New: Midleton Very Rare 2022 / Kilchoman Madeira / Teeling Renaissance V

Midleton Very Rare 2022

Midleton Very Rare 2022 is the 39th release in this series that was started in 1984. It features Irish pot still and grain whiskeys aged between 12 and 33 years, matured in lightly charred first fill and refill ex-bourbon American oak barrels. It is bottled at 40% ABV and will be available over the coming months in different markets.

Update: read my Midleton Very Rare 2022 review

Kilchoman Madeira Cask

On March 2nd Kilchoman will release a new Kilchoman Madeira Cask Matured, distilled in May 2016 and aged in a set of 46 Madeira hogsheads for over 5 years. This heavily peated spirit (50 ppm) was taken out of the casks in 2021 but it couldn’t be bottled until now. All distillers and bottlers seem to be affected by the global shortage of glass.

To get an idea of what Madeira does to Kilchoman, read my review of the Kilchoman Madeira cask for Holy Dram.

Teeling Renaissance V – Calvados casks

Teeling is releasing a final bottling in its Renaissance series. It is an 18 year old single malt initially matured in ex-bourbon casks for over 12 years, and then transferred to Calvados casks for over 6 years. Limited to 9000 bottles at 46% ABV. Already available in Ireland, later also in other markets.

Compass Box Vellichor / Experimental Grain Whisky

Two new Compass Box releases that we hadn’t covered yet. Compass Box Vellichor is named after the scent of a second-hand bookshop. They wanted to recreate this particular fragrance (leather, furniture polish, dust…), combining sherry-matured Macallan, Highland Park and Caol Ila. The result is a limited edition of 3246 bottles at 44.6% ABV. Already available from The Whisky Exchange.

Compass Box Experimental Grain Whisky is composed around a Coffey-distilled whisky made from peated malted barley at Loch Lomond distillery. A cross-over between grain and malt whisky, further mixed with Cameronbridge and North British grain, as well as some Hedonism blended grain. Limited to 6142 bottles, at 46% ABV. Already available from The Whisky Exchange for instance.

Tobermory 24 Years – Hebridean series

Tobermory distillery announced a 24 Year Old expression. The ‘return of an old friend’, this spirit was originally our Tobermory 15 Year Old release. They left the whisky in its Oloroso casks for 9 more years. It is the first of five yearly whiskies in the Hebridean Series.

I wonder how this is different from their 23 year old and why they now insist on creating a series around it with no particular theme. Distilleries would do anything to encourage collecting, right?

Also interesting

Things that may not have been widely announced but that grabbed my attention in shops recently…