..Category Archives: New Whisky Releases and Bottlings

New single malts and other whisky at The Whisky Shop Dufftown

Two New Releases from BenRiach

This entry was posted in Blog, New Whisky Releases and Bottlings and tagged , , , , on by .

By Mike Lord

Benriach 12 Years Old Horizons Triple Distilled

‘Horizons’ is quite an unique whisky for BenRiach and Speyside for that matter. It has been triple distilled.  The previous owners of BenRiach, Chivas Brothers, performed some experiments with triple distillation at BenRiach back in 1998 – why is not clear.  ‘Horizons’ is then finished for a minimum of 3 years in Oloroso Sherry butts (having started life in ex-bourbon casks).  It is aged over 12 years old, is non chill filtered, and is bottled at 50% ABV.

Tasting notes from Benriach:-

Nose: Roasted almonds and Brazil nuts. Hot, freshly buttered scones smothered in clotted cream. Sweet heather honey adds an extra luxurious contribution.

Taste: Vibrant and wonderfully fresh. Huge nutty characteristics right from the start including peanuts, Brazil nuts and hazelnuts. A slice of sweet creamy oak and honey brings balance to the equation.

Benriach 15 Years Old Solstice Peated Port Finish

‘Solstice’ is a heavily peated BenRiach which started off life in ex-bourbon barrels, and has then been finished in Tawny Port Pipes.  Great that port pipes have been used for this.  Benriach say that what makes this release so special is that these casks are some of the best they have in the warehouse – they are simply sensational. Both Billy Walker, master blender, and Stewart Buchanan, distillery manager, have identified these casks as exceptional.  Stewart told me that he is particularly pleased with this one.  After all, peat and port is always a winner.  ‘Solstice’ is aged over 15 years old, is non chill filtered, and is bottled at 50% ABV.

Tasting notes from Benriach:-

Nose: Benriach: Rich wood smoke with ladles of sweet peat. Home made raspberry jam and spiced fruit shortcake. Spicy and big.

Taste: Benriach: Massive peat and wood smoke flavours partner a base of soft red fruits and autumn spices - cloves and cinnamon specifically. Very bold and intense characteristics.


Lots of New Single Malts in from Douglas Laing

This entry was posted in Blog, New Whisky Releases and Bottlings and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on by .

By Mike Lord

Old Malt Cask Littlemill 1991 19 Years Old

This Old Malt Cask Littlemill 1991 19 Yeas Old is full of citrus fruit and barley sugar and has some spices which develop on the pallet. 340 bottles were obtained from a refill hogshead. It's getting rarer and rarer to see a Littlemill and this is a great example.

Old Malt Cask Blair Athol 1995 15 Years Old

This Old Malt Cask Blair Athol 1995 15 Years Old is from a sherry butt but don't think the Flora & Fauna distillery bottling. The colour and flavours suggest a refill giving that orange characteristics you would get from a double maturation.

Old Malt Cask Laphroaig 1993 17 Years Old

Sometimes age makes an Islay whisky more refinded but that is not the case with the nose of this Old Malt Cask Laphroaig 1993 17 Years Old. It is only when you taste it does the complexity of age show through. Just 150 bottles came from this refill hogshead.

Old Malt Cask St Magdelene 1982 28 Years Old

I have a soft spot for this distillery and this Old Malt Cask St Magdelene 1982 28 Years Old is a great examples - peaches and honey. 439 bottles came from this refill butt.

Old Malt Cask Glen Grant 1990 20 Years Old

This Old Malt Cask Glen Grant 1990 20 Years Old is from a sherry butt and has all those fabulous rich flavours you would expect after 20 years. A superb dram.

A complex elderly whisky from a refill Hogshead which gave up only 202 bottles. This Old Malt Cask Glenlivet 1977 33 Years Old is a great example of the rich spices that develop from a refill ex-bourbon barrel.

This Old Malt Cask Linkwood 1989 21 Years Old is full of bananas, oranges and nuts. It is from a refill butt which produced 484 bottles.
45 years in a sherry hogshead - what more do you need to know? This is a big whisky but it's not over done. Old & Rare Probably Speyside's Finest 1965 45 Years Old - so fine if it has stayed at the distillery it would probably have been a Family Cask.

New Single Malt Whisky in from Adelphi

This entry was posted in Blog, New Whisky Releases and Bottlings and tagged , , , , , , , , , , on by .

By Mike Lord

We have a cracking new set of whiskies in from Adelphi ready for your Christmas Purchases

Adelphi Ardmore 2003 7 Years Old

This Adelphi Ardmore 2003 7 year old is quite a peated example of Ardmore. Certainly do not be put off by the age. Great whisky is great whisky. This is from a refill Bourbon hogshead. Although Adelphi have listed this as a Speyside, the SWA has Ardmore in the Highlands so that is how we have categorised it.

