Nikka From the Barrel 51.4%
$67.99
This whisky was featured on Day 21 of our 2024 KWM Not An Advent Calendar Tastings! You can read more about the whisky here.
Note: Nikka's own website notes that this bottle does not meet the criteria to be called a Japanese Whisky. The good news is that might mean it also contain Ben Nevis Single Malt, as Scotland's Ben Nevis Distillery is also owned by Nikka.
Nikka's venerated from the Barrel has been a staple of our whisky shelves for years and will hopefully remain so. This creation from Nikka is a blend of grain and malt from multiple distilleries owned by the company. It is always bottled at 51.4% ABV after the components are married in refill casks for up to half a year to marry together and become a cohesive whole.
500mL bottle.
From the Producer: “Produced from a blend of Miyagikyo and Yoichi single malts and a single grain whisky, NIKKA FROM THE BARREL embodies the expertise of the distillery’s master blenders. Intense, round, and generous, this ambitious, powerful, controlled, high-alcohol blend is acknowledged for its originality. This is a bold whisky. It seizes you and seduces you. It asserts its own style.
Compass Box Great King Street Glasgow
$69.99
The Glasgow Edition of Compass Box's Great King Street series is a more heavily sherried and peated blend than the original Artist's Series. The whisky has been created as a tribute to the style of blend popular in Glasgow during the 1930s.
The whisky is composed of 33% Lowland Grain with 67% malt from Islay, the Speyside and Highland. The whisky was matured in high proportion of First Fill Sherry and a mix of First and Refill American oak and a small amount of French oak.
From the Distillery: "In his 1930 book “Whisky”, Aeneas MacDonald teaches us that Glaswegians historically preferred fuller bodied and more flavour-packed whiskies than people in other parts of the world. So what better name for a whisky such as this? You’ll find here a rich vein of peaty-smokiness, underpinned by sherry cask-aged whiskies, full of dried fruit and wine character. The palate is full and round, with a sweetness typical of whiskies from our company."
About the label: "For decades, The Wellington Statue, outside Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art, has been cheekily topped by a traffic cone, something the local population has taken to heart as a symbol of their sense of humour. It has become one of Glasgow’s most iconic images, and graces our label for the Glasgow Blend."
Boutique-y Willowbank Batch 2 18 Year
$274.99
This Blended New Zealand whisky is from a closed distillery, matured 18 years before finishing in ex-Red Wine Casks. 50.5%
Producer Description
"This is our second batch of Blended Whisky from this long closed New Zealand distillery. It’s an 18 Year Old, bottled at 50.5% abv."
House of Hazelwood 46 Year Blend SOS
$2,199.99
Dubbed "The Spirit of Scotland", this 46 year old Blended Scotch Whisky from the House of Hazelwood has been bottled at 43.6%.
Producer Description
"First created in 1994 to commemorate the 500th Anniversary of the oldest recorded reference to Scotch whisky within the 1494 Exchequer rolls of Scotland, this gloriously complex double-matured Blended Scotch Whisky is a piece of Scottish distilling history. This exceptional blend was first created in 1994 to commemorate the 500th Anniversary of the oldest recorded reference to Scotch whisky within the 1494 Exchequer rolls of Scotland. Since first being blended, the spirit has lain in cask for a further 28 years, developing with every year and building into a truly exceptional, fully unified Blended Scotch Whisky. "
Suntory Toki Black
$68.99
The Toki Black from Suntory builds on the original Toki Blended Japanese Whisky by adding peated single malt from the famed Hakushu Distillery into the mix. The result is bottled at 43% ABV.
Producer Description
"Experience a richer expression of Toki, where the addition of Hakushu Peated Whisky contributes a refined, gentle smokiness. This product meets the standards set out by the Japan Spirits & Liqueurs Makers Association for labeling Japanese Whisky."
MacNair`s Lum Reek 10 Year Cask Strength
$116.99
Bottled at 55.4%, this is Batch 1 of the Lum Reek 10 Year Cask Strength. This Blended Malt is a fusion of Speyside whiskies, including GlenAllachie, blended with Islay malt. The whisky was married and rested in ex-Spanish Sherry, Wine and Virgin Oak Casks.
About The Range
"Our multi-award-winning Lum Reek Blended Malt Scotch Whiskies combine Single Malts from Islay and Speyside – two of the most sought-after whisky regions in Scotland – marrying both peated and unpeated spirit to create perfectly balanced and satisfyingly complex malts. Taking inspiration from MacNair’s discovery of the delights of a dram beside a smoky peat fireplace, Billy Walker has drawn upon his half century’s experience in blending to develop a recipe fit for a traditional Scottish toast to long life; “Lang may yer lum reek”."
