Benromach 1978
$3,099.99
This 1978 Vintage Benromach comes from one single refill sherry hogshead bottled in late 2018, with a mere 184 bottles produced of this 40 year old single malt Scotch. It is bottled at a cask strength of 56.3% ABV from ask 2608.
Producer Tasting Note
"Pour your dram of BENROMACH 1978, cask number 2608, and prepare your senses to encounter an experience as rare as this gorgeous whisky. First, lift your glass to the light and appreciate the beautiful deep golden hue created by lingering for 40 years in a single Refill Sherry Hogshead as the whisky grew and matured in character. Take a short inhalation, appreciating the wonderful AROMAS WITHOUT WATER… enjoy the rich, sweet notes of honey and vanilla, mingling with ripe fruits, tangy lime and a touch of butterscotch and fresh ginger. Now take a sip. Savour the smooth sweetness beautifully balanced by a hint of pepper. Top notes of oak mingle with succulent pear and kiwi, rich dark chocolate and dried tobacco, with lingering spices and a wisp of peat smoke on the finish."
.png)
Sansibar Ben Nevis 1996
$289.99
Distilled in 1996 and matured 20 years in an ex-Bourbon cask before bottling at 51.9%. 217 total bottles, only a dozen or two of which will have come to Canada. Andrew is a fan of this with a drop of water, not something you will often hear him suggest!
Andrew's Tasting Note
Nose: polished oak church pews, a touch of varnish which seems to burn off quickly is replaced by oatmeal cookie dough and marzipan filled French butter croissants; very floral with orange and melon.
Palate: honeyed, and waxy with firm but yielding oak; more melons and ctirus, still floral, with more polished oak and bright nutty tones; gravelly and slightly herbaceous.
Finish: long in length it is bold, coating and warming; the oak leads the charge with some citrus and floral tones.
Comment: I love 20-30 year old Ben Nevis; the distillery is certainly underappreciated; this one is a little firmer and maltier than most; I don't often add water but this one takes it very well; with a drop it is creamier, fruitier and more elegant; even the nose is softened; delightful!
Bunnahabhain 1980 Canasta Finish
$5,199.99
Archives Glentauchers 1996
$229.99
Archives meets Glentauchers. What could possibly go wrong? This is an absolute sleeper of a distillery. That sad fact can largely be attributed to the fact that most of the distillery's 4+ million litres per annum production is reserved for bolstering the Ballantine's blends. When you try whiskies like this, you'll start to understand just worthwhile it is to pursue the independent bottlings. Glentauchers usually brings a beautiful orange top note to a whisky that is rich in honey, biscuit notes and a complex maltiness. It's no wonder the blenders covet it.
46.7% abv and only 169 bottles produced.
Archives Bruichladdich 2005
$289.99
This Bruichladdich caused quite a stir around the shop when we popped the cork for one our whisky festivals. There were a few muttered expressions of "you need to try this", then suddenly a whole group were gathered talking over one another. Don't expect the big phenols of Bruichladdich's heavily peated fare; this is true, naked Bruichladdich the way it was meant to be. All the hallmarks of the distillery's character are held in perfect harmony here. In its austerity, it reminds a bit of that gorgeous old Convalmore 28 from years back. Not that they share stylistic leanings, mind you, just that both are stunning examples of what the distillery tries to show in any given outing. Unfortunately we only received a tiny allocation of this one.
52.5% abv
Archives Glen Keith 1995
$289.99
Archives is an independent bottling range from the chaps at Whisky Base in the Netherlands. This 22 year old Glen Keith is from a 1995 distillation matured in a Hogshead Cask, bottled at 56.0%. Part of the Fishes of Samoa series, the label is an image of a Longnose Butterflyfish drawn by F.G. Levrault and publised over 150 years ago in "Histoire Naturelle des Poissons."
Andrew's Tasting Note
Nose: creamy, honeyed, floral and tropical; English scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam; lemon and lime juice; waxy tallow candles and canvas tents; Marcona almonds and French bakery treats; a touch on the tropical side.
Palate: sweet, honeyed and creamy with a backbone of firm but yielding oak; floral with building decadent spices: candied ginger and fennel; cane sugar, apple jelly and Jolly Ranchers; there is also a touch of under-rype tropical fruits.
Finish: long, coating, creamy and decadent; crisp spices and rich oak; fresh and mouthwatering.
Comment: this is a lovely little Glen Keith, a distillery which lay closed from 1999 until the early 2010s; it is a whisky which shows well with age, owing in part to the fact most of the spirit is matured in refill casks, subtly developing delcate layers as it oxidizes and mingles with the wood.
Archives Ben Nevis 1990
$399.99
Archives Aberlour 2006
$194.99
A single ex-Bourbon cask bottled under the Fishes of Samoa line at 12 years of age and 56.8%.
Whiskybase GlenAllachie 1995
$209.99
One of the most spectacularly retro packages we've seen in ages. The distillery recently changed hands - amid much fanfare, I might add - but this would have been distilled long before the new owners got their hands on any of the liquid produced here. And being an indie, that likely wouldn't much matter anyway! This extremely limited release of only 236 bottles was put together by the folks at Whiskybase, the largest online database of whisky notes in the world, to celebrate the 110,000 bottle registered in their system. We keep hearing a lot of lemon and a lot of vanilla on this one.
Natural cask strength, uncolored and unchill-filtered.
51.8% abv