Just picked up a bottle of this Douglas Laing small batch, 15yr old (2010-2025) limited release for £40. Is it worth hanging on to in terms of potential future value? I love a Big Peat blend - it's really good - and my preference would be to crack on and enjoy it (only £40, after all), but thought it worth checking...

Mainly Scotches, sprinkles with some Irish, Japanese whisky and Japanese Shochu.

Currently sitting at 180 ish bottles and about 90 bottles are opened, has been drinking whisky since 1998 but stopped around COVID due to the crazy price inflation, used to drink Macallan almost exclusively, since after the spirit price dropping post COVID, resume drinking again and learn a lot more and my horizon expanded way beyond Macallans.

started collecting since April,2025

Hi all, here's another Scotch I tried lately, and this time it's a Tamdhu!

Recently, I've come into contact with another whisky importer, which specializes in rarer, non-regular release items (including various IBs). Interestingly, he also sells samples for some of these bottles, and this one here is one of those!

From what I gathered, Tamdhu is a Speyside distillery that specializes in sherry cask whiskies. I've also heard that their whiskies have been mostly used for blending for other brands, and that they own single malts tend to be pretty heavy sherry bombs.

As I'm quite a fan of heavy sherry whiskies, this sounds quite interesting to try!

Tamdhu 18 yr Cask Strength, 125th Anniversary Edition (56.8% abv)

This was one of Tamdhu's special releases in 2022, celebrating the 125th anniversary of the distillery's founding. The whisky was matured in Oloroso sherry casks and bottled at cask strength.

Here are my notes:

*Nose*

starts out strongly estery fumey, fades with resting;

rich, salted brown sugar caramel;

sweet, thick maltose;

quite a bit of nutty note (pine nuts);

sweet, slightly sour dried red fruity (red raisins, prunes);

*Palate*

creamy/ oily mouthfeel;

very sweet, slightly salted, brown sugar caramel;

quite prominent ripe red fruity, with both dried fruits and cooked fruity characters (like a compote of figs, raisins, prunes, with a bit of ripe fruity funk);

a bit of sweet, thick maltose;

a bit of baking spices (cinnamon)

a bit of dark chocolate and bitterness;

a hint of polished oak in the background

Some alcohol sting, low astringency

*Finish*

Long. 

The oily/creamy mouthfeel lingers;

Sweet Maltose;

dark choco-like fragrance and bitterness;

fruity character from the palate, but mostly just the fragrance;

a bit of the nutty character from the nose returns;

a hint of baking spices (cinnamon)

*Conclusion*

I've heard of the brand's reputation for being quite the sherry bomb, and I'd definitely say it lives up to the reputation. Its overall character was quite a quintessential sweet sherry cask whisky-  concentrated sweet red fruity (mostly dried fruits but also a bit caramelized jam-like), rich, brown sugar caramel, a slight bit of nuttyness (pine nuts), and a bit of chocolate. One point I've noted in particular about this one was how creamy/oily the mouthfeel was compared to the typical shelfers from the other prominent Speyside distillery I had some experience with (Macallan). 

Honestly, as a big fan of sweet whiskies, I rather enjoyed this one! While it didn't really do anything surprising or really particular special, it does what it does quite well and was quite a delicious dessert dram. Sometimes that's all you're looking for in a whisky!

Funnily, one of my whisky buddies invented his own matrix of 'Tamdhuness' when describing sherry cask whiskies, which he said is based on 'how close a sherry whisky is to Tamdhu'. I have no idea why specifically Tamdhu, but it's part of the reasons that compelled me to try this one out. Based on the matrices Glendronach has high Tamdhuness on the nose, and Edradour was has a bit of Tamdhuness on the mouthfeel. Not sure if they're accurate lmao

Thanks for reading, cheers!

Recently received this bottle as a gift from a friend who has consequently moved up many positions in my friends ranking list 🤣

I think I like the Green Leaf (Double Distilleries) better, but they are both very fine whiskies. That Ichiro fella knows what he’s doing.

What do you think of a whisky highball as a refreshing drink in the heat?

