Berry Bros. & Rudd has announced the launch of its latest seasonal collection, the 2024 Spring Release.

The 2024 Spring Release collection consists of five Scotch whiskies, one Swedish whisky, and one Guyanese Rum, all bottled unchill-filtered and of natural color:

Benrinnes 1979 #62 Exceptional Cask
Limited to 198 bottles at 42.1% ABV
RRP: £1,800.00

The crescendo of aromas in this whisky begins with musty hessian and attics before rising into honey-soaked pineapple and peaches. Magnificent hints of leather and elderflower soon follow. The palate expands on this theme with apricot jam, stewed apple and lychee before developing into antique oak, cigar boxes and musty earth. The finish offers dried fruits and aged tea. This kind of complexity requires nearly half a decade of quiet ageing so accept no substitute.

Small Batch Glenlossie 2013
Limited to 856bottles at 46% ABV
RRP: £70.00

Aromas of spiced vanilla yoghurt open the nose of this Glenlossie leading to warm orchard fruits and green boiled sweets. The palate is fresh with flavours of apples and pears with honey, caramel, and clove rock. A long finish brings waves of sweet fruit and lingering wood spice.

Craigellachie 2013 #302040
Limited to 298 bottles at 55.4% ABV
RRP: £90.00

Craigellachie’s muscular spirit shows emerging aromas of fresh hay, malt and fireworks, before orchard fruits and a softer floral side of rose petals and Port. The palate is notably thick, with more barley, eau de vie, underripe vanilla and blackberries before a puff of wood smoke and digestive biscuits appear. The finish is long and one can feel the spirits oils lingering and showing a touch of peppery spice.

Knockdhu 2012 #7127
Limited to 312 bottles at 58.8% ABV
RRP: £75.00

This Knockdhu has a dry, nutty nose expanding with time in the glass. It shows almonds and walnuts before green fruits and banana bread notes appear. The palate is an equally complex meeting of fruits, wood spice and distillate-driven nuttiness, offering an excellent mouthfeel. A little tobacco dances across the finish, with a burst of citrus and some honeyed green fruits.

High Coast Peated 2012 #4333
Limited to 243 bottles at 59.8% ABV
RRP: £110.00

The nose on this whisky is unmistakably High Coast. Opening with clean, chiselled peat smoke then fresh orchard fruit and icing sugar showing with time. The palate is powerful yet sophisticated and everything we’ve come to expect from this distillery. Peat smoke, crisp green apples, wood ash and some nice minerality shine through. The two years in an ex-Islay cask bring out a little more peat reek on a long finish. This is a wonderful dram from one of Sweden’s best.

Ardmore 2009 #709317
Limited to 268 bottles at 54.2% ABV
RRP: £96.00

This peaty Highlander has spent years luxuriating in a sweet Madeira cask. Its earthy aromas mingle nicely with sweet apricot notes and plenty of gummy fruits. The palate is wonderfully viscous with hugely chewy notes of fruity smoke, plums, charcoal, earthy peat, peaches and oak spice. There is huge complexity here. Lingering smoke comes in waves against an oily fruitiness.

Guyana 2013 #71
Limited to 237 bottles at 59.5% ABV
RRP: £125.00

This is a delightfully elegant and lightly fruity rum. A luscious bed of honey aromas develops into dry menthol notes. The palate is dry, initially, until the honey gathers pace to give succulent bursts of sweet fruit.

The Berry Bros. & Rudd 2024 Spring Release collection is available for purchase now via bbrspirits.com.

Source: Berry Bros. & Rudd.

Berry Bros. & Rudd have announced the launch of their latest seasonal collection, the 2023 Spring Release.

The 2023 Spring Release collection consists of one English single malt whisky, one Portsmouth rum, and six single malt Scotch whiskies, all bottled unchill-filtered and of natural color:

Spirit of Yorkshire 2017 PX Finish Cask #2237
Limited to 356 bottles at 57.6% ABV
RRP: £125.00

The spirit was poured into first-fill ex-bourbon wood in February 2017, then re-racked for two and a half years into rich Pedro Ximénez wood. As with many bottlings from this brilliant distillery, the joy here is the interplay between cask and barley. Unlike most whisky-makers, our friends at Spirit of Yorkshire grow all their own barley and take an immense pride in doing so. Starting from such impeccable raw material in any endeavour gives the greatest chance of success. Here, paired with a potentially domineering ex Pedro-Ximénez Sherry cask, the rich, oily, grain sweetness is a delight. A scant few drops of water release even more sweetness alongside the opulent spice.

Portsmouth 2019 Cask #5
Limited to 312 bottles at 57% ABV
RRP: £69.00

Matured in ex-Bourbon barrels for three years, this golden rum punches well above its weight and could easily be mistaken for an older Caribbean cousin. The vanilla character is overlaid with some rich citrus and candied fruit, resulting in a balanced and classy rum with a textured mouthfeel and a satisfying lingering finish. This is ideal with a mixer if that is your inclination, but it stands out as a high-class sipping rum in its own right.

Glen Elgin 2013 Cask
Limited to 851 bottles at 46% ABV
RRP: £70.00

The nose opens with Glen Elgin’s trademark burnt marmalade notes, alongside some apples and pears. A little time in the glass brings forward notes of crème brûlée with spiced cream. The palate is muscular, reminding us of Glen Elgin’s traditional worm tubs, while a perfect balance of fruit and oak waltz over the tongue. With characterful liquid like this, it’s hard to fathom why Glen Elgin isn’t one of the biggest names in Scotch whisky.

