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With the Exceptional Range ex Mugi Shochu, St. Kilian ventures into uncharted territory: a single malt matured in an American white oak cask that previously held Japanese mugi shochu – likely one of the first bottlings of its kind outside Japan. The result is a delicate, perfumed-floral whisky that marries Far Eastern elegance with Franconian craftsmanship.
Rum meets smoke – sounds like a Caribbean bonfire, but it's actually the latest creation from Rüdenau. For the Signature Edition Seventeen, St. Kilian matured their spirit in Jamaican, Mexican, and Barbadian rum casks as well as rhum agricole casks, letting the peat smoke tag along for the ride. The result? A single malt that acts like it just returned from a beach holiday – sunglasses on, incense stick in the luggage.
When St. Kilian meets Turkish apricot brandy, you get a special edition that sparks curiosity. This single cask bottling spent four years in a French oak barrique previously used for Turkish apricot brandy – an unusual cask that lends the young single malt a distinctly fruit-forward character.
To celebrate the distillery's 125th anniversary in the heart of the Highlands, Aberfeldy has released a limited special edition. This 25-year-old single malt matured for over two decades in refill hogsheads and refill butts before receiving a finish of over a year in first-fill Oloroso sherry casks. Bottled without chill-filtration and without added colour at 46% – a worthy anniversary tribute.
The St. Kilian distillery from Franconia delivers the smoky counterpart to the Mild & Fruity with the Classic Rich & Smoky. Matured in a combination of 70% ex-bourbon and 30% PX and oloroso sherry casks, this single malt promises the marriage of sweet fruit and elegant smoke – and delivers on that promise convincingly.
The St. Kilian distillery from Franconia has quickly established itself as a mainstay in the German whisky landscape. The Classic Mild & Fruity is part of their core range and serves as many people's first introduction to the distillery – a light, approachable single malt that showcases what Franconian whisky has to offer.
Yet another 1987 vintage on the blog – Marcel's vintage seems to attract such bottles like magic. This Invergordon 35 Years from the Mission Gold series by Murray McDavid relies on a PX finish and presents itself as a Single Grain from the Highlands with a clear cask signature. The result is a mellow dram in which mature grain and aged sweetness are not allowed on stage alone.
The Benromach 11 Years (2010/2022) Contrasts Peat Smoke is an experimental single malt from Speyside, in which Benromach audibly turns up the use of peated barley. It was matured exclusively in first-fill bourbon casks; added to that are 57 ppm and a vintage design that refers to the once hand-painted sign above the kiln as well as the distillery's red gates. Sounds like a grand performance, but in the glass it would rather charmingly trip over its own shoelaces.
Benromach 12 Years (2012/2024) Contrasts High Enzyme is a single malt from Speyside, made with enzyme-rich, unpeated barley. This raw material choice, otherwise more common for grain whisky, noticeably shapes the fermentation process and leads here to an independent, distinctive profile. In the glass, it shows a rather mild character, but one clearly focused on freshness, malt, and edgier accents.
Benromach is primarily known for reviving a lightly peated Speyside style, but the Contrasts Unpeated deliberately shows the other side of the distillery. This nine-year-old single malt from Bourbon and Sherry casks comes in at 46 % vol. and clearly focuses on an unpeated, approachable aromatic profile.
Kavalan Triple Sherry Cask (2021) positions itself as a link between the standard bottlings and the single cask bottlings of the Taiwanese distillery. Matured in Oloroso, Pedro Ximénez, and Moscatel sherry casks, this single malt clearly focuses on a rich, sherry-driven profile. The design also points to its origin: the silver lines under the cork represent the mountain ranges around the distillery, while the water filtered through volcanic rock used forms the background of this bottling.
German single malt from Destillerie Kammer-Kirsch + Rothaus, triple distilled and matured for 8 years in American Oak, ex-Marsala, and ex-Madeira casks.