For fans of malt whisky and, in particular, those who prefer their single malt bottled at a higher strength beyond the standard 40% ABV, there are some annual expressions and releases to look out for each year. The Diageo Special Releases is one such range and, for most markets around the globe, its annual arrival and launch is a heralded event. In a quirk of international marketing and timing, not all countries feature the DSR in the actual year of release. Australia is one such market and for over a decade now, each annual release of the DSR occurs in the year following the “vintage”. As such, March 2024 sees the arrival in Australia of the Diageo Special Releases 2023 range!
Tag: Lagavulin
Diageo Special Releases 2022
The annual Diageo Special Releases range is always keenly anticipated around the world each year. Typically unveiled in the UK around October, many international markets don’t release them locally until the following calendar year. And so it is that, in April 2023, many markets are only just now launching the Diageo Special Releases 2022 range.
The Diageo Special Releases – first launched 21 years ago now in 2001 – is a fantastic opportunity to try some of your favourite distilleries in an expression quite unlike the regular version that you’re otherwise familiar with. The Special Releases expression might appear with a different or unique age statement, or might have undergone a different maturation regimen to the regular release. Also of note is that, unlike the regularly available expressions that are typically bottled at 40-43% and have been chillfiltered, the Special Releases are typically bottled at higher cask-strength and remain non-chillfiltered. The annual Diageo Special Releases also often include a distillery or two in the range that actually aren’t regularly bottled or commercially available – and so it’s an opportunity to try a distillery that you might not otherwise encounter.
Diageo Special Releases 2021
Of the many annual whisky releases that hit our shores each year, few raise as much anticipation and enthusiasm as the Diageo Special Releases. As always – well, at least in this country (Australia) – the annual set is released in the year after their namesake. And so it is that, in April 2022, we have the launch of the Diageo Special Releases 2021…
The Diageo Special Releases – first launched 20 years ago now in 2001 – is a fantastic opportunity to try some of your favourite distilleries in an expression quite unlike the regular version that you’re otherwise familiar with. The Special Releases expression might appear with a different or unique age statement, or might have undergone a different maturation regimen to the regular release. Also of note is that, unlike the regularly available expressions that are typically bottled at 40-43% and have been chillfiltered, the Special Releases are bottled at their natural cask-strength and remain unchillfiltered. The annual Diageo Special Releases also often include a distillery or two in the line up that actually aren’t regularly bottled or commercially available – and so it’s an opportunity to try a distillery that you might not otherwise encounter.
Matching a whisky to every James Bond film
James Bond and whisky? Whisky has been paired with food for decades, although in more recent years we’ve seen whiskies paired and matched to cigars, watches, music, and even movies! If you’re going to sit down in your comfy sofa and pass away a few hours being entertained by 007, then having a good dram in your hand goes a long way to enhancing the James Bond experience.
Of course, Bond’s drink of choice may be a vodka martini, but we can shake and stir things up for the whisky drinkers out there who are James Bond fans: Here is our effort to pair and match the perfect whisky to every (official) James Bond film.
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Diageo Special Releases 2020
The Diageo “Special Releases” range is keenly awaited each year, and the latest collection (2020) is now being made available to markets around the world.
[Update: If you’re looking for info on the Diageo Special Releases for 2021, see our more recent post here.]
Whisky & Wisdom has attended the launch events for the Special Releases range in previous years, but with COVID still largely preventing such public events, a special media kit was prepared for this year’s range. The box – a very attractive and well-presented affair, it must be said – contained samples of the eight releases.
The idea behind the Diageo Special Releases range is to present and showcase whiskies from selected distilleries that differ significantly from the usual or familiar form that we associate with those distilleries. We thus see things like unpeated releases from Islay distilleries; or releases with significant age statements that aren’t normally available; or releases given special cask treatments or finishes; or simply releases from closed or rarely seen distilleries. There’s always something for everyone, and each year’s Special Releases range showcases a diverse spectrum of flavours and also price points.
The complete guide to peat and peated whisky
Are you wanting to know more about peat and smoky whiskies? Want to know what makes a whisky smoky in the first place? Peat is one of the least understood aspects of the whisky industry, but fear not: Our complete guide to peat will make you an instant expert on the topic.