Adelphi Bowmore 1998 12 Years Old

This Adelphi Bowmore 1998 12 Years old is a fireworks party or a sea battle caught on the wind. This is all balance out with some nice sherry notes. Excellent. From a refill Sherry butt.

Adelphi Breath of Islay 1999 11 Years Old

This Adelphi Breath of Islay 1999 11 Years Old is one to warm you up in this harsh weather. From a refill Bourbon Hogshead.

Adelphi Breath of the Isles (Island) 1995 15 Years Old

This Adelphi Breath of the Islands 1995 15 Years Old is another one in the run from this unnamed Island distillery. It shows how the whisky from this distillery does age well and it has great depth and character. Refill Bourbon Hogshead.

Adelphi Bunnahabhain 1998 11 Years Old

This Adelphi Bunnahabhain 2998 11 Years Old is yet another stunning Bunnahabhain from Adelphi. This one has quite a lot of sherry behind being from a first fill sherry butt.

Adelphi Caol Ila 1982 28 Years Old

This Adelphi Caol Ila 1982 28 Years old is a well-aged Islay making it more subtle on the peat and has all the tropical fruits that you get from long maturation on bourbon casks. From a refill Bourbon Hogshead.

Adelphi Glen Garioch 1990 20 Years Old

This Adelphi Glen Garioch 1990 20 years old is described by Adelphi as a warming tea time dram with ginger cake - may be just the job after digging the car out of snow! From a refill bourbon hogshead.

Adelphi Longmorn 1992 18 Years Old

This Adelphi Longmorn 1992 18 Years Old to me is a classic Longmorn and one not to be missed. From a 1st fill Bourbon Hogshead.


New Private Collection Bottlings from Gordon & MacPhail

This entry was posted in Blog, New Whisky Releases and Bottlings and tagged , , , , , , , on by .

Private Collection Longmorn 1964

Distilled on 27 March 1964, Gordon & MacPhail Private Collection Longmorn was matured in cask number 1534 – a First Fill Sherry Hogshead. Bottled at cask strength (51.9% ABV), 46 years later in summer 2010, just 164 bottles are available for purchase. This single malt is rich and complex with dark chocolate, treacle, marzipan and aniseed aromas wrapped with a resinous, sherried character. The palate delivers sherry wood, mulled fruits and a subtle smoky edge.

Already only 1 bottle left

Private Collection Glen Mhor 1966

This whisky was distilled on 1 November 1966 and matured in a Refill Sherry Hogshead (cask number 3687). Bottled in August 2010 at 45% ABV, only 139 bottles have been released for sale. Glen Mhor 1966 is bright gold in colour, with sweet, toffee aromas laced with herbal notes of menthol, eucalyptus and bracken. Toasted oak and vanilla flavours arrive on the palate.

Only 2 bottles left

Private Collection Glen Mhor

Private Collection Glen Elgin - SOLD OUT

Glenglassaugh The Manager's Legacy Release No 1 - Jim Cryle 1974

This entry was posted in Blog, New Whisky Releases and Bottlings and tagged , , , , on by .

By Mike Lord

There's nothing better than a good dram.  Unless it's one with a great story and celebrating the stars of whisky. Distillery bottling Glenglassaugh The Manager's Legacy Release No 1 - Jim Cryle 1974.  The first in a series of four bottlings to celebrate the achievements and influences of Glenglassaugh distillery managers during the period 1964 – 1986. A single cask bottling at natural strength, without colouring or chill-filtration. The Jim Cryle release is limited to 200 individually numbered bottles from a refill sherry hogshead filled in 1974 during Jim’s time in charge.



Three New Adelphi's

This entry was posted in Blog, New Whisky Releases and Bottlings and tagged , , , , on by .

By Mike Lord

We have received in three new exceptional Adelphi's from their latest bottlings.

Adelphi Glen Grant 1985 25 Years Old

This whisky is all about Snickers bars and ice cream sundaes with butterscotch sauce.  Fabulous.

Adelphi Macallan 1996 13 Years Old

This is from a refill sherry cask.  A combination of warm fruit pie, honey and nuts with chocolate orange.  A classic old style Macallan.

Adelphi Bowmore 2000 10 Years Old

Lots of mint toffee, tar and coal dust.  A real minty surprise for a Bowmore and well worth a try.

Kilchoman Summer 2010 Release

This entry was posted in Blog, New Whisky Releases and Bottlings and tagged , on by .

