*Thanks to SF and the good folks at Impex Beverages for the sample. Alas, poor blended scotch! It's still pretty much the reason the Scotch industry exists in the first place, being responsible for nearly 90% of all Scotch whisky sold, and despite this boom in brown spirits, it still doesn't quite get the respect it … Continue reading The Exclusive Malts’ The Exclusive Blend 1991 21 Years Old – Review
The Exclusive Malts
The Exclusive Malts 2000 Craigellachie 12 Year Old
*Thanks to SF and the good folks at Impex Beverages for the sample. Some Scotch distilleries seem to live more on the peripheries of whisky history than on the center of the stage. There are those that were not designed by the leading architect of the day, that spent as much time mothballed as they … Continue reading The Exclusive Malts 2000 Craigellachie 12 Year Old
The Exclusive Malts 1984 Tormore 29 Year Old – Review
*Thanks to SF and the good folks at Impex Beverages for the sample. To quote the late, great Michael Jackson (no, not the gloved one, this one), Tormore Distillery, "with a musical clock, belfry, and ornamental curling lake...looks like a spa offering a mountain-water cure."¹ Now, it may come as a great shock to everyone, perhaps … Continue reading The Exclusive Malts 1984 Tormore 29 Year Old – Review
The Exclusive Malts 1990 Laphroaig 22 Year Old – Review
*Thanks to SF and the good folks at Impex Beverages for the sample. First off, if this kind of thing puts you to sleep, I apologize. You can skip ahead if you want. If you're like me and find toponymical bric-a-brac more exciting than you might care to admit in public, then, well, you're in … Continue reading The Exclusive Malts 1990 Laphroaig 22 Year Old – Review
The Exclusive Malts 1992 Dailuaine 21 Year Old – Review
*Thanks to SF and the good folks at Impex Beverages for the sample. The name "Dailuaine" (pronounced 'dale-YOU-an') comes from the Scots-Gaelic An dail uaine, which means "green vale". For a distillery residing in the Speyside region, this is a quite accurate name and an incredibly vague one at the same time. During the brief time I spent in this … Continue reading The Exclusive Malts 1992 Dailuaine 21 Year Old – Review
The Exclusive Malts 1991 Bunnahabhain 21 Year Old – Review
*Thanks to SF and the good folks at Impex Beverages for the sample. While watching the recent documentary on Los Angeles' Sound City, I almost passed out in shock when I realized that 1991 was 22 years ago. It's not that 22 years is such a long time, it's just that the 22 years in … Continue reading The Exclusive Malts 1991 Bunnahabhain 21 Year Old – Review
The Exclusive Malts 1996 Auchroisk 17 Year Old – Review
*Thanks to SF and the good folks at Impex Beverages for the sample. Like many Scottish distillery names, the somewhat unpronounceable Auchroisk, once translated from Gaelic to English ends up being a relatively simple descriptor of the physical place where it resides. Sure, this simplicity can occasionally seem a little obvious and uncreative on the … Continue reading The Exclusive Malts 1996 Auchroisk 17 Year Old – Review
The Exclusive Malts 1997 Clynelish 15 Year Old – Review
*Thanks to SF and the good folks at Impex Beverages for the sample. Clynelish is pronounced KLYNE-leesh or klein-LEESH depending on what sylLABle you'd like to put the emPHAsis on. The name means "slope of the garden" in Gaelic, though the garden in question might just be the metaphorical garden of the eastern coastal Highlands … Continue reading The Exclusive Malts 1997 Clynelish 15 Year Old – Review
The Exclusive Malts 1988 Littlemill 24 Year Old – Review
*Thanks to SF and the good folks at Impex Beverages for the sample. Poor Littlemill. The last several years of its life were none to kind to one of the more interesting malt whisky distilleries in Scotland. Starting in the mid-80's, the Lowland distillery opened and closed in fits and starts until finally being closed … Continue reading The Exclusive Malts 1988 Littlemill 24 Year Old – Review
The Exclusive Malts 1992 Glen Grant 20 Year Old – Review
*Thanks to SF and the good folks at Impex Beverages for the sample. Why I am fascinated with the tangled stories of ownership in the whisky world is beyond me. Partly, I suppose I like the notion that throughout such upheaval and change, many distilleries just kept right on mashing, worting, washing, and distilling away. … Continue reading The Exclusive Malts 1992 Glen Grant 20 Year Old – Review
THE CASKS 