Author: thedailywhisky
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Rare Find Fèis Ìle 2026: Three Caol Ila 12-year-olds, one experiment Ruby port, Tawny port and Madeira octave finish
Rare Find Whisky has released three single cask Caol Ila 12-year-olds for Fèis Ìle 2026 all from identical starting points, separated by a single variable: three months in Ruby Port, Tawny Port or Madeira octave casks. The Ruby Port (58.2% ABV, 61 bottles) is the most fruit-forward. The Tawny Port (58.3% ABV, 63 bottles) goes…
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Mac-Talla’s Fèis Ìle 2026 bottle is the one you can actually buy without getting on a ferry
Mac-Talla Cognac Cask Friends of Fèis Ìle 2026 is a peated Islay single malt finished for two years in cognac casks after a first-fill bourbon maturation. Bottled at 52.4% ABV, non-chill filtered and natural colour by Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers, it leads with orchard fruit and pastry sweetness, with peat smoke arriving only on the…
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Ardbeg Dolce is Marsala casks meeting Islay peat, and it’s not distillery-exclusive
Ardbeg Dolce is a Fèis Ìle 2026 release that marries Ardbeg matured in Sicilian Marsala dolce casks with classic bourbon-cask Ardbeg, bottled at 47.8% ABV with no age statement. The Marsala brings dried fruit, fig and dark chocolate; the peat lands last. Unlike most Ardbeg Day bottles, it isn’t distillery-exclusive: it goes on sale worldwide…
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Kilchoman Fèis Ìle 2026: a 15 year old calvados cask finish, one bottle per person
By Andreas Lykke, The Daily Whisky The Kilchoman Fèis Ìle 2026 bottling was a 15 Year Old Calvados Cask Finish, the oldest expression the Islay farm distillery has ever released for the festival and the first time a calvados finish appeared in its Fèis programme. Founder Anthony Wills hand-picked it from three casks: ten years…
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Ardnahoe’s Fèis Ìle 2026 bottle is their oldest yet, and the worm tubs are the reason to care
The Ardnahoe Fèis Ìle 2026 is the distillery’s oldest release to date: a 7 Year Old single malt matured in ex-bourbon barrels, bottled at its natural cask strength of 59.7% ABV. Just 830 individually numbered bottles were released at £85, capped at three per customer, sold at the distillery on Ardnahoe Day, 27 May 2026.…
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Bowmore’s Fèis Ìle 2026 release is 641 bottles of PX-finished floor malt, distillery only
The Bowmore Fèis Ìle 2026 release is a 9-year-old Islay single malt, distilled on 27 May 2016 and matured in a single first-fill Pedro Ximénez sherry-seasoned Spanish oak cask.It’s 100% floor malted and bottled at 55.4% ABV, with no chill filtration or colouring. Only 641 bottles were produced, priced at £130 each, sold as a…
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Lagavulin and Caol Ila just dropped three Fèis Ìle 2026 bottles, and one of them involves tequila casks
The Caol Ila tequila cask is the standout of three limited bottles Lagavulin and Caol Ila have released for Fèis Ìle 2026, the festival’s 40th anniversary. The headline is the Caol Ila 11 Year Old (56.1% ABV, £145), the distillery’s first whisky finished in former Don Julio tequila casks. Alongside it sit the Lagavulin 14…
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Laphroaig Càirdeas 2026 French Oak: the first 100% French oak in 18 years of releases
Laphroaig Càirdeas 2026 French Oak is the 18th annual release in the Friends of Laphroaig series and the first to use 100% French oak maturation. Bottled at 52.6% ABV with no added colour and non-chill filtered, it brings freshly cut wood shavings, campfire smoke, dark chocolate, and star anise alongside Laphroaig’s signature saline, smoked-meat finish.…
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Big Peat’s 2026 Fèis Ìle release swaps refill hogsheads for Pedro Ximénez Sherry casks
Big Peat Fèis Ìle 2026 is Douglas Laing’s festival-exclusive Islay blended malt for the 40th anniversary of Fèis Ìle. Where the 2025 edition used neutral refill hogsheads, the 2026 release is finished in Pedro Ximénez Sherry casks. It is bottled at 52.6% ABV, with no added colour and non-chill filtered. Expect Islay peat smoke meeting figs,…
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Deanston 5 Year Old: why Sukhinder Singh thinks five years is enough
The Deanston 5 Year Old (2020–2025) is a Single Malts of Scotland Small Batch bottling from Elixir Distillers, matured in PX and Oloroso sherry butts and bottled at 48% ABV, non-chill filtered and natural colour. Only three casks were selected. Sukhinder Singh used it as the centrepiece of a recent masterclass to make a point:…
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