I’m always up to trying new expressions from Springbank, those are rarely below the very good mark. They have been toying with quite some wood finishes over there : Barolo, Shiraz, Marsala, and more, but Calvados is a finish I’ve almost never tried, not in SB’s and not elsewhere, and it was really interesting to see what this one might …

It’s about time I posted my notes on this one, as I’ve been meaning to for a long time. A bourbon. yes, but not any bourbon, but a very special one : finished in Port casks after being aged in fresh oak casks, as bourbons should.
Basically this is one is born out of love and passion , Lincoln Henderson’s, love …

Continuing our Benriach sessions, with another finish, this time an older 17 year old Rioja wine finish. For those of you who are not familiar with the wine world, Rioja denotes a wine region in Spain. Rioja wines are made from vines growing in the La Rioja region, as well as some part of Navarra, and the Basque province of …

It’s blend time again. This time a finished blends which i find very interesting. Originally Six Isles is a blended scotch from Ian McLeod distillers consisting of  whiskies from each of Scotland’s whisky producing islands of Islay, Jura, Skye, Mull, Orkney and Arran. This wee dram was further matured (finished) in Pomerol casks (from the Pomerol wine Appellation)

Six Isles …

Well, it’s nearly the end of the GlenDronach time period at Whisky Israel, and to sum up the finishes section I’ve saved the best for last (finish wise). I bring you the 20 year old Tawny Port finish, of a 20 year old GD whisky. After a good Sauternes, and even better Moscatel, it was hard to top those two, …

After a short detour in Dalmore land, we’re back to GlenDronach country, and we’re beginning to explore some wood finishes . The first of which is the ‘Virgin Oak’ finish. While some may argue that a finish masks imperfections in a medium quality malt, others would argue that a good finish adds complexity, without overshadowing the underlying malt. I tend …

The Jura distillery is celebrating it’s 200th anniversary and  to commemorate this event,  it has released a unique version of it’s 21 year old expression. Available from the island or from whisky merchants,  this dram was matured in vintage sherry barrels from 1963. The Box includes contains an exclusive invitational scroll from Distillery Manager, Willie Cochrane, to a special tasting …

After tasting the ‘vanilla’ it’s time to continue with a cask finished version of the same spirit. This expression was finished in Portuguese ruby, tawny and vintage Port wine casks and then reduced to 40%. It will be interesting to see how the port finish affects this already, very fruity and exotic profile.
The packaging is a bit weird, with a …

The last post this week in the Wine finishes series deals with a Bowmore. Yes, I’ve not really been a fan od Bowmore . So i liked the ‘Tempest’ 10 year old, but most of their OB line-up is not really exciting. But this finish did interest me and i decided to give it a try, see what’s it all …

After the wonderful Barolo finished  (Nebbiolo grapes) Longrow, we’re staying in peat-land but this time we are moving from Campbletown to Islay – home of the Bruichladdich distillery.
A lot has been said about Bruichladdich, for good and for worse, but the fact is that in recent years they have been experimenting with all sorts of casks, finishes , up …