Craigellachie – a brand new range of single malts that pay tribute to the original distilling methods of 1891. The Craigellachie distillery was described as old-fashioned even in 1891 as they used ‘worm tubs’ to cool the vapour down and condense the spirit back into liquid form. This increasingly rare and old fashioned method is still in use at Craigellachie today and creates a unique strong and meaty character.

Craigellachie 13 year old

The colour of Pinot Grigio white wine, from refill American oak casks. A youthful nose, with creamy rice pudding as a top note, acidic tropical fruitiness in the middle and the most subtle hint of smoke at the back. The taste follows this: sweet, acidic, slightly smoky.
Tasting notes by Charlie Maclean
70cl, non chillfiltered, 46% ABV.
£50 – Click here to buy

Craigellachie 17 year old

Full gold in colour, from American oak casks. Strikingly more aromatic and fruity that the 13YO: An oily mouthfeel and a sweet, slightly acidic taste, with nougat in the aftertaste.
Tasting notes by Charlie Maclean.
70cl, non chillfiltered, 46% ABV.
£96 – Click here to buy

Craigellachie 23 year old

Chardonnay in colour, from American oak casks. A deeply mellow aroma, with putty and woodsmoke. A voluptuous texture, and all these scents are translated into tastes. A drop of water develops both aroma and taste, now slightly mentholated. A delicious dram.
Tasting notes by Charlie Maclean
70cl, non chillfiltered, 46% ABV.
£385 – Click here to buy

After enjoying years of the Willett’s bourbon and rye “bottlings” we were excited to receive and taste Rye “distilled” by them. The nose is quite lovely and light, with some clove and buttered pickles. With H2O: floral qualities, cinnamon; Palate has notes of toffee, candied fruits, marmalade.

Buy Now: $48.99

Malt of the Month – Glengoyne 18 Year Old

It’s time for our next Malt of the Month, and for September we’ve chosen Glengoyne 18 Year Old. Our selection is based purely on highlighting whiskies that often get overlooked – either within a distillery’s range or the category as a whole.

Introduced in 2012 to replace the popular 17 Year Old, the 18 Year Old benefits from an additional year’s ageing, which adds another layer of complexity and richness. Aged entirely in sherry casks, with a high proportion being first-fill, it’s rich and full-bodied – and with Glengoyne using just warm air to dry the barley, it’s entirely unpeated, allowing the quality and character of the spirit to shine through.

The distillery straddles the line between the Highlands and Lowlands and the spirit is often of a lighter and delicate style – more in line with the latter than the former region in which it sits.

Glengoyne 18 Year Old, 43%. £61.45 this month (usually £73.45).

Nose: Rich and pronounced fresh-fruit notes: apple, pineapple and papaya, with malt and toffee in the background, along with a hint of cinnamon.

Palate: The richness continues, but with the fruit notes of apple and pineapple superseded by prominent notes of nut and spice: hazelnut, nutmeg and clove.

Finish: Medium to long, with the fruit and nut slowly dissipating to leave the spicy flavours.

Comment: A rich and spicy whisky, with the added complexity that the additional year’s maturation gives, compared to its predecessor. It may not be priced in the everyday whisky bracket, but its approachability and fullness of flavour mean it’s not a whisky that should only be enjoyed on special occasions.

Sitting in the middle of the distillery’s core range, this more than surpasses the discontinued 17-year-old – it’s won awards in three continents, so the judges agree, too. At £12 off for the month of September, it’s even better value – head to The Whisky Exchange website to buy a bottle.

The Tomatin Distillery Co Ltd has announced some exciting new limited edition releases with a strong emphasis on Sherry. 

The Tomatin Cuatro Series presents four unique limited edition expressions of Tomatin Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky. 

All distilled on the same day, the whisky was matured for nine years in traditional American Oak casks and was then transferred to four different types of Sherry butts for a period of over three years. As a result each of the four expressions have developed their own unique characteristics. The range includes: Fino, Manzanilla, Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez. 

With its Spanish sherry inspiration, the name “Cuatro” is fitting as the Spanish word for “four”. 

Graham Eunson, Distillery Manager, launched the new release with a Tweet Tasting on the evening of 3^rd September, where selected tasters were provided samples of each expression along with its relevant Sherry. He said: “We are constantly striving to innovate and push boundaries and I believe Cuatro is a great example of something yet again different from Tomatin Distillery. Sherry is a key feature within our core range and this limited series allows us to delve deeper into the different effects it can have on our whisky.” 

