This 15 year is aged in ex-bourbon for 15 years and bottled at 50% ABV without chill filtration (color is not mentioned, so it might be color-adjusted). While Glen Grant does use sherry casks in some of its expressions, this is a purely ex-bourbon bottling. The bottle says “Batch Strength” which is a little odd when you think about it. Isn’t every batch…
The Glenrothes Vintage Reserve is an oddball vatting of what appears to be the leftover casks from the last public vintage releases plus a bunch of younger barrels that have not (yet) seen release: 1989, 1992, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007. Of those years, the 1998 vintage makes up (according to marketing) 25% or more of the volume. This review is a second look at the expression.
…the Bourbon Cask Reserve was a way for The Glenrothes to showcase its house malt with a background of only ex-bourbon aging. As part of the “Vintage Collection” released in 2015 it was also a way to dump together unused vintage-dated stocks and get away with classic NAS pricing (that is, more money for younger – on average – whisky). I suppose I can’t be too hard on that decision now that they’ve abandoned it in favor of age-stated bottles.
The Glenrothes Sherry Cask Reserve was a way for The Glenrothes to showcase its house malt with a background of sherry aging. As part of the “Vintage Collection” released in 2015 it was also a way to dump together unused vintage-dated stocks and get away with classic NAS pricing (that is, more money for younger – on average – whisky). I suppose I can’t be too hard on that decision now that they’ve abandoned it in favor of age-stated bottles.
The Irishman is a brand of (previously) sourced Irish whiskey released by the Walsh Whiskey Distillery Ltd. The company built their own distillery in Royal Oak, County Carlow in 2016 … this is straight triple-distilled single malt aged in a combination of oloroso sherry and ex-bourbon casks. The final product of uncertain age is bottled at the bare minimum 40% ABV.
Enter Aberfeldy, which is essentially synonymous with Dewar’s Blended Scotch. The two are owned by the same company, and nearly all of Aberfeldy’s single malt production goes into making Dewar’s. I kinda like Dewar’s, and I liked the idea of drinking a concentrated, undiluted-by-grain-whisky version of it. It has a 12 year age statement, too, which is not a guarantee but a reassurance.
I could drink this all day. It’s a very middle-of-the-road kind of Speyside malt: honey, orchard fruits, light malt, little oak, but it’s executed very nicely and there’s no tell-tale grassiness or bitterness. An easy-drinking pleasure from start to finish. That said, you expect a lot from an 18-year label…
Well, it’s not every day that you get to try a whiskey that represents and entirely new category of spirits. Lost Lantern claims to be (and may very well be) the first company to blend (or “vat”) together American single malt whiskies, making the first American Vatted Malt Whiskey. … a self-styled independent bottler out of Vermont, got its start by bottling American whiskies under its independent bottling label. This is a very familiar story to anyone who drinks single malt scotch. The company then released their first vatted malt (Edition 1) in 2020. It’s a vatting of 6 American single malts (2 barrels of each), and…
The fourth batch of Kilchoman’s USA Small Batch was vatted from casks at a proportion of 5% oloroso sherry, 30% Madeira, and the remainder (65%) ex-bourbon. The result was bottled at 48.1% ABV. … Let this be a lesson to you (and me), that the mention of an interesting cask finish on the label should NOT lead you to assume that…
So it turns out that when I see a 16 year-old single malt for $23 on sale, I should buy a lot more than 1 bottle. This stuff, which is essentially 16 year-old Tullibardine, retails for $60! Now that’s a steal … The brand website is devoid of useful information, but assume this is 16 year-old Tullibardine single malt bottled at 40% ABV after chill filtration and added color. The label says it was aged in “oak casks”. Duh.
