Tomintoul Peaty Tang
$62.09
Tomintoul Peaty Tang is made from a combination of unpeated Tomintoul malt and heavily peated Ballantruan malt also produced at Tomintoul. The result is a Speyside single malt with soft, approachable peat and smoke.
40% ABV
Longrow Peated
$89.99
This whisky was featured on Day 8 of our 2024 KWM Not An Advent Calendar Tastings! You can read more about the whisky here.
Heavily peated single malt from Springbank Distillery in Campbeltown. Matured in ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry casks before being bottled at 46%.
Producer Description
Longrow Peated offers those who enjoy a heavily peated whisky the chance to enjoy a lingering, smoky taste that travels through the senses like the smoke billows from a kiln.
Nikka Coffey Malt 45%
$85.49
Note: Nikka's own website notes that this bottle does not meet the criteria to be called a Japanese Whisky. The good news is that might mean it also contains Ben Nevis Single Malt, as the Ben Nevis Distillery is also owned by Nikka.
It is unusual to see single malt whisky distilled in a column (AKA continuous or Coffey) still, but here you have it and the result is superb. Formerly exclusive to KWM in Alberta, this is one hell of an interesting dram, soft, layered and very complex.
The sugar yield of malted barley compared with corn and wheat is not favourable, especially when you take the cost of malting and corn subsidies into account. So the Nikka Whisky Co. must have some other designs than simply creating bulk whisky by running barley through their Coffey stills.
Signatory Braeval 23 Year 2000 60.4%
$299.99
This 2000 vintage Braeval (aka Braes of Glenlivet) matured 23 years in a Refill Oloroso Sherry Butt, before bottling at 60.4%.
Arran Quarter Cask 56.2%
$78.29
This NAS release from Arran's Lochranza Distillery spent seven years in first fill ex-Bourbon Barrels before being transferred into 125 Litre American Oak Quarter Casks for another two years of maturation. It is bottled at a cask strength of 56.2% ABV with no colouring added and unchill filtered.
Laphroaig Lore
$211.49
Originally released to replace the 18, or was it the 15, who can recall, that was well before Covid... Bottled at 48% from an NAS marriarge of whisky matured in five different cask types.
From the Distillery: "‘Lore’ is a complex marriage of both classical Lahroaig styles and many ages of Laphroaig. The marriage draws from the peaty power of Laphroaig in the same vein as Quarter Cask but with the smoothness of double matured stock finished in European oak hogsheads. To add even further depth and complexity we used our mosy heavily peated whisky matured in ex-Laphroaig barrels along with some fully sherry matured casks. To ensure none of this amazing flavour was lost we bottled Lore at a full 48% ABV and simply barrier filled before bottling. The result is stunningly complex."
Signatory Auchentoshan 24 Yr Symingtons
$643.49
This 1999 vintage Auchentoshan is from a single 1st Fill Oloroso Sherry Butt, bottled after 24 years at 55.6%. 87.17pts Whiskybase.
Nikka Yoichi Single Malt
$82.79
The good old days of plentiful Yoichi 15 and 20 year seem to be long gone. Even this no age statement bottling is hard to come by. We are lucky to receive just a dozen bottles twice a year. 45%.
Producer Description
"This is a single malt from the Yoichi distillery, Nikka's first distillery built in 1934. The founder Masataka Taketsuru chose Yoichi in Hokkaido because of the similar environmental conditions to Scotland, where he learned whisky making. Yoichi single malt has pleasant peaty notes and smokiness originating from the traditional direct coal-fired distillation as well as a briny hint delivered by the sea breeze during the aging process."
Kilchoman Sanaig
$98.99
The Kilchoman Sanaig was featured on Day Ten of our 2022 KWM Whisky Calendar. You can find the blog post on it here.
Also available in 50ml / Mini bottles
The Sanaig is part of Kilchoman's regular release lineup along with the Machir Bay. Kilchoman Sanaig, which is named after an Inlet off the NorthWest coast of Islay, is made from a combination of about 20% ex-Bourbon casks and 80% ex-Sherry Casks - mostly Oloroso Sherry in style. We have noticed the colour on this dram has gotten a fair bit darker over the past few years - possibly due to more first-fill ex-Sherry casks being used... Bottled at 46%.
From the Distillery
"Sanaig, a small rocky inlet North West of the distillery is the name given to this continuously available release. Sanaig has a predominantly sherry cask influence owing to the significant time spent in oloroso sherry Hogsheads. These aged oloroso casks contribute a drastically transformed depth of colour and character compared to the mostly Bourbon cask matured Machir Bay. “A beautiful marriage of bourbon and sherry maturation balanced with classic Islay peat smoke and light citrus sweetness” Anthony Wills, Founder.