By Kurt Maitland Rating: B- AnCnoc, meaning “the hill,” is a single malt produced by The Knockdhu distillery, a whisky distillery in Knock, Banffshire that is currently part of the Inver House Distillers Limited stable (who also owns Balblair and Old Pulteney). The distillery shouldn’t be confused with Knockando, and the name “AnCnoc” was chosen, at least in part, to ...

Observers Were Shocked When Diageo Closed Masters Of Whisky. They Shouldn’t Have Been. By Kurt Maitland and Richard Thomas In the world of spirits, none is bigger than Diageo. This London-based beverage company owns Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, Guinness, and Bailey’s, thus leading the markets for vodka, blended Scotch whisky, stout and liqueurs. On top of that, the company owns some ...

Ten Bottles That Are Worth More Than Your Car By Richard Thomas We often say at The Whiskey Reviewer that one of the objective strong points for American whiskey is that it’s usually as good as Scotch whisky, and often much cheaper as well. That said, a combination of climate and long decades of international primacy have endowed Scotch with ...

By Kurt Maitland Last week’s news that British drinks giant Diageo would close their Masters of Whisky (MOW) program at the end of September perhaps went unnoticed by drinkers at large, but it was a seismic event among the bartenders, retailers, enthusiasts, journalists and industry professionals who had engaged with the program during its two decade lifespan. Even more shocking ...

By Kurt Maitland Rating: B The Deveron is a single malt distilled at the Macduff Distillery, founded in 1962. Throughout its history, the distillery’s official name has alternated between Glen Deveron and MacDuff, but the official releases having been released as Glen Deveron. Releases titled Macduff have come from independent bottlers. At present Macduff Distillery is owned by Bacardi, who ...