Reviews

The Black Grouse Alpha Edition is a peated version of the Famous Grouse. As it is a blend, the barley used specifically for this whisky was not peated, as is the case with a single malt. Instead, they took fully matured Islay whisky and blended it with the standard Famous Grouse. We suspect it will be Caol Ila, as is so often the case.

Tomintoul's single malts are known to be among the lighter, smoother - and, as some would say, old-fashioned and boring - Speyside malts. Perhaps because of this and the high demand for intense and powerful Scotches, the distillery flies under the radar of most people.

Although Blair Athol is not a small distillery, its Single Malts are not among the best known. Over 90% of the production goes into Bell's blended Scotch. Today we have a 10-years independent bottling of a single Blair Athol cask from Douglas Laing's Provenance series in the glass.

Matured in port casks and finished in Amarone casks, this 8-years single malt whisky from the Glenglassaugh distillery in Scotland was bottled by the German independent bottler "The Cask Wizard" at cask strength, uncoloured and unfiltered. As there are only 63 bottles, we assume that a barrel-share was bottled here, but we are still very happy to own one of the few bottles.

The Balvenie 15 Years Madeira Cask is a Travel Exclusive bottling from the distillery located in Speyside, Scotland. Not much is really known about the bottling - there was no press release or anything like that. The bottles just turned up. Most of the time, the single malt was matured in ex-bourbon casks before it was decanted into Madeira casks from the Portuguese sunny island of the same name for the finish.

Everyone knows the supermarket Jack Daniel's Old No. 7, but if you look a little further you will find a number of exciting bottlings from the same distillery. Besides the Single Barrel Select, which we have in the glass today, there are other Single Barrel bottlings, Bonded, Triple Mash and many more.The Single Barrel Select is the entry into the Jack Daniel's distillery bottlings that whisky lovers can take seriously and also enjoy neat.

Islay? Obviously peated Single Malt. At least that was the expectation when we first heard about Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie. It turned out to be just the opposite. After we had entered the batch code of the bottle on the Bruichladdich homepage - thanks to transparency - we received a list of detailed information about the casks used, the barley processed and the year of bottling. Even though the whisky comes without an age statement, this can be roughly calculated.

The Glen Keith 21 Years is a single malt Scotch whisky that is matured exclusively in oak casks. It is produced by the Glen Keith Distillery, which has been located in the Speyside region of Scotland since 1957.The single malt, which has been matured for more than two decades, comes in the typical packaging style of the distillery.

The Observatory 20 years is from the signature series of the bottler of the same name. Belonging to the Bacardi Group, this Single Grain Scotch whisky was created by the master blender of the Aberfeldy distillery Stephanie Macleod.It is believed that the single grain was distilled at the MacDuff distillery in the Scottish Highlands near the lighthouse in Banff Bay. The whisky was stored for 20 full years in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. The long storage period is said to make the whisky particularly soft and pleasantly complex.

The Speyburn 18 year is currently the oldest standard bottling from Speyburn, located in the Speyside region of Scotland. As one of the smallest distilleries in Scotland, the bottlings fly under the radar for many. That should change.This year, the Speyburn distillery celebrates its 125th anniversary. Instead of an anniversary bottling, the website features some cocktail recipes specifically for Speyburn whisky. We just hope that no one sinks the multi-award-winning 18-years single malt in a cocktail.

KÖ13 in Paderborn is actually known for its large selection of food and delicatessen. The restaurant also sells a small number and especially some of its own single malts. Today we have a whisky from Paderborn in our glass.The whisky from Paderborn was first matured for two years in an ex-bourbon cask and for another two years in an ex-port wine cask. We are impressed by the deep, strong red colour.

In addition to the three distillery standards - 12 years, 18 years and 21 years - Aultmore from Scotland's Speyside has a number of bottlings from independent bottlers, such as the Aultmore 13 Years Red Wine Barrique from 82 Chapters to Newcastle's Creatures of Cask Strengt series.Matured for 13 years from a single red wine barrel, this single malt is striking for its intense colour. Among bottlers, both red wine casks and rum casks are considered to be the cask types with the greatest risks as far as the quality of the final result is concerned. Minor spoiler: Everything worked out here.

KÖ13 in Paderborn is actually known for its delicious food. However, the restaurant also sells luxury condiments and, in particular, its own single malt. Today we have a whisky from Paderborn in our glass.Locality and transparency are at the forefront of Patrisbrunna. Local barley and spring water are brewed with an original wort of 15.2° and distilled four times. It was bottled after about 5 years of ageing.

