ScotchBlog

Lot No.40 Single Barrel Cask Strength

By Ryan on September 23, 2016 9:00 AM | 0 Comments

Last week I was granted access to Corby's Pike Creek warehouses just outside of Windsor with Dr. Don Livermore, the Master Blender responsible for Lot No. 40, acting as guide. The sixteen rectangular, cinder block built, flat-topped warehouses aren't much to look at from the outside, but behind the walls of these utilitarian structures stand some 1.6 million barrels of whisky.

Inside, the warehouse is a delight to the senses of any whisky geek. Stacked to form a corridor from end to end of the building with cells branching off laterally, the barrels stand 6 high upon wooden palates. The damp, musty, smell of earth and wood sweetened by boozy apple and butterscotch is both figuratively and literally intoxicating. In fact, anyone working in a warehouse must wear a monitoring device that measures the ambient alcohol content in the air. While that may sound like a fun rush, you're more likely to pass out or worse from rapid asphyxiation. Only after the warehouse has had time to "air out" from opening the large rolling doors at either end of the building will Maturation Supervisor, Donald Campbell allow entry. Since the warehouses were purposefully built without electricity or heating so as to mitigate the risk of fires and allow the whisky to seasonally age there's no way to speed up the process by using conventional powered air ventilation. Without electricity there's no background hum of lights or rumble of vents and, for me, a sense of tranquility in that quiet space. Would that I could write all of my tasting notes from inside a whisky warehouse...

It was there, among the barrels, in an unexpected stroke of good fortune that Dr. Don offered us a special sample of Lot No. 40; non chill-filtered, straight from the cask without any added colouring or water and bottled at the robust strength of 55.8% ABV.

Continue reading Lot No.40 Single Barrel Cask Strength .

The Macallan Select Oak

By Ryan on July 19, 2016 9:00 AM | 1 Comment

The Macallan's Select Oak expression is exclusive to the travel retail market and is often found in 1L bottles reduced to a strength of 40% ABV. Bearing no age statement, the Select Oak label is light on details except that it forms part of the 1824 Collection and that it's composed of "an exceptionally wide and unique combination of five cask types, delivering extraordinary smoothness, remarkable sweeness and depth."

Intriguing, will a pentamerous blend of different casks yield a quintupling of flavour or will the result be a muddled mess of Macallan?

Nose: Wafts of sweet boozy caramel and plums underpinned with toasted wood.

Palate: Straight-forward with flavours of dried fruits, heaps of butterscotch and caramel. Even thought it's only 40% ABV, the dram comes off punchier than you'd expect. Sure, it's smooth but it feels almost as if the body has been stripped away, or hollowed out even, leaving a thin mouthfeel with edges of hot, woody, spice.

Finish: Brief with a dry finish that resolves with prunes, and an almost dusty allspice heat.

Continue reading The Macallan Select Oak.

Craigellachie 13 year old

By Ryan on June 27, 2016 9:00 AM | 1 Comment

Built atop a rocky cliff that overlooks the Spey river as it winds past the town of Aberlour, stands Craigellachie distillery. Founded in 1891 by a consortium of whisky merchants led by Peter Mackie, owner of Lagavulin, and whisky titan Alexander Edward, the distillery was designed by the prolific architect Charles Doig. Since that first run of spirit in 1898 most of Craigellachie's (pronounced Krai-GELLaKee) output has been destined for blending. Originally, the spirit went near exclusively into Mackie's iconic "White Horse" blended whisky. These days, it's found a new home as a core component of Dewar's line of blended whiskies.

With only a handful of official single malt bottlings released and a relative scarcity of independent bottlings, Craigellachie has retained a lower profile than most other distilleries in Speyside among consumers. Known for its lightly sulphurous and meaty character, due in part to the use of cast iron worm tubs to condense the spirit, aged single malt expressions of Craigellachie are now more widely available as part of Dewar's Last Great Malts collection.

Bottled at 46% ABV and non chill-filtered, this 13 year old expression is the first distillery label single malt to be released since the early 2000s.

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Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye

By Ryan on May 6, 2016 10:00 AM | 0 Comments

For a few weeks in late 2015 Crown Royal's Northern Harvest Rye whisky was making headlines around the world as Jim Murray's "World Whisky of the Year 2016" in his yearly Whisky Bible. His pronouncement sparked controversy in the industry and curiosity among consumers to seek out the whisky from Gimli, Manitoba. While Murray was criticized roundly by "whisky experts" and afficionados for being intentionally "controversial" as a way to both garner attention for himself and sell copies of his book, his full-throated praise for Northern Harvest Rye was readily received by the general public who were eager to try the latest and greatest on the Canadian whisky landscape.