There are 1500 bottles of each expression available and each is expected to retail at £49.99. 

Staying with the Sherry theme, the company has also added to its Cù Bòcan brand range with another limited edition: the Sherry edition. With the standard edition comprising Sherry, Virgin Oak and Bourbon casks, this is the first of three limited editions highlighting the flavours derived from each cask type. 

Fully matured in first fill Sherry butts, the Sherry edition is rich and fruity with hints of smoke and paprika. There are only 6000 bottles available and it is expected to retail at £49.99 in specialist retailers.

The further two limited editions will be released in 2015.

The Owners Cask Suntory • Single Cask Whisky • Distilled in 1992 •
Bottled in 2011 • Cask Type: Hogshead • Distillery: Hakushu • Cask Number: 2B 40276
60 Bottles available

Price: 480 Euro a bottle

Special Japan release only Mount Fuji bottle
Only 2000 bottles ever made for Japan market only
24 Bottles available

Price: 380 Euro a bottle 

Terms & Conditions
Payment in full on order. Shipping, packing and insurance costs not included. Local taxes and duty buyers responsibility. Over 18 Year old only may purchase.Delivery within 60 days of order or sooner.All orders are Subject to availability 

Cask 88 are European and Asia based fine & rare single malt whisky, cognac and rum merchants who supply rare and fine bottles and casks to collectors, investors and the trade. We own the majority of our own stock, sourcing from private collectors and respected dealers around the world. We store and handle our bottles with the greatest care. Our current inventory stands at over 35,000 bottles and 250 casks.

These exclusive offers are an opportunity to work more closely with you to provide highly sought after bottles and casks at the most competitive prices. Please let us know if you have any special requests or needs and we will do our utmost to work together with you and enhance your collection, portfolio or business.

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SEPTEMBER OUTTURN: BRACE YOURSELF

Out on the moors and hills, game season is underway. Which means we’ve been having a veritable field day matching sumptuous wild game with exquisite Society whisky. This month’s Outturn contains the fruits of our labour: 12 glorious flavour profiles, each carefully paired with a game meat, that will steer you towards the rare, single cask bottling – or bottlings – of your choice. Take your pick from our Glorious 12…

Young & spritely with woodcock

76.120 Sweetie shop wish list
BUY £48.40

Sweet, fruity & mellow with mallard

9.91 A whispering dram
BUY £83.70

Spicy & sweet with hare

26.104 Runny honey and chilli pepper
BUY £53.00

2.88 Cinderella weeping over matchmakers
BUY £80.50

73.66 Toffee and humbugs in a tea chest
MORE

Exclusive to offers

Spicy & dry with grouse

121.75 Indian potpourri
BUY £48.10

Deep, rich & dried fruits with roe deer

35.120 Sugar and spice and all things nice
BUY £43.80

Old & dignified with wood pigeon

59.51 A refined cocktail
BUY £137.60

Light & delicate with red deer

26.105 Bumblebees by the sea
BUY £122.60

Juicy, oak & vanilla with partridge

91.20 The rumbling thunder of contentment
BUY £262.10

G4.7 Flying saucers and foamy shrimps (GRAIN)
BUY £83.10

Oily & coastal with rabbit

66.57 Asian Delight
MORE
Exclusive to offers

Lightly peated with guinea fowl

3.225 Galleon attacked by pirates
BUY £60.00

Peated with wild salmon

53.212 Peat smoke and Para Handy puffers
BUY £89.60

Heavily peated with wild boar

10.77 Beware of the monster
Limited availability in UK: On sale from 9am, Fri 5 Sept MORE
£49.00

Browse new Outturn

Browse all bottlings

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, The Vaults, 87 Giles Street, Leith EH6 6BZ Contact: sales@smws.com or call 0131 555 2929 (Mon-Fri 9am-4.45pm). Visit the Society at here for membership information This is your chance to join and to take advantage of their great offers!

Spot the SMWS bottles in this amusing You Tube video

The Kilchoman Port Cask Matured limited release is now available to order at the Whisky Shop! Stock is very limited with all orders dealt with on a first come first served basis.

The Kilchoman Port Cask Matured is the first of its kind from the distillery, it is fully matured in ex Ruby Port casks allowing for the full influence of the port casks to be imparted into the whisky. The Port Cask Matured release is non chill-filtered and is natural colour. It is bottled at 55% ABV

Official Tasting Notes

The Port Cask Matured has a mahogany colour with a touch of ruby. The nose is powerful with lemon and citrus notes and the palate has smoke right away along with sweet, nutty milk chocolate character. There is a heavy textured finish which drifts away to dry smoke with oakiness.