By Mike Lord

The brand new Kilchoman is now in stock and will be available to try during The Autumn Speyside Festival 2010.

This release is from 100% Bourbon casks.  By far the most refined release so far.  In no way is this a hard hitting 3 year old from Islay but that's what it is.  It's much better behaved than that and a real pleasure to drink,

Nose: A pleasing balance of sweet ash and some tar.  Definite notes of pear drops, vanilla essence, candid lemon and rock salt - packs of Starburst on the bonfire.

Taste:  Sweet, smoke and spiced fruits in 3 very defined waves.

Finish: Quite dry.  Peat smoke, cloves and hot chills spices which last for a long time.

The Whisky Shop Dufftown's Second Bottling - Caperdonich 1972 37 Years Old

This entry was posted in New Whisky Releases and Bottlings and tagged , , , , , , on by .

By Mike Lord

Bottling No 2 is now ready to buy!

With the help of our inside man at Duncan Taylor we were able to liberate a small amount of Caperdonich from a single ex-Bourbon cask saving it from being Octaved.  It certainly didn't need it!  This is one of the best Caperdonich's I've had showing all the complexity of a well aged whisky from a Bourbon cask.

During the last few weeks a liberation tunnel was dug into the warehouses of Duncan Taylor while our inside man tunnelled out.  He could occasionally be seen walking around the Duncan Taylor warehouse scattering the soil from the tunnel onto the warehouse fall.  When challenged by the Duncan Taylor guards he cleverly claimed to be creating a traditional dunnage style warehouse.  Genius!

When we finally got the whisky out it was a fast motorbike ride (well trip in the van) and a stunning leap over the Deveron to avoid  the boarder patrols and get the whisky to Dufftown.

Nose: Tropical fruits - mango, pineapple, banana and peaches with pencils, wood shavings, tablet and toffee wrappers. A tropical fruit salad in a wooden bowl.

Taste: Citrus, candied lemon and then the more tropical notes re-emerge with more mango and banana. Also a little salt and pepper.

Finish: Intense tropical notes with a spicy kick. Reminiscent of a Pineapple Daiquiri.

The WSD Caperdonich 1972 37 Years Old £125.00

PS: Plans for bottling number 3 are well on their way.

The WSD Caperdonich 1972 37 Years Old

New Releases in from GlenDronach and BenRiach

This entry was posted in New Whisky Releases and Bottlings and tagged , , , , , on by .

Some exciting new wood finishes in from GlenDronach and BenRiach.  These are all limited releases and there aren't very many of each.  They are all in the shop and ready to go:

GlenDronach 14 Years Old Sauterne Finish

The dessert wine has influenced this whisky well and the tasting notes have a lot of pudding notes.  There's cream, cherries, raisins and custard.  An all-you-can-eat dessert buffet of a whisky.

GlenDronach 14 Years Old Virgin Oak

The new wood has given all those vibrant sweet tropical notes to this whisky including banana and coconut along with toasted and nutty aromas.  A really vibrant whisky.

GlenDronach 15 Years Old Moscatel

Tropical and summer fruits come through on this one with the Moscatel finish: peaches, apricots, melons and pineapple.  There's also a nuttiness with figs and raisins.  A very well balanced dram.

GlenDronach 20 Years Old Tawny Port

The port notes are clearly present with figs, dates, pears and apples and a touch of aniseed.  The age of the base whisky is also clearly present.  Full of distinguished character.

BenRiach 16 Years Old Claret

Spiced fruit, syrup and wood notes underline this whisky.  A little acidity coming from the Claret as well.  This finish has produced a complex result.

BenRiach 17 Years Old Rioja

This whisky has a real flower garden set of aromas to it which must have come from the Rioja.   These are complemented by vanilla, cream and oak notes resulting in a very fragrant whisky.

BenRiach 17 Years Old Burgundy

Lots of cocoa, berry fruits and crème-brule are the dominant notes from this whisky.  There's also an underlying toasted oak backbone.  Quite a weighty whisky.

These are all great additions to each range but let's hope there aren't too many more to come!

By Mike Lord

New Releases from Fettercairn

This entry was posted in New Whisky Releases and Bottlings and tagged on by .

The new range from Fettercairn is slowly coming on stream now.  The first 2 in at The WSD are from the Rare Vintage range.  They are the Fettercairn 24 Years Old and 30 Years Old.

Just look at the packaging!  Right now I cannot think of a whisky that has come with packaging like this.  It's big!  It's very big!!

Fettercairn 24 Years Old (£115.95)

Fettercairn 30 Years Old (£184.95)

By Mike Lord