Whisky

Only the very best casks are selected for the Aberlour 18 year old. It gains its special flavours from the long storage time in a single sherry butt, among other things. The Speyside whisky was bottled at 54.8% vol. at cask strength.

The third Ardbeg bottling in the Smoketrails Collection crossed the Atlantic for the first time and landed in the world-famous Napa Valley wine region for maturation. The region in California is known for its Cabernet Sauvignon red wines. The casks that were filled with the exclusive red wine served as a stopover for this travel retail bottling before the whisky was married in former bourbon casks on Islay. At 46% vol., the Ardbeg Smoketrails No. 3 impresses with full-bodied notes, vanilla and fruit that are enveloped in the typical Ardbeg smoke.

The 14-year-old Ardlair (an alias of the Ardmore distillery) was also released by the independent bottler Signatory Vintage. The bottling matured in a refill Oloroso sherry butt and is part of Signatory's Cask Strength Collection, in which the whiskies were bottled directly at cask strength. They are particularly recommended for advanced connoisseurs. All bottles carry precise information about the distillation and bottling dates as well as the casks.

The Ardmore The Maltman was bottled by Meadowside Blending. The family business from Glasgow was founded in 2011 by Donald Hart and his son Andrew. Donald Hart has been working in the whisky industry for decades. He now utilises this experience when selecting the individual casks. Matured for 14 years in a single Bourbon barrel, bottled without the addition of colour and at cask strength, the Single Malt from Speyside presents rich vanilla, citrus and sweet peat smoke.

The 10-year-old Balblair Limousin Oak XO Octaves from independent bottler Living Souls, has been finished in former XO cognac octave casks made from Limousin oak. Living Souls is a new independent bottler from Scotland. Behind "The Living Souls" is a young team of three from Glasgow with great expertise and experience and excellent connections. Calum Leslie - former Head of Innovation at the Loch Lomond Group -, Jamie Williamson - founder of the UK wholesaler Kilninian Spirits and worked for many years at Douglas Laing - and John Torrance - 20 years' experience in the industry at Diageo and Tullibardine, among others - are part of the team.

This Ben Nevis bottling is part of the second act of the Macbeth Collection, a collaboration between Scotch designer Lexi Livingstone Burgess, Sir Quentin Blake, whisky expert Dave Broom and the world-renowned independent bottler Elixir Distillers from England. A total of 42 different special bottlings in this series are now published in five annual instalments. The illustrations by artist Sir Quentin Blake depict a different character from Shakespeare's tragedy on each bottle. Sir Quentin Blake is considered Europe's most famous illustrator. Born in 1932, the artist was ennobled by the Queen in 2015 and has already received numerous awards for his works, which are very rarely available to admire or even buy in commercial form. Dave Broom, spirits expert and author, wrote the tasting notes in poetic form. This allows Shakespeare fans as well as connoisseurs and collectors to recognise the common thread of the concept of this coveted series and gain a first impression of the flavour nuances to be expected.

The time-honoured Ben Nevis Single Malt symbolises the character Lord Ross from Wiliam Shakespeare's play Macbeth and is one of 12 whiskies from The Thanes category in the entire Macbeth Collection. It was matured for 28 long years in refill hogsheads before being bottled by Sukhinder Singh and Oliver Chiltion of Elixir Distillers at cask strength, without chill-filtering and without the addition of colouring.

In the tragedy, in addition to gloomy predictions following the murder of King Duncan, Lord Ross also utters the following sentence, which can also be read on the outer packaging of the bottling:

"But cruel are the times, when we are traitors and do not know ourselves... But float upon a wild and violent sea, each way and none." MACBETH ACT IV, SC. 2, LN. 18, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

The elegant packaging box with an indentation for the bottle also contains an extract from the conversation between the vassal Macduff and Lord Ross (while enjoying a dram of the bottling, for example).

After maturing in bourbon casks, the extremely popular 15-year-old Bowmore Single Malt Whisky was given a 3-year finish in sherry casks. Bowmore is a typical Islay whisky. It has a beautiful peat smoke note that meets fruity accents and pleasant sea and salt flavours. The new design of the bottle and outer packaging is in a simple black colour. The lines incorporated are intended to express the history of the spirit in the clearest and most authentic way. The predominant use of the colour black, which has been a trademark for decades, is also a tribute to one of the iconic whiskies - Black Bowmore, distilled in 1964. The lines could also symbolise the nature of the peaty soil that gives Bowmore bottlings their pleasantly smoky taste. The new design is classy and represents the high quality of this classic Single Malt.

Bowmore Deep & Complex is matured exclusively in oloroso sherry casks. For the Travel Retail variant, sweeter PX casks were added to these.

The 18-year-old Bowmore Single Malt Whisky is typical of the Islay distillery: well-balanced, a clear sherry cask influence and complex due to its advanced age. In contrast to Bowmore's many limited special editions, this whisky is part of the standard range. The new design of the bottle and outer packaging was deliberately kept in simple black colours. The lines incorporated are intended to express the history of the spirit in the clearest and most authentic way. The predominant use of the colour black, which has been a trademark for decades, is also a tribute to one of the iconic whiskies - Black Bowmore, distilled in 1964. The lines could also symbolise the nature of the peat that gives Bowmore bottlings their pleasantly smoky taste. Bottled at 43%, Bowmore 18 Year Old is pleasantly smoky with delicate fruit and chocolate flavours.

With 21 years of maturation, this Bowmore is the oldest from the Sherry Oak Collection. In the series, the slightly smoky Single Malts from the Islay distillery are matured in hand-selected ex-Bourbon casks and finished in Pedro Ximénez sherry casks. The design reflects the exceptionally expressive and complex nature of Bowmores' flavour character through its delicate lines. The traditional black colour of the brand pays homage to the Black Bowmore, which was distilled in 1964, and visually emphasises the sherry cask influence in the whisky.

As is typical for the Cask Strength series from Signatory Vintage, the 12-year-old Benrinnes was bottled without reduction with water, colour addition or chill-filtering after it matured in a Bourbon hogshead that was filled for the very first time. All bottles in the Cask Strength Collection carry precise information about the distillation and bottling dates as well as the casks. Andrew Symington founded his company at the end of the 1980s and has always maintained good contact with the distilleries, which means he can draw from one of the largest cask stocks with over 10,000 casks.