Grain whisky was seen for many years as only being fit for bulking out blended whisky and the notion of quality grain-only expressions would have been laughed at. As any experienced blender will tell you, they have long known that good quality grain whisky is an essential component which binds together the malts in a premium blend. More recently grain has been bottled and sold in both single grain expressions and blended grain-only expressions.

Continue reading...

We haven’t posted any staff picks for a few months - ahem, five to be exact. We have no excuse. So this is something of a new start and for that reason we have chosen to look at some new products. We haven’t tried them so they're here because they’re new and because they caught our eye.

Continue reading...

[Editor's note] First publishes in 2012, this article still gets a huge amount of traffic but we noticed that some of the recommendations were out of dates so we've updated the list for 2014.

Buying a Christmas present for the whisky lover in your life? Youve perused their whisky collection and read Stu's excellent Christmas Whisky Gifts: Buying Guide. But you want to buy them something other than, or perhaps in addition to, a bottle of whisky.

Continue reading...

A quartet of fabulous Scotches this month with two old favourites, a superb indie and a new release from old distillery that doesn’t usually bottle its own whisky. For a detailed look at the Bunnahabhain watch the video tasting notes here

Continue reading...

This month we pick four blended whiskies from Scotland. None of these are household names but all are worthy of a place in your cabinet.

Continue reading...

We are having some pretty extreme weather here in the UK. Last night we had the fiercest thunder storms I can remember. This morning there was a hail storm and now it’s brilliantly sunny, about 84 degrees and very humid. Why am I giving you a weather report? Put simply this hot, humid climate makes me think of bourbon. So, without further ado, let me introduce four bourbons every whiskey drinker must try.

Continue reading...

Now then, we realise that this is a slightly tenuous link but every man and his wife are jumping on the World Cup band wagon so why not join in the fun. The big news ahead of the tournament is that Scotland and Ireland – the great celtic whisky producing nations – both failed to qualify for the finals in Brazil, so we sent our talent scouts a little further afield to pick four exotic Whisky World Cup choices for your tastebuds to tackle this summer.

Continue reading...

For this month’s staff picks we’ve gone for a loose theme of “great bottles from less well known Scottish distilleries”. Although the four distilleries in question aren’t obscure if you’re a Scotch fan, they certainly aren’t household names. What they have in common is that they all produce wonderful whisky.

Continue reading...

The revival of Glenglassaugh continues under new owners the Benriach Distillery Company who have announced the release of a number of small batch, single cask whiskies.

Continue reading...

anCnoc - distilled at the Knockdhu Distillery - is a brand that has won many friends in recent years with its elegant, well made, and delicately flavoured whiskies. One thing it isn’t known for is rich, peated whisky. But that is about to change with the release of three, limited edition, peated expressions.

Here at Whisky Marketplace we’re fans of good graphic design and we’re always struck by the beauty of anCnoc’s packaging. These expressions are no exception. Each carries an illustration of, and is named after, a traditional peat cutting tool.

Continue reading...