£77 – Click here to buy

‘Dylan’ Icons of Wales Special Edition Sherrywood finish Single Malt, comes beautifully packaged and contains a small notebook featuring some of Dylan’s words as well as some evocative sketches. Buy now

We are concentrating on the wood……

The most common question people ask is why we use old oak casks that have had other spirits in prior to the scotch whisky.

There are two main reasons. Firstly the lack of British Oaks due to our past endeavours building ships and homes without replacing the felled trees hence the way our moorland’s look today (Not as natural as some imagine).

The second reason is the abundance of American & European oaks available, added to the mix Bourbons can only be matured in fresh wood it makes perfect sense to re-use them in Scotland for malt whisky production plus environmentally its a good thing.

Springbank Distillery 12 Year Old – 70cl / 54.3%

First whisky off the block is the new Springbank 12 year old cask strength, it’s a 65% sherry cask and refill bourbon casks.  We had this dram on our tasting evenings after the open day tasting we held on August 1st’ General view is it’s probably the best 12 year old cask strength in the series so far this year! I have to say it’s got a lot going on with a perfectly balanced taste that we all know and love from Springbank, the sherry wood never over dominates. Available now.

Longrow Red Port Cask from Springbank Distillery – 70cl / 53.7%

The next whisky is still awaiting the final bottling run at the distillery, it’s the new and rather amazing Longrow 11 year old Port wood cask. It’s name is Longrow Red 11 year old, just like last years this is a limited edition with 9000 bottles world wide, as usual we will have a larger delivery to ensure it lasts a few weeks (Hopefully). The colour is a rich red-pink amber, the nose is quite simply spectacular, now i am no peaty malt maniac but this one has me hooked. I am even putting my own name down on the hold list for this dram. Expected in-store around the first week of September.

Hazelburn From Springbank 10 Year Old – 70cl / 46%

Another malt still awaiting bottling is the new Hazelburn 10 year old 46% Vol. It’s all change with the Label as a new circular panel replaces the 3 still colour image label we have had since the first 8 year old was released. This is a bourbon cask matured Hazelburn that’s truly transformed the palate to a more highland taste, no smoke or peat as one would expect but most definitely a much bigger palate than the old 8 year bourbon cask used to launch this dram back in the early 2000s. Expected in-store around the first week of September

Glen Garioch: The Renaissance 15yo – celebrating a rebirth

I like Glen Garioch. While their regular range is unchanging, other than when they release a new vintage, they do like a special edition. Following on the heels of the Wine Cask Matured from earlier this year follows the first in a new range, billed as ‘The first chapter in a four-part story’ – Glen Garioch: The Renaissance 15 year old.

Back in 1994 Glen Garioch changed. Owners Morrison Bowmore were acquired by Suntory, and the distillery closed while the new bosses worked out how they wanted to run things in the future. After extensive testing and development, the distillery started up again in 1997, and a variety of changes went in: mash temperatures changed; fermentation times changed; the greenhouse, full of tomatoes and kept warm by waste heat from the distillery, was closed down; and most importantly, the malt changed.

Previously, Glen Garioch used barley from its own maltings, using a low peating level – about 5-10ppm. However, under the new owners, the maltings closed and unpeated malt was brought in. This made a big change to the style of spirit, focusing on malty and fruity flavours without the gentle smoke of earlier bottlings. It’s getting harder to find the old style of whisky, although the 1994 is still available and reasonably priced, but the more recent whiskies are very much now what the distillery is known for.

The Glen Garioch Renaissance series celebrates the distillery’s rebirth, and this first chapter is bottled at 15 years old. It consists only of spirit distilled since the reopening, and focuses on the flavour profile of their new style of whisky.

Glen Garioch: The Renaissance First Chapter, 15 years old

Nose: Sweet and malty, with gentle woody spice. Sour lemon peel sits behind the sweetness, with toffee and hazelnuts.
Palate: Oily and sweet, with more nuts and toffee, as well as buttered brown toast. A little bit of tongue drying tannin but still juicy, with baked apple and vanilla cream.
Finish: Butter toffee, hazelnuts and their skins, crisp apple and a touch of candied orange peel.
Comment: Very much on message: a whisky that shows off what Glen Garioch are all about. It’s rich and malty with some solid spice and a pleasantly oily mouthfeel.

The series will continue over the next three years, with releases of 16, 17 and 18 year old whiskies, to further show the development of the spirit as it matures.