Whisky Brands

As reliably excellent as ever, the 2011 Special Releases Lagavulin 12 year old was distilled in 1999 and vatted from refill American oak casks. As year oldu'd expect, this is a very upfront, sooty-sweet Lagavulin in the classic style.

Zesty oak and warm peat smoke top notes, with sweet undertones, reminiscent of fresh nutmeg and toasted almonds. Faintly salty. Laphroaig 15 year old is a smoother and more elegant elder sibling to the robust 10 year-old.

Bruichladdich Valinch 2013 Lions Tour is commemorative bottling to mark the British Lions tour of Australia in 2013. A great sporting achievement presented by an incredible distillery. Aged for 23 years and enhanced in Pomerol casks. Only 400 bottles ever released and sold exclusively on Islay, this is a true collectible.  

A rare and unusual whisky, produced at Ben Nevis in the early 1970s. A blend of malt and grain spirit both produced at Ben Nevis, which was blended as new make and then left mature together in a cask for 43 long years. One for the adventurous.

Benrinnes is another Diageo distillery of which very little is seen. Most of the malt produced at Benrinnes is used as blend fodder, so it's great to see a debut single cask bottling to sit alongside the Flora & Fauna version and 2009's acclaimed Special Release 23yo.

One of the most anticipated releases of 2014 – the second edition of Bowmore Devil's Casks. A fully sherry matured whisky from the capital of Islay, this is slightly sweeter than the first batch, but just as delicious.

This limited-edition ceramic decanter of 10-year-old Bowmore was released for the Garden Festival in Gateshead which took place between 18 May and 21 October 1990.

Long-aged Caol Ila can be excellent, and this is one of the best we've tried. With age, the smokiness of the whisky softens, revealing layers of fruit, gentle spice and elegance. A cracking dram, selected by and exclusively bottled for The Whisky Exchange. This was awarded 88 points by Serge Valentin of whiskyfun.com

An old bottling of Dufftown-Glenlivet, bottled at 12 years of age in the 1980s. This would have been distilled in the 1970s, a decade which saw the distillery double in size from four stills to eight.