In a classic rhetorical reversal, Mr Murray opined: "to be honest, I had been considering actually demoting Canadian whisky from having its own chapter in the Bible The quality of Canadian has been disappointing me for some time with too many non-whisky products, like fruit juice or wine, being added to give a softer flavour...Then Crown Royal Northern Harvest pops up out of nowhere and changes the game..To say this is a masterpiece is barely doing it justice." Made with a higher proportion of rye than typically found in mass-market Canadian whisky, Northern Harvest Rye boasts an impressive 90% rye content and is bottled at a respectable 45% ABV.

Within days, shortages of Northern Harvest Rye were being reported all across Canada as seemingly everyone wanted to get a bottle or two for the upcoming holiday season and see "what all the fuss was about." Here in Ontario, 96,000 bottles of the stuff were sold in December and it wasn't until February 2016 when stocks were replenished in the LCBO. While we gave it a mention as a "topical conversation piece for your whisky-loving friend" in the 2015 Gift Buyer's Guide as we weren't able to give it a full review at the time of publishing. Now that the dust has settled and the fervour has cooled, it's time to give this whisky a somewhat sober second look.

Continue reading Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye.

Hirsch Small Batch Reserve Straight Bourbon

By Ryan on March 28, 2016 10:00 AM | 0 Comments

A couple of weeks back an American friend visiting from Detroit came into town with a bottle of Hirsch Small Batch Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey for us to try. It's not available in the LCBO and has never been listed, so naturally I was curious. The label puzzled me further as it offered up a rather convoluted pedigree of the whisky which was "inspired by the quality of A.H. Hirsch" and distilled in Indiana before being bottled in Silverton, Ohio for San Francisco-based Anchor Distilling Co.

"Huh? But it says Kentucky? Whose whisky am I drinking anyway?"

Turns out that Anchor Distilling (a non-distilling producer) acquired the Hirsch brand in 2011 as part of their pivot into the spirits market. Partnering with Berry Bros. & Rudd, England's oldest wine and spirits merchant, the new owners at Anchor Distilling expanded into the thriving global premium spirits market and Hirsch was to be part of their "super premium" line. In their own words, the new A.H. Hirsch whisky brand is, "an inspired reflection of the legendary A.H. Hirsch Reserve 16 Year Old that many consider to be the finest expression of American bourbon ever produced." If you've never tried this fabled release, you're likely not going to get the chance to do so. The last of this whisky was sold in 2009 and although you may find a few floating around online; expect to pay top dollar.

Bottled at 46% ABV, this version of Hirsch comes from an unknown distillery and is a blend of bourbons ranging from seven to nine years old. A little digging reveals some evidence that points to Midwest Grain Products (MGP), formerly known as Lawrenceburg Distillers Indiana (LDI), a massive industrial distilling operation on the Indiana side of the Ohio River as the source of the distillate. While Anchor is keeping the producer a secret, they're remarkably upfront about the composition of the mash bills of their spirit. Using rye grain sourced from Northern Europe and corn from Indiana and Ohio, the producer makes two different spirits with differing levels of rye grain which are then married for an unspecified time to make a final product with a rye content around 26%.

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Black Bottle Blended Scotch Whisky

By Ryan on February 12, 2016 10:00 AM | 1 Comment

Black Bottle Blended Scotch Whisky was first introduced in 1879 by a family-run company of Aberdeen tea blenders Charles, David and Gordon Graham who branched out into whisky blending. In a stroke of marketing genius the Grahams' decided to package their creation in a distinctive black bottle made of German glass and aptly named the blend "Black Bottle." At that time the blend was mostly comprised of Highland whiskies made with malted barley from New Pitsligo in Aberdeenshire which used local peat in the production process.

The outbreak of the First World War spelled the end of the iconic black glass bottle as trade with the German manufacturer ceased and Gordon Graham & Co. were forced to revert to a standard green glass bottle. Over the next century, ownership of the blend changed hands and with each transaction the recipe was altered.

