Pirate whisky? The Stolen Ship? What is that alla bout? Jack Wiebers – who used to be popstar Michael Jackson’s European booking agent in a previous life, I kid you not – has quite a few of these undi…

It is somewhat common knowlegde by now that I have a weak spot for Ledaig. Young Ledaig in particular is something that I really like. I scored this sample of Ledaig Vintage 1996 as a festival. This is…

This is my fifth expression of Finlaggan, an undisclosed malt from the Vintage Malt Whisky Company. It was finished on sherry casks after a regular maturation on bourbon casks. It is bottled at 46%. The…

BenRiach has experimented with peaty spirit and then – giving the result some silly name – bottled it. This Arumaticus Fumosus is one of them, from 2012. It is peated spirit from this normally sweet…

It has been almost 6 years since I last tried The Peat Monster from Compass Box. In the meantime this vatted malt (oops, that must be blended malt now) is part of their so-called Signature Range. We know…

This Bunna, for the travel retail segment, matured on new American oak. It is surprisingly dark.That new American oak offers quite some sweetness on the nose, in the guise of vanilla, baked apples,…

Ballechin is the peated whisky from Edradour, distilled after a recipe from the lost Ballechin Distillery that operated near the distillery where it is now produced. Andrew Symington thought it a good…

Erik and Walter D'hoogh opened their famous restaurant D'hoogh in the heart of historic Mechelen in Belgium. For 23 long years they held a Michelin star. In the middle of the 1990s their restaurant was…

In April 2015 I tried the first release of the Arran 18 Year Old. At that time, it was a limited release of 9.000 bottles (with a subtle gold/white label), but now it has been added to the core range.…

In September 2015 Arran launched The Bothy, matured on quarter casks, which we know primarily from Laphroaig. A quarter cask is some 125 liters and was used originally to transport on horseback. This…