SPRINGBANK 18 YEAR OLD 46%

100% Bourbon

UK RRP £110 – £115

NOSE
Tropical fruits are at the forefront in notes of papaya and pineapple. There is a malty, dried barley note, with vanilla and custard creams.

PALATE
Notes of golden syrup and honeyed granola emerge on the palate, along with fruit gums, pear drops and butter icing.

FINISH
The tropical fruits carry through to the finish, with the addition of a herbaceous, gorse note and a touch of sea salt.

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof “Batch B524” Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

750ml $69.99

The old stalwart from Elijah Craig released originally more than 10 years ago has become a standard barrier for the category. Heaven Hill does three small batch cask strength releases of their finest well aged stock a year and while they’ve recently deviated from the previous 12-year-old standard, the whiskies are no less impressive at 11 or 13 years old. In fact, some of these slightly younger batches will remind you very quickly that older isn’t always better in bourbon. Clocking in at a modest 11 years and 2 months, you’d be hard pressed to perceive the slightly lower age statement had it not been disclosed. Dense, big and powerful, this extremely well-made bourbon is the benchmark for quality and price in the industry. Clocking in at an inviting 130.6 proof, every single lover of full-strength bourbon will be satisfied after just one sip of this excellent new batch.

David Othenin-Girard | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: July 19, 2024

As Heaven Hill’s competitors continue to increase the prices of even younger casks strength stocks, Elijah Craigs full bore explosiveness and everyday consistency offers an respite from madness elsewhere in the category. And while the taters and flippers might skip this batch because it doesn’t show the big age statement, the rest of us proper drinkers will be quietly enjoying another excellent batch of ECBP. It’s difficult to point to a better bourbon on the shelf under $70 from any producer and as long as you’re initiated into the cask strength club, there’s little risk of not liking this one. Let’s have a taste. The color is a typical deep auburn (1.5). The nose is extremely approachable right off the neck pour but absolutely loves air. Dense caramel sauce, brown sugar syrup, deep roasted oak spice, candied almonds, toasted vanilla bean. Keeps opening and giving with air and time. This is some of the bourboniest bourbon I’ve bourboned in some time. Behind the sweet sugar and oak, flecks of cinnamon, ancient furniture, varnish and stewed plums. On the palate, it’s got surprising lift and gorgeous fruitiness up front. The supple texture is the hallmark here and the dark woody character of the nose does not translate into bitterness or harsh tannin. That said a beautiful building spice takes over after the surprisingly refreshing front and warms the entire body perfectly. This is just really solid in every way. It doesn’t color outside thelines, but honestly we never asked it. It’s an absolute joy to drink and although it’s completely familiar in everyway it’s still exciting from the first nosing to the long lingering finish. Anyone who poopoos this batch for not being 13 years old hasn’t given it a fair shake.

Email: wine@klwines.com
Phone: (877) KL-WINES (Toll Free 877.559.4637)
K&L Wine Merchants 3005 El Camino Real Redwood City, CA 94061 USA
San Francisco, Redwood City, Hollywood CA

Compass Box Flaming Heart 2022 – The Unbottling

Adam tries the Compass Box Flaming Heart 2022 Edition, as featured in the July 2024 Whisky Showcase. Our members scored it 93.74 and put it in the “Smoky & Earthy” flavour profile.

https://www.strathliquor.com/shop/com…

INTRODUCING OUR NEW BOTTLING SERIES: WHISKYLAND

As Whisky Sponge officially draws to an end, it’s about time we introduced our new flagship bottling series: Whiskyland.

Welcome, please unpack all your opinions and pre-conceptions and leave them in a tidy puddle over by that wormhole. Whiskyland is your land, it is a culture and world that you know very well. It is a surreal, often humorous, frequently satirical, reflection of the whisky culture we all live and breathe.

