Glenmorangie announces Ealanta, its fourth annual “Private Edition” release. A 19 year old single malt exclusively matured in virgin American Oak casks.

Given the nature of this maturation, it’s hardly surprising that the whisky is said to display notes of butterscotch, vanilla, toffee and indeed a characteristic note of menthol, often found when fresh oak is employed.

Continue reading...

2013 is here and it’s time for January’s selection of recommended tipples to help wash away those post Christmas blues (with their deliciousness you understand). With the all but unavoidable over-indulgence of the festive season now behind us and the prospect of Burns Night on the horizon, it seemed wise to venture beyond Scotland this month and indeed to feature a few whiskies ideally placed to reinvigorate jaded palates.

The disparate producing regions of Ireland and Japan are our focus this month. The former offers up both a spritely single grain from the much lauded Cooley Distillery and an equally loved Pot Still Whiskey from Midleton’s range. On the other side of both the North Atlantic and Pacific oceans we find Suntory’s excellently balanced Hakushu Bourbon Barrel release, alongside the ever-popular and multi award winning Yamazaki 18 year old. Enjoy!

Continue reading...

Sometimes you get the chance to taste something really special. It might be an unexpected bottle pulled from a distant relatives dusty liquor cabinet, a sample that cost you more than a decent bottle or, as in this case, a wee dram received due to the generosity of a learned friend. Bowmore whiskies from the 1960s are of course one of whisky’s holy grails, the nature of the spirit with its mix of intensely exotic fruit and inescapable suggestions of the sea has become the stuff of legend, debate and feverish hoarding.

The little rarity featured here was however distilled in 1955, and by no means does that diminish the anticipation, quite the contrary in fact. This is from a very scarce bottle indeed; a run of 100, 37.5cl stone flagons bottled in 1974 to celebrate the opening of the distillery’s visitor centre. Happily, it seems these were distributed amongst the staff at the time, how many of them were left unopened beyond the celebrations though is anyone’s guess.

Continue reading...

It’s time for a fireside dram methinks; this new non-age-statement release from the good ladies and gents at Glendronach distillery is aptly timed! In the wake of this year’s Malt Maniac’s award announcements, the distillery has once again swept a host of accolades including “Supreme Winner” in the ultra-premium category and several Gold Medals besides. Of course, the Maniacs are well known for their love of old sherried malts and indeed these lofty winners were all from the now legendary early 70′s stock.

You needn’t think that Glendronach is simply the preserve of the well-heeled, and indeed favourably connected given the scarcity of some single casks, whisky-fondler though. Both the Glendronach 18 year old ”Allardice” and the 8 year old “Octarine” and the took bronze and silver medals respectively, which is no mean feat in a competition where all samples are tasted blind and by a number of sometimes disparate palates. Here though we have the latest on-going introduction to the core range, let’s see if it has what it takes to take a place among next year’s medal winners.

Continue reading...

Salutations of the season one and all, we have indeed entered the festive season and you can’t say were not good to you! After last month’s guide to selecting the ideal gifting bottle, we now have four more suggestions that should serve as great gifts or might equally sooth your brow as the big day approaches.

Whether you (or that special someone) fancy a nice bourbon with friends, an affordable Japanese rarity or a scotch that’s equally at home in the hip-flask as it is at the fire side, we have you covered. Equally there’s some great value to be found here, which is always a good thing when yuletide expenses start to take hold! Enjoy.

Continue reading...

Aberlour is a name that will be familiar to most with even a passing interest in Whisky. The reliably accessible and unquestionably well made 10 year old is a staple of many supermarket shelves, and it’s certainly a safe bet when beginning ones travels through the world of whisky. For those that have become more deeply imbued with the joys of this venerable spirit it may be the cask strength, sherry matured bruiser of Aberlour a’bunadh that holds a firm spot on their list of “bang for the buck” drams. That being said, those old staples will have to wait for another day!

Enter the (quite) recently launched, enchantingly labelled “That Boutique-y Whisky Company” and their range of small batch, cask strength, non-age-statement Single Malts. Somewhat amazingly this series of releases has already featured names that you rarely see offered outside the single cask realm, and often for considerable prices. Port Ellen, Caperdonich and Ardbeg distillery have all been featured and subsequently sold out at a rate you may expect. Second and third batches are being rolled out -thankfully- alongside the on-going introduction of names both familiar, like this Aberlour, and more obscure; Benrinnes or Aultmore. In short, keep a watchful eye on what is an exciting and well-priced addition to the market!