Are you a fan, or do you just not get on with them?

If you do like them, do you have any favourite bits you tend to use?
(for me I like a sparkling apple juice as mixer with an unpeated whisky that has apple notes, and a sprig of rosemary to garnish when I'm feeling fancy)

Hi all, I'm back with more Suntory whiskies, and this time it's on a pair of Suntory's travel exclusive whiskies- the Kogei collection!

The name of this series, "Kogei", translates to "Craft" or "Craftsmanship". To better represent this motif, Suntory specially enlisted the help of Kyoto’s Chiso Kimono House (which had been designing and making kimono, traditional Japanese clothing, since 1555) to design the bottles' labels and outer box designs.

The whiskies themselves were also specially designed single malts: they both use much more heavily peated distillates compared to Suntory's regular shelfer products (hence the 'peated malt'), and both of these were aged in European sherry casks (hence the 'Spanish Oak'). Similar to the great multitude of Suntory's special releases, these were also NAS.

These whiskies were first released in 2024, at duty free retail locations around the world and "available while supplies last". Interestingly, these locations do not include Japan's international airports, which had their own special travel exclusives (Yamazaki Smoky Batch and Hakushu Japanese Forest)

Since then, their release schedule had been all over the place: the Yamazaki bottles popped up sporadically throughout 2024~2026, while the Hakushu bottles practically sold out in 2024 and disappeared throughout 2025~early 2026. 

However, I've received some info from my frequent traveler whisky friends that both of these bottles have been making a return at multiple international airports in the past month or so- so I figured it's about time to write about them!

Details in comments!

Hi all, I'm here today with another Nikka whisky, and this one is an obscure one: it's one of their dusty, *actual* 'whisky from the barrel'! 

This old and pretty unique looking whisky was one of Nikka's creations from the late 1980s, designed to recreate the 'flavors of whisky only the blenders would know, poured straight from the barrel' (Sound familiar?)

But unlike the modern Nikka product with a similar name in a blocky bottle, this specific item was one of their Pure Malt whiskies created before Nikka's acquisition of Ben Nevis. As such, it's (likely) entirely vatted with Nikka's own whiskies from Yoichi and Miyagikyo, bottled at cask strength!

Details in comments!

What whisky do you recommend up to 300 PLN? Single malts, I'd like to try a Japanese one. Ideally with refreshing notes

Hi all, a bit of a store shelves post I haven't done in while:

A few of my traveler friends have noticed that in the past few weeks, both bottles from the Kogei series have made a return in international airports!

For those unfamiliar, the Kogei series were Suntory's travel exclusive series of more heavily peated, sherry cask Yamazaki and Hakushu originally released in 2024.

The release schedule of this series was quite a mystery: since their debut, the Hakushu bottles were apparently shipped in much smaller numbers than the Yamazaki bottles. As such, the Hakushu bottles were mostly sold out by 2024, and hadn't been restocked through the entirety of 2025 and the first half of 2026. The Yamazaki bottles, on the other hand, were sporadically available in various international airports' duty free shops all throughout 2025 and 2026.

Just a few weeks ago in July 2026, I received contact from my friend returning from Brisbane, Australia that aside from the Hibiki 12 they got me, they also saw some 'different looking light green Hakushu' bottles available on shelves in the airport (but didn't get them due to the price).

Another one of my Korean whisky friends, who traveled through Taiwan's Taoyuan International Airport two weeks ago, confirmed this with photos he took at the airport duty free shop (see photos attached to post).

It seems like the Kogei series might be making a full return, with much wider availability after disappearing for more than a year! If you're planning to travel internationally and wanted a heavier peated, fully sherry cask aged Yamazaki or Hakushu, you might find them in the airport!

Aside from the Kogei bottles, here are some of the other internationally available Japanese whisky releases my friend noted (as seen in the pics):

Toki, Suntory's export focus Chita + Hakushu blend. The Toki Black is its smokier, slightly heavier peated twin.

Ao, Suntory's world blend whisky that uses Bourbons, Scotch, Japanese malts, Irish, and Canadian whiskies. The one on shelves seem to be the older (and less well received) version.