The latest owner, Burn Stewart Distillers (now owned in turn by South African alcoholic drinks conglomerate, Distell), acquired the brand along with Islay distillery Bunnahabhain in 2003. The Islay-heavy recipe was retained and, for the next ten years, they continued to make the blend as their predecessors had done. Domestically, the whisky was doing well but it remained a mystery as to why it was failing to gain traction in any of its export markets. By 2012, Black Bottle was exported to over 30 countries yet approximately 80% of its sales were realized solely in the UK.

In an effort to revitalize the brand, Burn Stewart Distillers announced in 2013 that Black Bottle would once again be sold in its traditional black glass bottle. However, the change in packaging wasn't the only tweak the company had in mind. Master Distiller Ian MacMillan was charged with re-creating a blend that was more in keeping with the original "north-east" recipe. Speaking after the announcement, MacMilllan is reported to have claimed that "Black Bottle lost itself in Islay...and [that] the challenge was to develop a liquid that was more in line with the original character of Black Bottle while maintaining all of the quality for which the brand is renowned. I wanted to reintroduce a richness to balance the smokiness of the blend and in turn allow each component to contribute to the overall flavour."

The new recipe contains malt from just one Islay distillery, Bunnahabhain, and a host of unpeated Highland and Speyside malt and grain whiskies. In addition to the revised formulation, the blend has undergone a further change as it is now also married in new American oak casks prior to being bottled at 40% ABV.

Continue reading Black Bottle Blended Scotch Whisky.

Aultmore 12 year old

By Ryan on January 12, 2016 10:00 AM | 0 Comments

You can be forgiven for not recognizing the name Aultmore in the pantheon of Speyside whisky distilleries. Known locally as the "rarest of Speyside," the spirit from Aultmore distillery has long been a key component of Dewar's Blended Scotch and until recently, nearly all of the distillery's 2.1 million litre yearly output has been blended out with only a scant amount of single malt made available to independent bottlers.

Founded in 1897 by distillery magnate Alexander Edward, the distillery owes its name to a Gaelic phrase, "An t-Allt Mòr," meaning "big burn" referring to its water source, the Auchinderran burn located in the oft mist-shrouded area known as the Foggie Moss. Located just north of the town of Keith on the rolling road to Buckie, the distillery has led a mostly quiet life aside from a few closures attributed to the "Pattison whisky crash", the First World War, and a renovation in the late 1960s. The distillery changed owners four times over its life so far yet it has long been associated with John Dewar & Sons Ltd., now a subsidiary of global drinks giant Bacardi Ltd.

Despite its rarity, for more than 100 years it's known to have been a secret dram of locals and Buckie fishermen, who knew to ask at nearby pubs and inns for "a nip of the Buckie Road." In fact, with the exception of the 2004 release of a 12 year old at 43% ABV, there have been no original distillery labelled bottlings of single malt from Aultmore in recent history. A handful of independent bottlings of Aultmore have surfaced now and again but those were always destined to be limited runs with a set number of bottles.

Picking up on the growth opportunity and global demand for single malt, John Dewar & Sons Ltd. announced the release of the "Last Great Malts" range in late 2014 which would finally offer distillery label bottlings from 5 of the company's distilleries. Aultmore alone is scheduled to have 12, 21 and 25 year old offerings rolled out through travel retail and conventional shops.

Whisky fans may quibble with the marketing aspects and the similarity of the Last Great Malts strategy to that of Diageo's successful Classic Malts of Scotland product range but, from where I sit, this new range is a welcome addition to the landscape and I'm hopeful in my expectations that it won't be a collection of throw-away and garbage whisky.

The emphasis on quality is apparent in this new release of 12 year old Aultmore. From the packaging, to the on-trend practice of bottling non chill-filtered with natural colour at 46% ABV, this whisky has all the markings of a "new classic" but how will it perform in the glass?

Continue reading Aultmore 12 year old .

The Last Minute 2015 Gift Buyer's Guide

By Ryan on December 19, 2015 10:00 AM | 0 Comments

With less than a week remaining for the pre-Christmas shopping season we've got plenty of price conscious last minute whisky and whisky-related gift ideas for the drammers on your list. Ranging from under $30 to $120 any of these gifts will inspire both delight and admiration in your recipient.