Continue reading...

Ahh Christmas. The festive cheer, the holly, the children singing, the tree…..the nerve-inducing gift hunting! Not the least stressful of times perhaps and when a loved one’s desire happens to be a bottle of Scotland’s nectar or Kentucky’s finest, it can be understandably hard to know where to start. It’s true, whisky is a vast and multifaceted subject but selecting an ideal tipple for the Whisky lover in your life needn’t be as confusing as first it appears. Indeed, we at WhiskyMarketplace have the answer!

Does your whisky lover’s cabinet contain five or less bottles, all of which you’ve spotted at your local supermarket or nearby bottle shop? Or does it conceal twenty plus bottles – some of them unopened and many with esoteric names & dates? If it’s the former, your whisky lover is probably someone who likes an occasional dram but has only reached geek level 1. If it’s the latter, they’re well on their way to full blown geek level 3!

Continue reading...

The whisky world must surely, if slowly, be developing a degree of desensitisation to bottlings directed toward wealthy drinkers, collectors or speculators. Be it £1000 worth of old Glenfarclas whisky, £2500 for some travel retail-exclusive exotica or the now all but ubiquitous 10k Dalmore, such release are certainly unobtainable for the larger majority of us. Debates still abound as to the merits of such bottlings, and the arguments show no sign of calming whether you fall on the “well if people pay it, they should charge it” side of the fence or take the contrasting “a fair price is not simply what the market will pay” viewpoint. Still, such whiskies never fail to court attention and this new bottling with a RRP of $3500 (the U.S.A will be the first market to receive it) will surely be no exception.

Balblair, and indeed the Inverhouse owned distilleries as a whole, isn’t a name you might instantly associate with such “ultra-premium” releases. Of course there have been a few, not least the excellent 1965 Balblair vintage we saw shortly after the brands re-packaging/launch in 2007, but in the main Balblair has remained a well-priced malt of sometimes overlooked quality. However, now that almost all of the aforementioned 65 has found its way safely into the arms/glasses/cabinets of well-heeled Whisky lovers world-wide, it’s time for a new flagship. Enter the 1969; previewed earlier this year at the distillery and formally launched this past week in London, this vintage with its elegantly understated packaging looks to be a hit, if you’re lucky enough to get a nip that is.

Continue reading...

Back to Islay today and a chance to look at what, since the sale of Bruichladdich distilery earlier this year, is the island’s only remaining independent distillery. A sad thought perhaps but the young Kilchoman is flying the flag for small scale production with considerable aplomb. Opening in 2005 as the island’s “farm distillery”, Kilchoman was always intended to offer spirit that was sown, grown, malted, distilled and bottled on Islay. However, in order to deal with the considerable pressures that face any new distillery, the majority of the production has relied upon barley sourced from external maltsters.

The desire to taste whisky from Islay’s first new distillery in 124 years was always going to be considerable. Indeed, since opening Kilchoman has offered a surprisingly constant flow of offerings. It’s fair to say that the spirit quality has always met with wide acclaim; however the same may not be said for all of the sometimes pricy releases. That is always a hazard of offering whisky that is clearly in a process of maturation rather than at the peak of its powers of course, though in my view Kilchoman distillery is not the very worst of culprits. This bottling draws us back to the beginning of the story though; the first release of a true, 100% Islay produced whisky and that must surely pique the interest of any whisky lover.

Continue reading...

It must surely be time for another oldie, and indeed time to feature another of Dominiek Bouckaert’s excellent Whisky Man bottlings. Tomintoul distillery certainly isn’t the most glamorous or oft-lauded name in the Whisky world, but like just about any distillery –well virtually- there are still gems to be found. It’s a relatively young plant, built in the mid-60s and now in the hands of Angus Dundee Distillers it is producing a range of affordable expressions, not to mention a beautifully packaged 76. The site also distils a peated make under the name Old Ballantruan which has recently been packaged as a rather attractive 10 year old and is worth checking out, if only for interests sake.

On to Independent examples such as this 1969 release then, and as with many distilleries where the focus has been largely placed upon producing stock for blending, the non-proprietary releases tend to provide punters with good value and perhaps the best opportunity to get a handle on what the distillery has to offer. There has been quite a number of late 60s Tomintoul casks bottled over the last few years, many of them of high quality, and given the reputation of Dominiek’s selections it can’t be easy to track down and recognise a cask that offers something new. Particularly while retaining the qualities that have given a number of these old Tomintoul’s favourable reviews in the past.

Continue reading...