Sherry

Glenrothes Sherry Cask Reserve

The Glenrothes distillery is guided by what it calls its four corners: Water, Slow Distillation, Sherry Seasoned Casks, and Natural Color. The distillery also relaunched its brand recently, doing away with the previous method of categorizing its line and returning age statements. This is a refreshing choice given how many brands are going in the opposite direction. While the current line is mostly age statements, however, the Glenrothes Sherry Cask Reserve is from before the relaunch and, as the name would indicate, entirely aged in ex-sherry casks. It first appeared in 2014. We bought the bottle some time before this review went live, so what was once an easy introduction to a sherried single malt is now about a discontinued offering.

By Adam | September 5, 2019 | Speyside | No Comments |

2017 marked the 200th anniversary of Bladnoch. The southernmost distillery in Scotland, it was once known as “Queen of the Lowlands.” Living in the shadow of regional brethren Auchentoshan and Glenkinchie, it has closed several times due to a variety of circumstances. The current owner, David Prior, is the first Australian to own a Scottish whisky distillery. The latest relaunch in 2016 was aided by legendary Master Blender Ian MacMillan, which means this bottle of Bladnoch 12 contains product from an earlier period in the distillery’s storied history. This whisky comes with either the distillery on the label or a sheep (like ours).

By Adam | January 10, 2019 | Lowland | No Comments |

The Irish whiskey tradition is every bit as proud – and sometimes convoluted – as their Scottish neighbors to the east. Distilled at the New Middleton Distillery for Irish Distillers, an arm of the Pernod Recard, and distributed by Mitchell & Son of Dublin, keeping track of the Green Spot from barley to bottle can be an adventure in and of itself. Regardless, Green Spot is a bonded whisky and one of the few remaining pot still whiskies left in Ireland, deriving its name from the practice of marking casks of different ages with a spot of colored paint to tell them apart. At one time a 10 year old whiskey, the current iteration is made up of whiskies aged 7-10 years. The whiskey has been steadily popular over the past century and more. An older sibling, the Yellow Spot, is aged in Malaga wine casks.

By Adam | December 5, 2017 | Foreign | No Comments |