Prior to embarking on your shopping trip, there are a couple of steps one should take in advance whenever possible:

Examine your intended recipient's existing collection as I will do my best to provide you with some flavour profiles to provide a frame of reference in determining which palates a particular whisky will likely appeal to.
For Ontario readers, make use of the embedded links to check stock before heading out to your local store. It is important to remember that the LCBO does provide for free inter-store transfers of bottles, though delivery times will vary from 3 to 7 days depending on distance between your store and the store of origin. Lastly, for any locations showing one bottle of something, be sure to phone the store confirm availability.

Before we get going, please allow me to offer some advice on what not to buy: ~~fucking~~ whisky stones. Every year whisky drinkers the world over are gifted these cubes of soapstone meant to provide cooling effects to glasses of whisky without diluting them. While the intent of the product is admirable, their usefulness is highly suspect as we have written about before; and to top it all off, if your intended recipient has been drinking whisky for more than a year or two, the odds are quite high that they already have several sets from previous well wishers. In fact, spend the money on anything else. For the $15-$30 you spend on whisky stones, I guarantee your recipient would prefer that you took him/her out to a nice whisky bar and bought them a dram or two of "the good stuff" from the whisky list and then sat there and spent time with each other.

Continue reading The Last Minute 2015 Gift Buyer's Guide.

Gooderham & Worts Canadian Whisky

By Ryan on December 7, 2015 10:00 AM | 0 Comments

Established in 1831, the Gooderham & Worts distillery in Toronto was a major producer of alcohol in the province of Ontario for over a hundred years. Nearly a century later, the distillery was bought out by Hiram Walker & Sons Ltd. (now Corby Ltd.) in 1927 and has been closed since the 1990's, the facility and its accompanying buildings are regarded as an important historical landmark in the city. Boasting the largest and best preserved collection of Victorian Industrial Architecture in North America, the distillery found a second life as an in-demand shooting location for filmmakers. Now a listed property on the register of Canadian National Historic sites, the aptly named "Distillery District," boasts an impressive roster of tenants. Chock-a-block with galleries, restaurants, breweries, boutique shops and a theatre for the performing arts, the Gooderham & Worts Distillery District routinely attracts crowds on weekends. Strolling along its brick paved laneways amidst its ruddy brown historic buildings, it's hard not to be charmed by this quaint throwback to an earlier time in this city of steel and glass.

In homage to this iconic distillery, Corby Ltd. has released a whisky bearing an appropriately "old-timey looking" G&W label. Gooderham & Worts' Four Grain Blend contains corn, rye, wheat and barley whiskies bottled at an auspicious 44.4% ABV.

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Bowmore 12 years old

By Ryan on November 16, 2015 9:00 AM | 1 Comment

It should come as no surprise to even the most casual reader of this blog that we've got big love for Bowmore. Established in 1779 on Islay, it's one of the few remaining distilleries that still runs its own floor maltings and peats their malted barley using a kiln on site. This hands-on approach allows the malt to be peated exactly to their specifications and allows the distillery to have greater flexibility when making custom peat levels for special or one-off whiskies. A few years back I visited Bowmore and tried my hand at turning and raking the barley before I stepped into the kiln for an epic smoke bath. To this day I can still recall the signature smell of Bowmore's peat reek.

On these cool and dreary November evenings, I tend to look for smoky, warming whiskies with lots of character to lift me from my doldrums. Which brings us to the bottle at hand; Bowmore 12 year old. Bottled at 40% ABV, it's not quite the same as being in the distillery on Islay but it's a damn sight cheaper!

Continue reading Bowmore 12 years old.

J.P. Wiser's Hopped Whisky

By Ryan on November 10, 2015 12:00 PM | 2 Comments

Hearing Master Blender Dr. Don Livermore speak about his latest creation, J.P. Wiser's Hopped Whisky, it's hard not to get swept up with his enthusiasm. A dedicated student of flavours, he's got advanced degrees in both brewing and distilling and his passion for whisky-making is palpable. At a media event at CC Lounge & Whisky Bar in Toronto, a few weeks back he explained that the idea for a hopped whisky was born from a conversation he had nearly ten years ago with a friend in the brewing sector that grows hops; "looking at how the hops were used, we realized there's an opportunity to use them in a different way, with whisky."

Made with a blend of five- to nine-year-old Canadian whiskies aged in three types of barrels: previous Canadian whisky fills, once used American bourbon casks, and brand new virgin oak casks , J.P. Wiser's Hopped Whisky is "dry hopped" at the end of its aging process. This technique is the same employed by makers of the ubiquitous and highly-popular IPA style wherein dried hops are steeped in the beer, imparting the juicy aromatics of hops without as much of the bitterness that's obtained from hops in the boil.

