Ardbeg is ramping up their efforts to market to whisky lovers in Japan, for the first time this year, releasing a “Committee Release” bottle to local members, and the special edition Ardcore throughout Japan retailers. They’ve also ramped up their Ardbeg Day event this year to a larger space in…

Much like Malt Review, I feel that the current hundred point system is both capricious and arbitrary, and too much time is spend around the 80/100 level and not enough range is given to the full possibility of expression. So, future reviews will be marked up on a 10-point scale…

Many thanks to Gaiaflow (famous whisky importer, retail site, and owners of Shizuoka Distillery) for their recent ウィリアムス浩子コンサートのペアチケットをプレゼント！ (Hiroko Williams concert) event, to which I won a random lottery couples pair ticket! Also featured was Mayo Okamoto of the famous song Alone fame and the extremely talented Hiroko Kokubu on…

Assorted Cask Samples: IV / CS / Free All are tasted starting neat, adding water if necessary, in a blender’s glass These are samples of some various casks that are/were available for purchase on the secondary market. I will be taking a look at them from a different perspective than usual, more to understand the wood/distillery character over…

This will be fun to compare — a 9 year old IB vs Diageo’s special release 12 year old. Let’s start with the younger: Clynelish 2011 Single Cask Nation 9 Year Old / 60.1% Tasted neat, then with a drop of bottled water From the Jewish Whisky Company’s Single Cask Nation label…

This was far worse than I expected. Glenturret Sherry Cask Edition Batch 3 / 43% ABV Tasted neat Glenturret is a fairly small Highland distillery, with just 340,000 liters / year of production, and has passed through many parent company owners in the last 40 years, finally landing with the Lalique Group. Bottled in 2017, the Glenturret Sherry Cask…

A little bit of an oddity, it’s nicely matured and delicious. Time to try more Auchentoshan!

Given the pricing, you probably won’t complain about this one. Arran Sherry Cask “The Bodega” / 55.8% ABV / ¥9,500 ($67) Tasted neat From Lochranza comes the Arran Sherry Cask, a whisky-lovers dram boasting natural cask strength, natural colour, and non-chill filtering from a 250L sherry hogshead. The front label also features braille, which is awesome and something I do not…

If you can buy this for $30, it’s not a bad, grain-heavy blend — although Nikka From The Barrel offers a better dram at this price point. Kirin Fuji-Sanroku 50° “A gift from Mt. Fuji” / 50% / ¥3,833 ($27) Tasted neat This is a NAS blend from Kirin, produced around Mt. Fuji, sold widely in Japan but which for some reason is…