The Whisky Marketplace Blog brings you news, reviews and tasting notes from the world of whisky.

Jun 21

Staff Picks - June 2013

Posted on 21st June 2013 by Pierre

It’s scotch all the way this month for our staff picks. A pair of blends, from two of the most famous scotch brands, along with a couple of independently bottled, cask strength single malts. Sláinte!

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May 10

Glenmorangie Ealanta 1993 Private Edition

Posted on 10th May 2013 by Stuart

For the better part of a decade now Glenmorangie has been constantly associated with a willingness to experiment. The company's Distilling & Whisky Creation Director - Dr. Bill Lumsden - and his team have long advocated the cask as the dominant factor in the final character of a matured malt, augmenting their ever-popular 10 year old with wine-cask finished bottlings such as Quinta Ruban (extra-matured in port casks) and an annual "Private Edition" release.

Last year saw a break from what had been a thoroughly modern series, and instead looked to what was an old style of Glenmorangie which, like the vast majority of distilleries, would have included more than a touch of smoke in years gone by. In contrast, 2013's Ealanta reads as quite the opposite; matured exclusively in virgin oak casks for 19 years, this could well be the very model of a modern vanilla drenched single malt.

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Apr 24

Staff Picks - April 2013

Posted on 24th April 2013 by Jean-Luc

Each month here at Whisky Marketplace we put together a collection of staff recommendations to tantalise your taste buds.

This month we bring you two exciting new releases; we sniff out the last few remaining bottles of a rather special release by Highland Park before they disappear for good; and in the video podcast embedded above Pierre revisits the classic blended Scotch Chivas Regal 18 Year Old.

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Apr 12

What's hot at Master of Malt - April 2013

Posted on 12th April 2013 by Jean-Luc

A round-up of the hottest new whiskies stocked at Master of Malt this month including a very nice 25 year old release from Cutty Sark, which has packaging adorned with scenes from the Rabbie Burns poem - Tam o’ Shanter - and comes with a book of more than 50 illustrations by the late Alexander Goudie.

Also a blended Scotch released to mark World Whisky Day 2013 which is coming up on 18th May and a tranche of new indie bottlings from Old Malt Cask, Connoisseurs Choice and Berry Brothers & Rudd.

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Mar 30

Staff Picks - March 2013

Posted on 30th March 2013 by Pierre

The storm clouds are gathering in the north and the winds carry the battle cry of the norsemen, it can mean only one thing... Highland Park have a new release.

Elsewhere in this months staff picks things are a little more relaxed with an old fashioned blended scotch, a beautiful Japanese malt and a superb scottish grain whisky.

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Mar 06

Highland Park announce new 'Warrior Series' for travel retail

Posted on 6th March 2013 by Jean-Luc

Waiting for a flight to board can be seriously tedious business so browsing the duty free shop for fine spirits is often a welcomed distraction. Its made all the more interesting (for us whisky geeks) when you come across something that's exclusive to travel retail. At the very least, if these off piste whiskies don't tickle your fancy, you'll be impressed by the manliness of the 1 litre bottles.

Highland Park have announced a new range of whiskies entitled 'The Warrior Series' which draw on the Orkney distillery's strong Norse heritage. They’ve named each of the bottlings after infamous Viking Earls who once presided over the remote islands. The first three in the series being Svein, Einar and the notorious Harald retailing at €40, €53 and €75 respectively.

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Feb 27

Staff Picks - February 2013

Posted on 27th February 2013 by Stuart

It's time again for us here at Whisky Marketplace to offer a few of our recent favourites for your consideration.  It's another eclectic group this month!

Aside from that we have one of Bruichladdich's many "aced" (extra matured etc) releases, a new and well anticipated release from Springbank's recently introduced Rundlets & Kilderkins line and a recently issued bottling from our old friend Clynelish in the form of a 15 year old distilled in 1997. Enjoy!

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Feb 08

What’s hot at The Whisky Exchange – February 2013

Posted on 8th February 2013 by Jean-Luc

With literally thousands of new whiskies released each year it’s often difficult to keep track of new bottlings as they become available. Add to this the fact that many limited release whiskies are snapped up by eager collectors across the world and it’s probably fair to say that some great whiskies are passing you by undetected.

Luckily for you we scour the internet monitoring the latest releases from all the top whisky retailers, which makes finding new, exciting whiskies that little bit easier. For the first in a new series of roundups, which we’ll entitle “What’s hot”, we take a look at the best new releases on The Whisky Exchange and recommend our best buys.

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Feb 02

Finding a new home for our whisky related ramblings

Posted on 2nd February 2013 by Jean-Luc

Hello readers, you may have noticed that things have been a little quieter than normal over here, that's because we're in the process of moving our blog within the Whisky Marketplace site!

For various technical reasons (which we're not going to bore you with) we needed to relocate the blog; and so it now lives in the /journal folder. If you are one of the fab people who link to us from your own blog it would be really great if you could update the url.

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Jan 30

Master of Malt release "Boxes Blend" in collaboration with Athlete bassist Carey Willets

Posted on 30th January 2013 by Stuart

The ever-innovative folks at Master of Malt have announced details of a new Blended Whisky, conceived in conjunction with Athlete bassist and long time whisky lover Carey Willets, in celebration of his side-project ‘Boxes’.

Mr Willets’ introduction to Master of Malt and involvment in the whisky world may be relatively recent, but whisky itself has been a long running passion for the bassist. “Whisky’s always been a big part of my musical history—they both enhance each other. Enjoying whisky and music together is a life-affirming experience.”

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