A heavily-peated Islay single malt whisky of the highest quality, Smokehead hits you like a cannonball and takes you on an explosive rollercoaster of peat, smoke and spice with a little delicate sweetness thrown in.
Nose Clear Islay smoke arrives first, with a touch of seaweed in there, before hints of BBQ pineapple and fresh mango develop.
Palate Enjoyably savoury and briny at first, but once again, tropical fruit and cola cube sweetness attempts to wrestle control.
Finish Waxy orange and vanilla, with the final smoky embers of a beach bonfire.
There are so many complex layers of flavour, and it will be different for everyone. But, our blender Shona Macleod gets a gentle peat smoke on the first sip which reminds her of island home fires burning when she was growing up. It comes along with a toasted maltiness. She can also taste homemade apple sauce and smell machair flowers, particularly white clover which springs up on our west coast every summer. Mixed spices appear, and an old-fashioned sweetness from things like candied ginger, vanilla, and honeycomb. Finally, there’s a long, clotted-cream note, mixed with a lasting sense of new leather.
It will be a lightly peated dram, at around 12-15ppm
In the early 1970s, Benriach broke convention in Speyside by returning to distilling batches of whisky in the old, 19th century style, using malted barley smoked with Highland peat. This wood rich Highland peat imparts distinctly sweet and smoky notes into Benriach peated whiskies. Benriach The Smoky Ten has been crafted from a combination of unpeated and peated spirit and three cask matured for at least ten years in a combination of bourbon barrels, Jamaican rum casks and toasted virgin oak. The whisky is then expertly married together to create sublimely smooth layers of sunripe fruit, aromatic smoke and toasted oak spice, lingering into the perfectly balanced sweet and smoky finish.
For this release we’ve used a luxurious combination of the finest PEDRO XIMÉNEZ + JAMAICAN RUM CASKS for maturing this expression, which combined with our subtly smoky spirit, has resulted in a whisky rich with the flavours of Toasted Jamaica ginger cake, Bonfire Toffee, spiced plum jam, Amaretto cherries and Daim bar.
A viscous mouthfeel bursts forth to introduce a sparkling array of salty, sweet, and savoury flavours. Peat smoke, eucalyptus oil, minty chocolate and toffee mingle with smoked pecans, creosote, and tar. Subtle sweet pear crumble and fudge lurk in the background.
This Small Batch release was distilled in 2010 and aged in ex-Port Pipes casks, is a remarkable expression from the Lochranza Distillery. Bottled at a robust 53.2% ABV, this exceptional Scotch was handpicked by Distillery Manager Stewart Bowman from the most outstanding casks nestled within the warehouses. With only 1,286 bottles produced, this limited edition is an exclusive offering available solely in the UK and is presented all natural colour with no chill-filtration showcasing the distillery's commitment to unique and high-quality Scotch whisky.
Vatted and bottled prior to reducing to our standard bottling strength. Lightly peated balanced with rich dark fruit flavours. Honey gold in colour with hints of red wine hues.
The first of an annual limited-edition release, this Islay whisky was matured in refill casks for 17 years. There are vibrant citrus notes on the nose, giving way to the inevitable smoky flavour that Islay is known for. On the palate there are notes of wildflower meadows, freshly cut grass and hints of caramel and vanilla, which lead to a long and ashy finish.
Nose – Peach, pear and tangerine. A rich fruit cocktail.
Palate – Rich, round and plummy. Lovely juicy blackurrant notes. Lime and chocolate. A little meaty and a touch of oak char. Overall: A cracking whisky. The Malaga wine cask adds some excellent dark fruit character, but the slightly meaty, charred whisky notes make for a balanced dram. One of the favourites at a recent staff tasting.
Nose
Sweet ripe peaches, toffee and raisins
Palate
Soft welcoming mouth feel with an explosion of rich
tropical fruits and creamy butter notes
Finish
Long enduring finish of caramelised crème brulee
Nose: Vibrant, fresh cut grass softened by creamy vanilla and orchard fruits. Fresh flowers and a promise of sweetness.
Palate: Creamy malt and sweet, dried fruit. A touch of oak alongside subtle toasted baking spices.
Finish: Sustained, mellow warmth, ripe fruits and honey with a hint of smoke. Baked apricots and butterscotch.
Lochlea Cask Strength Batch 1 is the first in a series of annual limited-edition bottlings. Each batch will be bottled straight from the casks without water, like trying samples from the warehouse itself! Master Blender John Campbell and the team at Lochlea have chosen Bourbon and Sherry casks this time, and every year will show further progression of our whisky. Despite the very limited volume available in each country, the few who manage to secure a bottle will experience a true undiluted and unfiltered window into Lochlea whisky.
NOSE: Bursting with butterscotch, citrus and milk chocolate, with cinnamon, raisins, orchard fruits and ginger.
TASTE: Lashings of heather honey and cinnamon, followed by chocolate, lemon drops and caramelised brown sugar.
Name because they changed their distillation cut points for a few month resulting in a more juicy, fruity liquid with notes of biscuits and dessert. A tiny bit more peat is coming through as well.
Aged in 60% bourbon cask with STR
NOSE: Lashings of orchard fruits, baking spices and sticky toffee pudding, with notes of brown sugar, glazed cherries and citrus.
TASTE: Bursting with chocolate, coffee and heather honey, followed by notes of pepper, ginger and molasses, with banana and sultanas on the finish.
One up from their standard 10-year-old bottling, the 12 Year Old has two more years in the cask and is a step closer to the sherry-heavy older expressions.
Cu Bocan is a lightly peated single malt from Tomatin distillery in Inverness – first introduced in 2013. This 12-year-old expression was finished in a mix of rum casks from Guyana and Barbados, contributing depth and notes of warm spices to the whisky. The result is a malt that offers fresh notes of brine, grilled pineapple, ginger and milk chocolate throughout the palate.
As part of its 20th anniversary, Compass Box has released this limited edition cask strength bottling of its Peat Monster as a nod to the USA-rooted origin story of the core expression. Peat Monster came about after Compass Box created a whisky for Park Avenue Liquor Shop in New York, which became a hit, and so Peat Monster was born. This expression of the blended malt Scotch sees some of the whisky that makes up the blend finished in virgin American oak barrels, for some extra vanilla and spice.
After a series of small batch releases, the team at Ardnamurchan are now satisfied they can make a 'core' release at a consistent level to now do away with the codes that were featured on previous releases.
So moving forward we will have AD/ as an ongoing release, with a brilliant balance of soft, slightly sweet smoke, bracing sea air and rich, full fruity notes. For such complexity to be present in what is still relatively young spirit is a stunning achievement, and the team should feel so proud of what that are producing.
The Ardnamurchan Distillery is the most Westerly distillery on the mainland of Scotland, sitting on a remote fifty square mile penisula with a single track road being the only access.
A 2009-vintage Unnamed Speyside single malt from bottler Signatory Vintage that was made at a mystery distillery in Speyside and matured in a refill butt for 13 years, before being bottled in June 2022 as part of its Un-Chillfiltered Collection.