Together, we’ll be exploring strange and wonderful realm over the course of precisely 100 Chapters. You can expect this series to feature bespoke artwork, plenty humour and mischief, and the very best whiskies we can get our mitts on!

WHISKYLAND CHAPTER ONE : SPRINGBANK 1998

When starting any new series, it’s nice to begin in style. It was important for us to have an impressive whisky for our first Chapter of Whiskyland, and we feel pretty confident that this 1st fill sherry butt of Springbank 1998 is every bit as impressive as we could have hoped for.  It has matured fully in this cask for 26 years on location in Campbeltown, before we bottled it at natural cask strength. It’s everything you’d hope for from this distillery, age and cask type.

£975.00

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WHISKYLAND

While Whisky Sponge had the Sponge as its main character, Whiskyland itself is now our character. Imagine ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,’ but for whisky. Each chapter in Whiskyland will feature original artworks that embody the same spirit of inventiveness, mischief, and humour that defined Whisky Sponge.

This series will be home to the best whiskies we can find. Expect single casks, small-batch, and multi-vintage bottlings, all presented in elegant, cognac-style glass bottles. Each chapter will also feature original writing on the rear labels, with underpinning themes of travel, encyclopaedia entries and adventure.

Unlike Whisky Sponge, we’ve decided to be a tad more disciplined with Whiskyland, that means no A & B editions, no side series and no themed off-shoots. Just 100 bottlings, 100 chapters. That’s it. And when it’s done, well, we’ll just have to think of something else…

Chapters Two and Three will follow soon, featuring a Bowmore 2004 and a Glen Grant 1993 respectively. With many other gorgeous drams in the works for the journey ahead.

THE FINAL RUN OF WHISKY SPONGE

As we usher in our new flagship series, Whiskyland, it means saying farewell to the Sponge. But before we do, we are very pleased to introduce to you the last two additions to the Whisky Sponge series: Editions 99 and 100.

How did a change in Spanish law in the 1980s lead to The Scotch Malt Whisky Society owning hundreds of casks in the Andalucian Sherry Triangle and overseeing their seasoning?

The change in legislation meant that sherry had to be bottled in Spain and could no longer be shipped in casks – ending the days of the sherry ‘transportation’ vessel. Instead of importing full sherry butts, bottling the sherry and then filling the cask with whisky, the change in Spanish law forced the whisky world to get a bit more creative and hands-on in getting their hands on sherry casks.

Working with a variety of cooperages and bodegas, the Society now has the ability to have sherry casks created to our specific requirements and then seasoned exactly how we want them. The level of consistent quality is a world away from those transportation casks, and that quality shines through in the sherry cask-matured drams members enjoy today.

Read more on how we’re right in the middle of this sherry seasoning industry, or keep scrolling for some spectacular sherry cask-matured specials below.

READ MORE

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

Highland Park 21 Year Old Isle of Orkney Single Malt Scotch Whisky

(750ml)

$299.99

View

93 points Whisky Advocate

The good news: This is one of the best Highland Park whiskies I have ever tasted. The bad news: it’s the new release for Travel Retail (formerly Duty Free). It’s lush, well-balanced, and very complex. Well-defined notes of toffee, candied fruit, and roasted nuts are accentuated by background honey, chocolate mousse, and smoke. Here’s the icing on the cake: it’s bottled at 47.5%, which really allows the flavors to shine. If you’re going overseas, consider tracking down a bottle. (JH, Summer 2008) 

K&L Notes

In 2009 Highland Park 21 was named “World’s Best Single Malt Whisky.” It’s taken 10 years, but Gordon Motion, Master Whisky Maker at HP has deemed a selection of 21-year-old casks good enough to match and maybe even surpass that quality marker. This limited batch is created from 15 hand-selected casks. Six are first-fill sherry European Oak, four are first-fill sherry American oak, and five are refill casks.

