Blender Aimée Gibson’s experimental batch 7 is designed as a sherry finished Black Label. Beautifully smoky, with dried fruits, charred oak, wood spices, vanilla, cocoa, and bonfire smoke. Toffee flavors, with thick smoke, red fruits, orange, raisin, oak spice, gingerbread, marshmallow, strawberry jam, and dark marmalade. Dry finish with bitter peels, dark chocolate, and some feisty spices. In comparison, regular Black Label is silkier, more integrated, and more peppery. (Global Travel Retail only)

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2018)

Co-founders of New York’s The Dead Rabbit Bar Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry add their own 5 year old single malt and grain whiskeys to their supplies of grog. Sweetness, caramel, vanilla, and scents of dried fruits. The flavors captured in a light frame reveal citrus peel, malt, dark cookies, a rumble of spice, and conclude with dried peels dipped in chocolate. Drying, with spice and orange. Decent whiskey for sure, but a rather conservative first release for The Dead Rabbit.

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2018)

Recently, Crown Royal began bottling some of the 50-odd whiskies in its core blend. Hand Selected Barrel and Northern Harvest Rye each peeked behind the blenders’ curtain. Now Blenders’ Mash (originally called Bourbon Mash) unveils the woody vanilla signature of Canada’s bestseller. This approachable, creamy, medium-bodied whisky bathes in sweet vanilla and mild oak tannins, seasoned with peppery spices and fruity-floral esters. Incredibly long, creamy, vanilla finish.

Reviewed by: Davin de Kergommeaux (Summer 2018)

Rum-finishing specialists William Grant & Sons add to Ireland’s league of existing rum-finished whiskeys. The lush tropical fruit complexity is abundant with mango, passion fruit, dried papaya, and green apple on the nose. Red apple flavors dominate with Demerara sugariness, dried strawberry, egg custard, and toffee chews, before drifting off into sweeter, fruitier territory. Short finish with a shot of sweet nutmeg.

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2018)

magine there’s a janitor sweeping up the bisected fruit fallen from that fruit-slicing app: cherries, cooked peach, lingonberry, orange peel, fresh apple, fruit syrup, waxy leaves, and taffy chews. Plump mouthfeel with sweet baked fruits, it’s sticky and concentrated with a fabulous fruitiness at this strength. Sugared apple, baked orange, tart plum, clove, and aniseed. Unpeated and matured for around 7 years. A lot of buck for the bang. (1,500 bottles)

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2018)

A delightful whisky with a nose of honey, nectarine, fresh apple, sandalwood, strands of lime, and sweet florals. Sipping unlocks flavors of apple pastries and orange peel, before a powder keg of spices explodes on the tip of the tongue. The aftermath has melting fudge, baked orange, and finishes with hot chili nuts. This hits the trademark flavors of Glenrothes, but the cask strength helps to champion the spices. (Batch 6; 430 bottles)

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2018)

Where Batch 4 is peaty, Batch 5 is smoky, joining aromas of after-dinner mints, rich orange, fondant creams, salted caramel, and sour fruits. On sipping, mint chocolate finds accord with the nose, before a summit of smoke and pepper, then apple, milk chocolate, creamy coffee, and late black currant notes. The smoke hangs deep at the back of the throat. Good flavor trajectory and complexity, with a drying chocolate finish.(822 bottles)

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2018)

A bourbon made with cherrywood-smoked barley in the mash. When chocolate and cherries meet, instant joy can only be improved with roasted nuts sprinkled on top. That’s what happens here. It’s all there in the opening round, followed by toasted oak, tangerine, pumpkin latte, caramel-covered popcorn, and more cherries, from jam to pitted dark cherries and maraschino to cherry fried pie. If you love cherries, this is a must-have.

