Reviews

Arran Distillery was established on the Isle of Arran in the mid 90's. Some of the casks were stored at Springbank until the recent expansion of the warehouses. The casks are now on site and a second distillery (Lagg) has been built. Today we taste the 10 years Core Range bottling.

The Westfalian stands for unique bottlings and is not afraid to experiment. Cask 134 is subtitled "Crazy Cask Experiment". A single corn whisky - distilled from maize (corn for you US folks) - matured in an ex-Old Pulteney sherry cask. You don't often find this combination in Scotland nor in the USA.

Thomas Ewers bottles German whisky with a Scottish soul under the brand name The Westfalian. The Westfalian is only available as a single cask. Today we have Cask 121 in the glass - a 6 years single malt matured in an ex-Tobermory Sherry cask.

The second year of seasonal releases from Lochlea has begun. We were kindly provided with the Sowing Edition by the distillery for review. The single malt is matured for 3-4 years in a first fill bourbon cask.

For the 6th time, the family-owned Douglas Laing & Co. from Glasgow is releasing the limited Chocolate Edition of the Scallywag range. 4,200 bottles of malts matured in Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry casks were married to create the most chocolatey whisky possible.

Aberfeldy Distillery was founded by the Dewar brothers. As well as the well-known Dewar brand budget blends, they also produce a single malt under the distillery's name. Today we taste the 12 years Aberfeldy bottling - the entry point to their core single malt range.

Stitzel-Weller is an epitome of American bourbon culture. The legendary distillery was, until its closure in 1992, the original producer of many well-known bottlings. Diageo reopened the distillery in 2014. Blade and Bow is a tribute to Stitzel-Weller. Matured in the solera process, each bottle has a small part of original Stitzel-Weller in it.

The Dalmore Valour is a Travel Exclusive, which was first introduced in Qatar. In principle, we are rather sceptical about Travel Exclusives, but we give every whisky a chance.

The Ardnamurchan distillery is named after its location, the Ardnamurchan Peninsula in the Scottish Highlands. The still young distillery (bottling of the first cask in 2014) is considered one of the most important newcomers on the Scotch scene, perhaps also due to the long history of Adelphi Distillery Ltd, which also operates as an independent bottler.

Today we continue our series on Patrisbrunna Paderborn single malts. The Kö13 restaurant distributes its own small series of extremely regional own maturations. The Madeira Cask bottling matured for 4 years in Portuguese wine casks. This gives the malt a really interesting color - almost like a rosé wine.

The St. Kilian distillery releases their Signature Editions at irregular intervals. These are strictly limited bottlings of selected casks. For the 13th Signature Edition, we were sent a deconstruction set, i.e. samples of the individual barrels, as well as a sample of the final product. A super exciting experience! Below is our impression of the Signature Edition Thirteen, as well as (at the very bottom) a breakdown of the individual parts.

If you travel to Scotland, the Dalwhinnie distillery is often one of the first to be visited because of its location. As part of the Classic Malts Selection, it becomes even more interesting when viewed in the context of the full lineup. For us, Dalwhinnie 15 Years was the first single malt we ever drank. 16 years later, we now open a bottle again.