Email: wine@klwines.com
Phone: (877) KL-WINES (Toll Free 877.559.4637)
K&L Wine Merchants 3005 El Camino Real Redwood City, CA 94061 USA
San Francisco, Redwood City, Hollywood CA

The Good Dram Show – Episode 564 ‘Mossburn & Brave New Spirits’

Welcome to this week’s episode of the show featuring new releases from Mossburn Distillers and Brave New Spirits in their Cask Noir series, The Good Dram Show with Chris Goodrum Episode 564 – BNS + MBD = DGEOTS

Filmed in The Kitchen Nottingham

Featuring

Mossburn Distillers No37 ‘Vintage Casks’ North British 2008 (15 year old) 58.8%

Mossburn Distillers No38 ‘Vintage Casks’ Craigellachie 2007 (16 year old) 52.4%

Mossburn Distillers No36 ‘Vintage Casks’ Inchgower 2011 (12 year old) 57.1%

Brave New Spirits Cask Noir ‘Ghost of the Hill’ Port Dundas 2006 (17 year old) 54.6%

Brave New Spirits Cask Noir ‘Ivy In Tennessee’ Blair Athol 2011 (11 year old) 56.7%

Brave New Spirits Cask Noir ‘Telfords Travels in the Rhone Valley’ Craigellachie 2014 (8 year old) 55.1%

Lux Row Distillers releases the third edition of its Blood Oath Trilogy featuring

Pacts 7, 8 and 9

Highly collectible bourbons will be available in September

ST. LOUIS (Aug. 15, 2024) — Three is a magic number – especially when it involves a trilogy of sought-after bourbons. Lux Row Distillers announced the release of Blood Oath Trilogy – Third Edition, the latest collection of limited-release bourbons, or “Pacts,” created by Lux Row Master Distiller John Rempe. Featuring 750mL bottles of Pacts 7, 8 and 9, this latest Trilogy has a limited supply of 1,400 sets and is available at a minimum suggested retail price $799.99, which reflects the quality and scarcity of these bourbons. Shipments of the latest Blood Oath Trilogy will begin in September.

For a decade Rempe has sought out famous and forgotten rare bourbons and bottled them in combinations for his limited-release Blood Oath Pacts. Not to cater to anyone’s loyalties, he promises to choose and make the best he knows, but never to reveal where he finds his bourbon. With each Pact, he sets aside a limited number of bottles for his Trilogy editions, which are released every three years.

The third edition of the Blood Oath Trilogy contains Pacts 7, 8 and 9 – reserved since 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively – and is packaged in a custom black wooden display box designed to highlight each Pact’s distinctive label. Each of the three carefully crafted Pacts is bottled at 98.6 proof (49.3% ABV) and will never be repeated.

• Blood Oath Pact 7 is a blend of a 14-year ryed bourbon and two 8-year ryed bourbons, one of which was finished in casks that held Sauternes, a sweet white wine from the Bordeaux region of France. The casks impart a nose of caramel, oak and honey with flavor notes of apricots, honey and peaches.
• Blood Oath Pact 8 features a 14-year ryed bourbon, an 11-year ryed bourbon and an 8-year ryed bourbon finished in Calvados casks, which held apple or pear brandy from the Normandy region in France. The casks lend tasting notes of apple on the nose, with hints of vanilla and cinnamon, as well as flavor notes of ripe apples, juicy pears, butterscotch and subtle hints of chocolate.
• Pact 9 rounds out the Trilogy with a blend of a 16-year ryed bourbon, a 12-year ryed bourbon and a 7-year ryed bourbon finished in Oloroso Sherry casks from the Sherry Triangle region in southwest Spain. These casks bring out tasting notes of sweet sherry with hints of ripe fruit and spicy oak on the nose.

“Blood Oath is a passion project for me,” said Rempe. “Each new Pact brings together everything that I love about creating memorable bourbons – from the unique blends to the cask-aging. This third Trilogy edition is something truly special and I’m looking forward to sharing this unique collection of bourbon history with our fans.”    

