Scotch Whisky reviews

For the Nameless Four Jürgen selected a cask from the Highlands. Again the distillery is kept secret. Only the region, age and ABV can be found on the label. Granny Smith apples, vanilla, gooseberries…

Jürgen Vromans, aka the independent bottler The Whisky Mercenary, launched a couple of releases at the end of last year, where the distillery is not named. This is one of those: Nameless Three. This…

The Whisky Mercenary, Belgian bottler Jürgen Vromans, always has these fun labels, doesn’t he? And this is his very first Miltonduff. The lion’s share of this Speyside distillery’s production disappears…

Miltonduff does not appear on my radar all that often. This is only my 26th, but also the oldest I have ever tried. Distilled when yours truly was only an 8 year old boy and bottled two years ago by one…

This is already the fifth cask of Miltonduff that Thomas and his team have bottled. This time it’s a sherry cask – very active judging by the color – that slept about 15 long years. Looks like we are in…

This is probably the bottling that most have been looking forward to. It is the first Talisker to be finished on Caribbean rum barrels. I confess... That's a strange but intriguing nose. Talisker's DNA…

The Lagavulin 12 is a mainstay in the Special Releases. This one is a vatting of refill American oak.Ka-boom! I’ve only just poured this baby and already know it’s going to be grand. A chiseled nose on…

I have a soft spot for Pittyvaich. This Speyside distillery, closed in 1993, now appears for three years in a row in these Special Releases. This time the malt was matured exclusively on first fill…

This Highland malt matured on refill hogsheads.Whoa! As luck would have it, I had tasted their entry level 15 years old this week – which I quite like – but this is a totally different league. Seminola…

We return to the Speyside with this 21 years old Mortlach that was finished on a combo of PX and oloroso sherry seasoned casks. The umami, meat-like character is not too present on the nose, less than…