Sky’s the limit – a year in the life of Port of Leith distillery
It’s a cloud-busting marvel of engineering and the UK’s first vertical distillery. As Port of Leith celebrates a year open to the public, ‘Diplomatic Division’ team member Anna Lou Larkin reveals the highs, woes and thrills
The Last Sipper with Jakub Niziolek
Nattily attired and generous with his expertise, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s Jakub Niziolek is a popular figure in the members’ room at the club’s London base. Barley popped along to ask him about his whisky passions
Sour mash, sweet music: Nashville city nights
Bourbon whiskey, glittering rhinestones, blistered hogs and cool Country music – Chris Moss goes on tour in Nashville and finds the stetson still mighty but a buzzy new culture riding in over the skyline
The Twelve Drams of Christmas
We’ve scoured the globe, we’ve sipped, scribbled and selected. Yes, it’s Barley’s annual festive dozen — 12 fantastic bottles for your Christmas cabinet, with something to suit every taste, style, region and pocket
Sip advisor: Scotland’s best independent whisky shops
From epicurean emporiums to quirky outposts, 10 places to pick up that next special bottle
From Kentucky to Hoxton
A dazzling new Bourbon bar in London is pure whiskey paradise, discovered Heather Storgaard, who zipped along to taste some historic pours from the fabled stable of Yellowstone
The Last Sipper with Joel Harrison
The spirits writer and presenter on the whisky that gets his tastebuds tingling, and his favourite Soho hangout
Barley culture: Alice Lascelles
Our favourite people on the things they like, that you might like too: this month, the award-winning drinks writer and columnist on an epic novel, her favourite blended whisky and the special place she retreats to
A vine romance: Whisky and Port’s joyful union
The Dalmore’s epic new Port Edition is forged in Scotland and finessed in the feted Douro valley wine region. For Anna Lou Larkin, a Glaswegian with a Portuguese grandfather, this was a magical marriage too good to resist
English whisky’s field of dreams
The centuries old Christian and Pagan tradition of Lammas Day has been resurrected by Fielden whisky to honour the harvest and sow a new way of making whisky – with heritage grains once used by the Vikings. Tom Pattinson joins the happy throng
Libations in Laugharne on the trail of Dylan Thomas
Drink, poetry and solitude. Chris Moss toasts the Welsh writer on a walk around the author’s favourite home town – and final resting place
Mellow fellow: meet Japan’s genius of distilling
Kanosuke is an astonishing young whisky matured in rice wine barrels and produced on Japan’s ‘Mellow Coast.’ Barley gets a taste of the future
Spirited away: A pilgrimage to Norway’s Whisky Cathedral
Beyond the Arctic Circle lies the most remote distillery in the world. Heather Storgaard makes the epic journey to pay homage
Sip advisor: Tamdhu 43-Year-Old Single Malt
Tamdhu’s latest exclusive release is a show-stopping raising of the stakes for the Speyside whisky makers. Barley succumbs to its exquisite sherry-drenched charms
Scotch is striding to disaster
Johnnie Walker and other pioneers made Scotch distinctive, so why does it seem hellbent on becoming something else?
My eco manifesto for future-proofing whisky
The boss of a groundbreaking 100% organic distillery on her vision for a net zero future
Is this a dram which I see before me?
Max Bennett is fresh from an acclaimed run as Macbeth at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Alexis Burgess is the pioneer behind a dazzling whisky collection featuring every character from the play. The two Macbeths sat down for Barley
Making a strong Impression
Johnson Reserve’s new Renoir Edition single malt whisky is a work of art, both inside the bottle and on it. Barley gets an exclusive taste and hears MD Alexander Johnson explain his masterful vision
‘They’re playing with people’s lives’: Rye whisky under siege as Scandi makers hit by ‘new’ law
European whisky producers are ensnared in a regulatory quagmire as a old trade agreement between the EU and Canada – enforced with sudden rigour earlier this year – prohibits the use of the term ‘rye whisky’ on their labels. Tom Pattinson reports
Video: In a Lalique Of Their Own
Watch the Michelin-starred chef from Glenturret distillery in Perthshire prepare a stunning langoustine dish from his tasting menu
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In A Special Place: Glencoe
By Alastair Campbell
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Video: Queens of cashmere
By Barley staff
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Whisky cabinet must-haves
By Olly Smith
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5 distilleries opening soon
By Barley staff
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Islay whisky starter for six
By Dave Broom
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Three classic Detroit speakeasies
By Nina Caplan
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Video: Japan's best dram?
By Tatsuya Minagawa
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Four supermarket whiskies we rate
By Olly Smith
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The Last Sipper
Hollywood legend Brian Cox invites Barley’s Tom Pattinson into his home to talk about the drams that changed his life - and what he really thinks about tasting notes…
Video produced by Emir Eralp