Blackadder’s unique selling point is undoubtedly the cask residue on the bottom of each bottle. They are called Raw Cask for a reason, although that also refers to the cask strength. About 5 years ago…

This is a golden oldie, so tos peak. A Caperdonich from 1980, bottled by one of Scotland’s oldest and best known bottlers – Gordon & Macphail – a year after this Speyside distillery was closed. That was…

Benny is one of the regulars at the whisky tastings I host in Ghent. And during one of those tastings he handed me a sample. ‘You gotta try this’ he insisted. It’s a Caperdonich of 18 years, matured on…

It’s hard to resist the exclusive distillery bottlings where you are actually visiting the distillery. Trust me, been there more than my wallet cares to remember. But this one was filled by my Dutch…

Balblair’s claim to fame was the fact that they did not use age statements but vintages on their bottles. But the range was revamped in March 2019 and now it boasts ages on the labels once more. There…

When I visited the Taiwan in January 2019, I brought two Distillery Reserve releases from the Kavalan Distillery: a Peaty Cask and a Rum Cask. The Peaty Cask stayed in Belgium, the Rum Cask went to…

I hear whisperings that this Sun Shine is not imported whisky, but actually distilled and matured in Japan. Could this be the case? Wakatsuru Shuzo was founded in the 19th Century as a brewery, making…

Taketsuru is a Japanese Pure Malt from the Nikka stables, composed with single malts from both Yoichi and Miyagikyo. The age statement versions (12, 17, 21, 25 and 35) are long gone – or, if you do find…

Every year Manny and I try to put an odd one out in our series. In the Animal Series it was the French Armorik single malt, in the Galaxy Series the Invergordon single grain, in the Antarctica Series the…

Elements of Islay does not need an introduction. The apothecary style bottles of 50cl, released by Specialty Drinks – now Elexir Distillers – offers Islay malts with a code on the label reminiscent of…