The Top Whiskeys From April 2017

This discontinued Canadian whisky is a blend of rye, corn and malted barley whiskies from Lethbridge, Alberta’s Black Velvet Distillery. The rest of the details about this whisky are shrouded in mystery. It’s bottled at 40% ABV and according to the label, diamond filtered. It was sold for under $50 a bottle, unheard of for a 21 year old whisky.

Maturing whisky in the heart of Burgundy, Michel Couvreur begun his journey in wine, and upon selling to the UK market was told that he should add a top-shelf whisky to his range in the late 70’s. Michel believes that 90% of a whisky's quality comes not from the distillation, but from the casks the whisky is matured in. This Special Vatting is a blend of three different Scottish single malt whiskies matured in sherry casks.

The Craggamore distillery sits in Ballindaloch, Speyside, and was only possible through the construction of the Strathspey railway opened in 1863. Founded by John Smith, the distillery always saw a lot of outside interest, with Smith managing the Macallan, Glenlivet, Glenfarclas distilleries before opening his own. A curiosity in the whisky world, the stills at Cragganmore were designed with flat tops as opposed to the usual swan neck. These flat tops help increase reflux, and in the end give this whisky a complex character more-so than most other Speyside distilleries. The Cragganmore 25 Year Old is a limited edition run for the Diageo Special Release bottlings, with a limited release of 3372 bottles.

This Black Infused Corn Whiskey from Black Canyon Distillery involves an "extra aging step" from what gets bottled as their Corn Whiskey. This is a sour mash whiskey made from 100% Colorado-grown corn in Longmont using handmade custom stills crafted by founder and master distiller, Fred Lesnick. It is bottled at 45% ABV.

With a mash bill of 73% malt-rye and 27% specialty barley malts, this Salida, Colorado-made rye is aged in new American white oak barrels. Wood's High Mountain Distillery uses an antique German pot-still from the 1880s and was founded by brothers P.T. and Lee Wood.

97% Michigan-grown rye and 3% specialty malted barley make up the mash bill of this Detroit-made rye. Made on a small copper pot-still in an old slaughterhouse in Eastern Market with the organic rye grown in Eaton County, Michigan. Produced in small batches which for them means 5-6 barrels per batch. Aged in charred American white oak barrels.

Oileanach Furachail is the 8th release in Bruichladdich's Port Charlotte PC series, an annual release of cask strength bottlings that began with the five-year-old PC5 Evolution. Each expression in the series is given a name in the old language, and "oileanach furachail" is in reference to a teacher grooming his apprentice to take on the craft - in this case, Master Distiller Jim McEwen and Adam Hannett, who worked together from 2006 until McEwan's retirement in 2015. This heavily-peated Islay single malt is only available through select Global Travel Retail outlets. It's bottled at a hefty 58.7% ABV.

Douglas Laing & Co. is an independent bottler and blender of Scotch whiskies. They release single malts, blended malts, and blended whiskies. This expression is a cask-strength version of the blend that they released in early 2015. It is blend of single malts from the Isles of Islay, Arran, Jura, and Orkney. There is no-age statement, and the whisky was bottled at 57.4% ABV without coloring or chill-filtration. Note: This cask-strength version is currently not available in the US.

The anCnoc Rutter is part of a newer collection of peaty expressions being distilled by Knockdhu in the Highlands of Scotland. This particular expression is peated at a level of 11 PPM (parts per million) which is the least peaty of the anCnoc "Peaty" range of four whiskies (tushkar, rutter, flaughter, and cutter). The name "Rutter" comes from the type of spade you see on the label which is used in separating peat blocks. All of the whiskies from this range are named after spades that are used to work with peat.

Glen Elgin has had a bit of a bumpy road. The distillery was first sold in 1900. Then changed hands again in 1902, and yet again in 1906 when it was bought by blender John Blanche. In the 30’s it was part of Scottish Malt Distillers and became an important component in the popular “White Horse” Blend. The distillery only started releasing their own 12 year-old Single Malt in the late 70’s. Note: Not currently available in the US.