Browsing Posts by Author: Ollie

In 2006, father-and-son team James and Andrew Nelstrop opened the first stand-alone single malt whisky distillery in England since the closure of Lea Valley Distillery in 1903. James had always dreamed of making whisky and…

Scotland now has its first potato vodka – the Jarron family at Hatton of Ogilvy Farm began distilling there for the first time in September last year. The farm has been in the same family…

Last year, I received half-a-dozen samples of Dutch rye whisky. They varied considerably, in terms of cask type, age and number of distillations, but what they all had in common was the amazing amount of…

In part one of this series, Ollie looked at the golden era of Bowmore whiskies. He now turns his attention to the 1980s and beyond, beginning with a tricky period for the distillery… 1980s For many…

During a recent trip, I was very fortunate to try a plethora of once-in-a lifetime drams from the oldest distillery on Islay: Bowmore. Outside of the big-name investment whiskies such as the Black Bowmore trilogy…

Some time ago, while taking a whisky cruise from Stockholm, I came across the lovely guys at Box Distillery in Sweden. On my return home, I decided to have a try of their first educational…

This time last year I was busy sorting out classes for the 2013 Whisky Show, and in my search for interesting ideas, a slightly fuzzy-haired, glazed-eyed version of Tim Forbes (formerly of this parish) told…

Since 2001 Diageo have announced, in October of each year, their Special Release Range. Each series of bottles is picked to highlight the best of their distilleries and are acknowledged to be landmark bottlings, representing…