Reviews

The family business Berry Bros & Rudd is considered to be Britain's oldest wine and spirits merchant and is also said to have stocked the Titanic with spirits. Today, the company is known among whisky lovers for its excellent blends.We have a blended malt from the Classic Range by Berry Bros & Rudd in our glass. The Classic Range includes Whiskys from the different regions of Scotland, in this case from Speyside. Of course, the company does not reveal which distilleries the different Whiskys come from.

Named after the Oa Peninsula on the Isle of Islay, Ardbeg An Oa was the first addition to the standard range ten years after the Ardbeg Corryvreckan, having previously focused entirely on limited bottlings.Once again without an age statement, Ardbeg presents us with a Whisky that is even available in a limited barbecue smoker edition. A very good idea, we think, because this way you get the desired smoky flavour even without spices on the barbecue peppers.

Older Whiskys from the Ardmore distillery are rarely found. Among the younger standards is the Ardmore Legacy, as well as the Ardmore Port Wood Finish 12 years, reviewed here.A special characteristic of the distillery from the Scottish Highlands is that, unlike its neighbours, it uses peated barley and thus a fruity-smoky note can be found in the spirits.

In August 2018, almost exactly four years ago, the independent family-owned distillery started operations. After the first limited bottling at the beginning of 2022, and now the first standard bottling follows. We were provided with a sample by the distillery before the release and are now happy to add our two cents.The farm distillery works under the motto dare to be honest. It puts into practice what many whisky lovers want: Honesty and transparency. From the local cultivation of the barley to the bottling - the whole production process is traceable. Master blender John Campbell, previously distillery manager of Laphroaig for 25 years, seized the opportunity to create a Single Malt Whisky in a new distillery, which is to set new standards in terms of quality. By the way: The packaging is chic and classy, as is the bottle.

The German distillery St. Klilian has chosen Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill as characters for its marketing. Both peated and non-peated Whiskys as well as liqueurs appear as part of the series.The label, adorned with Bud Spencer's world-famous fist, promises a quick-witted and humorous experience. Those who have seen the movies of Bud Spencer & Terrence Hill know what we are talking about. Nevertheless, we are actually reviewing a Single Malt Whisky from Germany.

Last month, the madmen from 82 Chapters to Newcastle released a new bottling. This time a single cask from a secret distillery in Scotland's Speyside. It's our first bottle by this independent bottler from Germany. We are beyond excited.A total of 259 bottles are the result of the first fill bourbon cask with which something naughty must have happened. Because otherwise, how would they have gotten these flavours into the Whisky? Bottled at cask strength, the Single Malt Whisky with the unicorn can also be enjoyed slightly diluted with water.

The Single Malt Whisky Left-Field by Starward from Australia matures exclusively in former Australian red wine casks made of French oak. We are pretty happy to say that we found our Whisky of the Summer 2022.The Left-Field belongs to the core-range of Starward and is thus always available. You often have to put down quite a sum of money for Single Malt Whiskys from countries other than Scotland. This bottling is affordable even for the smaller purse. Starward themself praise the Whisky as an easily accessible all-rounder.

Mackmyra Intelligens AI:02, the successor to Mackmyra Intelligens AI:01, promises an improved recipe and an adjustment of the casks in which this Swedish single malt Whisky matures. To refine the flavour depth, small ex-Oloroso Sherry casks and a little peat smoke was added.We still like the marketing very much. On the website, there are release notes for the Whisky, which is actually more usual for software. For example, the change in colour compared to the predecessor is indicated in hex code. A touch nerdy, but very fitting. The design of the label has also been updated slightly.

The Redbreast series consists of so-called single pot still whiskey. This means that both malted and unmalted barley are used in the mash. Unique in Ireland, this process gives the whiskey its rich character.Fun Fact: If you sort the Redbreast bottles by age in ascending order, starting with the 12-years, the Readbreast looks at you first. On the label of the 15-years, the Readbreast takes off and is finally in flight on the 21-years.

The Johnnie Walker Black Label 12 Years Sherry Finish gives the classic whisky a - as the name suggests - sherry finish, i.e. a post-maturing in Jerez sherry casks. This is to put the proverbial icing on the cake of the iconic whisky.With a slightly adapted design with distinct accents in pink, Johnnie Walker has remained true to the familiar style, as with all bottlings.

Inspired by the punk past from the 1970s, Ardbeg releases Ardcore as this year's committee release. By the way, it is said to taste "like biting a spiky ball".The releases are very polarising. Very interesting for collectors and sold out just as quickly, those who want to taste the latest Committee release often don't get their money's worth.

As a permanently available Single Malt Whisky, it was considered the most intense Scotch of the Ardbeg distillery for a long time. With a quasi-barrel strength of 57.1 ABV, a pure and a slightly water-stretched tasting is compulsory.Ardbeg Corryvreckan is named after the Corryvreckan whirlpool. This legendary whirlpool forms in the strait between the Jura and the island of Scarba - so at first glance it has nothing directly to do with the island of Islay, the home of the Ardbeg distillery.

