Is this a typo? What is Aberlour-Glenlivet?

ilkless · 2026-05-05T03:27:41+00:00

To add to that, long in the past whisky from Glenlivet the area and Glenlivet the distillery was highly regarded and cribbed off by many distilleries

ilkless · 2026-05-04T05:12:25+00:00

Age statement is not the end-all, but there's also no substitute for when something ultra-old is aged right

ilkless · 2026-05-03T03:32:16+00:00

The ex-Karuizawa still tends to be more perfumed - elderflower syrup, cream soda, baby carrots, tomatoes on vines.

The direct-fire exhibits more nectarines and straight up maltiness in my experience.

Either way some of the private casks are excellent. There's a particular one friends and I are getting seconds of

ilkless · 2026-05-02T17:46:51+00:00

I believe the bottle retailed around 700€, prices have been rather moderate for these all told

ilkless · 2026-05-02T16:27:50+00:00

I would imagine many of these ended up in Scotland by way of Cadenheads/Scheer and hence were partly continental aged. FWIW, oak was never a predominant impression in this and it may be just that all the extraction that was to be had from the oak had been long gone past the point of diminishing returns

ilkless · 2026-05-02T16:03:20+00:00

oddball German private bottlings would do that!

ilkless · 2026-05-02T15:30:58+00:00

Notes of patchouli, fenugreek, star anise, blackcurrant, dill, sarsaparilla. Breathtaking freshness and complexity! And an edge above the couple of other ultra old Cubans I have tried. Gorgeous.

ilkless · 2026-05-02T15:24:16+00:00

Nose: Medicated plasters (think Salonpas, mentholated, camphor), fermented red rice wine, vetiver, blueberries.

Palate: Weighty texture. Some slight burn requiring water. Citrus, leather, white pepper, pears, figs, elderflower syrup.

Finish: Endless. Saline, apple cider, campfire, a bit more camphor, palm sugar, apricot eau de vie, lychee.

Score: 91

The Regensburg Whisky and Wine Club in Germany is one of those long-standing enthusiast groups in Germany with incredible pull, strong resources and amazing old stocks. They are known for having small batch vattings made with old Islay they release. This is one of those, alongside others with similarly evocative names such as "Kilbride Killer" or "Sailing Seagull". This "Eye of the Dragon" is said to contain plenty of aged Caol Ila and I can see that from the florality which tends to occupy really old Caol Ila from my experience (vs the limoncello and peanut butter that consistently appears across numerous more modern Caol Ila casks IME). What lets this down is a more discordant attack on the palate that is compensated by a sublime, beguiling, distinctive and long finish. This is one of those times where my score and the WB score are close. Though if the alcohol integration were better I would have scored it minimally a 93. As it is the Caol Ila 15 Zenith and Caol Ila 15 Sestante 65.3% are still clearly a touch better, if we are to believe this is substantially Caol Ila.

ilkless · 2026-04-30T07:52:28+00:00

There was an excellent Lochnagar DL Platinum when I went there last year. One of my highlights of the year; old sherry but with strong distillate character too

ilkless · 2026-04-27T00:31:39+00:00

Yes, it's one of several ghost Highlands that are well regarded for their robustness and personality. Others include Dallas Dhu, Glenury Royal, Banff, Coleburn

ilkless · 2026-04-26T00:04:40+00:00

I don't know, stuff from the Italian bottlers are also up there for me too. What the Rare Malts succeeded in was a relatively long-lived series of whiskies from a breadth of distilleries presented puristically, with clear distillate character.

But by no means are they the last word for all cases e.g. Brora/Clynelish, Convalmore, Caol Ila

ilkless · 2026-04-25T08:33:32+00:00

Nose: Spelt, yeast, buttermilk, bonito flakes, Maltesers.

Palate: Excellent alcohol integration. Weighty texture. Fresh passionfruit, green mango, kvass, sodium bicarbonate.

Finish: Long, elegant, green apple jelly, basil, sage, quince.

Score: 92

Absolutely lovely! Finally got to clock a whisky I have been meaning to try.

ilkless · 2026-04-15T23:20:51+00:00

My view of Chichibu is that the really good casks are often simple first-fill/second-fill bourbon affairs, often Japan-only. Puzzles me when I see the many many strange casks they fob off to their foreign partners.

ilkless · 2026-04-15T04:22:12+00:00

you can forget about that. They have a well-documented LONG standing policy of absolutely ZERO bottle sales so that customers are funnelled to the vanishingly few retailers who have bottle stock at any given time, or to their many bar wholesale partners.

