Campbeltown had 30 distilleries in the 1880s and has three today. Stephanie Manning drove the length of Kintyre, a day after Storm Amy, to taste through casks at Glen Scotia. She came back with a 10-year first-fill Oloroso hogshead and an argument for very long fermentations.
Read MoreThompson Bros' Mystery Malt series is exactly what it sounds like: a US-exclusive blend of single malt Scotch drawn from twenty different distilleries, with the true contents revealed only on labels hidden under the capsule, cork, and neck. Non-chill filtered and naturally colored, it may haze slightly at low temperatures — a sign of authenticity, not a flaw. Each 6-pack case includes 6 different bottles, and each full pack carries a similar value — new-wave single casks sitting alongside very old single malts from established names. There's no better way to organize a blind tasting than a full case.
Read MoreWhen this 1989 Speyside malt came to us, the thing that stood out immediately wasn’t the age or the rarity, but the outrageous quality to price ratio. This is a 36‑year‑old Speyside malt, distilled in 1989, drawn from refill hogsheads, and bottled at a natural strength just under 48% with a microscopic amount of its neighboring distillery add to the mix. There’s no famous distillery name on the label, no finishing regime meant to dress it up, and no attempt to turn it into something it isn’t. Just dang good whisky for an amazing price. That’s not something you see every day.
Read MoreFor the holidays this year, we celebrate a newly minted whisky season with an impeccable lineup of 10 single casks of Scotch from our dear friends at Douglas Laing in Glasgow. The wonderful and historic bottler has never failed to bring exciting casks to market, but we’ve turned up the value this year—fighting rising costs and bureaucratic delay to offer a wide variety of unique casks at market beating prices. These are some of the most unique and delicious barrels we’ve ever sourced from the storied bottler, and the prices send a message to the market at large: PEOPLE WANT GREAT SCOTCH AT GREAT PRICES!
Read MoreImagine strapping yourself into a Victorian diving suit, lowering into the inky Atlantic, and finding—rather than shipwrecks and squid—an old Ardbeg cask still breathing with smoke and sea. That’s the feel of Ardbeg: The Abyss, a 34-year-old Islay single malt Scotch surfacing this October at K&L’s spirits auction… with a $1 reserve. Yes, one dollar. Try not to hyperventilate through your regulator.
Read MoreOctober’s Spirits Newsletter is loaded: the long-awaited Every Drop 16-Year “Dawning Era” lands in stock, we welcome Josh Gelfand to the buying team, and we’ve lined up a showcase of exclusive barrel picks spanning bourbon and agave. Don’t miss Old Particular & Signatory standouts—from savvy daily drinkers to blue-chip rarities—and a preview of our Ardbeg Abyss auction with a $1 reserve.
Read MoreWe have so many amazing Scotch bottlings on their way to us. Here are some of the pre-arrival highlights you definitely should not miss:
Read MoreCompass Box and K&L have always had a special relationship. Since the inception of this special brand 25 years ago, we've seen eye to eye on every aspect of this business. It wasn't until 2011 that we were able to connect with legendary whiskymaker John Glasser about the potential to do an exclusive for K&L. We had access to anything back then, but one trophy alluded K&L and exclusive Compass Box. That was until 2015 when John Glaser invited our spirits buying team to select an exclusive blend from their stocks, a now legendary blend of old peated malt and a sherry aged malt—5th and Harrison was born. Now 10 years later, we were honored and surprised when James Saxon, Compass Box Master Blender, agreed to build a special batch just for us once again. We had a recipe that we loved, old peat and heavy sherry, but could they pull it off? Of course they did!
Read MoreWe have such an incredibly diverse set of offerings in this auction, but as we were putting it together there were some bottles that stood out–sometimes because of what was in the bottle, and sometimes because what was outside the bottle! Here is our top 10 list, in no particular order (and apologies to the other 300+ bottles that didn’t make this list).
Read MoreOur spirits inventory has seen a tidal wave of new arrivals, and not just in the familiar categories. Of course, Scotch is on fire lately with a treasure trove of spectacular bottlings from Redacted Bros. (aka Thompson Bros.) and Dramfool, but we've also just taken in a jaw-dropping line-up of rare Armagnacs, and a long-anticipated trio of stunning craft gins from Sweden.
Read MoreDramfool has been bottling independent casks since 2015. Across scores of bottlings, they’ve earned a phenomenal reputation for quality and for their ability to bottle unique casks that simply cannot be had from any other source.
Read MoreThere’s something about the boys in Dornoch that just gets people to open doors for them. The Thompson brothers are the real deal. They’ve been the proprietors of one of Scotland’s finest whisky bars for many years now, and, in their spare time, they’ve built an incredible distillery in the back shed, which is pushing the limits of modern single malt back to its heyday.… They get access to quality stock where others have faltered. Whether that’s due to the good will they’ve garnered behind the bar at the Dornoch Hotel or simply because they’re pretty groovy guys, no one will ever know, but their cask selections have always over-delivered at extremely reasonable price points.
Read More
