Islay, is located off the West coast, and has eight distilleries scattered across this small island. With a very distinctive, heavily peated style, these smoky whiskies are not easy to forget, and have achieved somewhat of a cult status among whisky lovers.
The travel exclusive Laphroaig 20 year old Double Cask, matured for 18 years in bourbon hogsheads and finished for 2 years in Laphroaig's bespoke quarter casks.
A stunning 1983 vintage Caol Ila released at 30 years of age as part of Diageo's 2014 Special Releases. Aged in a combination of refill American and refill European oak, this is reminiscent of a cross between Brora and Port Ellen, combining the waxiness of the former with the chamois leather note of the latter.
A very special Bruichladdich Valinch 1970, bottled at full strength from a bourbon cask to celebrate the first distillation of the re-opening of the distillery in May 2001.
This Bruichladdich Valinch is a single cask release of 1970 vintage whisky. Bottled to celebrate the first distillation of the re-opened Bruichladdich Distillery in May 2001. Bottled at cask strength and limited to just 250 bottles.
A 1970 vintage Bruichladdich as part of the Valinch label. This is the name given to the 'fill your own bottles' obtained on the distillery tour and rarely come on to the market. This one comes from cask 5085 and was bottled not long after the turn of the millennium.
A litre bottle of Ardbeg 17 Year Old. A tad less peaty than early bottlings, this is still a great whisky, but is sadly becoming very thin on the ground as demand increases and supply runs low - it's now a good few years since owners Glenmorangie discontinued it. The first bottling of this sparked the revival of Ardbeg's fortunes after the takeover by Glenmorangie.
This 1974-vintage Ardbeg was bottled by Gordon & MacPhail in 1994 as part of the Spirit of Scotland series to commemorate 500 years of Scotch whisky.
A big cask strength Caol Ila released as part of Diageo's Rare Malts series. Distilled in 1978 and released at the turn of the millenium at a eye-watering 61.7% ABV.
A rare commemorative bottling of Bowmore released to commemorate the 2003 fly fishing championships on Islay. Only a small number of bottles, with their wooden display case, were produced and this is sought after by collectors.
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