"We went through 158 prototypes to make [it] before I hit upon dry hopping our whisky post maturation, like some of the best IPA's do...and I think it's going to be a game changer for Canadian spirits!" Flavoured whisky is a growing trend in the market and, according to Wiser's Master Blender, "it's partly a reflection of our [Canadian] palette. We're eating spicier foods, or trying things from different cultures, and so we're looking for something bold in whisky, too. But flavoured whisky isn't like flavoured vodka; the amplified flavours-whether honey, maple or toffee-are authentic to whisky. In other words, we're taking what's already in Canadian whisky, and just ramping it up a bit."

With a new spirit came the need for a new bottle. Just as the hops in beer sometimes can go "off" and produce a skunky aroma with prolonged exposure to light if it's stored in a green or clear bottle, so too did the hopped whisky when it was put in a the standard Wiser's bottle. This led Dr. Livermore to continue innovating to make a specially tinted bottle to prevent "skunkification."

For those of you who are imagining a clumsy mash of rye whisky and bitter hops, rest assured that the similarity of this whisky to IPAs ends with the dry hopped process and the coloured glass.

Continue reading J.P. Wiser's Hopped Whisky.

Hibiki Japanese Harmony

By Ryan on October 23, 2015 9:00 AM | 1 Comment

Earlier this week we were invited to attend the Canadian launch of Beam Suntory's latest premium blended whisky, Hibiki Japanese Harmony, at Kasa Moto restaurant here in Toronto. Assembled media guests were treated to a component tasting of 5 of the main whiskies from Suntory's Yamazaki, Hakushu and Chita distilleries that were blended to make this expression of the Hibiki blend. Hands down, this was definitely one of the best component tastings and elemental deconstructions I've had the opportunity to enjoy.

Led by Suntory Brand Ambassador Gardner Dunn, we sampled the following cask strength whiskies in the order below before moving on to the main event:

a sweet, almost Bourbon-like, 100% grain (corn) whisky aged in 1st fill ex-Bourbon barrels from the Chita distillery;
a malt whisky aged in American white oak barrels made at the Suntory cooperage with a slightly oily body
a rich single malt whisky aged in a cask that formerly held Oloroso sherry and was reminiscent of a classic Macallans
a single malt whisky aged in a rare Mizunara oak cask that imbued complex flavours of sandalwood, estery fruit, with an interplay of new leather and smoke;
and finally, a single malt velvet hammer of buttery vanilla and smokey peat from Hakushu distillery.

These aforementioned whiskies, along with at least 5 others, were blended by the Suntory Whisky blending team to produce Japanese Harmony. A family affair, the blending team is led by third and fourth-generation Suntory family members: Master Blender, Shinjiro Torii, who is the great-grandson of Suntory founder Shinjiro Torii; and, fourth-generation Chief Blender, Shinji Fukuyo. As explained by Mr.Dunn, the American White Oak malt whiskies are used for the base note, the Mizunara and sherry cask malt whiskies act as "the dressing" while the smoky malt whiskies provide subtle accents to create depth and further complexity. Finally, the grain whiskies may be considered as the "dashi," or broth and constitute between 60-65% of the blend.

Bottled at 43% ABV, Hibiki Japanese Harmony will soon replace the 12 year old expression of the Hibiki blend and will serve as the "introduction" to the existing 17 year and 21 year bottles.

Continue reading Hibiki Japanese Harmony.

Talisker 10 years old

By Ryan on October 10, 2015 9:00 AM | 3 Comments

Established in 1830, Talisker distillery is located on the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebridean Scottish Isles. Owned by the global drinks conglomerate, Diageo, Talisker is a featured player in their "Classic Malts of Scotland" collection as it represents the somewhat amorphous "islands" whisky-making region. "Made by the sea," Talisker is well-known and loved the world over for it's balance of peppery sweetness and peat smoke. The 10 year old expression is bottled at 45.8% ABV and commonly appears on the whisky lists of bars, restaurants and lounges the world over.

It's worth remembering that ubiquity does not always mean boring or dull flavours in the whisky world. Sometimes, when a product is well-crafted, it's common availability is reflective of the universal human demand for greatness. It was this impulse that guided my hand when perusing the shelves at the Gothenburg Systembolaget, the Swedish liquor commission, to select a gift box trio from the "Classic Malts of Scotland" collection that contained Caol Ila 12 year old, Clynelish 14 year old and Talisker 10 year old. With this selection I was looking for not only a great deal, but also to get re-acquainted with whiskies that I'd loved before.