Ardmore 2012 Cask #9
Limited to 661 bottles at 59.6% ABV
RRP: £75.00

The unique earthy wood smoke drifting out of the glass can only announce the arrival of Ardmore, one of the Highland’s most characterful drams. Ash, hessian, kippers and digestive biscuits mingle with great balance, with a hint of tobacco and fruit cake appearing after some time in the glass. The palate is tremendously smoky, yet still very subtle, with notes of cedar, smoked straw, pipe tobacco and lime zest. Woodland bonfire smoke lasts long on the palate. This is the perfect hill-walking dram – enjoy it at cask strength in gale force wind and rain.

Glencadam 2011 Muscat Finish Cask #800216
Limited to 255 bottles at 59.7% ABV
RRP: £86.00

A final year maturing in ex-sweet wine casks has brought out the playful fruitiness of this delightful Glencadam. Apricots, peaches, orange blossom and honey yoghurt all flutter out of the glass, making for a wonderfully refreshing nose. The palate is gloriously thick, bringing more bright fruits along with mango syrup, chewy dried pineapple and a hint of drying wood varnish. All of this is wrapped up on the lingering palate by further notes of fruit syrup. This is amazingly fresh and floral.

Benriach 2010 PX Finish Cask #08037
Limited to 668 bottles at 60.7% ABV
RRP: £96.00

This vibrant Speysider has spent the last two years of its life in a sweet ex- Pedro Ximénez butt, giving a spicy nose full of sticky gingerbread, clove rock and liquorice. A little water coaxes out some juicy pear notes and a touch of underripe mango. The palate is a touch drying at full strength, offering ginger, pepper and sweet plum wine. A little time and dilution show a more complex dram, with layers of fruit, spice and a touch of oak. This is a vigorous whisky perfect for enjoying after dinner alongside dessert.

Glen Garioch 2011 Oloroso Finish Cask #08028
Limited to 433 bottles at 58.4% ABV
RRP: £96.00

Glen Garioch and Sherry wood are one of the finest matches in the whisky world – which is why this robust malt has spent the last two years building some extra muscle in a first-fill butt. The bouquet offers dark chocolate and tea leaves, with prune cake and spiced sultanas appearing with time. Glen Garioch has incredible body, and the palate is notably thick as dried fruit, wood smoke, brambles and oak spice all demand your attention. The finish lasts long, showing a perfect balance of fruit, spice, smoke and Sherry wood. It’s a perfect marriage of wood and distillate.

Benriach 1991 Cask #45607
Limited to 254 bottles at 48.3% ABV
RRP: £800.00

Like a good book, this elegant old Speysider builds with time and grows in character – be prepared to give it a good hour in the glass to open up. Aromas of banana bread, musty attics, leather and wax blend with fresher fruit notes to create an incredibly deep nose. This theme continues on the palate, which displays a beautifully aged character, with notes of spiced custard, cardamom fudge. Hints of praline build alongside dried apricot and something pleasingly musty. Lingering spice and fruit show with an unexpected puff of wood smoke on the back palate. This is a marvellous example of aged Speyside whisky.

The Berry Bros. & Rudd 2023 Spring Release collection is available for purchase via the Berry Bros. & Rudd website.

Photo credit: Berry Bros. & Rudd.
Source: Berry Bros. & Rudd.

Compass Box has announced The Circle No. 2, the second limited edition blended Scotch whisky to emerge from Compass Box’s global bartender competition, The Circle.

British bartender Mannie Monaghan won the 2019 competition and earned the prize of collaboration with the Compass Box whiskymakers. To create The Circle No. 2, Monaghan tapped into the phenomenon known as synesthesia, which is defined as a blending of the senses, such as hearing shapes or smelling colors. Monaghan asked the Compass Box team: “Is it possible to make a whisky that evokes the color coral?”

Over two sessions, Monaghan, a synesthete himself, joined lead whiskymaker James Saxon in the Blending Rooms. Not synesthetic himself, Saxon relied on Monaghan to identify parcels of whisky with coral-like qualities, scouring the shelves for samples with the intensity and beauty that matched the color in Monaghan’s mind.

The recipe for Compass Box The Circle No. 2 follows:

• Glen Elgin single malt matured primarily in Recharred American Oak Barrels (50.4%)
• Speyburn single malt matured in a Refill Hogshead (17.3%)
• Teaninich single malt matured in a First Fill Sherry Butt (13.5%)
• Linkwood single malt matured in a Refill Puncheon (ex-STR Barrique) (2.3%)
• Ardmore single malt matured in a First Fill Sherry Hogshead (2.2%)
• Blended Scotch Parcel matured primarily in a First Fill Sherry Butt (14.3%)

Bottled non chill-filtered and of natural color at 46% ABV, Compass Box The Circle No. 2 is described as having aromas of “bright pineapple and stewed peach,” with notes of “vanilla, honey, and sultanas soaked in Cognac” on the palate.

Compass Box The Circle No. 2 is limited to only 3,113 bottles worldwide and will be available in the U.S. beginning in July for a suggested retail price of $130.

Photo credit: Compass Box.
Source: Compass Box.