Speyside distillery and single malt brand Glen Grant launched The Glasshouse Collection last month as a new prestige range featuring the oldest aged expressions ever in the distillery’s permanent collection. The Glen Grant 21 Year Old is joined by The Glen Grant 25 Year Old and 30 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whiskies to form …
We continue The Whiskey Reviewer‘s tradition of offering the staff’s Top Picks for the previous year, announced every year in early January. This is our informal version of an awards show in print, with an infamous on informal. We do not convene a panel, because that is too much of a bother! Instead, each member …
By Randall H. Borkus Rating: A Longrow is named after a distillery that was once located next to Springbank Distillery in Campbeltown, Scotland. The original distillery was founded in 1824 by John Ross and closed in 1896. The property was later incorporated into Springbank, and Longrow’s old warehouse now houses Springbank’s bottling hall. In the …
By Richard Thomas Rating: B The Balmoral Hotel has been with us for more and a fixture of Edinburgh than a century, but it’s whisky bar–approrpriately named SCOTCH–has only been around for a decade. Nonetheless, that is long enough for Head Whisky Ambassador and Bar Manager Cameron Ewen and Moa Reynolds, a Swede now writing …
By Richard Thomas Going back as far as we at The Whiskey Reviewer can personally remember, the flagship single malt of The Glenmorangie has been their Original 10 Year Old. More than twenty years ago, I brought back a bottle from Europe to share with our Deputy Editor, Kurt Maitland, since my circuitous, on-the-cheap route …
By Randall H. Borkus Rating: B- The Unicorn’s Tale is the second release in Ardbeg’s Anthology Collection, showcasing the distillery’s creativity. Dr. Bill Lumsden, head whisky creation and distilling at Ardbeg, names each whisky in the collection after a different mythological creature. So this time, it’s a unicorn. Lumsden said, “At Ardbeg we love to …
By Richard Thomas Rating: A- In 2023, I chose to do a rare batch review for the 14th installment of Bruichladdich’s famously smoky Octomore series. This year, I chose to tackle October 15.1, 15.2 and 15.3 separately, which brings me to the third and final chapter of Octomore 2024: the ultra-peated Octomore 15.3. Bruichladdich has …
Speyside’s Tamnavulin Distillery, with a lineup rooted in distinctive double cask maturation, is adding a Port Cask Edition to its core range. Every expression from Tamnavulin undergoes a meticulous ageing process in two distinct casks. The first maturation in American oak ex-Bourbon barrels crafts a rich and layered foundation. The whisky is then masterfully finished …
By Richard Thomas At the end of 2020 and in the midst of the Pandemic, the US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) announced that they would alter regulations allowing for the sale of spirits in 700ml bottles in the United States. For decades prior, the US had a singular requirement for the …
Diageo’s Orphan Barrel brand continues to reach outside its American origins with the new Woven Honor 18 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky, a bottling of Linkwood Distillery’s malt. Most of what Linkwood makes goes into Diageo blended whiskies, such as Johnnie Walker. As a distillery, Linkwood is a curiosity in that it was founded …