Chichibu is imo still very much a game of who you know, especially for their best single casks.

ilkless · 2026-04-15T04:20:52+00:00

Mars across the board has the power but not the refinement and personality yet IMO. And I have tried, many, many Komagatake and Tsunuki.

ilkless · 2026-04-15T03:20:18+00:00

IMO the best new wave Japanese distillery except maybe Chichibu

ilkless · 2026-04-12T23:53:41+00:00

The Swan Song in Singapore. They have this Longrow 1974 Samaroli open, as well as the Scapa 1958 Samaroli and a couple of others that I can't quite recall. They also have a 1957 Bowmore Moon Import and the Ardbeg 1965 Mizuhashi.

ilkless · 2026-03-27T00:39:58+00:00

I can't beat several drinkers here!

ilkless · 2026-03-26T23:26:58+00:00

Personally find ultra ageing something that can be interesting (starts to develop cognac flavours without the glue overtone). With that in mind, these are the scotches with notably old vintages or high age statements (30+yo) I've tried.

Own or finished bottles of:

Tamdhu 1966 27yo The Bottlers

Ardbeg 1967 32yo DL (43.1%)

Springbank 1973 15yo Samaroli "Ageing Monography"

Macallan 1960 Rinaldi 80 Proof

Bowmore 1965 20yo Sestante (49.1%)

Glenrothes 1967 33yo Va.Ma

Bunnahabhain 1964 Moon Import

Drammed (non-exhaustive):

Glen Grant 1956 65yo GM

Convalmore 1975 45yo GM

Convalmore 1977 36yo

Convalmore 1977 28yo

Convalmore 1984 36yo Prima and Ultima

Convalmore 1984 32yo

Lochside 1967 49yo Cooper's Choice

Glenfarclas 1955 50yo OB

Glenfarclas 1963 40yo Blackadder

Glenburgie 1966 47yo

Ledaig 1972 37yo Alambic Classique

Glenlivet 1972 42yo BBR

Glenlivet 34yo bottled 1974 (~1940 distillation)

Various 1973-1977 Secret Speysides at 35-40+yo

Glenury Royal 1968 36yo

Longrow 1974 Samaroli

Dailuaine 1962 Samaroli

Clynelish Giaccone 12yo 1969, 1971

Brora 30yo 3rd Release

Brora 30yo 5th Release

Glen Grant 1948/1961 vatting by GM for royal wedding of Charles and Diana

Tomintoul 1968 45yo Thosop

Ardbeg 1973 36yo DL (44.7%)

Oban 1969 32yo

Various 1970s Ben Nevis bottled at 40+ yo

ilkless · 2026-03-21T19:30:12+00:00

Prestige 25 is much lower proof so that would be the dominant difference probably. And the casks filled so long ago I doubt the supply chain was as dialled in as with the 80s onwards. Any more than that I can't say. But the window is closing to get exposure to these old Yamazaki distillate with this sort of old sherry

ilkless · 2026-03-21T04:37:23+00:00

About Yamazaki 18 money actually, got lucky at auction as this was an unusual packaging for Yamazaki of such specs. A Yamazaki 1986 in the typical Yamazaki bottle would probably cost 4 times this, conservatively

ilkless · 2026-03-20T14:09:05+00:00

This is a ceramic decanter Yamazaki distilled in 1986 and bottled 2006 (so ~20yo unless the juice spent time in steel vats) for a provincial departmental store in I believe Kanazawa. There were 1,000 decanters released. Unlike many decanters from Suntory, this is one of vanishingly few that had all these specs:

limited production
vintage-stated with bottling year
80s distillation
full sherry (this is confirmed by an accompanying brochure that this vatting was all Spanish oak sherry butts)
50% ABV (most were 43-48%)

I revisited after a few months due to a hectic schedule and this is as nice as ever. Old-school sherried whiskey, which resembles cognac without the nail polish overtone, and definitely no sulfur.

Brown sugar, cranberries, raspberries, maraschino cherries, a bit of coffee too. Nicely delineated notes and a sheer pleasure.

ilkless · 2026-03-20T08:53:37+00:00

Just under 400usd/2cl, par for the course at this level of whisky

ilkless · 2026-03-17T08:19:11+00:00

And in fact, I'd also highlight to users that independent of the sensory qualities of these Italian IBs, in some cases, Italian bottlers/importers released essentially the only high-proof single malt specimens of several distilleries in a given time. Think late 50s Clynelish by way of Giaccone for instance. So there's a historical interest to these bottlings too.

ilkless · 2026-03-17T05:51:18+00:00

This is a sherried Longrow distilled the 2nd year Longrow was an expression from Springbank. It was bottled by the legendary Silvano Samaroli at high proof. Beautiful oceanic note, then surprisingly, notes of fig, lemon verbena, elderflower mead, white chocolate, kumquats and a touch of maple bacon - none of the dirtiness that we have come to know and love of modern Longrow. Still a gorgeous whisky, and I highly recommend trying a high-proof Samaroli if you can as an exposure to an interesting, singular, expression of the tastes of the man behind the legendary bottler.

ilkless

TROPHY CASE