From Diageo's 2020 Special Releases comes a cracking Cardhu single malt! This 11 year old expression was drawn from refill, new, and ex-bourbon American oak, resulting in a wonderfully honeyed flavour profile. Appropriately, continuing the Rare by Nature theme introduced in the 2019 Special Releases, the label features a rather handsome bee on it!

Nose: An orchard fruit-led delight, with oodles of crisp apple, pear and even some grapes coming through. Over time, the fruit turns a little more tropical, especially juicy pineapple and Galia melon. Rhubarb and custard boiled sweets, pencil shavings and a gentle cinnamon prickle add to the fruit.

Palate: Densely creamy and mouth-filling, with icing sugar adding to the fruit-forward palate. There's marmalade on toast, raisins and gentle white pepper in there, too.

Finish: Medium-long, with more of that pepper and cinnamon warmth cutting through.

Overall: A classic Speysider, and the perfect late-summer sipper.

The Glen Elgin 18 YO Special Release 2017 is a limited release of 5352 bottles. This is a special release in an unusual way - this is something of a yeast experiment. For this whisky the distillery used both the conventional cerevisiae yeast and the more unusual (in the whisky world) pombe yeast . Pombe is Swahili for beer, and this is a yeast known from East Africa.

The Glen Elgin 18 YO Special Release 2017 is a vatting of two batches. One part made using the pombe yeast and matured in ex-bodega sherry casks. The other part made using standard yeast and matured in refill European oak butts.

Nose: A deep and rich fruitiness is the first that greets my nose. It seems almost Japanese in style. Complex and clean. Apples, green and fresh on one hand and ripe and baked on the other. Freshly baked gourmet bread with a butter and floral honey spread.

Taste: Creamy, rich and most certainly full-bodied. A bit off-kilter but in a charming way. It could very well be the yeast used that has me confused and amused. Still very fruity, but not just apples now, I also get ripe banana and hints of honey melon and bitter oranges. Dry-ish.

Finish: Medium to long finish. Still fruity - which is not surprising. Creamy and rich all the way.

Matured in a combination of refill hogsheads and butts for three decades, this Dalwhinnie single malt is an elegant addition to Diageo's 2019 Special Releases. Aromas of raisins, leather, lemon and cinnamon-baked apples mingle with mint, grape jelly, honeysuckle, spring meadows and hay. The palate offers notes of summer flowers, vanilla toffee, delicate oak spice and slices of apple and pear, followed by zesty lemon, candied flowers, Crystalised ginger and buttery shortbread biscuits.

The folks at Tomintoul have raided the warehouse and unearthed a stunning 45 year old expression! This single malt was distilled back in April 1973 and initially aged in a bourbon barrel before being moved over to an Oloroso sherry hogshead to continue maturing. It was bottled in September 2018 with an outturn of just 240 bottles.

Nose: Clean Sherry influence on a sweet malty layer. Intense waxy aromas merge with hints of orange citrus and Christmas pudding.

Palate: Richly mouth-filling as notes of nuts, chocolate, mocha coffee bean and spicy oak tannins vie for supremacy.

Finish: Dry and spicy with a rich and enduring finalé.

This whisky was distilled in 1989, and spent 30 years in a bourbon barrel (DL13917)before being bottled in April 2020. Just 280 cask strength bottles were released for the Xtra Old Particular series at 52.8% ABV.

Nose: Rich, darkly malted, intriguingly spiced and fruity.

Palate: Warming and ginger spiced as the big palate opens showing later Muscovado sugar and the gentlest oak - all running to a stewed fruit and vanilla custard finish.

Macduff distillery is located near the mouth of the River Deveron, where the river meets the sea. Sheltered from the worst of the seaboard storms and winter winds, this tranquil spot has seen the creation of The Deveron malt whisky for many a decade. 

Using five small copper pot stills and unusual horizontal condensers that gently coax extra character from the spirit, The Deveron is a light, fruity and approachable spirit with some hints of nutty notes.

40% ABV

Released during the distillery’s 200th year, this Highland single malt was distilled before Teaninich underwent significant expansion.

Reflecting its older style of production, the whisky makes an excellent aperitif or a partner to Asian cuisine. Initially sweet and zesty, this dram layers herbal notes under its toffee, lemon and apple flavours.

55.9% ABV

A old age Speysider from Inchgower, independently bottled by Douglas Laing after 25 years  spent in a sherry butt REF - DL14183. An outturn of 242 bottles at 51.5% ABV.

Nose: Sweet and barley-rich initially, then comes tangerines, brown sugar and a damp oak style.

