Coldorak's whisky blog.
After enjoying my first two Glendullan single malts on Friday, I continued exploring new experiences by reviewing a pair of Allt-A-Bhainne whiskies for the first time. These came from two independent bottlers I hadn’t tried anything from before: The Whisky Castle and Chapter 7. I review the Allt-A-Bhainne 1979 Whisky Castle and 1995 Chapter 7. Interestingly, the latter was distilled the same year the former was bottled.
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I really started my whisky journey, seriously going on the road towards empty wallets and overcrowded whisky shelves, back in 2018. A late start compared to many, but since then I’ve tried to discover as much as I could, try whisky from everywhere. I’ve now tried close to 2,600 different whiskies, and obviously, despite this number looking gigantic to some, and small to others, there are many things I have never tried (and maybe never will). But this also means that there is still a lot for me to discover, to try for the first time, being old or new whisky. After all, more than 260,000 whiskies are listed on Whiskybase, so with just 1% of those tried until now, I’ve barely scrapped the surface. And today, I can tick another checkbox with what seems to be my first ever two Glendullan whiskies. As it is one of the distilleries behind Diageo’s brand ’’’The Singleton’, I’m quite surprised I had never tried any before if I trust my whisky sheet and my Whiskybase account, but well, there’s a start for everything, including large distilleries! But today, no Singleton: we’ll review two independent bottlings: the Glendullan 2011 James Eadie and 2012 Signatory Vintage.
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We reviewed three cognacs from the sample pack that Cognac-Expert sold a few weeks ago. This sample pack included six cognacs, and with today’s trio, we will have reviewed them all. In addition to today’s three cognacs, the pack contained Guynot Elégance, Bégaud Instant Rare, and Egreteau 80–81 B23. The last three cognacs we’re reviewing today are from Maze Churchill, Landreau, and La Prenellerie, with Authentic Spirits bottling the latter.
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Compass Box, known for its inventive style of Scotch whisky blending, introduced a major update to its core range in July 2024. This change signals a fresh chapter for the brand, coming after John Glaser left in May 2024 and a period of careful planning about the direction of its whiskies. The new core range now includes six distinct expressions: the returning favourites Orchard House and The Peat Monster, the established Artist and Glasgow blends, and two new releases – Nectarosity and Crimson Casks. With this update, Compass Box has retired The Story of the Spaniard and Spice Tree, aiming to bring more clarity and definition to the line-up. Now, let’s take a closer look at the two latest additions: Compass Box Nectarosity and Crimson Casks.
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I recently participated in another session of the Attic Islay tasting, which I had mentioned a couple of months ago. The June event showcased six Islay whiskies, adhering to their usual format of featuring one whisky per distillery. The tasting was lively and engaging, conducted across multiple platforms, including Zoom, Facebook, and YouTube. The team of David Brodie, Katie Cairns, and Colin Stroud led the session with their characteristic enthusiasm.
During the tasting, we sampled each whisky blind, made our guesses, and then had the trio reveal the details before moving on to the next one. The lineup included an unpeated Caol Ila, an unpeated sherried Bunnahabhain, a Bowmore 15 Sherry Oak, a Lagavulin 11 Offerman, the Ardbeg Eureka (which I have previously reviewed and thus won’t cover here), and an Octomore 15.1. This selection offered a diverse representation of Islay whiskies, some of which were not universally liked by the hosts but were included to provide a comprehensive view of Islay’s offer.
Here, I will review five of the six whiskies from the Attic Islay June tasting. I extend my thanks to the organisers for putting together this really enjoyable event for whisky and Islay enthusiasts.
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Born to be wiIIIiiiIIIiiiIIIiiild… sorry, not sorry. Today we compare a pair of Talisker whiskies, selected because of their names: Talisker The Wild Blue vs The Wild Explorador. Yes, ‘explorador’ with a ’d’ – don’t ask me why, but I’m sure Diageo’s marketing team has a perfectly logical (and probably very exciting, of course) story for that. The Talisker The Wild Blue is a brand new 2025 release with a link to a foundation, like the Wilder Seas ’Parsley a couple of years ago, while The Wild Explorador is a 2023 Special Release. Let’s get to them, shall we?’
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We published our first Glen Keith review on this blog only a few months ago, and we return already to this distillery. The previous review covered an independent bottling from Wemyss Malts; this time, we are looking at three official Glen Keith releases. Glen Keith, like the Braevals we reviewed last month, belongs to Pernod Ricard’s Secret Speyside range. The whiskies under review come from the first batch, so they might differ slightly from later batches, but they remain available, making this review relevant. (And I do not limit myself to reviewing only currently available whiskies.) Here are my notes on the Glen Keith 21-, 25-, and 28-year-old expressions.
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At the close of 2024, Bimber introduced its inaugural age-statement expression, not once but twice. The first release featured an 8-year-old single cask matured in an ex-bourbon cask. For this selection, Bimber took an innovative approach by inviting approximately 20 fortunate tasters from their Klub members to blindly choose their favourite cask from three samples. I was lucky enough to be one of these tasters and, by sheer chance, I had a sample of the very cask the tasting panel selected – one of their oldest casks – from a distillery visit in April 2022.
Following the initial 8-year-old single cask, Bimber unveiled Harmony of Eight, a skilful vatting of several casks designed to produce a more substantial 8-year-old release, which we will also be exploring.
While the first four reviews below may not carry the same weight, as they pertain to unfinished and unreleased whiskies, they offer a fascinating insight into the evolution of these spirits, particularly cask 11. So, let’s delve into the review of this Bimber 8-year-old single cask (and more…) and the Harmony of Eight.
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Living Souls is a new independent bottler that Calum Leslie, Jamie Williamson, and John Torrance founded. Together, they bring decades of experience in the whisky industry. They aim to take a different approach from other independent bottlers by focusing not on single casks but on delivering small batches, sometimes through a solera system. We will review three expressions from their batch #1 release: the Ninety-One & One, Secret Ardbeg 19-year-old, and Blended Scotch 40-year-old Living Souls.
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We’re back to Cognac with a pair of old Fins Bois cognacs. The particularity of the Fins Bois terroir in Cognac lies in its diverse soil composition, maritime climate, and its position as the largest and most prolific cru in the Cognac region. The soils in Fins Bois range from red, iron-rich rocky soils to heavy clay, chalk, and limestone patches. This diversity contributes to a wide variety of eaux-de-vie with marked fruity and floral aromas, often described as having a fresh, grape-forward character reminiscent of freshly pressed grapes and fruit blossoms. In our glass today are a Guynot Elégance and a Bégaud Instant Rare, two Fins Bois cognacs.
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