The Laich of Moray.  This tour takes in four of Diageo's single malt distilleries around the Elgin area of Speyside that are not normally open to the public - Glen Elgin, Glenlossie, Linkwood and Mannochmore.  Our guide for the trip was Eric Walker, the Senior Site Manager in charge of the four distilleries.  So, on a bright Spring Saturday morning we boarded a minibus full of European malt fanatics and headed for Linkwood, our first distillery of the day and one which we knew very little about.

New release - Lord Elcho

The Lord Elcho is a new 'no age statement' release by independent spirits company Wemyss Malts. It joins the award winning 15 years old expression, which was released a couple of years ago and represented the company’s first foray into the world of premium blended whisky.  Both are blended whiskies that have been created using some of the company's finest single malt and single grain whiskies, and are designed to compliment the Wemyss range of single cask malt whiskies.

Inbox - June 13, 2014

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

Inbox - June 6, 2014

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

New release - Ardbeg 'Auriverdes'

News of the annual Ardbeg Day release always creates a stir in the whisky industry and this year's is no different. This year's release, named Auriverdes, has been matured in American oak casks with specially toasted cask lids that were created specially for this whisky. The name means 'gold and green' and is the nickname of the Brazilian football team, the hosts of this year's football World Cup. In this case, 'gold' refers to the whisky and 'green' refers to the bottle ...

Inbox - May 30, 2014

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

New release - Laphroaig 'Select'

The Select is the latest addition to the famous Islay distillery of Laphroaig's core range.  Laphroaig is well known for its very peaty and smoky style of single malts and the Select will sit alongside the classic 10 years old, Quarter Cask, Triple Wood and 18 years old expressions. The whiskies used to create the Select have been selected by Laphroaig's Master Distiller John Campbell and come from a number of different American and European oak cask types.  However, the main difference in this release is the use of new American oak casks in the final maturation.

New release - Bowmore 15 years old 'Laimrig'

This whisky is the latest of Bowmore's Laimrig releases.  The Laimrig first appeared in 2009 as an exclusive for Sweden and has been released in annual limited batches ever since.  The name translates as 'pier' from Gaelic and refers to the stone pier of Bowmore harbour, which is next to the distillery on the shores of Loch Indaal.  The Laimrig batches are bottled at cask strength and are predominantly aged in ex-bourbon casks, before being finished for about a year in ex-Oloroso sherry butts.