Reviews

Our friends at The Westfalian have consistently surprised and delighted us in the past. We've often discussed their fantastic approach to whisky: using local ingredients, distillery expertise, and an honest bottling of individual casks, which combines German whisky with a Scottish soul. Barrel 181 promises a lot right from the label: a roughly 7-years full maturation in a first-fill Ruby Port wine cask.

Not so long ago, Glenrothes could only be found in blends such as the Cutty Sark or the Famous Grouse. Fortunately, there is now a good standard range with a wide variety of bottlings, as well as a large number of independently bottled single malts.

The Balcones Pot Still Bourbon comes from Texas and is characterised by its unique composition of roasted blue corn, wheat, rye and malt. This whisky is produced entirely on site, from the milling of the grains to storage and distillation.

Billy Walker, the master blender at GlenAllachie, describes the 2022 bottling as follows: "From the outset, it has been my aim to release quality whiskies at fair and accessible price points. This can be a significant challenge when you also choose to deploy an extensive and costly wood management policy, however, I believe The GlenAllachie 8-years fits the bill without any compromises or corner-cutting." By the way, the GlenAllachie 8 years follows the same recipe as the highly acclaimed GlenAllachie Cask Strength series. The casks are Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry puncheons, as well as virgin oak casks and red wine barriques.

Balmenach does not have a core range. If you want to taste such a whisky, you have to resort to independent bottlings. Michel Reick - one of the best-known German independent bottlers of single malt whisky - has bottled a Balmenach with a 1st fill Banyuls barrique finish in the "Best Dram" series.

Cardhu is part of the core range of spirits giant Diageo. While the Cardhu 12 Years is one of the Classic Malts of Scotland, the 18 years is rarely seen. Cardhu single malts are traditionally matured in ex-bourbon barrels and ex-sherry casks. By the way: the barley is said to be slightly peated.

We have chosen the Longrow Peated from 2021, a smoky variant from Springbank in Campbeltown. This bottling promises a robust and characterful experience.

Within the German whisky community, Horst Lüning from Whisky.de is an unavoidable figure. Somewhere between meme and true expertise, he has succeeded in living his great passion for whisky with tremendous success. Authentically and skillfully staged are his YouTube reviews, which he has been regularly publishing with his son Ben for quite some time now. Great success naturally brings its own advantages. In addition to exclusive bottlings, he has, according to his own statements, fulfilled a long-cherished dream and created his own blended malt. Today, we have the second batch of his blends in the glass.

It's hard to believe, but at 8 years old, this single cask single malt whisky from cask 57 is currently one of the older bottlings from Paderborn. Once again, we are excited to see what has been conjured up in our glass.

Bottles from the independent bottler Dràm Mòr have been discussed on this page several times before. With great dedication and expertise, Dràm Mòr strives to preserve the tradition of Scotch whisky. They describe their cask selection process as open and open-minded. From the summer selection of 2023, today we have a 12-years Ruadh Maor. Behind this name, which is probably completely unknown to the mass market, lies the smoky distillate of the Glenturret distillery. This cask, with the number #9002123, received additional maturation in a First Fill Bourbon Hogshead.

Sebastian Büssing aka The Spirits Alchemist is known for his experimental barrels. Here - for the first time? - a sugar beet barrel was used for the 12-month finish after the single malt was allowed to mature for four years in an ex-bourbon barrel. We are more than excited!

The Welsh Penderyn whisky called Myth from the Dragon series was matured in ex-Buffalo Trace casks and finished in ex-red wine casks. Seems very promising.