When it comes to drinks with history, rum has packed more into a shorter time than most. Despite only appearing in something approaching its current form in the 17th century, the past 400 years have…
Continue reading »Old whisky: drink it or sell it?
Posted on 23 June 2017 by Billy
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We get a lot of questions at The Whisky Exchange, but the most common is simple: ‘Should I drink this bottle or sell it?’ Several times a day, someone who’s found a bottle hidden in…
Continue reading »Surviving a wine tasting – 5 tips to make you look like a pro
Posted on 21 June 2017 by Stuart
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Our lovely head buyer Dawn Davies knows more about wine than 99% of people on the planet. She’s a Master of Wine (MW), a qualification so tough there are only 350 people in the world…
Continue reading »Our Favourite Gin Cocktails
Posted on 16 June 2017 by Billy
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When it comes to cocktails, gin is very much the spirit of choice at the moment. There’s a huge range of drinks and recipes out there, but here are three classics to get you started:…
Continue reading »Whisky and food pairing guide: cupcakes
Posted on 14 June 2017 by Leonora
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When you think of food and whisky pairings, cheese, chocolate and meat may come to mind, but cupcakes? Elements of Islay international brand ambassador Mariella Romano hosted a whisky and cupcake evening for our Covent…
Continue reading »Karuizawa: what makes it the world’s rarest whisky?
Posted on 9 June 2017 by Billy
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Over the past few years, Japanese whisky has exploded in popularity. From the most commonplace bottlings to limited-edition single casks, Japanese whisky has become increasingly hard to find as whisky fans have discovered how good…
Continue reading »Feis Ile 2017 – Islay Festival Photo Gallery
Posted on 7 June 2017 by Billy
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We’re back from the Islay Festival of Music and Malt, after a successful week of pouring whisky, meeting old friends and making new ones. The Whisky Exchange Islay Pop-up Bar was a success, with hundreds…
Continue reading »Blending whisky – how hard can it be?
Posted on 2 June 2017 by Rocky
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Blending whisky is a skilled job. From combining hundreds of casks to make batches of large-scale blends such as Johnnie Walker to marrying a pair of casks for one-off single malt releases such as our…
Continue reading »Highland Park Valkyrie – Viking Spirit
Posted on 31 May 2017 by Stuart
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One in three people living on Orkney have Scandinavian ancestry, so it was no surprise when Highland Park embraced this heritage with its Warriors Series, a range of whiskies named after proud Vikings: Sigurd, Harald,…
Continue reading »15 gins you should know about
Posted on 26 May 2017 by Billy
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Gin is such a fast-moving drinks category that new releases are appearing every day and old favourites sometimes get forgotten. In an attempt to make sure that you don’t miss out, here’s a list of some…
Continue reading »Islay Festival 2017 – what is there to do at Feis Ile?
Posted on 23 May 2017 by Billy
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Feis Ile, the yearly Islay Festival of Music and Malt, is a fixture of the Scotch malt whisky scene. Every year, the population of the isle of Islay doubles for a week at the end…
Continue reading »Jamaican Rum – all you need to know
Posted on 19 May 2017 by Stuart
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Joy Spence, master blender at Appleton Estate, was special guest at the latest Whisky Exchange tasting to share her favourite bottles and to spread the word about Jamaican rum. About Jamaican Rum The story of Jamaican…
Continue reading »Is older whisky better?
Posted on 17 May 2017 by Rocky
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Whether it’s the raging debate about no-age-statement releases, or questions about how old a whisky I’m pouring at a festival around the world is, age is currently a hot topic. Something I’m often asked is…
Continue reading »How To Drink Whisky – Timing
Posted on 12 May 2017 by Stuart
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Whisky has historically been seen as an after-dinner or late-evening drink, but from a taste point of view, what is the most effective time of day to drink whisky? And when are your taste buds…
Continue reading »What is blended whisky? A beginner’s guide
Posted on 10 May 2017 by Billy
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There are a confusing number of types of Scotch whisky. From single malts to vatted grains and blended whisky, people call whisky lots of different things. This month we’re focusing on blended whisky, so it’s…
Continue reading »My love affair with Japanese whisky
Posted on 5 May 2017 by TWE Admin
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Jerome Allaguillemette, assistant bar manager at Sexy Fish in London’s Mayfair, is a huge fan of Japanese whisky. He explains how he fell in love with these beautiful drams, and why they are just as…
Continue reading »Blended Whisky – everyone’s doing it
Posted on 3 May 2017 by TWE Admin
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John Glaser, founder and whiskymaker at Compass Box, makes his case for why blending is essential in the world of Scotch whisky. Everyone blends. This is not well known nor well understood, but in Scotland…
Continue reading »What is gin? A beginner’s guide
Posted on 28 April 2017 by Billy
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The past two decades have seen a return to popularity of what was once the best-loved alcoholic drink in England – gin. But what is gin and what do you do with it? There’s years…
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Recent Comments
You'd need to take that up with Dave Broom :) For another point of view (and a direct answer to Dave's post), I'd recommend having a look at
Well, that is the issue: Broom writes reviews of whiskies with scores on one hand while saying that whiskies of the past weren't better, just different and that people pay too much attention to scores...
Posted on: 17 April 2018
If you think that no whisky is inherently better than another (which is an interesting reading of what Dave Broom has said – he does write whisky reviews with scores every week) then by definition...
Posted on: 17 April 2018
It probably would be a bit of both - but thinking back to recent comments by Dave Broom on whiskies of the past and on scoring, it kind of calls into question whether a whisky of the present (or past)...
Posted on: 16 April 2018
Only the one release that I can find, which is why it slipped under my radar – as I mentioned in the article, there will be lots more soon, but not much is old enough to release yet. I think Dingle...
Posted on: 3 April 2018