Reviews

Bottled-in-Bond (BIB) is one of the legal regulations governing the production of American whiskey, alongside the designation 'straight.' To be labeled as BIB, the whiskey must have been distilled by a distillery within a single distilling season. Subsequently, it must have matured for at least 4 years in a bonded warehouse and be bottled at 100 Proof (50% ABV). Jack Daniel's has recently introduced a Bonded release that we are tasting today.

Douglas Laing offers an array of blended malts from all the regions of Scotland in its Regional Malts range. The well known Scallywag - representing Speyside - has been extended with a 10 years bottling. A blend of Speyside malts matured in Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez ex-sherry casks. Today we find out if the age statement improves the already excellent Scallywag.

The Highland malt AnCnoc is produced by the Knockdhu distillery. Supposedly they do not bottle under their own name to avoid confusion with Knockando. Today we have the 12 years and youngest bottling of the core range in the glass.

Glengyle Distillery is one of the few distilleries in Campbeltown. After a long period of closure, it was reopened by Springbank at the beginning of the 21st century. Although Springbank and Glengyle are run as separate companies, in some ways they belong together. Glengyle bottles single malt whiskies under the Kilkerran brand. The 12-years, non-chill-filtered and non-coloured whisky is the current core range.

AD:02.22 - behind this somewhat cryptic name we quite simply find a bottle from the Ardnamurchan distillery that was bottled in February 2022. The young single malt distillery is owned by the renowned bottler Adelphi and produces Scotch with a vision of sustainability and transparency.

The Westfalian began producing regional premium whiskies in 2012. This means they can now offer 10-years bottlings of the German with the Scottish soul. We were able to secure part of the TW73 cask. A peated single malt matured in an ex-Port Charlotte sherry cask. As we are used to from The Westfalian, of course, single cask, unfiltered, uncoloured, uncut.

So this one is going to be tough to translate. The great team at 82 Chapters in Newcastle have released some special bottles in the past. Today we have a Community Exclusive bottling with a very pun-y marketing. This 10 years single malt from the Dailuaine distillery is dedicated to their brand ambassador Phil. As such, the german texts about it (and also the bottle's label) are riddled with puns where the name Phil in inserted instead of similar sounding syllables. Let us see if we are able to get this into english, as well. The malt has been matured for 9 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, and was then finished for a year in a First Phil Moscatel cask.

The 13-years single malt was post-matured in Armagnac casks from the Bas-Armagnac region - one of the three French Armagnac regions. The distillery still uses traditional worm tubs to cool the distillate. Although this is not as efficient and low-maintenance as newer condensation methods, it still gives the malt a special note.

One of the flagships of the Jim Beam distillery is Booker's Bourbon. Supposedly created by Booker Noe, Jim Beam only bottles 4 batches a year. "Uncut and unfiltered" means that we have the full power of a natural bourbon in our glass. Today it's Batch 2019-01E. This is the part of the first 2019 batch that was produced for the European market. The label promises 6 years and 3 months of maturation and almost 63% ABV.

The independent bottlers Hart Brothers advertise their bottlings as being subject to the highest standards of quality control. They distribute selected single cask bottlings, of course unfiltered and uncoloured. From this series we have a Speysider from the Glenrothes distillery in our glass today. Distilled in 1988 as a vintage whisky and then matured in casks for 26 years.

With Bulleit, Diageo presents whiskies with the rough image of the Wild West. In addition to two bourbons, the distillery, which as far as we know now actually distils itself, also offers a rye. In this case, the 95 on the label refers to the rye content of the mash bill, which is a whopping 95%. Unusually high, as you often get the "barely legal" rye with 51% rye.

A young distillery has many "firsts". The first bottling ever, the first bottling of the Core Range and at some point also the first bottling at cask strength. This is what we have for tasting and review today.