Category Archives: Edition Spirits

Croftengea 12, 2006 (First Editions)

Posted on by


Let’s get 2024 off to a smoky start. My first whisky review of the year is of a Croftengea, one of the peaty brands produced by Loch Lomond. I’ve really enjoyed most of the Croftengeas I’ve had in recent years; that mix of Loch Lomond fruit and heavy peat is a very nice one. Let’s see if that’s in evidence  here.

Croftengea 12, 2006 (53.9%; First Editions; refill hogshead 15540; from a bottle split)

Nose: Big farmy peat with some rubber mixed in; some citrus and salt in there too. The salt expands as it sits and more fruit begins to emerge with it (tart apple, Makrut lime). With more time there’s some vanilla and some cream as well. A few drops of water make the whole sweeter. Continue reading →

Ben Nevis 23, 1996 (First Editions)

Posted on by


Let’s get the month off to a likely fruity start with this Ben Nevis. I have three Ben Nevis on my long list for May and I’d said that if I reviewed a whisky that was part of a listed trio I’d likely review all three—as I’m liking organizing my reviews in a themed manner. However, given that I did a Ben Nevis week back in October and have reviewed three more since then, perhaps I don’t need to do another all Ben Nevis week. Accordingly, this will be the first in another week of reviews of highland malts (and I suspect it will also end up being a week of reviews of highly fruity malts).

This Ben Nevis was released in 2020—thus allowing me to spit in the eye of people who accuse me of only posting useless reviews of whiskies released a long time ago. Well, I don’t know that this review will be of any use to anyone either from a purchasing perspective, as I’d guess this sold out a long time ago. But perhaps some of my readers have or have already finished a bottle of this. If so, please consider sharing your take on it in the comments as well. Continue reading →

Blair Athol 22, 1995 (First Editions)

Posted on by


I haven’t reviewed very many Blair Athols—it’s been almost a year since my last review in fact. That one was a single sherry cask, distilled in 1988 and bottled in 2014 or 2015 by Signatory. This one is not quite as old but is also from a single sherry cask. This is from the 1995 vintage and was bottled last year by First Editions, another of Hunter Laing’s lines. The arithmetic on this one is a little wonky though. The label says it’s a single sherry butt but also says only 234 bottles came from it. That seems about 50% too low for a sherry butt. Compounding the mystery is the fact that there was a Blair Athol 21, 1995 bottled in the same series in 2017 from a sherry butt with the exact same abv but that one apparently yielded 492 bottles and 492+234 is headed into Glendronach territory for a single sherry butt after 22 years. Now there’s also a First Editions release of Blair Athol 22, 1995 from 2017 with a slightly lower abv that’s listed as having yielded only 210 bottles. 210+234 is not an implausible number for a single sherry butt either. It’s also possible, of course, that the cask was split with a completely different bottler or that despite being listed on the label as a sherry butt it was actually a sherry hogshead. Either way, it’s obviously the case that independent bottlers can’t always be relied upon for very much more accuracy/transparency on labels than the distilleries themselves. If anyone has any light to shed on this please write in below. Continue reading →

Bladnoch 21, 1990 (Edition Spirits)

Posted on by

Bladnoch 21, 1990, Edition SpiritsThis Bladnoch 21 was distilled prior to the distillery’s takeover and revival under Raymond Armstrong. As most whisky geeks know, that era too has ended, with the distillery now in receivership. It’s unknown what its fate will be. Hopefully, it will be purchased by someone who will keep it going and who will also continue Raymond’s approach of making simple, good whisky and marketing it at a competitive price without any frippery. This seems unlikely but let’s hope for the best. For now at least some of the Armstrong era releases can still be found at reasonable prices as can older indies such as this one.

Edition Spirits and their “First Editions” series, which this bottle is in, are now in the US as well (this is not a US release though). I don’t have very much experience of them. If you’ve tried any of their US releases and have recommendations one way or the other please chime in below. Continue reading →

Quick Hits: Two Linkwoods from the 80s

Posted on by

Linkwood
Another entry in the “Quick Hits” series: this time two Linkwoods from the 1980s. (Previously featured: two 1980s Inchgowers, and two 1960s Tomintouls). Once again, too little of each to form very confident appraisals and so there are no ratings and I would encourage you not to in any way consider these notes (or the previous entries in the series) as guides for making purchasing decisions.

I don’t know a whole lot about Linkwood. I’ve had a few bourbon cask teenagers and that’s about it. It’s a Speyside distillery that makes a lightly fruity malt that mostly goes into Diageo’s blends. Every one that I have tried (only 2-3) has been solid but none have knocked my socks off. Will these samples demonstrate sock knocking-off potential?  Continue reading →