Ardbeg's Committee Release 2021 was the Scorch. The malt was stored in extremely burnt out ex-bourbon barrels. The associated story tells of a dragon that was resident in Ardbeg's Warehouse 3.As usual for Ardbeg, this Committee Release Malt is only available for purchase directly from Ardbeg on Ardbeg Day. Probably, very few bottles actually make it to the tasting - most will probably stand locked in collector's cabinets.

The Lochlea distillery plans four special bottlings a year. The Fallow Edition follows the Harvest Edition and is intended to embody an autumnal-winter profile.The single malt Scotch whisky was matured 100% exclusively in Oloroso sherry butts. There are a number of whiskies on the market that have also undergone such ageing - will the Lochlea distillery manage to stand out once again?

The Glenturret 30 years was bottled as part of the XOP (Xtra Old Particular) by the independent bottler Douglas Laing. The XOP bottlings come from the rarest and best stocks of the bottler and are always bottled from a single cask at natural cask strength. Unfiltered and uncoloured - just as natural as a whisky has to be.As befits a unique single malt, the packaging is correspondingly elaborate. In addition to the handwritten bottle number (40 of 229), the bottle comes in a magnetically closing, high quality wooden packaging.

Since 1991, the Rare Breed has been part of the core range of the Wild Turkey distillery. The Barrel Proof Kentucky Straight Bourbon is a blend of 6, 8 and 12 years whiskeys, and gets bottled uncut.The mashbill contains 75% corn, 13% rye and 12% malted barley - which leads us to expect a sweetish, slightly spicy whiskey. Like all bourbons, the Wild Turkey must also mature in a new, freshly burned out Virgin Oak barrel. The barrel was burned out to Char 4 level, also called Alligator Char. Char 4 is the highest char level.

The Kentucky Straight Bourbon Wild Turkey 101 from the distillery of the same name in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky is a cornerstone of American bourbon culture. Without an age statement on the label, it is known to be bottled as a blend of 6-8 years bourbons. We take a closer look at the US classic.The mashbill is composed of 75% corn, 13% rye and 12% malted barley - which leads us to expect a sweetish, slightly spicy whiskey. Like all bourbons, Wild Turkey has to mature in new, freshly burnt-out Virgin Oak casks. 101 stands for American proof alcohol, which translates as 50.5% ABV.

The Readbreast 12 from the Midleton distillery in County Cork in Ireland is a single pot still. This means that not only malted but also a proportion of unmalted barley is used in the mash. Malting barley produces enzymes that enable the yeast cultures to convert sugar into alcohol.Like all the other whiskeys in the Redbreast series, the 12 years was also triple distilled in copper stills. The Single Pot Still was matured in Spanish sherry casks and American bourbon barrels.

Until 1983, the distillery was called Cardow, named after a nearby village. Nowadays known as Cardhu (Gaelic: Black Rock), the distillery produces the significant share for the Johnnie Walker blends. Of course, there are also their own bottlings, of which we have the 12-years standard bottling in the glass today.The Cardhu 12 Single Malt Scotch Whisky belongs to the Classic Malts of Scotland and is supposed to represent the character of the Speyside region of Scotland.

Knockando 12 is considered the classic entry-level single malt, representative of Speyside, with a fruity, nutty flavour profile.Knockando mainly produces malts for blends. Nevertheless there are some own bottlings which are traded under the name of the distillery Knockando (Gaelic for: Little Black Hill).

The rye for the rye whiskey from Stork Club is harvested in one of the largest rye-growing areas in Europe, namely in the German state of Brandenburg.The Rye whiskey matures in barrels made of American and German oak, which have been burnt out to different degrees. It is advertised as the perfect Rye for cocktails - is that true?

You hear a lot of good things about distilleries from the Scottish coastal town of Campbeltown in recent years. It's hard to have a conversation about Glen Scotia without someone steering the topic towards Springbank, which everyone agrees is better in every way. Is that really true?Double Cask is an NAS Scotch with Glen Scotia single malt matured in first-fill ex-bourbon casks and aged for up to a year in Pedro Ximénez (PX) sherry casks. Up to one year - a wild time specification.

The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 years is the youngest bottling from Balvenie's Core Range with an age statement. This malt matures in ex-bourbon casks and receives a subsequent post-maturation in ex-Oloroso sherry casks.The Balvenie distillery is located on the Speyside in Dufftown. It dedicates itself to the traditional production of Single Malts and is one of the few distilleries that still dries their (on-site grown) barley on its own malting floors.