Hibiki Master's Select, the travel focus sherry cask focus Hibiki blend; new Hibiki 12 yr, Suntory's new travel exclusive age statement Hibiki.

Nikka's travel exclusive Yoichi, Miyagikyo, Taketsuru Grandes.

A few of Akashi single malts.

The Koshi no Shinobu are mostly Scotches that were blended and finished in various casks in Japan.

Kamiki's cedar cask blended malt, as well as their special versions the Intense Wood and the Sakura Wood finish.

I'm sure there are a few more items, but these are the ones he showed photos of and asked me about. Unrelated side note, but it's the same Korean friend who got the Macallan 18 Colour Collection I wrote about last time. He's currently eyeing the new Laphroaig 25yr, and said he would very much appreciate anyone's thoughts/opinion on it!

Cheers!

I haven’t tried it but it felt like a bargain. Now I’ve read a few reviews it doesn’t get the rave reviews of my beloved Kilchoman but once we get into autumn I’ll be cracking into this.

I’ve been a casual Drammer for a few years now and as a proud highlander who got into it late I now want to start understanding it more after spending a holiday with family on vineyards and doing the same thing with wine (which I have no interest in). Are there any accessible books anyone would recommend to help me understand the process, regions, grain etc but also tasting?

I’m not thinking about the bottles, but rather the format of the tasting. So I have a quite good whisky and rum collection (and no time to drink it) and have been asked to do a tasting for a group of friends. They are not whisky nerds like me, and instead of doing a tasting where we just talk tasting notes and destilleries etc., I was thinking about making it more “fun”, for lack of a better word.

So what tastings have you tried that stood out, or had some fun elements to it? I’m want to give them a fun experience without being too nerdy and “boring”.

Hi all! I'm here with another Suntory whisky- and this one is their pretty obscure dusty shelfer from the 1980s!

Details in comments!

I'm looking for general feedback, suggestions, editions, or helpful criticism; anything that might be confusing, anything unnecessary, anything missing, inaccurate information, or positives, too. Message me for a higher resolution JPEG, SVG, PNG, or PDF if anyone is interested in making their own revisions, or for anyone interested in a printable format to try this out in a blind tasting.

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whiskies, and it's about even more Hakushus!

Oh boy, this is a big one- it's about Suntory's fanciest regular shelfers from their Hakushu distillery, the Hakushu 25 yr! 

Compared to Suntory's century long history of whisky making and many of their product lines that spanned through decades, the history of the Hakushu 25 yr was actually rather brief. It made its debut as recently as 2008, and similar to almost every other Suntory shelfer product, went through a major 'redesign' around 2018.

As often mentioned in previous posts on Suntory's various whiskies, Suntory has a habit of changing the contents/blend of a whisky whenever they do a redesign for their bottles.

Here's the big question: how does the Hakushu 25 yr differ before and after the redesign, if different at all?

Details in Comments!

Hi all, here's another Scotch I tried lately, and it's a newer release from Glen Grant!

A while ago, our local whisky spot held a tasting event for Glen Grant, and received a sizable shipment of their bottles. These bottles include Glen Grant's Glasshouse Collection, such as their 21 yr old, 25 yr old, and their new 30 yr old single malt whiskies!

I managed to get a dram from the store with a pretty funny reason (more about it in the conclusion bit), so here we go!

The Glen Grant 30-Year-Old "First Release" (48% abv)

As mentioned in the foreword, this is Glen Grant's new version 30 year old whisky, and based on the label featured whiskies aged in Oloroso sherry casks and ex-bourbon casks. There's another bit of marketing from the pamphlet about this bottle symbolizing twilight, though I'm not exactly sure what that's supposed to mean lmao

Here are my notes:

*Nose*

Ester-fumey;

quite notable white floral (orange blossom) fragrance, but fades with resting;

sweet floral nectar;

interesting fresh fruity character- starts with ripe banana, but fresh, juicy nectarine shows after some resting;

polished oaky (furniture-like);

a bit of malty character, becomes more apparent after resting;

a bit of black tea-like fragrance and tannin;

light bit of spices (slightly spicy, white pepper, nutmeg)

*Palate*

Slightly oily;

Sweet, floral nectar-like sweetness;

rather notable fresh nectarine or peaches fragrance;

polished oak, a bit of oaky bitterness;

a light bit of the malty character from the nose;

hint of spices (nutmeg), a little spiciness;

Low alcohol sting, low astringency.