Most whisky drinkers will remember and can pinpoint the first time they tasted a heavily peated whisky. Like a fork in the road, it was probably a “love it or hate it” moment….there is rarely middle ground or ambivalence when your tastebuds first encounter a truly peaty, medicinal, smoky whisky. But things change…
Would it be crude to suggest that Scotch whisky drinkers thus fall into three camps? There are those that hate peated whisky; those that love peated whisky; and those that are actively and earnestly transitioning at some point between those two extremes. No matter where you sit on that three-pointed scale, this guide will assist you in understanding all the ins and outs of peat and the role it plays in Scotch whisky. (And we’ll touch on Irish whiskey, too). So settle in with a dram of your favourite malt and let’s cover some facts and dispel a few myths…. Continue reading “The complete guide to peat and peated whisky”
The most beautiful distilleries in Scotland
It’s a question often asked: Which is the most beautiful distillery in Scotland? But if beauty is in the eye of the beholder, how does one assemble a definitive list of Scotland’s most beautiful distilleries that adequately captures all the subjectivity from amongst the whisky community? And when it comes to distilleries – which are nothing more than factories to produce alcohol – what metrics do we use to define beauty? Is it architectural flair? Aesthetic lines and symmetry? And how do we compare architectural and construction fashions across timelines? Many would suggest that the classic, quaint, stone-built distilleries of the Victorian era have a romantic advantage, but purists are correct to assert there is beauty in the functional architecture of modern behemoths such as Roseisle or Dalmunach.
There are further complexities: How much does the surrounding environment impact our assessment of a distillery’s beauty? For example, Lagavulin is, in reality, just a clump of relatively plain, white-washed buildings nestled together. However, put them in a coastal location on the water, add some colour from the local vegetation, and throw in the ruins of a medieval castle nearby for good measure, and you have one extremely beautiful distillery.
A further difficulty arises when you look at the many distilleries that have been bastardised over the years with unsympathetic expansions, often resulting in clashing, jarring visuals. There are many such examples that mix their original old-world Victorian charm with 1960’s modernism or 1970’s brutalism.
Following a poll that Whisky & Wisdom ran on Twitter a few weeks ago to gauge public opinion, we offer you – in no particular order – the following list of Scotland’s most beautiful distilleries:
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Islay – Its distilleries and its whiskies
[Updated 2024] With Islay’s smoky, pungent, peaty whiskies gaining increasing popularity and traction around the globe, and with whisky tourism to Islay growing, now is a great time to come to terms with the island and its whiskies. Here’s a unique and new way of presenting Islay’s critical information….
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Six historical whiskies you MUST try
You’ve probably been at a whisky event amongst a bunch of people and you were tasting a whisky from a particular distillery when someone near you remarked, “Ah, it’s not as good as it used to be…their whisky was so much better 20 years ago!” Or words to that effect. It’s a sentiment I’ve heard a lot lately. Mostly because I’m the old fart repeatedly saying it. We all look back on the rare and special whiskies we’ve tried in the past, and it’s hard not to wish that current incarnations were the same.
But I know I’m not alone – it’s an observation shared by many, and particularly amongst some of the pals I’ve been dramming with for 15-20 years. We’re often accused of wearing rose-coloured glasses or getting caught up in sepia-toned memories. That being said, we can be objective about this, and you should perhaps read our feature article, Is whisky better or worse today than it was 20 years ago?
To be clear, I’m not referring to all whisky per se … it would be folly and a blatant mistruth to suggest all whisky was generally better in the past. However, there are some distilleries that, on the whole, are releasing whiskies today that are a far cry from the bottlings they released in years gone by. I hesitate to suggest that their quality has gone downhill, since quality or flavour preference can be a subjective thing.
But, having said that, if you’ve been enjoying single malt whisky for over 20 years, there are a few benchmark drams that some of us hang our hats on. You may have heard of these drams in the past and wondered what all the fuss is about? Why are they so revered?
Diageo Special Releases 2017
Our annual take on the range each year, this is our piece on the Diageo Special Releases 2017 whiskies…