Review - Green Isle

The Green Isle is a blended Scotch whisky that sits as an entry point to The Character of Islay range. This range includes the single malts of Aerolite Lyndsay 10 years old, Grace Île 25 years old and The Legend of Fiona Macleod 33 years old. At its core are a number of single malts from Islay distilleries and these are blended together with a Speyside malt and a Lowland single grain whisky. The resulting whisky takes its name from the novel The Green Isle of the Great Deep by Neil Gunn, where he describes Islay as being 'an island off the west coast of Scotland only accessible via a whirlpool'. The whirlpool in question is the world famous Corryvreckan. 

Allotment Drams - Sexton Irish Single Malt & Glendronach Kingsman 1989 Vintage

 

Here we have two more episodes from our increasingly popular Allotment Drams series, our short videos where we talk about and review different whiskies in the surroundings of our north London allotment. First watch as Matt goes Irish and takes a look at the Sexton Irish single malt. Find out a bit about the brand and his thoughts and tasting notes.

Then join him for a very special whisky and the most expensive one reviewed to date - the new Glendronach Kingsman 1989 Vintage. Watch to discover the background behind the release, along with his thoughts and tasting notes as he huddles from a downpour in the allotment shed! We hope that you enjoy both videos. 

To subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch more of our videos - click here.

 

#AllotmentDram

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (September 4, 2020)

Welcome to Inbox, our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our WFE email. 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. Within Inbox we aim to write a few lines detailing each press release/piece of news/PR event that we have received and provide links, where possible, for you to find out further information. Here is the news from this week ...

Review - Glendronach Kingsman 1989 Vintage

This whisky is the second release of the limited edition and super-premium Kingsman single malt from the east Highland distillery of Glendronach. The Glendronach Kingsman Edition 1989 Vintage has been bottled at 29 years of age and as with the first edition, which sold out rapidly, it is released in collaboration with The Kingsman movie franchise. The latest film in the series, The King's Man, is released by 20th Century Fox and MARV this Autumn. 

The whisky has been crafted by Dr. Rachel Barrie, the Master Blender at Glendronach, using just six ex-Oloroso sherry casks sourced from Jerez in Spain and all distilled and filled in 1989. These were then finished in ex-Pedro Ximenez sherry casks before being married together. 

Allotment Drams - Ardbeg 'The Shortie' Smoky Porter & Fettercairn 16 years old

We are back with the two latest episodes in our Allotment Dram series, where we talk about different whiskies (or in the case of one of these episodes, beer) in the surroundings of our north London allotment. First watch as Matt swaps whisky for beer as he talks about, tastes and gives his thoughts on the Ardbeg Smoky Porter - a charitable collaboration between the Islay single malt distillery, William Bros brewery and Brewgooder.

Then he returns to sample the new Fettercairn 16 years old, which has just joined the core range of the east Highland distillery. Watch to find out a bit about the history of the distillery and brand, plus his thoughts and tasting notes of this new malt. We hope you enjoy both videos.

To subscribe to our Youtube channel - click here.

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Review - Diageo Special Releases 2020

 

 

It is that time of the year again - Diageo, Scotland's largest whisky producer, has announced the line-up for the 2020 edition of its Special Releases programme. The annual bottlings are designed to highlight rare or old whiskies from within Diageo's extensive portfolio of maturing stocks and are eagerly anticipated each year since the series was first started with just three expressions in 2001.

This year is one of the smaller recent collections and sees just eight bottlings with a theme of 'Rare By Nature' running through them. This includes the same eight brands as the 2019 selection and is designed to be 'an encore to what was a very successful and well received set of whiskies'. As with all previous years the whiskies are all bottled at their natural cask strength. This year's selection has been curated by Dr. Craig Wilson, one of the Master Blenders at Diageo.

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (August 28, 2020)

Welcome to Inbox, our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our WFE email. 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. Within Inbox we aim to write a few lines detailing each press release/piece of news/PR event that we have received and provide links, where possible, for you to find out further information. Here is the news from this week ...

 

Review - Fettercairn 16 years old

This whisky is a new addition to the core range of the Highland single malt distillery of Fettercairn. It joins the also newly released 22 years old expression in filling the previously large age gap between the 12 and 28 year olds in the range. The whiskies used to create this 16 years old were made using rare chocolate malt, which is more commonly used in the brewing industry, and then matured in first-fill American oak ex-bourbon casks. They then went for a finishing period of two years in ex-sherry and ex-Port casks. This 2020 edition of Fettercairn 16 years old is bottled at 46.4% ABV and will be released to both domestic and travel retail markets - prices are £69 for a 70cl bottle and £80 for a one litre bottle. 

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (August 21, 2020)

Welcome to Inbox, our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our WFE email. 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. Within Inbox we aim to write a few lines detailing each press release/piece of news/PR event that we have received and provide links, where possible, for you to find out further information. Here is the news from this week ... 

Review - Ardbeg 'The Shortie' Smoky Porter

 

Ardbeg and water charity Brewgooder have been working on a project that sees the Islay single malt brand branch out in to the world of beer. The Shortie Smoky Porter, named after Ardbeg's beloved mascot, is the distillery's first ever beer and has been made in limited quantities to support Brewgooder's Global Gathering campaign. All profits will be donated to support clean water projects in Malawi run by Brewgooder.

The one-off beer, which is exclusive to the UK, has been made by William Brothers Brewing Co. and uses the same peated malt used for whisky production at Ardbeg. The Shortie Smoky Porter was announced in conjuction with the World Water Day weekend back in March. The beer is released at 6.2% ABV and will cost £14 for a pack of four cans.