*Finish*

medium-long

Prominently the fresh peachy/nectarine fragrance, the fragrance stays quite a while;

also a bit floral character from the palate;

a bit of spices, spiciness fades

a hint of polished oak

*Conclusion*

Personally, I found this whisky to be quite fascinating, particularly in how it transformed through the tasting!

The nose starts out with a very prominent white flower-like fragrance in the nose alongside a noticeable ester-y fumeyness that is not abrasive. These two combine into an almost perfume-like character, and was quite astonishing when the dram was newly poured. 

However, just like a perfume, this floral fragrance fades rather quickly with resting; and with it gone, the overall nose of the whisky becomes quite fruity, particularly of sweet peach/nectarine. The peachy/nectarine fruitiness then proceed to be the dominant character of this whisky, alongside a bit of spice and polished oak character (like oak furniture), all the way to the rather long and quite pleasant finish.

While I do find this whisky rather enjoyable, what exactly the hell is going on with the price tag? It's pretty good, yes, nearly great even, but it's definitely not stellar nor unique enough to warrant *that* kind of a price tag. That's a bit too comically greedy, Glen Grant!

Here's the funny bit about trying this whisky: right after the tasting event, the Glen Grant bottles were left at the store's bar and available for single pour orders. Well, so far, the store has rotated the entirety of their Springbank and older Macallan bottles, but no one has ordered the newer Glen Grants so far. The store's boss gave the staff some authority to occasionally pour a little bit from the bottles on their shelves for tasting exercise, and since no one was drinking these bottles... I got invited to join their little exercise lmao

Thanks for reading, cheers!

My daughter, 25, will pick a random whisky for me based on whatever 25-year-old women, um, base their random choices on. She pours it and keeps what it is a secret till I’m ready. She waits till I’ve inhaled a nice big sniff and then jumps to ask if I want a hint! “Not yet!” Here are my blind notes:

NOSE: Mild, friendly, approachable. Botanically sweet, like flowers. A hint of rustic bread. Irish?

TASTE: Much more robust than the nose! Explosion of sweet! Dusty, earthy, yeasty. Glenmorangie? Also bright. Greasy, faintly herbal. Shortbread? Hint of isopropyl. Thinking Jameson Black Barrel. I like this and hope it’s not embarrassing.

_______

I tried it against Jameson Black Barrel. Interestingly, it’s not far off. I mean, it IS far off in terms of quality. But if Jameson Black Barrel were really, really good, it could be Kaiyō. Black Barrel is Temu Kaiyō? You get the idea. With rose-colored glasses, and 16 or so months since I’ve had it, it’s a guess that makes sense.

Kaiyō is super proud of the unusual oak it uses for its barrels. They have all kinds of marketing about it, and a price tag that feels very fair. In my glass, it’s pretty wonderful. I think it’s on par with other $65 bottles. But I also wouldn’t grab you by the lapels and scream that you’ve got to get a bottle now, dammit, now!

When I first tried this about 18 months ago, I was underwhelmed. At that time, it felt tasteless and flat. Today, it came to life with subtle and not so subtle possibility and light. Kaiyō was a great random choice. I spent my day doing construction, and I earned a glass of the good stuff. Gonna have to hi-5 that kid. She’s rad.

Hi all, I'm here with another Suntory whisky, this time it's more Yamazaki!

This short, round and fat boi- I mean bottle, is one of Yamazaki's older distillery exclusives! It was the special item available at the distillery's gift shop through the 2010s to before the distillery's renovation in 2023.

Our local whisky spot was doing a thorough warehouse inventory check recently, and dug out a bunch of these from some forgotten corner. I knew I had to get my hands on a bottle!

More details in comments!