Back in 2015 David Stirk released the David Rampling Series. A series of 12 bottlings with special labels by David Rampling. It’s all about falcons with this artist, so it’s not overly surprising that the labels all contain those. Since then, David Stirk has sold The Creative Whisky Company and continued his whisky escapades with a consultancy firm, a shop and a new brand of independent bottlings. But, with The Creative Whisky Co. bottlings still being available the old name is not going away anytime soon. This bottle, though, has gone away. I finished the last couple of drams over the weekend ..read more

Glenlaid is a new brand by Stravaig Spirits, who also bottle the Tri Carragh line of single casks. More on those single casks soonish. To get a bit of continuity Ryan and Ola decided to not bottle everything as a single cask, single malt. Glenlaird is the brand to do that with. Currently there is a 10 and a 12 year old which they want to have as their default range. There might be an extension of that standard range in the future. These single malts are of an undisclosed provenance to get a bit of leeway in what is to be used in the make-up. In the case of the the 10 year old they know it to b ..read more

I believe it was early 2023 that I put my greasy mitts on these two bottles through the Whiskybase Newsletter. Last week, I decided it was high time that I emptied them. Both whiskies are Irish Single Malts, distilled at Bushmills distillery and bottled by Rolf Kaspar under their Lichtburg Historic Series. One matured in bourbon cask 19, the other one in cask 22. Apart from the bottler and the series name, there also is a title for each bottle. One is called the Entrée Single Cask, the other one is called the Golden Twenties cask. Both whiskies are from peated barley. Buhsmills 21, 2001-2022 ..read more

This Caroni, from the sadly closed distillery in Trinidad and Tobago, was bottled last year by Polish bottler Jack Tar. It’s from their ‘Cosmic series’ which, in the 2023 release added this one and another Caroni ‘Mars’ to the line-up. I got the samples a little while ago and decided that the current weather called for a rum more than it did for a whisky. Especially after the last nine months of autumn. So here goes the closing drink of the weekend. Image from Jack Tar Sniff: While it’s very intense and rich, there’s also a lightness to it. Molasses and brown sugar, some syrupy notes of oak. T ..read more

Finn Thomson, not to be confused with the ThomPson brothers, but also a bottler of Scotch whisky. In sort-of fancy hexagonal bottles (or was is an octagon?). Anyway, the bottle came in a tube similarly ‘gonal’, which made the tube surprisingly flimsy, but with enough bubble-wrap things were A-Okay. This one was recommended to me at the Hielander Whisky Festival by whisky buddy MD. Before the weekend was over, I had placed an order for one. This one is a belter, and it seems more and more like Linkwood is on a roll with whiskies distilled around 2010 (looking at Dram Mor, Michiel Wigman, this o ..read more

Back when David Stirk was head-honcho of the Creative Whisky Company there were ups and downs for the bottler. As soon as he did things with normal casks, the whiskies were thoroughly enjoyable, but the ones with the Exclusive Casks label were a bit ‘out there’. But, with him stepping down a couple years ago and now the appearance of a new brand, I’m quite enthusiastic about what it could bring. And so, when a Bruichladdich from what appears to be a bourbon cask pops up, I’m game. If that Bruichladdich is sort-of affordable (especially compared to most Bruichladdichs being released nowadays ..read more

Back in the day, when I still was innocent and unspoiled I bought a bottle of this at De Whiskykoning. I absolutely loved it, the fruitiness, the fierceness, the differentiation of what Glenlivet was known for. The entire package spoke to me. Of course, we’re 17 years further down the line and I have had the possibility to taste many fine drams over the years. One cannot help but wonder if this still holds up. Of course one can, but this one cannot. Image from Whiskybase So, when a bottle bubbled up from the same shop’s warehouse, I instantly pounced on it and did a bottle share with it. I jus ..read more

With this being a slightly more rare Irish whisky, it would make sense that MvZ supplied me with the sample I tried. However, I don’t see his rating on Whiskybase, so I’m second guessing myself. Image from Whiskybase While it’s far from the most exciting brand, Jameson rarely comes at cask strength, and older whiskies from Midleton tend to be rather good. So, I got excited. This one’s a mix of bourbon and sherry casks, and even though it’s a special edition there were 15,000 bottles released. It should not be overly surprising that there are some knocking about six years after. Sniff: There’s ..read more

KCWS stands for King’s Court Whisky Society, although based on the label of these bottles, they abbreviate it to KWCS instead. It’s a whisky club located in Haarlem, The Netherlands and it has been around for quite a while. I was a member at some point but cancel my membership after I didn’t go to any events for several years in a row. Anyway, these two bottlings have so much text on them. There’s ‘The 2019 WF WOW! Project’, but also stuff about it being a delegation bottle, information on the cask and the fact that it is from ‘The Kingdom of the Netherlands’. Oh, and something about no bullsh ..read more

If I were in charge, inaugural releases would always consist of refill bourbon so that the distillery character gets as much spotlight as it can. Simply to show what you’re about and not hide anything behind the influence of previous cask contents. Of course, this might be a terrible thing if regarded from a marketing perspective, because quite a few distilleries are pretty shit when it comes to three year old whisky. Especially, and this makes it an even worse decision, the small distilleries that are trying to take a grassroots, old fashioned approach to whisky-making. Maybe it’s a good thin ..read more