Royal Brackla 11 year old – The Single Cask

Royal Brackla Royal Brackla was founded in 1812 by William Fraser and in 1833 the distillery was the first of only three distilleries allowed to use the “Royal” in the official name. In 1852, William hands the distillery over to Robert Fraser and co who run the distillery until 1897 when the distillery then runs…

Glen Moray Single Cask #1164

Glen Moray In an age where bottles of whisky are fetching astonishing figures, selling as investments rather than something to be drunk and arriving in the finest Lalique glass decanters, distilleries boasting long lost or rediscovered casks that have suddenly been located in dark dusty corners, there is a distillery quietly getting on with what…

Glentauchers 20 year old – The Single Cask

Todays review is for a single cask  from independent bottlers “The Single Cask “ .. These guys are not just bottlers of whisky but also offer full casks for sale of both fully matured whisky and new make, they also have a whisky bar aptly named “The Single Cask” although it is a little trip…

Deanston 20 year old 1997 – The single cask

The Single Cask As many of you know Independent bottlers can and often release some real gems and recently I have had the pleasure of trying quite a few through the blog and working the festivals, this is where I first came across “The Single Cask” guys and sampled a couple of the offerings they…

Dumbarton 32 year old, 1986 – Claxton’s

Dumbarton Distillery started to distill back in 1938 and was at one point the largest continuous producing grain distillery in Scotland, using the continuous column  still rather than the traditional Coffey still.. Unfortunately in 2002 the distillery fell silent before eventually being fully demolished and again stocks today are starting to dwindle.. Dumbarton 32 Distillery…..

Bruichladdich 16 year old Single cask – Claxton’s

A few nights ago I was privileged to be involved with another live tasting on Twitter with Steve Rush and Claxton’s independent bottlers in order to showcase the winter releases.. Rather than write down the whole tasting I decided to do them individually as they all deserve the obligatory 15 minutes of fame as they…

BenRiach 2008 single cask #5807, Batch 15.

Batch 15 from the Benriach distillery certainly showed off the vast variation of maturing Whisky they had to offer, port pipes, moscatel hogsheads, sauternes barriques, rum barrels and virgin oak all feature within this batch 15 release and when you add bourbon maturation into the equation and finished then you begin to realise the versatility of…

Deanston 2003 Bourbon cask.. (Byo)

With the ever growing demand for single malts and single cask offerings the latest trend to get you to the visitor centres is to offer you the chance to bottle your very own whisky direct from the cask, although I say the latest trend this is not entirely a new concept and some distilleries have…

Macduff 14yo Single Cask, Claxton’s.

You would be forgiven if Macduff is not a name on the tip of your tongue, this distillery was founded quite recently in the terms of distillery history, founded in 1962 by Marty Dyke, George Crawford and Brodie Hepburn the distillery first produced spirit in 1963. Today the distillery is owned by John Dewar and…

Claxton’s Orkney single cask.

As with a few single cask releases from independent bottlers these days the distilleries are asking them to withhold  the identities and / or “teaspooning “ the casks ( this involves adding literally a “teaspoon” or a small amount of  whisky from a different distillery to stop this being classed as a single malt )…

The Kikou.. Single cask from Akashi Distillery

I have to admit I have not had many whiskies from Japan so tasting this one was always going to be special.. ( picture courtesy of Dekanta) The kikou single cask is is as they say history in a bottle, the idea being that this whisky is an acknowledgement for the education of Masataka Taketsuru…

Balvenie First fill (bottle your own)

One of the best things about visiting a distillery for me is the chance to try whisky direct from the cask, it gives you that feeling that your part of something special, then when you get the chance to bottle whisky from the cask it just makes it all that bit more special..  These days…

Dalbeallie Dram V Cask #7389 from Tamdhu.

During a recent live twitter tasting hosted by Steve Rush from the Whisky wire and paired up with a tasting at the Tamdhu distillery for the Spirit of Speyside festival I was extremely lucky to try both these stunning examples from this Speyside distillery. Founded back in 1896 with the first spirit flowing in 1897…

English Whisky Company 6yo bottled by Claxton’s.

St George’s Distillery is a truly English whisky produced in the heart of Norfolk and is owned by the English Whisky Company, the Distillery started production relatively recently ( 2006 ) and started releasing whisky in chapters, with the even numbers representing unpeated whisky and the uneven ones generally representing peated expressions. This  review however…

Auchentoshan 25 year old – That Boutique-y Whisky Company.

Auchentoshan…. One of my favourites of the whisky world, triple distilled and always one that I reach for, but just lately they have disappointed me.. The Distillery ( or should I point the finger at the corporate people behind them ) just seems determined to be all about cocktails and bartenders, forget the heritage and…

Claxton’s Glen Moray 10 yo.

Claxton’s, the family owned independent bottlers based in Ripon near York are about to launch another set of fine single cask bottlings.. After a very successful first year which resulted in releases like the Glen Elgin 20 and the superb Glenrothes 19 yo to name but two,  the company is now ramping up production and…

Glendronach.. 2006, 1995 and 1989.. Batch 16

Over the last year or so Glendronach has certainly gone into overdrive with the single cask releases, just as soon as they  are announced then they are all gone, collectors, investors and drinkers all clambering over each other to get the vintages they want or even just a chance to bag any of what is…

Glenfiddich 27 yo 1st fill sherry barrel.

Where do I start with this review..  For many years I have enjoyed Glenfiddich whisky, after all it is the whisky that started me on my journey into single malts.. So many people dismiss Glenfiddich but how can you when  it is basically on of the best selling whisky names out there !  It is…

Caol Ila 6yo. That Boutique-y Whisky Company..

Ok so day two is upon us and what does my Boutique-y calendar have in store for me today.. It’s only another new release in the form of this Single cask Caol  Ila 6yo Batch 3 that boasts a bottling strength of 52.2%. Caol ila is owned by Diageo and is one of the resident…