It may be a bank holiday for some of us, I couldn’t leave you without my monthly whisky wishlist on this 1st of May! Good news: I’m also currently working on a proper & permanent “wishlist” page on this blog so that you can always easily find my “go-to” drams of the moment and other must-have gems without having to scroll 1654988 articles or spend hours searching the blog archives. It may take a few weeks to have it up and running but keep your eyes peeled my little drammers 😀
And without further ado, let’s have a look at this month’ malted selection!
First released for the Travel Retail market, Laphroaig Four Oak features a marriage of whisky matured in a quartet of casks, namely ex-bourbon barrels, quarter casks, virgin American oak barrels and European oak hogsheads. Somewhat following on the theme from their popular Triple Wood expression…
Benromach Sassicaia Wood Finish
It’s the 2009 vintage Sassicaia-wood-finished single malt from the Benromach distillery! This spends the first portion of its maturation in first-fill bourbon barrels, and is then allowed to finish for 28 months casks which previously held Sassicaia wine from Tuscany.
Valkyrie is the first in Highland Park’s Viking Legend series and the bottle has been created by Danish designer Jim Lyngvild. It’s a peatier expression, and whilst with Highland Park this means Ocadian peat and classic heather smoke notes, it’s said that Valkyrie offers a more phenolic (although still balanced) experience…
50 year old single malt from the Tamdhu distillery in Speyside. Drawn from a single first-fill European oak Sherry butt which was filled in November 1963, this whisky waited patiently for half a century before being bottled at 55.6% ABV (an impressive strength for such an old whisky). Just 100 bottles were produced.
GlenWyvis Highland Inspiration
A limited edition release from the upcoming GlenWyvis distillery in Dingwall, celebrating the laying of their historic foundation stone. The whisky itself is a single malt Scotch from an undisclosed Highland distillery, with only 1,600 bottles released.
Aureum 1865Â – Grave Digger Edition
A special edition 6 year old German single malt whisky from the Ziegler distillery‘s Aureum 1865 range, released in partnership with long-running German heavy metal band, Grave Digger! The label features a Grim Reaper on it, and the presentation box is shaped like a coffin. How cool is that…
Portions of the whisky were aged in Allier oak and chestnut casks for a year, before being aged for the rest of their maturation in bourbon casks. There’s also a portion of Sherry-cask finished single malt and peated single malt in there too.