After the No Age Statement (NAS) Whiskys (legitimately) earned some criticism in recent years, the Islay distillery Ardbeg dared to take the bold step of releasing a young single malt with an age statement and including it in the standard bottlings.The Ardbeg Wee Beastie is intended as a young, wild and untamed bottling to expand the standard range. After a maturation period of 5 years, it is to be expected that some flavours will not be quite round yet. Incidentally, the Wee replaces the Ardbeg Corryvreckan as Ardbeg's most peated Scotch.

The casks in which the New Make was later to mature took an exciting route. If Annandale's single malt whisky tastes anywhere near as complex as the Shaved Toasting and Recharring (STR) cask-burning process was, then we have a unique single cask bottling here.Originally, the barrels were filled with French Burgundy for up to seven years. The staves of the barrels were planed and toasted over fire with oak chips. This process is supposed to caramelise sugar and vanillin - exposed by the planing process. Finally, the casks were burnt out again and transported from Spain to Scotland. During the transport, the barrels were filled with Oloroso sherry. This ensured that the barrels remained hydrated.

Bunnahabhain Stiuireadair was created as a tribute to the sea and sailors, because without the sea and without a ship it is almost impossible to get from the island to the mainland. So we expect something very maritime.As the first NAS (No Age Statement) Whisky from Bunnahabhain, the Stiuireadair was chosen as the entry point. Matured in first- and second-fill sherry casks, we would not be surprised if there was a strong resemblance to the Bunnahabhain 12 Years.

The single malt whisky Lagavulin 16 Years is the best-selling bottling of the Islay distillery. Every now and then, there are even supply bottlenecks, which is rather unusual for a classic malt. Is the Scotch really that good?We can no longer count how many bottles it is now. It may even be the 6th or 7th. We often hear that Lagavulin 16 has lost some of its quality. We absolutely do not see it that way. We have had at least consistent quality over the last 12 or 13 years. But perhaps the competition has become stronger, so that the Islay malt no longer stands out so much?

Mackmyra Intelligens AI:01 is a single malt whisky from Sweden whose recipe was created with the help of artificial intelligence. Since both of us (Marcel & Sascha) come from a computer science background, we are more than excited to see what awaits us here.Combine customer preferences with sales data and existing recipes, throw a bit of statistics into the pot and then run the learning model on a Microsoft cloud and you magically get a whisky of the highest order. At least that's the idea.

In 2008, just under 15 years ago, the first bottlings of the Taiwanese distillery appeared and only four years later conquered the world market within a very short time. Rightly so?The Whiskys of the Kavalan distillery mature in a subtropical climate. Unlike European or Scottish Whiskys, an intense flavor can be achieved even in much shorter storage time. In principle, Kavalan Whiskys are delivered without age indication. Presumably, this is usually a maximum of 5 years, rather less.

Little black hill is roughly the translation of Knockando from the Gaelic. The distillery is located near Tamdhu and Cardhu. However, the geographical proximity has nothing to do with the taste profiles. These are in fact very different.Knockando actually focuses on the production of blended malts. However, there are a few bottlings of their own, such as the 12-years Classic Malt and the 15-years Richly Matured. We have the older of the two in our glass.

Glenmorangie 10 Years is one of the best-selling single malts in Scotland and is now available in a wide variety of editions, such as the giraffe edition. This is supposed to stand for the particularly high stills of the distillery located in the Highlands.The malt was matured in first and refill bourbon casks, which Glenmorangie fills no more than twice. The soft character of the single malt whisky is supported by the 8-metre-high stills.

"Dingle. Hand-made character. Unique Whiskey." - This is the slogan under which the still small distillery has been producing its whiskey by hand since 2012. Distillery young, whiskey young. Can that work?Dingle Single Malt Irish Whiskey from 2021 is mainly a 6-7 years spirit matured in first-fill bourbon casks and PX sherry casks and first bottling. Dingle is one of the few Irish distilleries that exclusively produce their own spirit.

Statistically, Octomore is all about the degree of peatiness. Despite its young age, however, we have an incredibly complex whisky in the glass.Why 10.3? There is a simple system behind the numbering. The 10 stands for the series, the 3 for a specific characteristic. In this case, it is the maturation in exclusively ex-American oak barrels. In the 10.3 we have a peat content of 114PPM (phenol parts per million).

The Glenfiddich 12 year is perhaps the best known classic and Scotch for beginners. However, there are also alternatives in this price range.A golden stag proudly presents its antlers on the bottle. In dark green and gold, the bottle and outer packaging look very noble. A successful and harmonious design.

Blended from over 40 different Scotch whiskies and grains, Johnnie Walker is the most widely used whisky for cocktails in bars. We take a look at whether it also delivers what it promises when neat.First bottled in 1909, the Black Label has been with us for over 100 years and has become the world's most famous Scotch blend. Over the years, the whisky, against which everyone had to measure themselves at the time, has won countless awards.