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Glenrothes Vintage 1998

The Glenrothes has a way of categorizing their scotch that is markedly different than most other distilleries. Rather than bearing a standard age statement or name in lieu of one, the Glenrothes labels their offerings by the year in which the barrels were first laid down. The bottle details tell you when the scotch was bottled, letting you do your own math to figure out the age. The Vintage 1998 is from their Core Vintage line, though there are Reserve, Special Release, and Classic lines too.

By Adam | May 17, 2018 | Speyside | No Comments |

Ballechin is a heavily peated scotch from Edradour, differentiated by brand much in the same way Springbank and Bruichladdich do with their peated offerings. It first appeared in 2003 and has seen a few limited releases before this 10 year old appeared on the market. The Ballechin 10 year takes its name from a nearby Perthshire farm distillery that closed in 1927. According to the 19th century travel writer Alfred Barnard, that distillery made a peated malt. This whisky is peated to at least 50ppm.

By Adam | May 1, 2018 | Highland | No Comments |

The Laphroaig 18 Year was initially released in 2009 to replace the old 15 year. The spirits business being ever-changing, the 15 year came back as a special release to celebrate the distillery’s 200th anniversary in 2015. We loved it. After only several years on the market, the 18 year was scuttled at the end of 2016 to make way for the reintroduction of the 15 year (again) as a yearly Friends-of-Laphroaig Cairdeas release. While it’s good to see Laphroaig still hanging on to age statements in the current marketplace, the further limiting of its aged stock means the aged offerings we do have available will be harder to find and, in all likelihood, more expensive. If you can find a bottle of the Laphroaig 18 Year, we heartily recommend you pick one up.

By Adam | January 30, 2018 | Islay | No Comments |