Originally born as Lammerlaw single malt whisky at the Willowbank Distillery in Dunedin on New Zealand's South Island, the whisky in this bottle has survived many tumultuous and uncertain years prior to reaching Ontario's shelves. Once part of the now defunct Seagrams empire, the distillery was mothballed in 2000 when then-owners Fosters shipped the stills to Fiji to make rum. Meanwhile, the remaining cask stocks were bought by The New Zealand Malt Whisky Company which itself crumbled in 2010, only to be revived by a group of international investors later that year. All told, 600 casks from Willowbank were procured, the majority of them Lammerlaw malt, and now we and the rest of the world are finally seeing the release of their contents.
This particular whisky was distilled in 1993, bottled in 2011, and like its provenance, is simultaneously intriguing, enigmatic, strangely familiar, and thoroughly enjoyable.
Continue reading South Island Single Malt 18 Year Old.
In case you need any more incentive to buy a bottle, there are 8 different variations of the horse and jockey figure on the bottle stopper. 
Amrut Fusion is ScotchBlog's first foray into Indian whiskies. Like the Japanese, India is also producing whisky in the Scotch style. Amarut Fusion is made from a mixture of Indian, as well as Scottish peated barleys. They are shipped to Bangalore where they are distilled, and aged in a mixture of fresh and used American Oak casks. Amazingly, a little known fact is that whisky matured in India ages more than 6 times faster than in Scotland. This is believed to be due to the extreme heat and humidity the casks are exposed to. As a result, this whisky is bottled at less than 4 years old.
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