Well, the year’s almost over. It’s the end of a decade as well, I guess, but I don’t have a month of reviews of 10 yo whiskies planned. (Or should it be a parade of 10-19 yo whiskies?) Instead, I have my usual grab bag. Less usually, I have a fair number of actually available and/or recently released whiskies in the mix. Through bottle splits I acquired a large parcel of K&L’s recent exclusives and seven of them show up on the list this month. There’s also the new batch of the Springbank 12 CS, which is doing the rounds in American stores and this year’s Ardbeg Day release, the Drum. The rest are mostly my normal mix of irrelevancies. Let me know which of these catch your eye and I will try to get to them. There were some nominees from November’s list that are still un-reviewed—those will probably get priority. Beyond the booze I’ll keep to my schedule of weekly Minnesota restaurant reviews and recipes. There’s even a chance that a certain book review I’ve been threatening for the better part of the year will finally get written. Let’s see how it goes.
- Allt-A-Bhainne 23, 1995 (Old Particular for K&L)
- Ardmore 10, 2009 (Old Particular for K&L)
- Aultmore 21, 1997 (Maltbarn)
- Ardbeg Drum
- Balblair 21, 1990 (C&S)
- Ballantine’s, 1940s/1950s
- Benriach 26, 1987 (Exclusive Casks)
- Benrinnes 15, 2003 (Old Particular for K&L)
- Black and White, 1940s/1950s
- Bowmore 14, 1996 (A.D. Rattray for BevMo)
- Bowmore 21, 1996 (OMC for K&L)
- Caol Ila 7, 2010 (Sovereign for K&L)
- Caol Ila Distillery Excusive, 2017
- Clynelish 23, 1995 (Signatory for K&L)
- Copper & Kings Pear Brandy
- Dailuaine 9, 2006 (SMWS)
- Glen Moray 14, 2004 (OMC 20th Anniversary Release)
- Glen Moray 23, 1995 (OMC for K&L)
- Glengoyne 21, 1996 (OMC for K&L)
- The Singleton of Glen Ord 12
- Glen Spey 12, 1999 (Blackadder)
- Glenfarclas 1986, The Family Casks, #3434
- Glendronach 10, 2002, Virgin Oak
- Lagavulin Distillery Exclusive, 2017
- Lagavulin Jazz Festival, 2017
- Laphroaig 9, 2001 (SMWS 29.88)
- Le Sable a Lagrange 42, 1974 (Armagnac)
- Linkwood 1988-2013 (G&M for the Soho Whisky Club)
- Linlithgow 28, 1982 (Mackillop’s Choice)
- Park 18, Borderies (Cognac)
- Springbank 12 CS, Batch 19
- Tap 8, Canadian Rye
My Annoying Opinions 
I’d like to see your notes on the new K&L casks, especially the Allt-A-Bhainne and Glengoyne. I purchased their newest selections of Blair Athol, Ben Nevis, Auchroisk, and Mortlach if you’re interested in samples of those and don’t already have them.
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Taking notes on the Allt-A-Bhainne tonight.
I think I have splits of the Athol and the Ben Nevis (there was more than one of those, right?)—might hit you up for the other two.
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They have only brought in one Ben Nevis so far this year I believe, the 2001 bottled under the Old Particular label. They do have another IB Ben Nevis from Valinch & Mallet but it doesn’t appear to be a cask they selected. They did a couple casks of it last year though, too (including a 2010 from Signatory that I really liked, not sure if you tried that one).
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Right, the other is the Benrinnes: wasn’t paying attention.
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Springbank 12 CS, Batch 19
Glendronach 10, 2002, Virgin Oak
Lagavulin Distillery Exclusive, 2017
Lagavulin Jazz Festival, 2017
Glenfarclas 1986, The Family Casks, #3434
The Singleton of Glen Ord 12
Dailuaine 9, 2006 (SMWS)
Clynelish 23, 1995 (Signatory for K&L)
Caol Ila 7, 2010 (Sovereign for K&L)
Caol Ila Distillery Excusive, 2017
Black and White, 1940s/1950s
I know you won’t get to all these but would love to hear your thoughts on any of the above
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The Glenfarclas review already posted yesterday…
Should get to at least a few of the others.
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