Archive for August, 2025

Glengoyne 18 & 21 ~ Introducing a fresh new look – Scotch Whisky News

Glengoyne 18 Year Old

Matured in a generous share of Oloroso sherry casks, our 18 Year Old Highland Single Malt is rich, rounded, and full-bodied, with indulgent notes of marzipan and a long, warming finish.

COLOUR
Medium gold with a rich glow.

NOSE
Awash with red apple, ripe melon and fresh banana. Heavenly and well rounded, it drifts into hot porridge topped with brown sugar.

PALATE
Full bodied, round and rich. At first macerated fruits, marzipan and walnuts; then warm spices, dry cocoa and lingering Seville marmalade.

Glengoyne 21 Year Old Sherry Oak

Matured exclusively in sherry casks, our 21 Year Old Sherry Oak Highland Single Malt is a festive delight – Christmas cake in a glass, brimming with honey, rich fruits, and a gentle cinnamon spice on the finish.

COLOUR
Deep Copper, meandering legs

NOSE
Red apples, toffee, sherry, spicy strudel.

PALATE

Lots of Sherry, honey, oak with a developing aromatic sensation. Ends with a heavenly cinnamon nip.

Douglas Laing ‘Rock Island 16 Years Old Sherry Cask’ – Scotch Whisky News

Rock Island

16 Years Old Sherry Cask

In case you missed it…

For the first time ever, our adventurous Blended Malt Scotch Whisky, Rock Island, has been released at 16 years old. A true island adventure in a bottle, it unites single malts from Orkney, Arran, Jura and Islay, before spending time maturing mostly in hand-selected Spanish Sherry casks. Expect a richly maritime, subtly smoky dram that captures the spirit of the sea — and then some.+

Abv: 46.8% | Vol:70cl | Cask: Predominantly matured in Spanish Sherry Casks | Spec: No Colour Added | Spec: No Chill-Filtration

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An extraordinary encapsulation of the very best Single Malts distilled on the glorious islands of Islay, Arran, Jura and Orkney (amongst others), Rock Island is a subtle, smoky and sweet celebration of the sea. Part of the Remarkable Regional Malts range, the ultimate distillation of Scotland’s Malt Whisky Regions.

DISCOVER NEW YAMAZAKI: 18 & 25 YEAR OLD – The Whisky Exchange News

DISCOVER NEW YAMAZAKI:
18 & 25 YEAR OLD

The unmistakable style of Yamazaki owes much to careful fermentation, distillation and blending – but it’s the influence of Mizunara that sets these two whiskies apart.

This native Japanese oak is famously difficult to work with, but the flavours it imparts are captivating. Yamazaki is the only distillery on earth with the stocks to produce these single malts.

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Share the Whisky Love – Our New Ardnamurchan Exclusive! – Scotch Whisky News

 

ARDNAMURCHAN 

NORTH STAR – AW EXCLUSIVE

We’re delighted to present our latest Abbey Whisky Exclusive, created in partnership with the award winning independent Scotch whisky bottler, North Star Spirits. Distilled at Ardnamurchan in 2019 and fully matured in a peated sherry butt, this rare release was bottled at natural cask strength, 52.6% vol and limited to just 60 bottles. To make the experience even more special, each purchase includes a 3cl miniature of the very same whisky, the perfect chance to share a dram with someone special and spread the whisky love.

This is a rare opportunity to enjoy an exceptional whisky release that captures the craft and quality of both Ardnamurchan and North Star Spirits.

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Turning Time into Liquid Gold: The Deliberate, Patient Craft Behind Whisky Maturation – Scotch Whisky News

Turning time into liquid gold: the deliberate, patient craft behind whisky maturation

Making whisky is a slow process. Deliberately slow. How does time and expertise transform raw spirit into a mature, refined liquid?

A slow, transformative journey

It takes a minimum of three years of cask maturation for a whisky to be legally classified as Scotch. But at Diageo, we allow our whiskies to mature far longer than that, using patience and expertise to turn time into liquid gold.

We have always believed that the magic of Scotch whisky lies in its unique maturation process – a slow, transformative journey that takes place within the humble cask. For generations, our coopers, distillers, and blenders have relied on experience, intuition, and tradition to craft exceptional spirits.

Innovation partnership

The maturation journey

As whisky ages in oak casks, it transforms from a raw spirit into a complex, nuanced sip, extracting flavours and aromas from the wood and developing its signature character. The interaction between the spirit and cask impacts the whisky’s final flavour, making high quality oak casks essential to maturation. This process, often lasting decades, enriches the whisky’s profile and increases its market value.

At Diageo, we use oak casks which nurture and mature the spirit, adding sweetness, colour, and complexity. Most of our Scotch matures in former bourbon casks for vanilla and coconut notes, or seasoned European Oak and ex-sherry casks for richness. Cask selection, finishing, our investment in maturation technology, and the Master Blender’s expertise ensure each whisky reaches its full potential.

