It's an open secret that relatively young Port Askaig (like the one that's in my glass now) comes from Caol Ila. This was distilled in 2006 and bottled at cask strength after 15 years in honor of the…

Ah, the debate around Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet (and especially the latter of course), is still soaring. I don't understand that. For me, that's a children's party. In 2021, the Dutch bottler van Wees…

The Magnificent Five, whisky lovers from West Flanders, came up with this sherry matured Bunnahabhain from 2009. After 13 years on a sherry hogshead, that yielded 178 bottles at 55%. I used to find the…

Two years ago, Magnificent Five – a West Flemish whisky society – already bottled an Islay Blended Malt of 8 years old. It was sherry hogshead #LAP29, which suggested (rightly) that it was a teaspooned…

In 1994 Laphroaig received a visit from Prince (now King) Charles, who gave the distillery a Royal Warrant, something the distillery is of course happy to mention on the label. On this bottle, which was…

I tasted the Laphroaig Four Oak a few years ago and remember not being really devastated at the time. Now my buddy Pat puts a sample of a recent bottling in my hands, so I think it would be good to give…

Okay... an Islay whisky that gets a red handbag on the label and is therefore called Red Bag. Nuff said, right? Come on: mix up the letters and you'll know where it comes from. However, I would call it…

Lovers of Big Peat are legion. Collectors too, and they may gradually get gray hair, because there are now so many (regional) editions that it is hard to keep up. Invariably, Douglas Laing also launches…

South Shore is the pseudonym used by Valinch & Mallet for Lagavulin. And this youngster is special because it matured on a Rum barrel from Caroni. It was launched in 2021 in the so-called Peat(y)full…

The Lagavulin 16 is such a quintessential malt that everyone should have in their bar cabinet. I already tasted several batches. Today there is one from 2021 in the glass, thanks to my good friend Pat…