Reviewed by: Fred Minnick (Summer 2018)

It starts out with several forms of wood—split, toasted, charred, and smoldering—and develops baking spices, baked apple, caramel, popcorn, and earth. A tingle hits throughout the palate, as rounded notes of chocolate, cabernet, roasted marshmallow, and white pepper develop over lingering vanilla. Candied corn and cinnamon butter develop into a medium to long finish. (36,000 bottles)

Reviewed by: Fred Minnick (Summer 2018)

Distilled in 2006, this was filled into a virgin French oak cask (#310865) and bottled at cask strength after 11 years. Peaches and apricots on the early nose, with a hint of cloves. Ultimately very floral, with vanilla fudge. The palate yields zesty orchard fruits, malt, and ginger. Remaining fruity in the long finish, with black pepper and juicy oak. (286 bottles)

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Summer 2018)

Distilled in 2006 and aged for 11 years in a PX sherry hogshead (#310110). Peach blossom, vanilla, and icing sugar on the nose, which becomes more floral in time. Smooth and very sweet on the substantial palate: canned pineapple in syrup, malt, and a sprinkling of cinnamon. Vibrant pineapple and sweet oak notes last to the very end of the lengthy finish. (234 bottles)

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Summer 2018)

A’bunadh is matured entirely in Spanish oak oloroso butts, non-chill filtered, and bottled at cask strength. This edition is very rich, with dark berry notes on the nose, hazelnuts, caramel, cinnamon, and orange fondant creams. The palate is full and supple, with polished oak, honey, new leather, raisins, prunes, and a hint of cloves. Very long in the finish, with plain chocolate, black pepper, fruity spices, and oak.

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Summer 2018)

An aroma you can really chew on, this comes at you big and bold, its dried cherry, fig, and caramel flavors woven with pipe tobacco, licorice, and saddle leather. The jolt of sweetness and spice on the palate pour on and on. Water helps to temper the heat and release even more flavors, with currant, chocolate, and drying oak on the finish. Sourced Indiana bourbon finished in oloroso sherry, Pedro Ximenez, and Cognac casks.

Reviewed by: Jeffery Lindenmuth (Summer 2018)

Released exclusively for the U.S., this is the first bottling in an annual series celebrating what Macallan terms its “…unrivalled commitment to the mastery of wood and spirit.” Matured in oloroso sherry-seasoned American and European oak casks. Confident Christmas cake aromas, plus quite assertive oak. Honey, toffee, vanilla, nutmeg, ginger, and lively oak on the palate. Gingery wood notes in the medium-length finish.

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Summer 2018)

Glenglassaugh has launched its first cask-finished whiskies, matured for an unspecified period in first- fill American oak casks before finishing for up to 2 years in secondary casks. This is the pick of the quartet of expressions, with a nose of fragrant, fruity smoke, hand-rolling tobacco, and new leather. Red berry fruits and woodsmoke feature on the palate, while the finish offers gentle peat smoke, cinnamon, and black pepper. £60

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Summer 2018)

Both bourbon and sherry casks were used for aging. Stewed fruits, butterscotch, and soft spices on the nose. Silky palate delivery, with honey, dark chocolate, light sherry, and cloves. Lingering finish, with citrus and allspice.

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Summer 2018)

In 2009, brewers Bob Baxter and Alan Hansen added a stillhouse to their Whitehorse-based Yukon Brewing Company. This 7 year old, their seventh whisky, was distilled from Scottish peated malt, creating a smoky, malty, scotch-like nose. Ripe apples, apricots, and other sweet fruits subdue the smoke until the first sip, when it bursts to the fore with a sweet, ashy presence. Smoke and pleasing hot pepper dominate a long finish. (Canada only) $100 CAD

Reviewed by: Davin de Kergommeaux (Summer 2018)

Delicate, floral, sweet, and reminiscent of a Lowland malt with its Creamsicle nose. Flavors of papaya, bright citrus, and green tea are nicely balanced with the perfect touch of smoke on the pleasingly oily palate, while the long finish smacks of baked apples, cocoa, and minerality. Wonderfully balanced and moreish, this is a happy marriage of Scotch whisky and Virginia single malt whiskey finished in a cask that previously held Wee Heavy style beer. (1,500 bottles)

Reviewed by: Jeffery Lindenmuth (Summer 2018)