How do we use cutting-edge data and technology in Scotch production?

Producing a quality Scotch whisky is an art. The new Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Heriot-Watt and Diageo is particularly exciting because it combines traditional and novel methods to generate ‘big data’ that may be used to further understand whisky maturation.

Professor Annie Hill

Heriot-Watt ICBD

Crafted with care

We currently have more than 10 million casks of whisky for our 100 brands maturing across Scotland, preparing for future celebrations around the world. Over the last decade, we have invested more than $1 billion dollars into Scotch whisky, including data insight and technology solutions, which put us at the cutting edge of Scotch production.

Our Scotch Intelligence Platform (SIP) is central to this process, with AI and increased scenario modelling allowing us to reclaim tens of thousands of litres of whisky from liquid losses during maturation. SIP also allows us to ship our bottles of Scotch around the world to the right markets, at the right time, to retain and recruit consumers. Craft, care and investment is what transforms our Scotch into liquid gold, both in terms of flavour development and value.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR SCOTCH BRANDS

CLICK WHISKY AUCTIONS AUGUST 2025 AUCTION ENDS TONIGHT! – Auction Whisky News

AUGUST 2025 AUCTION ENDS TONIGHT!

Fear not, there is still time to bid on your favourite bottles, including this stunning bottle of Macallan Time: Space Mastery. Released in September 2024 to mark the 200th anniversary of the Macallan Distillery. Beautifully presented in a curiously shaped circular bottle symbolising life’s enduring cycle, paying homage to the history and story of the distillery and Its age old whisky making processes.

Or how about this stunning bottling, which was distilled in 1983 at Dallas Dhu, aged for 23 years and then bottled at an unspecified date for the distillery caretakers Historic Scotland.

Released in 2012 to celebrate Burns night, this beautiful bottling of Cutty Sark with elaborate case depicts a scene from the legendary Burns poem Tam O’Shanter and comes with a hardback book which includes the poem itself, stunning artwork inspired by the poem and a brief history. This 25 year old Blend is one of only 5,000 produced.

Another little cracker, this 25 Years Old Bushmills bottling was released in 2023 to mark the 415th anniversary of obtaining a licence to distil Bushmills. matured in Bourbon barrels and Sherry butts for between four and six years before finishing in first-fill Ruby Port pipes for the final 21 years.

These are only a few of the lots in our August 2025 Auction, to view more, visit clickwhiskyauctions.com. Register to bid. Remember, you’ve got to be in it to win it! Auction ends this evening  (Sunday 17th August) from 8pm UK time.

Little Brown Dog: Our Summer Releases Are Now Available – Scotch Whisky News

Fort William and Campbeltown are two of Scotland’s better known west coast towns. The intrepid explorers that we are we’ve visited both and brought back some exceptional whisky. No fridge magnets or cuddly highland cows for us.

When not exploring the westernmost points on the map we’ve been doing a little blending, and we think you might enjoy what we’ve been up to.

Campbeltown

We’re not ones to use superlatives or exaggeration but our Campbeltown Mega Blend might be the best thing to come out of Kintyre since Paul McCartney noticed mist rolling in from the sea. We’ve taken whisky from all the working distilleries in Campbeltown and blended them into something special. This isn’t just a blend, this is a mega blend. Each whisky was aged for a minimum of 9 years and each brings something special to the palate. There are only a few hundred bottles, we wish we could have made more.

A couple of new dogs

A new Wee Mongrel and a Drookit Dug for 2025. The Drookit Dug is what we call our session dram, something really good that you don’t need to save for a special occasion. We created this with ourselves in mind, for evenings when a couple of friends drop round for a catch up. It’s a mix of malt and grain whiskies created from the same parcel of stock as before, but each has had another year to mature. One of the interesting aspects of Drookit Dug is it’s 45.2% vol but still cask strength, and created from whisky aged for a minimum of 9 years.

Our Wee Mongrel has a louder bark. With more than a hint of sherry this is fully sherry cask matured, refill Oloroso butt and 1st fill Pedro Ximenez hogshead with whisky aged for at least 22 years. It’s cask strength and very, very good. We believe this is our finest Wee Mongrel to date, let us know if you agree. We also think it’ll be our last Wee Mongrel for the foreseeable future. The whiskies we use are now so expensive it’s becoming cost prohibitive. We’ll see.

