The Malt Cask

  Distillery:  Unknown Bottler:  Curious Whiskies Age:  NAS Distilled:  n/a Bottled:  2025 Cask:  ex-Port Casks Abv:  46% Unchillfiltered:  Yes Natural Colour:  Yes Nb of bottles:  200 Price:  £80 Extra:  Port and Smoke Christmas Islay Blended Malt Is it Christmas already? Not quite, even if this treat from @curiouswhiskies makes me feel like it! And what is this Cask Na Nollaig? It’s an Islay Blended Malt aged in Port cask, bottled at 46%, without chillfiltration or colour added, and with only 200 bottles available, you’d better be quick! So what is it like? My tasting notes: Nose: Sweet and fruity, peaty, slightly medicinal, toffee, red fruit, strawberry coulis, hints of honey glazed barbecued meat and a pinch of salt. Palate: Quite medicinal, a little acrid, fruity too, red currant, blackcurrant, dry wood smoke, oak spice, ash, samphire and a touch of pepper. Finish: Ashtray vibes, ash, smoke, quite drying, sea breeze...

  More new whisky from a new(ish) distillery: Isle of Raasay Distillery:  Raasay Bottler:  Distillery Age:  4 years old Distilled:  July 2021 Bottled: July 2025 Cask:  ex-Marsala Barriques Abv:  50.7% Unchillfiltered:  Yes Natural Colour:  Yes Nb of bottles:  12,300 Price:  £75 Extra:  Lightly peated spirit My tasting notes: Nose: Sweet and fruity, briny with a touch of smoke, red apple, fresh barley, sea breeze, slightly mineral. It’s young, the spirit is definitely there but it smells incredible! Palate: Quite powerful, raw/new make spirit at first, the fruit comes out next, underipe strawberries, flinty notes, some caramel comes to play after a little while, quite chewy mouthfeel, spicy notes too. Again this is young but very tasty! Finish: Long and warming, sweet and smoky, toffee, banana, wood smoke, salted caramel, slight chocolate. Wow! With water: The nose is sweeter with more barley sugar. The palate is spicier with mo...

  There is some fantastic whisky coming out of Skye, and it's not from the Talisker distillery...! Distillery:  Torabhaig Bottler:  Distillery Age:  NAS Distilled:  n/a Bottled:  2025 Cask:  American Oak Abv:  46% Unchillfiltered:  Yes Natural Colour:  Yes Nb of bottles:  n/a Price:  £58 Extra:  Chapter 4 of the Legacy Series, made up of lightly smoked concerto and laureate barley My tasting notes: Nose:  Fresh malted barley, vanilla sweetness, warming peat, seaweed and a pinch of salt, hints of yellow fruit, peach, honey. This is quality! Palate: Thick and creamy, sweet and smoky, caramel, honey, vanilla, some green slightly herbaceous notes with coriander and thyme, some oak spice too, black pepper and more seaweed/iodine. This is very good! Finish: Ashy bonfire, more vanilla sweetness, lasting warmth, bitter coffee, drying oak tannin, sea breeze. Wow! With water:  The nose gets some more herbs notes with the...

A bit of value for money today with this Blended Malt Schotch Whisky Distillery:  n/a Bottler:  Mackinlay Age:  n/a Distilled:  n/a Bottled:  n'a Cask:  oak Abv:  40% Unchillfiltered:  No Natural Colour: No Nb of bottles:  n'a Price:  £35 (£18 paid) Extra:  Blended Malt Scotch My tasting notes: Nose:  Sweet and fruity, vanilla, brown sugar, ginger, lemon, oak spice, green apple, a little yeast and hints of minerality too. Palate:  Sweet and gently woody, creamy, vanilla cream, oak spice, barley sugar, almond, bitter grapefruit, black pepper, slightly earthy and with a nice little caramel undertone! Super pleasant for £18! Finish:  Malty, warming & slightly industrial, digestive biscuits, pebbles, bitter grapefruit again, brine, slight cocoa. With water:  Fresher nose with more citrus and less oak / minerality.  The palate loses in flavour, mostly sweet & malty.  The finish becomes a little smoky...

  I think this could be a first German whiskey for me! Distillery:  Stork Club Bottler:  The Heart Cut Age:  5 years old Distilled:  28/06/2019 Bottled: 05/11/2025 Cask:  German Napoleon Oak Abv:  55% Unchillfiltered:  Yes Natural Colour:  Yes Nb of bottles:  408 Price:  £55 Extra:  bottled in 50cl My tasting notes: Nose:  The nose is all about Black Forest gâteau, boozy macerated cherries, dark chocolate and a hint of rye.  Palate:  The palate is creamy first before a wave of rye spice comes through. There’s some gingery citrus kicking about and some fresh cereal, more creamy dark chocolate and boozy cherries. Finish:  The finish is a coating of cocoa powder mixed with some vanilla infused macadamia nuts. There’s also a hint of chlorophyll / peppermint tea lingering around at the very end.   Wow, that’s an very unusual but very tasty one from Germany! Slàinte all! Thank you again to The Heart Cut for s...

  First of two 40 year-old blended Scotch bottles released recently. And the first one is from a new bottler called Living Souls. It is one of their first four bottlings, alongside a 19yo Islay (Ardbeg), an 18yo Ledaig/Tobermory and a 15yo Blended Scotch. It is bottled with no added colouring or chillfiltration, and at 41.2%. It also looks like this blend was laid down to marry in a sherry butt in 1998 so over 25 years ago! Distillery:  Blended Scotch Bottler:  Living Souls Age:  40 years old Distilled:  n/a Bottled:  2024 Cask:  n/a Abv:  41.2% Unchillfiltered:  Yes Natural Colour:  Yes Nb of bottles:  n/a Price:  £125 Extra:   My tasting notes: Nose:  Fruity, malty with almonds/marzipan notes, dried apricots and figs, roast peach, slight orange blossom, old oak bookcase, vanilla, some crème caramel, some wood spice and hints of smoke. This is fantastic! Palate:  Fruity and creamy, tropical fruit, mango, passion...