Club Articles

The Johnnie Walker Blue Label Umami flirts with the enigmatic umami character usually associated with culinary delicacies from first-class restaurants. The umami character is often described as the 'fifth Taste'.

Master Blender Emma Walker was supported for this special bottling by 3-star chef Kei Kobayashi, who usually combines Japanese culinary art with French culinary art in his dishes and restaurants. Together, they brought together rare and hand-picked whiskies from inland and coastal regions of Scotland until the sweet and sour, complex and deep umami character with its meaty facets of this Johnnie Walker blended whisky was achieved.

The 1731 Fine & Rare Belize Rum is made from molasses and distilled in column stills. It is then matured for at least 12 years in former American oak bourbon barrels. The tropical climate in Belize ensures a more intensive maturation than is the case, for example, with whisky that matures in the European climes of Scotland. Without chill filtration or the addition of sugar, colouring or other additives, the rum is bottled at 46% vol. The company 1731 Fine & Rare comes from the Netherlands. Decisive for the name of the independent bottler is the year in which the British Royal Navy began to offer its sailors half a pint of rum as part of their wages. The product series of the Dutch are Regional Blends and Single Origin Rums. They include rums from Central and South America.

Under this label, the independent bottler G&M has been bottling this Single Malt for the distillery for decades.

Among collectors, it is considered an original because of the authentic label.

The Black Cherry Gin from Whitley Neill is a successful combination of gin and black cherries, inspired by the South African cherry blossom. Juniper berries, coriander seeds, cassia bark, orris root, angelica root, sweet oranges, lemons and Cape gooseberry marry with black cherries to create a deep and luscious taste experience.

This 13-year-old Auchroisk belongs to Gordon & MacPhail's Connoisseurs Choice series, which has been bottled by the independent bottler since the 1960s. In 2018, the complete range was restructured. Each Single Malt is created as a single cask or from a small number of casks. Detailed information about the vintage and cask type can be found on the bottle label. The Auchroisk was matured in refilled Bourbon Hogsheads.

Blanton's Straight from the Barrel is a Kentucky Straight Bourbon that is bottled undiluted and straight from a bourbon barrel. The whiskey is particularly dark and intense. Blanton's bottlings are still characterised by the rider on the bottle cap. Single cask bottling!

Rum made from 100% sugar cane juice forms the basis for this orange-rum liqueur. Peels of bitter oranges and various spices are added and, after maceration, stored for a short time in oak barrels. In the last production step, pure sugar cane syrup is added to turn the rum into a liqueur.

This Mac-Talla single malt was created as the third limited edition for the Fèis Ìle Festival 2024, which takes place annually on Islay. The tropical-maritime single malt whisky spent 5 years in rum casks at the Cruzan distillery on St Croix, having previously been stored in hogsheads for 10 years. The casks gave the island whisky its particularly fruity and tropical notes, which are combined with subtle accents of peat smoke.

The 10-year-old Knockdhu single malt is part of The Maltman series from Meadowside Blending. Matured in a single sherry hogshead, the whisky is neither chill-filtered nor coloured in the slim bottles with the iconic black labels. The independent bottler Meadowside Blending is based in Glasgow and fills special single casks from Scotland's renowned distilleries and has already won several awards for its creations.

This Kilchoman single malt single cask bottling was matured for 15 years in a refill Oloroso sherry cask and bottled to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Hanseatische Weinhandelsgesellschaft. Three sets of sister casks were released for The Sister Casks series. The casks in The Sister Cask series were distilled and bottled on the same day, hence the name of the series. Six unique and previously unreleased Kilchoman single casks have been carefully selected and released exclusively to mark the retailer's anniversary. This selection of single malt whiskies includes single casks from the early years of distillation, of which Kilchoman only has a limited number available. These include, for the first time, Oloroso sherry single cask maturations and a 100% Islay malt with an age statement.

The Black Sheriff from the Habitation Saint-Etienne distillery, which is based in Martinique, is a cuvee of young rums from the distillery which, after distillation, are matured for three to four years in extra intensively toasted ex-Bourbon barrels from Kentucky, USA.

The Brother's Bond Whiskey was created by actors Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley, who are best known for their work together in the Vampire Diaries series. Although not brothers in real life, in the series they play two vampire brothers who are not averse to a good glass of whiskey. Now Somerhalder and Wesley have fulfilled their dream of making their own straight Bourbon, which consists of 65% corn, but also 22% rye, barley and wheat. Column Still and Copper Pot Still are used for the double distillation. The Bourbon is then matured for at least 4 years in fresh American oak barrels, the staves of which are charred at stage 4 (alligator char) and the lids of the barrels at stage 2. The charring stages 1 - 4 indicate how thick the resulting charcoal layer on the inside of the barrel should be.