We're kicking the week off with a few older Highland releases from Berry Brothers & Rudd. Berry Brothers & Rudd Glencadam 2011 Cask #800216 Region: Highlands ABV: 59.7% Price: £82.90 First up we have a 2011 vintage Glencadam that was bottled in 2023 after a finishing period in a Muscat cask. 255 bottles were released. Nose On the nose, we're finding an abundance of syrupy tinned fruit.. mangoes, pineapple alongside some tangerine segments. We're also finding the peel and pith of a navel orange, some candied almonds and brandy snaps. Even though there are prominent fruit aromas ..read more

We're looking at a couple of peated GlenAllachie's today from the distilleries' Meikle Tòir series. Meikle Tòir The Sherry One Region: Speyside ABV: 48.0% Price: £41.00 The Sherry One is a peated whisky produced at the GlenAllachie Distillery, utilising mainland peat sourced from St. Fergus. The spirit boasts a peating level of 35ppm, that underwent a fermentation period of 160 hours. Its initial maturation took place in American oak bourbon barrels, followed by a finishing period in Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry puncheons. Nose Upon first nosing, there's a charred sweetness remini ..read more

Today we’re looking at two releases from another of the “New Wave” of distilleries, Ballindalloch. Ballindalloch 2016 Cask #235 Region: Speyside ABV: 61.1% Price: £103.00 The first release featured is from a 1st fill bourbon barrel, distilled on 28th April 2016 and bottled on 31st January 2024. A total of 228 bottles were produced, exclusively for the UK market. Nose The nose opens with heaps of tropical fruits, pineapple, dried mango, icing sugar, light caramel, green apple skin and effervescent Albariño wine. There’s also some fresh lemon juice, whipped vanilla cream and some light ..read more

We're kicking off the week with the oldest Port Charlotte bottled (at the time), for the Friends of Bruichladdich group. Friends of Bruichladdich Port Charlotte Cask #975 Region: Islay ABV: 60.0% Price: £275.00 (500ml) This release is among the oldest Port Charlotte single casks available. Distilled on 18th December 2001, it was aged for 21 years in a bourbon cask before being bottled on 31st January 2023. A total of 258 bottles were made available. Nose On first nosing, we detect seaweed, sea air, limeade, crème brûlée, alongside ash and a hint of bonfire smoke. Upon revisiting, we f ..read more

We're back with the April outturn review. The preview tasting this month featured 14 new bottles. On paper it's definitely a slow month, but that's to be expected in the lead up to the festival releases in May. There's also a spread of Society spirits which is nice to see. As usual check out our social media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) to get an updates on any missing bottles and heads up on our other reviews. The scores below are based on our initial impressions. For full disclosure, we won't spend as much time with a dram as we usually do for a full review, but we hope you'll find ..read more

Today, we're reviewing Octomore 14.4 and updating our ranking of all the bottles in the 14th series. You can find our reviews of the other releases from the 14th series here. Octomore 14.4 Region: Islay ABV: 59.2% Price: £175.00 14.1 was distilled in 2017 from the 2016 harvest of Concerto barley. It was peated to 106 PPM, matured in Colombian Virgin Oak casks, and bottled at 5 years old. Nose Surprisingly closed initially given what this is, although there is peat here in its more medicinal form, think chlorine, TCP, and iodine. After a moment, aromas of vanilla cola, pepper, toffee p ..read more

Continuing the week with another few drams from Bruichladdich, this time both bottled by Dramfool under the Jim McEwan Signature Collection and the new Dramfool Gold series. Dramfool’s Gold Bruichladdich 32yo cask #001130 Region: Islay ABV: 49.6% Price: £630.00 This marks the inaugural release in the new Dramfool's GOLD range: a 32-year-old Laddie distilled on 20th March 1992, which was then left to age in a first-fill bourbon barrel. A total of 174 bottles were produced in this release. Nose The nose bursts open with a mixture of peaches, fresh apple, fudge cake, vanilla fondant icin ..read more

A couple of heavy hitters to kick the week off, including the oldest official release of Port Charlotte and a younger expression from Dramfool's Jim McEwan collection. Port Charlotte 18 Year Old Region: Islay ABV: 54.3% Price: £175.00 Port Charlotte 18 is a mix of 74% refill sherry casks, and 26% refill French oak wine casks all distilled in 2004. 6,000 bottles were released. Nose The nose opens with a prominent ashy peat smoke that we always associate with Port Charlotte, along with wet pebbles, sea spray and Maldon sea salt… It has a very strong maritime quality. There’s also prunes ..read more

Today we’re looking at the 2nd releases in the Fib Whiskies Before & After Series. This series gives you the opportunity to try whiskies before and after cask finishing. In addition to being available as a double pack, these bottles have also been released individually as part of the Fibs Copper & Oak series and the Permutations series. Fib Whisky Glentauchers 13yo Bourbon Barrel Region: Speyside ABV: 58.0% Price: £70.00 This release, distilled on 25th February 2009, was matured in a Refill Bourbon Barrel until 14th February 2023, at which point 116 bottles were filled. The re ..read more

We're beginning the week with a couple of independently bottled Bunnahahabains including one finished in a wine cask, not a bad Monday at all. Signatory Vintage 100 Proof Edition 7 - Bunnahabhain (Staoisha) 10 Region: Islay ABV: 57.1% Price: £47.00 This is a small-batch release that's a vatting of multiple first-fill oloroso sherry butts, distilled in 2013 and left to mature until 2023. At least that’s what the marketing blurb says. Looking at the colour on this it’s a little surprising that no refill casks have been used. Nose On the nose, there are notes of popcorn, roasted peanuts ..read more