By Richard Thomas Rating: A When it comes to the big blended Scotch whiskies, Chivas Regal is the line known for putting its starting rung in a premium position. The entry level expression is Chivas 12, the go-to drink for Boston Legal’s Denny Crane and Alan Shore got together on the balcony for cigars and chit chat. From there the ...

By Father John Rayls Rating: B+ Visitors to The Macallan estate will find many things that are still done the way they were in 1824, when the distillery was founded. Part of the estate is still farmed for an heirloom variety of barley, the harvest still used (along with other sources) in making the malt whisky. A single acre produces ...

By Richard Thomas A warehouse accident reported on October 23 in Catrine, Scotland has claimed approximately 60,000 liters of whisky. Reportedly an undetected leak in one of Loch Lomond Distiller’s storage vats caused the whisky, equivalent to over 70,000 bottles, to leak into the ground or drain into the River Ayr. The Health and Safety ­Executive and Scottish ­Environmental Protection ...

The Last Drop Distillers is set to introduce its first-ever Miniatures Collection, allowing true whisky lovers to add a ‘drop’ of the world’s rarest spirits collection to their drinks cabinet. It’s not like any miniature’s box you’ve seen before, however. The limited edition set will feature 50ml miniatures of both the original 50 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky, the company’s ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B- Although the center of small cask maturation is now found in the American craft distillery movement, the practice is not entirely unknown in Scotland. The Scots and Irish whiskey industry already had a rich tradition of using a wide variety of used casks for maturing their whiskies, a tradition due largely to a lack of ...