The MacNair's Story: "Ne'er happier than when exploring the globe or the spirit from the golden still, Harvey McNair was - in the parlance of his native Glasgow - a man or 'lad o'pairts': a true Victorian entrepreneur. A trader, thereby a traveller, an inventor of all sorts of mechanical contraptions, his genius lay in the blending of fine whiskies. He loved and championed the natural, unadulterated colour of whisky. "Pure gold' he said with a wink. Bon viveur and raconteur, he cut a dash about town and had a bursting social calendar. His best stories were always 'agin hisself', like how his neighbours thought him an alchemist or, indeed, how he discovered Lum Reek. But he knew a good dram when he blended it, or indeed stumbled across it. Just like our own 21st Century Whisky legend Billy Walker, who has recreated and refined the Lum Reek blend for the modern palate.
"One autumn evening in the 1860s, after a day's fishing, our man was quaffing a dram in the old stone bothy near GlenAllachie. Due to a blocked chimney (or lum) the room filled with smoke. It had "a marvellous effect on the whisky in my glass," confided McNair later to his merchant cronies. "Indeed, perfection!" Ne'er a truer word was spoken. Today's Lum Reek is the creation of our Master Blender Billy Walker, raising his hat to the top hatted Victorian. It's a heavily peated malt, marrying Islay & Speyside whiskies with rich GlenAllachie, to extend the flavour profile. Lum Reek is matured in GlenAllachie's warehouses, then bottled at 46% (and above), unchilfiltered, allowing its natural colour to shine like those golden autumns Harvey MacNair enjoyed, decked out in his waders."
G&M CRN57 The Cairn 57 Year
$7,199.99
This 57 year old "Blended Malt" is part of a range of whiskies released by Gordon & MacPhail to highlight what they are doing at The Cairn Distillery. The distillery's own whiskies won't be ready for some time, but in the interim they have created bottlings to show what the spirit might be like in 12, 18, 25, 30, 40, 57, and 70 years. The Cairn Distillery sits at 57 degrees north latitude-wise, hence the name CRN57 for these releases. 43.1%
Producer Description
"The Cairn Distillery sits at 57 degrees north of the equator in the Cairngorms National Park, inspiring the name of our range of blended Scotch whiskies. Each has been created to provide a taste of the future, replicating the aromas that may be found in the single malts released in decades to come.
"Our ‘57’ delivers spicy characteristics of cracked black pepper, roasted coffee bean and dried tobacco. There are also delicious notes of zesty orange, butterscotch and vibrant citrus. This very special whisky represents not only where we have come from but where we are going."
Compass Box Brulee Royale
$274.99
This limited edition Blended Malt from Compass Box is inspired by Creme Brule, and François Massialot the chef at the extravagant 17th century court of Versailles who invented it. Primarily composed of Benrinnes and Clynelish with smaller amounts of Speyburn, Aberlour, Ardbeg, and a Highland Malt Blend Malt. 49%. Limit 2 Per Customer!
Producer Description
"Continuing our adventures into patisserie, Brûlée Royale sees Clynelish fruit and Benrinnes custard ooze together at a silken 49% ABV. Curiously regal for American oak. Gloss and texture from the inclusion of Speyburn and Aberlour, considerably aged in recharred barrels, caramelise perfectly in a sweet sugar seal.
"Our brûlée, fit for anyone with a royal appetite, combines the silky vanilla custard notes of malt whiskies matured in ex-bourbon barrels with sweet, crackling toffee flavours delivered by custom American oak barrels.
"Just as Massialot stoked the flames at Versailles to achieve the perfect caramelised crust, our friends at Independent Stave Co.’s Missouri cooperage employ computer-controlled toasting and charring techniques to coax extraordinary flavours from American white oak with great precision. Like the sugar atop a perfect crème brûlée, this whisky is testament to fire’s power to bring forth enchanting sweetness."
Glenlivet 12 Year
$54.99
Located within the most famous mountain glen distilling region in Scotland, only one distillery is permitted to call itself The Glenlivet. The first to be legalized after a period of illicit distillation, it now has an international reputation as a whisky of structure and complexity. The mountain setting provides cool weather distillers love, resulting in a clean, light, flowery, elegant malt.