Upon my return, I poured a healthy dram of Talisker and then fired up the blog to compare my current tasting notes with what we wrote about it only to be confronted with a "No results found" message. Perhaps, I'd mispelled it...again, no results. I had it right the first time; somehow we'd overlooked this benchmark bottle in our reviews. A blindspot, no doubt, that I shall now remedy.

Continue reading Talisker 10 years old.

Bowmore Black Rock & Gold Reef

By Ryan on September 22, 2015 9:00 AM | 1 Comment

The duty free shopper is a hotly contested demographic for distilleries. Given the restrictions faced by many travellers on the dollar value of duty free purchases and their home country's attendant alcohol import limitations, many travellers will only be able to select one 1L bottle of spirits to bring home and avoid paying duty. This creates a very competitive space for distilleries who must attempt to attract the attention of the harried, jet-lagged, and "baggage-weight conscious" traveller in an international airport. In recent years, whisky advertising in duty free has gone from quiet rows of bottles to floor-to-ceiling banners along terminal walls, to flashy kiosks, to interactive displays and exclusive "nosing" lounges within duty free locations. Along with the uptick in marketing dollars spent to attract affluent global travellers, producers have created a line of bottles unique to the duty free market that have supported and, in some cases, supplanted the shelf space previously dedicated to the traditional core range.

As an Ontario-based whisky blogger one of the giddiest pleasures of international travel is the liquor selection of the airport duty free shops. There's always the chance of finding a great deal on an old favourite or being exposed to something that you missed in the LCBO when it came through. Perhaps even more tantalizing is happening upon a mystery expression from a loved distillery that's been made exclusively for travel retail. Evaluating the options; looking at the rows of bottles in the duty free, is a bit like playing "Let's Make a Deal." You can only bring one back into Canada without paying duty so, do you go for the tried and true or do you take a gamble and go with the tube of mystery liquid?

In my travels, these tubes, cartons, or boxes of mystery spirit all bear a similar sounding pitch; this bottle is exclusive and premium and if you buy it so are you. Words like: "premium," "luxurious," "exclusive," or "reserved solely for the discerning traveller," and "collectable" adorn the packaging and inform the messaging of the supporting terminal dominating advertisements. Coupled with this high status language has been the removal of age statements from the packaging. While non-age-statement offerings are becoming more common across the industry for a number of reasons, in the travel retail market it's another missing piece of information when trying to decide what to buy. Pressed for time, limited by import restrictions, snowed by marketing, and unable to sample the wares, it seems that the traveller is set up to make a choice that's best for the distilleries but might not be right for the buyer or the recipient. To me, there's something ill-fitting about the ubiquitous claims of luxury and prestige when combined with the vagueries of product information and tasting notes that generally accompany travel retail bottlings.

But I digress. On a trip to China in March of this year, David and his partner Jason brought us back 2 bottles from Bowmore's new travel retail range: Black Rock and Gold Reef. Purchased at Pudong Airport in Shanghai for nearly $100 CDN each, the 1L bottles are reduced to 40% ABV and 43% ABV respectively. The new range takes it's inspiration from "the magical and remote island of Islay" and the trio includes the aforementioned bottles along with the White Sands 17 Year Old. We sampled them side by side and found it to be a helpful way of assessing these two non-age-statement releases.

Continue reading Bowmore Black Rock & Gold Reef.

Bunnahabhain 12 year old

By Ryan on August 7, 2015 9:00 AM | 4 Comments

Located on the northeast coast of the isle of Islay, Bunnahabhain distillery (pronounced 'Boon-a-havin' and meaning "foot of the river" in Scots Gaelic) was established in 1881 and has been producing whisky ever since. The distillery is perhaps most famously known among whisky enthusiasts for being the only one on the island that produces unpeated spirit as part of their house style.

Bunnahabhain 12 year old, the distillery's youngest in the core range, is back on LCBO shelves this summer after a nearly 2 year absence. "Un-chillfiltered" for extra body and depth of flavour, the whisky is bottled at a respectable 46.3% ABV and contains no colourants or additives.

Continue reading Bunnahabhain 12 year old.

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