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From the Cellar

Journal

Tasting notes, distillery deep dives, and the thinking behind the bottles.

Recent Writing

More from the journal.

The Craft

What an independent bottler actually does.

Most whisky reaches you through the distillery that made it. Some of the most interesting whisky does not. What happens in between, why single cask bottlings taste more particular, and why so few of them ever reach the United States.

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The Craft

Barrique, hogshead, butt: what the cask is actually doing to your whisky.

Every label names the cask and almost none of them explain it. What wood type, cask size, and fill number actually change in the glass.

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The Craft

Cloudy is not a flaw: why we do not chill-filter.

Add a splash of water to a good whisky and it can turn hazy in the glass. Most people assume something has gone wrong. Something has gone right, and here is what the rest of the industry filters out to prevent it.

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Tasting Notes

Tasting Notes: Linkwood Ruby Port Barrique.

A port cask can flatter a whisky or bury it. This one does neither. Here is what twelve years of Speyside spirit and a ruby port barrique actually taste like, pour by pour.

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Distillery Focus

Paul John: the Indian single malt rewriting whisky's map.

Goa is known for beaches, not barrels. A distillery there decided that should change, and built a single malt that now sits comfortably alongside Scotland's best.

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Distillery Focus

Benrinnes: the Speyside distillery that never got the memo about being elegant.

Our 2021 Hanukkah Edition sold out and we have not found another cask since. Here is why this heavier, meatier Speyside distillery is worth knowing anyway.

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The Craft

Should you add water to whisky? The most argued question in the glass.

Few topics divide whisky drinkers faster than a small jug of water on the table. Here is what actually happens when you add a drop.

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Tasting Notes

Tasting Notes: Paul John Sherry Hogshead.

India produces some of the most exciting whisky in the world right now. This is what it tastes like when a sherry hogshead and a Goan climate find each other.

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Distillery Focus

Linkwood: the quiet Speyside we keep coming back to.

Four bottlings and counting. Here is why this understated Speyside distillery keeps earning its place in our range.

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The Craft

Peat is not smoke: understanding one of whisky's most misunderstood flavors.

Peat is not the flavor. It is the source. Here is what that distinction means, and why two peated whiskies can taste completely different.

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The Craft

The Angel's Share: what the cask keeps and what it gives back.

Every year, quietly and without ceremony, some of the whisky you are waiting for disappears. The distillers have a name for this, and it shapes every bottle we sell.

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Distillery Focus

Allt-a-Bhainne: the Speyside you have been drinking for years without knowing it.

Almost every drop from this distillery disappears into Chivas blends. Our Kiddush Club Vol. 2 is a rare chance to taste it alone, at 23 years old.

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Tasting Notes

Milk & Honey and the rise of Israeli whisky.

Ten years ago, Israeli whisky did not exist. Today it earns scores that rival Scotland's finest. Here is how that happened.

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The Craft

What makes a cask worth buying? Our sourcing criteria.

We taste hundreds of samples a year and select a handful. These are the questions we ask every time before we say yes.

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