Enticing and silky smooth, this is the quintessential Cardhu. Glowing with notes of golden honey and delicate, fruity character

"On the nose, you'll find fruit and malty aromas, with just a hint of peat. On the tongue, sweet and nutty flavours are present, which coat the palate to leave a very slight pleasant flavour of smoke"

DISTILLATION PARTNERS “There’s some peated Glenturret in there, a bit of Caol Ila, Glenrothes, Ben Nevis and some “Dalrymple” (a tea-spooned malt from the Ailsa Bay Distillery).” 

MATURATION Oloroso Sherry Cask

SENSORY Deep mahogany with a rich Oloroso Sherry seasoned oak nose. Hints of cigar box, dried raisins, dark plums and festive spice. Palate shows charred Christmas cake ends, cigar box, gingerbread, burnt orange peel, smoked bacon. The finish is long, warming and lingering, balancing barbeque smoked meats with brown sugar, ginger and cinnamon.

CIGAR PAIRING Maduro’ (meaning ‘mature’ in Spanish) cigars are made from extra fermented and slow aged tobacco leaves and tend to be sweeter and darker than others. The Whisky Cellar’s Keith Bonnington suggests: 

1. Padron 1926 Series No. 35 Maduro (notes of coffee, pepper, cedar wood, leather and caramel) 

2. Cohiba Black Robusto Crystal (notes of cocoa and coffee) 

3. Camacho Triple Maduro (notes of earth and spice). Equally good with a cup of freshly brewed Arabica coffee, a densely sweet after-dinner dessert or a piece of dark chocolate (the minimum 70% cocoa fat version).

Timorous Beastie 10 Years Old is a beautifully aged, Highland “Vatted” Malt, that is proudly offered without colouring or chill-filtration. Bottled at 46.8% alcohol strength, Timorous Beastie 10 Years Old's tasting notes include spiced autumnal fruit, complemented by honey, cereal and orange. The fourth release under the brand to carry an age statement, following Timorous Beastie 18 Years Old, 40 Years Old and 21 Years Old bottlings.

Nose: Very sweet as if sugar and syrup have been added to spiced autumnal fruit.

Palate: Now with honey, the gentlest spices and a distinct cereal content

Finish: Honeycomb and clove studded orange finish

A lightly coloured young, extremely peaty whisky from an unnamed distillery somewhere in Scotland. It's got the rampant smoke you'd expect from a beastly named whisky as well as a pleasant, citrussy fresh fruitiness. The packaging is pretty striking too, with a scary monster and a (deliberately) singed label. Bottled at 46% and un-chillfiltered, just how we like 'em

46% ABV

Johnnie Walker Blue Label is incomparably rich and smoky, with velvety smooth breaking waves of powerful flavour.

Created from hand-selected casks of some of the rarest and most exceptional whiskies, there is no sensory experience quite like Johnnie Walker Blue Label. Hazelnuts, honey, sherry and oranges tumble in first, before releasing hidden secrets like ginger, kumquats, sandalwood and dark chocolate. A rich honey sweetness emerges, accompanied by hints of pepper and dried fruits, before an impossibly long, lingering, smooth finish of perfectly balanced, soft smoke.

Source - Johnnie Walker

Patiently aged in oloroso sherry and bourbon casks for 18 years, our most distinguished solera whisky is married and continuously transformed in solera vat 4 to deliver a deep, rich aroma of robust oak, ripe orchard fruit and baked apple.

A luxuriously fruity and exceptionally rewarding glenfiddich.

THE TASTING NOTES
COLOUR
Rich bronze.

NOSE
Rich and indulgent with ripe orchard fruit, spiced apple and vibrant vanilla oakiness.

TASTE
Warm, mellow and velvety smooth. Sweet oak notes and soft fruits combine beautifully.

FINISH
Warming, rewarding and distinguished.

Glen Moray Fired Oak was aged for 10 years in ex-bourbon casks before it was finished in heavily charred American oak to mirror the production of bourbon (by law bourbon must be aged in charred virgin oak).

Nose: Oak char, vanilla sweetness and dark fruits lead among dried grass, toffee and milk chocolate.

Palate: Through banoffee pie, tangy citrus and butterscotch candies there are notes of golden barley, oaky vanilla and freshly picked red berries.

Finish: Well balanced and sweet.

