The Malt Cask

Something very special today with the launch of a new independent bottler: Halcyon Spirits This family-owned independent bottling brand, based in Aberdeenshire, was developed by brothers Daniel and Craig Milne, who also co-founded global auction platform Whisky Hammer and whisky e-retailer Still Spirit. Picture courtesy of  Halcyon Spirits And their first release is definitely not one to miss with a 30 year-old single cask from Macallan, distilled in 1993 and matured in a first-fill sherry cask! Halcyon Spirits were kind enough to send me a sample to review, so here goes! My tasting notes: Nose: Rich, nutty, oak, raisin, slight citrus (orange), walnut, creamy macadamia, prunes, wood polish, hints of smoke, vanilla fudge, oak spice and rum-soaked raisins, a little liquorice root too. Palate: Dark and oaky, quite powerful and concentrated for under 50% abv, spicy dried fruit, dark roast coffee and nutmeg. Quite tannic. There is also a fresher side to it with hints of orange blossom...

  Today, I am looking at a bottle of Macallan Edition 6 with a twist... The whisky itself does not have a twist, it is more the way I came across this bottle. It was actually sent to me already opened by Mark Littler. Mark is a whisky consultants/broker who runs  https://www.marklittler.com/  as well as a YouTube channel:  Mark Littler With this bottle, Mark has focused on the idea that ‘whisky is for sharing’ and decided to send this bottle to Vin @nononsensewhisky for him to open it, pour a dram and review it, before sending it to someone else, and to someone else... until there’s only one dram left for Mark to enjoy! What a cool idea!!! After @nononsensewhisky the bottle went to @newdramdrinker, to @matts_cigars_and_whisky and now to me. So I shall pour a glass and review it before the bottle makes it’s way to somebody else! So what about the whisky? Highly sought after, these Macallan Editions are probably not opened as much as they used to. A quick look at aucti...

I set off on my whisky journey over 5 years ago now. My first stop was Islay and it's peat. I went round the island's distilleries before heading to mainland peat and French peat. I followed peat with sherry; moved on to blends and blended malt and progressively extended my interest to the wider whisky/whiskey horizon. So where do I go next? Independent bottlers is one path I want to continue exploring. The other one is older whisky. However, older whisky can mean two things: older in terms of age statement or older in terms of distillation date. And that is when it starts getting a bit trickier, firstly because these bottles are much rarer to come by, secondly because even if you can find them, they will be rather expensive. So when I come across a new company which prides itself in sourcing, opening and sharing these older/rarer bottles, I am bound to be interested. https://cheaperbythedram.co.uk/ The company in question is called Cheaper by the Dram. It was created...

For the last review, I tried a youngish (probably) sherried blended malt from Berry Bro's and Rudd. Today, a bit of the same but this time the sherried blended malt is a little old and it's from Chorlton Whisky. This is a bottle which was due to be released for Christmas but ended up being delayed and was finally out a couple of weeks ago. So what is it? First, where is it from? The bottle is produced by Chorlton Whisky a small independent bottler based in south Manchester. David, the owner is keen to present whisky he likes in the best way possible so his single casks bottles are offered at cask strength, in their original colour and without chill-filtration. A pretty good start. Next, the name? Còig Deicheadan means Five Decades in Gaelic so you get where this is heading.  The components? The information available for this bottle give us 4 names for this blended malt: Glenturret, Highland Park, Macallan and Bunnahabhain (looks like an Edrington mix!) T...

After the Edition 2 reviewed on the 22nd January, another Macallan today with the standard 12 years old, sherry matured. Well, when I say standard, I mean their entry point on the age statement sherry matured range. The age statement bottles of Macallan had disappeared for a few years to be replaced by NAS bottles, or the "stripper range" as a Dewars rep' called them, with names like Gold, Amber, Sienna and Ruby. These NAS received very mixed reviews but I could not really comment as I am yet to try any of them. I guess that, having realised their customers were enjoying their product as much as before, Macallan decided to reintroduce ages on their bottles, hence my 12 years old. It is certainly not the cheapest 12 years old out there at around £65 a bottle but then again, the Macallan name is one of the most prestigious and sought-after in the world of (wealthy) whisky enthusiasts. So is the price tag justified? Macallan pride themselves in spending "more per c...

I remember the first time I heard of the Macallan distillery, probably over 10 years ago when my uncle -a keen whisky drinker- told us it was, in his opinion, the best bottle of single malt you could buy in a (French) supermarket. He was certainly talking about the 10 years old, which was at the time widely available. Despite being one of the most know distillery, it has taken me a while to come round to purchasing a bottle of Macallan. The reason why is simple: most people I spoke to, and reviews I read about their current range (particularly the Gold) were not very positive, and everybody seemed to miss the former age statement sherried range. The problem is that as Macallan is a very collectible distillery, older age-statement bottles are out of my drinking price range. As far as this limited release is concerned however, the critiques are completely different, and most people think that this is a great example of what Macallan can produce so I thought I would get hold of a bott...