By Richard Thomas Rating: B Orkney-based distillery Highland Park rebranded their core range last year, and in doing so they fully embraced the Viking theme that had characterized their limited edition releases. Now everything is Norse at Highland Park, even if it doesn’t have a Norse name attached to it, because of the sexy bottling. One item that does have ...

By Richard Thomas Whenever I ask someone who enjoys Bourbon or Irish Whiskey why they don’t like Scotch, the answer is most often “because it’s smoky.” That perception likely comes from the use of certain smoky whiskies to add character to the big brand name blends, such as Johnnie Walker, and if it doesn’t it’s then because some of the ...

International drinks mega-giant Diageo owns Johnnie Walker, and to support it they have a stable of 28 malt whisky distilleries that include some of the most illustrious names in Scotch Whisky. The fame and popularity of those individual single malt whiskies is paying off. A dozen of those distilleries have visitor centers, and visitor numbers to those centers rose a ...

The Macallan has unveiled a new release in its highly regarded Fine & Rare collection, the 1977 vintage. The Macallan Fine & Rare collection, created to identify the very best of The Macallan’s finest maturing stock, features some of the greatest vintage single malts ever released. The 1977 vintage – of which only 4 bottles are allocated to the US ...

By Richard Thomas One of the few opinions I find are commonly held in world whiskeydom—common among industry types and enthusiasts, bar people and journalists—is how Scotch Whisky produces the biggest bunch of snobs around. Even the snobs themselves sometimes agree with that assertion, taking a perverse pride in what most would think of as a flaw. How is it ...