In the early 1970s, Benriach broke convention in Speyside by returning to distilling batches of whisky in the old, 19th century style, using malted barley smoked with Highland peat. This wood rich Highland peat imparts distinctly sweet and smoky notes into Benriach peated whiskies. Benriach The Smoky Ten has been crafted from a combination of unpeated and peated spirit and three cask matured for at least ten years in a combination of bourbon barrels, Jamaican rum casks and toasted virgin oak. The whisky is then expertly married together to create sublimely smooth layers of sunripe fruit, aromatic smoke and toasted oak spice, lingering into the perfectly balanced sweet and smoky finish.

Nose: Toasted coconut, aromatic smoke and a touch of greengage.

Palate: Cinnamon, ginger and dry smoke, shortly followed by maple syrup and peach.

Finish: Waves of fresh vanilla, salted butter and toasted barley.

A sumptuous peaty number from Benromach owned by the independent bottlers Gordon & MacPhail. This is very bourbon forward with aromas of apricot custard pastries and tobacco smoke leading to billowing peat smoke and toasted coconuts on the palate that has a finish that is long, spicy and fruity.

Cardhu is known for being an easy-drinking and sweeter style of whisky. Gold Reserve has been aged in toasted oak casks, which has led to notes of toffee apples.

40% ABV l 700mL

Made using barley grown on Macallan's Speyside estate, distilled once a year in a single week, this single malt has been matured exclusively in sherry seasoned oak butts and hogsheads. Warm, comforting aromas of cinnamon, dried fruits, sweet lemons and caramel fill the nose, and the palate initially offers notes of warm spice, dry oak and fresh figs. Sweet orange and dried fruit flavours develop slowly, alongside delicate citrus and sweet toffee.

Macallan Estate is presented in a striking box inspired by the landscape of Speyside. Featuring an inlay of hand-cut slate, this unique box reflects the sense of place found in the whisky.

Excellent 12 year old single malt from the Glenlivet Distillery in Speyside, which enjoys its maturation in both European and American oak casks. It's an immensely popular expression which disappeared from shelves in 2015, but has since returned! A great example of the character of Glenlivet's whisky, boasting a bounty of orchard fruit, fragrant florals and honeyed malt notes carried on a creamy mouth feel.\

Nose: Apricot, pineapple, greengages, citrus blossom and toasted teacake.

Palate: Buttery and vanilla-rich, though still packing all the bright fruit notes from the nose.

Finish: A soft crackle of oaky spice and malt, plus a hint of red apple juiciness.

SAMAROLI ISLAY
SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY
BOTTLED IN SCOTLAND IN 2023

Our eye - or better our nose - dwells on this youngster, allowing us to bottle yet another iteration of our philosophy of Islay, the queen of Scotland. We stand before a young, arrogant and daring Caol Ila. Despite its youth, the mastery conferred by wood presents us with a slightly peaty note. In addition, we sense shy hints of yeast, butter and smoked meats reminiscent of our hearth after last night’s fire is spent. And now almond, hazelnut and candied fruit. 

The saline plane surprises us in terms of equilibrium and harmony. Suggestions of herring and anchovy, a classic marina scent with flashes of the mineral. Those caper bushes descending towards the Sicilian sea are now evoked. To the right the Pillars of Heracles. To the left, the mysterious and intriguing East. There is a narrow border between the ocean and the sky which is lighter and therefore easy to identify. Some may say that Brittany is where we can best learn to distinguish this.

A.W.B. 

COMPOSITION: 3 casks of Caol Ila 2013 - Hogshead - Refill Bourbon
BOTTLES PRODUCED: 1104
ABV: 45%

A marriage of whisky matured in sweet sauternes wine casks, together with classic Ardbeg aged in ex-bourbon casks.

Colour - Amber

Aroma - Very distinctively oily, with touches of extra virgin olive oil, sweet briar wood, aromatic herbs (coriander & sage) and a suggestion of smoked lemon peel. A splash of water releases more oiliness, like linseed oil, a gentle waxiness, and a burst of perfumed, aromatic carbolic soap, and finally, a whiff of crème brulee.

Taste - A soft, oily, mouthcoating texture leads into a rich, sweet, smoky palate, with hints of oak moss, treacle, aniseed lozenges and a lovely, sweet, woody/balsamic flavour. This is then followed by smoked apricots and eucalyptus oil.

Finish - Finally comes a lingering, sweet/smoky aftertaste, with a touch of cumin, cardamon and the merest hint of coconut.