By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ At Anchor In A Cove is a Wemyss Single Cask release from the Campbeltown distillery Glen Scotia, which readers with good memories might recall from last year’s Wemyss Merchant’s Mahogany Chest (which a quick check reveals is still out there for purchase!). Both whiskies have a nautically-themed title, although much more so in the case ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B Wemyss’s Melon Vine single cask is from Aberfeldy, a distillery founded by Dewars in the late 1890s. Located in a tiny highland village with a modern population of less than 2,000, Aberfeldy has had a turbulent history. The distillery closed operations during both World Wars due to the shortage of barley, and reportedly kept up ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ To many, Glenrothes is best known as the scotch distillery that labeled its releases not by a title or by an age statement, but by vintage. In other words, instead of saying “this is 14 years old” and releasing a steady supply of 14 year old single malt, Glenrothes might release a batch of “2000 ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: A The summer 2014 release of Wemyss single cask single malts is out, and when my consignment of samples arrived on a Wednesday, what to do next was obvious: discard my existing Whisk(e)y Wednesday plans, and do one of the single casks instead. But which one? That decision was ultimately just as simple. Looking at what ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ The title “Peat Smoked Herring” just conjures a certain flavor, doesn’t it? I mean that notion of Scotch smoke meeting pungent fishiness, well, in my mind it practically screams “I’m going to out-Islay Islay.” This Peat Smoke Herring came from a 2001 Bowmore distillation. Established in 1779, Bowmore is not just one of the oldest ...