The highest peak

Iconic, bigger than anything in the country and quite the challenge, but enough about our famous rally win a few months back, instead let us introduce you to our Ben Nevis single malt. Ben Nevis has such a unique distillate character, it’s here in abundance but beautifully balanced with the wood, rounded by 26 years of maturation. The Ben Nevis distillery sits in the shadow of the UK’s highest mountain at Fort William. While most people return with blisters and knee problems we picked up a rather special 1999 hogshead. This is an exceptional single cask, single malt. Ben Nevis’s Japanese owners wisely keep most of their whisky for themselves, but we know a man who knows a man and were fortunate to get this little gem. We even managed to stop Chris from mentioning the war…

Ben Nevis 1999  Aged 26 Years

 

Aged beautifully in an ex-bourbon hogshead so there’s only 220 of these. Don’t delay. We avoided the obvious stereotypes and have Koi carp on the label as a gentle nod to the owners of Ben Nevis distillery.

Wee Mongrel

2025’s Wee Mongrel is a sherry finished stunner, if we do say so ourselves. A blend with a minimum age of 22 years there are, and will only ever be, 497 bottles. Probably our last Wee Mongrel we are sorry to say.

Campbeltown Mega Blend

Specially selected single malt from every working distillery in Campbeltown, expertly blended by our own fair hands. 1st fill bourbon Glen Scotia, 12 and 16yo Kilkerran and 10 and 21yo Springbank.

Drookit Dug

It’s back for 2025, but not for long… A perfectly balanced blend of grain and malt that have each been matured for a further 12 months. 45.2% ABV cask strength. At only £45 we think it’s perfectly priced as well.

On Our Travels

We’ll be in Sweden in September, sharing stories about our spirits and asking what the rallying is like to anyone we meet. We’ll be doing something similar in Denmark in October. Check our social media for news on venues and dates nearer the time.

We’re also attending the Glasgow Whisky Festival on November 8th. If you’re at any event we’re at please do come over and say ‘hello’, while we know we’re extremely important now we still like to make time for the little people…

LIMITED NUMBERS AVAILABLE

As ever at Little Brown Dog we are only able to bottle a small number of each of our whisky releases. We choose them carefully, each one is a whisky we’d drink ourselves, each one is different, there’s something special about it, that’s why we chose it. We like nothing better than talking about whisky and answering any questions you might have, so find us on social media. All of our available releases are on our website too.

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Kingsbarns Distillery “Bourbon and Sherry Casks Available for Private Ownership” – Scotch Whisky News

 

Over the past few weeks we’ve shared the exciting opportunity to own a private cask of Kingsbarns whisky — and the response has been incredible. Whether you’ve been dreaming of a smooth ex-Bourbon barrel or the rich depths of an ex-Sherry hogshead, this is your moment to claim one and watch your own whisky mature in our bonded warehouses.

Your cask includes:

  • 10 years’ storage & insurance
  • Online system to manage and view your cask
  • Sample requests throughout maturation

If you’ve been meaning to join our cask community, now’s the time — once these are gone, they’re gone. Reserve your cask below. If you would like any more information or to discuss your options, please email: casks@kingsbarnsdistillery.com

Slàinte,
The Kingsbarns Team

The Whisky Shop “Isle of Harris Distillery Private Cask Offer!” 🥃 – Scotch Whisky News

Isle of Harris Private Cask Offer

Perfect for lovers of whisky and Harris, the newly distilled spirit will be aged in a first fill Kentucky Bourbon Cask delivering a deep but subtle influence on its flavour and colour. Working with the elements and climate of Harris itself the whisky will mature at a time of your choosing to produce the unique substance of your personally inscribed cask.

After four, seven and ten years you will be able to savour a sample of the 200 litres of spirit to then bottle when you think it is ready.

Cask programmes can make for excellent investment opportunities. If you decide to sell on the whisky from your cask, you could be making yourself a healthy return although like any investment there are risks.  Alternatively, you could pitch in on a cask with a group of friends or fellow whisky enthusiasts. Even if you don’t decide to sell on the whisky from your cask, you have a whisky of your very own to enjoy with family and friends.

Priced at £5,500 per Cask
(W Club Premium Members can claim a £500 discount)

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Free Next Day Delivery for 12 Months For just £14.95 you can enjoy free next day delivery on all your orders for a whole year! Geographic restrictions apply, see full T&Cs. Find out more

Glengoyne: Introducing Glengoyne 12 Year Old First Fill Edition – A Travel Exclusive – Scotch Whisky News

An Extraordinary Journey in Every Sip

Discover the Glengoyne 12 Year Old First Fill Edition – a beautifully balanced masterpiece crafted exclusively for travellers. Part of the ‘Spirit of Time’ range exclusive to Global Travel Retail, this 1 Litre treasure is matured in first fill American Oak Bourbon and Oloroso Sherry casks, delivering a rich, full-bodied experience.

Glengoyne 12 Year Old
First Fill Edition

With notes of pineapple cubes, maraschino cherry, and vanilla custard on the nose, followed by a chewy sweetness of apricots and soft spices on the palate, every sip is a journey of indulgence. The finish? A satisfying crescendo of sherry, tropical notes, and a hint of spearmint. Awarded Gold at the International Spirits Challenge 2025, this 43% ABV expression is available at selected travel retail outlets.

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