If you’ve been around the single malt scotch market for any length of time, you probably had the same reaction to this label that I did. “Uhh… basically every single malt is aged in bourbon barrels.” So what’s so special about this particular bottle that they felt the need to slap it in large type on the label? Let’s not forget that “Reserve” means absolutely nothing….
Even more odd, this blend of five straight bourbon whiskies is made by a Scottish company, the storied William Grant & Sons. Yes, the makers of Glenfiddich and The Balvenie. The idea here is that the “fistful” is comprised of 5 straight bourbons, each one intended to add a specific attribute to…
Inchmurrin is (confusingly) one of the brands of single malt produced by the Loch Lomond distillery near Glasgow. The brand is named after the largest island on Loch Lomond (the lake). … The custom stills at Loch Lomond are fascinating: By using a modified rectifying column instead of a traditional swan neck, the distillery is able to artificially “lengthen” the neck that condensing spirit vapor travels up before…
Copper Fox is a pot stilled rye from Rick Wasmund, whose Wasmund’s Single Malt I did manage to review. The rye is a mash of two-thirds Virginia-grown rye and one-third malted barley. The grains are floor-malted and then lightly smoked with 60% applewood and 40% cherrywood. The mash is then double pot distilled and barreled with a “progressive series of lightly toasted new and used applewood and oak chips” in refill ex-bourbon barrels.
…I’ve enjoyed Cardhu in the past, a single malt that is oddly popular in Spain and which famously destroyed its reputation by marketing a blended malt containing Cardhu as “Cardhu Pure Malt”. Whoops. Still, it’s a sherried malt with good balance, even when bottled as an NAS at 40% ABV like this.
I was out of town this weekend, so no review this week – apologies!
Just like Very Old Barton bourbon and 1792 bourbon, this Kentucky Straight bourbon was distilled at the Barton 1792 distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky. It’s a small batch bourbon without an age statement (so, minimum 4 years old) bottled at 46% ABV. My bottle says “Batch 1124” and cost only $19 for a 1-liter bottle.
The Torabhaig Legacy Series represents the first batches of whisky from the young distillery, with this first “Inaugural” edition of 100 barrels of single malt which were distilled and casked in early 2017. It’s somewhere between 3 and 4 years old. The whisky in this first edition was mashed from heavily peated (55-60ppm) Concerto malt using Pinnacle MG+ yeast (nice to know, whatever that means)…
This barrel is from a batch of Henry McKenna’s Bottled in Bond line, which is usually a good sign in a bourbon these days. The 50% ABV required for BIB is (in my opinion) a great drinking strength, and the BIB requirements tend to lead to more of a quality mindset than a “big batch mass production” mindset in the producer. In case you didn’t bother to click on the links above, the short version is that the brand is Heaven Hill bourbon using the same mashbill as…
Glen Grant is one of those sleepy distilleries known for producing bulk malt for blends (Chivas, in this case) which has lately been dressed up in new packaging (in 2016) and pressed into service as a standalone single malt by its owners, the Campari Group. … This 12 year is aged in ex-bourbon for 12 years and bottled at 43% ABV, after being chill filtered. While Glen Grant does use sherry casks in some of its expressions, I can’t find anything online that indicates…