Palate: Lots of spices (cinnamon, nutmeg) running to vanilla essence and stewed fruits.

Finish: Long – detect golden syrup, a slight floral character, milk chocolate and barley.

Martine and Jean Donnay established the "Celtic Whisky Compagnie" in 1997 and began distilling in 1999 with Glann ar Mor's first bottling of unpeated single malt hitting the market in late 2008.
By November 2009, a peated malt was released (30-35 ppm) under the Kornog label, meaning "West Wind" in Breton. The distillery is located on a seafront, hence the name, which translates "At the edge of the sea".
The packaging further emphasises the locale, featuring a graphic of the Héaux de Bréhat lighthouse. This is a traditional operation that employs small stills, 100% live flame for both the spirit still and the wash still / slow distillation, wooden washbacks and seaside maturation.

Currently the whiskies are just over 3 years old, but already show surprising complexity and balance. 

Matured in a bourbon cask for 3 years. Bright pale straw gold. Opens with intense aromas of lanolin / wet wool. Air contact drops the peat a notch bringing forward dried apple, cinnamon and light cocoa. Follows through with an oily, cereal, crisp malt delivery with the finish upping the richness adding cocoa-laced peat, walnut slice and lanolin carrying through to the aftertaste. Exhibits a freshness, balance and staying power that belies its youth. A whisky that's both delicious and distinctive.

Manzanilla is much like Fino sherry, which is produced by the sea where the conditions are even more suitable for the growing of flor. Though the maturation is the same as for the Kavalan Fino, the texture is lighter and more delicate with a touch of saltiness together with mineral flavours, which are all the consequences of a stable and thick layer of flor, sea breezes and brine.

Convalmore is a familiar face in the Diageo Special Releases line-ups, with the 2017 outturn marking the closed distillery's fourth appearance in the series. And this superb 32 year old shows exactly why the malt has earned its place. Vibrant and complex with an impeccable balance between distillery character and oak, the liquid is from refill American oak hogsheads and is bottled at a natural cask strength of 48.2%. Only 3,972 bottles of this delight have been released.

Nose: Initial Dolly Mix with floral notes at full strength, taking it into Jelly Tot territory too. Barley sugar develops with a touch of tangerine, apple and cedar. Impressive.

Palate: Soft oak and spice with some orange and tomato stem. Adding just a little water transforms the texture of this malt, however, as well as releasing more intense herbal notes. 

Finish: More gentle oak, birch sap and oatcakes. Some biscuits too, including Hobnobs.

Another release of fantastic Irish single malt whiskey here from the Athrú range, this time titled Knocknarea, after the large hill on the west coast of Ireland in County Sligo. This particular expression was initially aged in American oak casks, before enjoying a finishing period in Oloroso sherry casks. Wonderfully well-presented, and the flavour lives up to that presentation!

Nose: Warming cedar and macadamia nut notes, with a touch of fresh linen along the way.

Palate: Classic sherried sweetness unfolds on the palate with zesty orange and dense raisin, plus softly toasty barley hints. 

Finish: Almond, chocolate pears, lingering tobacco and peppercorn spiciness.

This distinctive whiskey is the third expression of Athrú 14 year old single malt. It was matured for 10 years in ex bourbon American oak and then finished for 4 years in rare Tokaji sweet wine casks. These casks were sourced from a Hungarian vineyard originally planted in the 1720s for Catherine the Great. This was the same time Hazelwood House was built at Lough Gill, Co. Sligo.

Notes: green apples and pear. Long, subtle finish of butterscotch and tobacco.

Keshcoran takes its name from the mystical fairy mountain near Sligo, the reputed birth place of King Cormac, the first great High King of Ireland.

To produce this release of Akashi Single Malt Whisky, the White Oak distillery aged this whisky in Cognac barrels for 3 and a half years before refining it for 10 months in barrels of white wine from the Akashi vineyard in Yamanashi County. The result is a Single Malt without cold staining or filtration, which has a nice balance and focused on woody and fruity notes.

Located in the city of Akashi in the Hyogo Prefecture, by the seaside of the Seto Island Sea is the White Oak Distillery. This distillery was founded in 1888 by Eigashima Shuzo and has been producing Sake and Shochu every since. In 1919, Eigashima Shuzo obtained a license to manufacture whisky and when the company moved to their current facilities in 1984, the White Oak Distillery was born.

Distillery - Aberfeldy
Bottler - Distillery Bottling
Bottling series - Exceptional Cask Series
Bottled - 2019
Stated Age - 20 years old
Casknumbers - 6,7,8,9,10,18,120
Number of bottles - 3600
Strength - 43.0 % Vol.