About Luxco

Founded in St. Louis in 1958 by the Lux Family, Luxco is a leading producer, supplier, importer and bottler of beverage alcohol products. Our mission is to meet the needs and exceed the expectations of consumers, associates and business partners. Merged with MGP Ingredients, Inc. in 2021 (Nasdaq: MGPI), Luxco operates as MGP’s Brands Division and manages all MGP/Luxco brands. This extensive and award-winning spirits portfolio includes well-known brands from four distilleries: Bardstown, Kentucky-based Lux Row Distillers, home of Ezra Brooks, Rebel, Blood Oath, David Nicholson and Daviess County; Lebanon, Kentucky-based Limestone Branch Distillery, maker of Yellowstone Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Minor Case Straight Rye Whiskey and Bowling & Burch Gin; Jalisco, Mexico-based Destiladora Gonzalez Lux, producer of 100% agave tequilas, El Mayor, Exotico and Dos Primos; and Ross & Squibb Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, where Remus Straight Bourbon Whiskey and Rossville Union Straight Rye Whiskey are produced. The innovative and high-quality brand portfolio also includes Penelope Bourbon, Everclear Grain Alcohol, Pearl Vodka, Saint Brendan’s Irish Cream, The Quiet Man Irish Whiskey, Green Hat Gin and other well-recognized brands. For more information about the company and its brands, visit luxco.com.

TRIPLE PRODUCT RELEASE

We’re excited to announce the launch of our very last two Whisky Sponge bottlings, Edition 99 – Glen Moray and Edition 100 – Ardnamurchan. These final editions mark the end of our Whisky Sponge bottling series.

But that’s not all! As one chapter closes, another begins..Introducing, Decadent Drinks new flagship bottling series, Whiskyland.Confined to precisely 100 chapters, this series will feature the very best whiskies we can get our mitts on! We’re starting as we mean to go an and kicking off Whiskyland Chapter One, with a 1998 Springbank,

WHISKY SPONGE ED.99 GLEN MORAY

For our penultimate Whisky Sponge bottling, we thought it would be fitting to revisit the distillery that started it all: Glen Moray. This is a small batch, multi-vintage bottling of Glen Moray, made my marrying together a refill hogshead of 1990 with a 2nd fill sherry hogshead of 1991. The resulting mix has been bottled at natural cask strength, we think it’s a beautiful dram and a great demonstration of everything we’ve learned and tried to achieve over the past five years of bottling.

WHISKY SPONGE ED.100 ARDNAMURCHAN

For our final entry in the Whisky Sponge series we wanted to select a whisky that was unique to us, that was collaborative and that we’d had a strong role in creating. One which was top quality and also modern in the best sense, a whisky that was forward looking rather than old and ‘old style’. And we also wanted one that was sufficient in volume and affordability that plenty folk would get to try it, buy it and enjoy it. It’s a small batch, multi-vintage, 7 year old Ardnamurchan. We were delighted to work with the good folks at Ardnamurchan on this; we made it by mixing together 1st fill and 2nd fill, peated and unpeated, sherry octaves and then marrying that mix in a refill sherry butt for around six months. We finally bottled it with a couple of degrees reduction to 57.1%. It’s a wonderfully rich, peaty, sherried and concentrated Ardnamurchan with great character. We’re really happy with it and we hope you love it too and see it as a fitting end to the Sponge series.

WHISKYLAND CHAPTER ONE: SPRINGBANK 1998

When starting any new series, it’s nice to begin in style. It was important for us to have an impressive whisky for our first Chapter of Whiskyland, especially as this series will now become our flagship bottling series for the best whiskies we can source. That’s why we decided to bottle this Springbank 1998 as Whiskyland Chapter One, it has matured for 26 years in a 1st fill sherry butt, and we bottled it at natural cask strength. It’s everything you’d hope for from this distillery, age and cask type.