By Kurt Maitland Rating: B Bowmore is one of the most iconic distilleries on Islay, which says a lot considering that Islay also includes the likes of Lagavulin and Laphroaig, and it dates back to 1779. To put that into perspective, in the same year Bowmore opened its doors, the settlement that would become Chicago was founded. An institution that ...

By Kurt Maitland Rating: B Aultmore is a Speyside distillery in Keith, Banffshire. founded in 1895 by Alexander Edward, the then owner of the Benrinnes distillery.  The distillery has had a tumultuous early history, changing owners repeatedly and shutting down on several occasions. Since 1998 things have been more stable, and the distillery has been owned by Dewars. Recently Bacardi, parent ...

By Richard Thomas The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), the trade association for the Scotch whisky industry, reported that fell 2.4% in terms of value in 2015, and 2.8% in terms of volume. Although those numbers indicate Scotch whisky exports are continuing their decline, the rate of decline slowed markedly during the past year compared against previous years. In 2014, the ...

By Richard Thomas After sampling a variety of store-bought whisky mustards, I finally decided to try making my own. A lot of those whisky mustards were of the sweet variety, so this one is adapted to make it spicy. Ingredients 1/2 cup yellow mustard seeds 1/2 cup black mustard seeds 1 tbsp cayenne pepper 1bsp salt 2/3 cup cider vinegar ...

By Kurt Maitland Rating: B- Glen Grant was founded in 1840. James ‘The Major’ Grant, born in 1847, inherited the distilleries in 1872 and is the major figure in the distillery’s history and the namesake that GlenGrant’s NAS Major’s Reserve is named after. James Grant was the sort of man people like to make up stories about, the kind of ...