Archive For May 26, 2019

Glen Garioch 18 Year Old Renaissance Chapter 4 (50.2%)

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Glen Garioch 18 Year Old Renaissance Chapter 4 (50.2%)

The release of the Glen Garioch Renaissance Chapter 4 is a moment I’ve been waiting for ever since the onset of the Renaissance project back in 2014. The idea was to have a look at the whisky the distillery was producing since it came back to life in 1997, by showcasing the whisky’s progressive development…

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Balblair 17 (46%)

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Balblair 17 (46%)

Balblair revamped also the duty free range, offering the 12, 15 and the future 25 years old in travel retail, but has chosen to offer the Balblair 17 instead of the 18 year old. Why keep 75% of your core range on travel retail shelves just to replace a single expression? This is the third time…

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Balblair’s New Core Range: Balblair 12 (46%), Balblair 15 (46%), Balblair 18 (46%)

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Balblair’s New Core Range: Balblair 12 (46%), Balblair 15 (46%), Balblair 18 (46%)

So Balblair went ahead and did it. They have actually taken the one thing that made them totally special and chucked it out the window. No longer specific vintages with an ever changing core range, rather a regular and quite mundane aged range, with a Balblair 12, 15, 18 and 25, with a 17 year…

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From ‘Project Overlord’ to Compass Box Affinity (46%)

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From ‘Project Overlord’ to Compass Box Affinity (46%)

I’ve been waiting for over a year and a half to write this post, although I had no idea back then it would be called Affinity. The beginning of the story is at the 2017 Whisky Show in London, where I took part in a great masterclass led by Becky Peskin bringing whisky makers to…

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Glen Garioch Virgin Oak No. 2 (48%)

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Glen Garioch Virgin Oak No. 2 (48%)

I’ll come out and say it: I’m a fan of the use of virgin oak in Scotch whisky and think that there isn’t enough of it used. I’m sure this will be controversial, but it’s my opinion, and I’ve stated it before. Of course, with a few exceptions, full maturation in virgin oak is something…

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