TOP 10 WHISKIES £100-£200

Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Distillery Bottling 70cl / 46.3%
 
One of Bunnahbhain's flagship bottlings, the distillery's 18-year-old is richly-sherried without being cloying or over-powered. This whisky carries its 46.3% strength lightly while still packing plenty of sweet sherry flavours and the faintest whisper of earthy peat. A very elegant dram.

It's amazing to think that it's now over a decade since Bunnahabhain (and sister distilleries Deanston and Tobermory) dropped chill filtration and colouring and upped the strength of their official bottlings to 46.3%. How the brand's fortunes have improved since then, with Malt Whisky Yearbook reporting a 160% increase in sales in the last ten years. It really shows the value of listening to your customers.

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Island Single Malt Scotch Whisky 
Bottled by John Crabbie 70cl / 47.5%

This Crabbie 1999 22-year-old Orkney whisky is another of the company's superb single casks of 'mystery' single malt whisky, and like the previous editions it's not that difficult a mystery to solve - and the answer should make fans of that particular Orkney distillery very happy.

Here we have a single bourbon cask of the 1999 vintage whisky from that very famous Orkney distillery, finished in a Palo Cortado sherry cask and bottled as a 22-year-old in 2021. This Crabbie 1999 single cask yielded 253 bottles at 47.5% and was bottled without colouring or chill filtration.

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Tasting Notes

Official Tasting Notes

Colour: Bright gold.

Nose: Hints of raisins, dried fruit, vanilla fudge and berries, balanced with peppery smoke.

Palate: Layers of sweet berries and cream, with soft coffee caramel toffee. Dried fruit develops to a sweet, balanced peppered smokiness, with hints of dark chocolate and coffee.

Finish: Long, lingering and smoky.

Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky 
Distillery Bottling 70cl / 57.3%

Always one of the most anticipated and welcome of Diageo's Special Releases, 2022's Lagavulin 12-year-old clocks in at an impressive 57.3% cask strength.

The first of these cask strength modern iterations of Lagavulin 12-year-old appeared in 2002 and they've been deservedly popular ever since. 2022's Lagavulin 12-year-old was matured in refill American oak before a finishing period in virgin oak casks and, because everything has to have a name nowadays, this Special Releases Lagavulin has been subtitled The Flames of the Phoenix.

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Tasting Notes

Official Tasting Notes

Appearance: Gleaming, iridescent gold.

Nose: Dry, with an immediate powerful smokiness; much more so 
than is usual with Lagavulin, with charcoal and fragrant peat 
massively to the fore, backed by a clean fresh base-note that suggests sea air and mineral scents. Much reduced, aromatically, with even a 
little water, it remains essentially unaltered.

Body: Medium.

Palate: The smooth lightly oily texture shines with sweet richness; the taste is sweet to start, then takes off with a soaring lemony acidity and 
a sprinkling of sea salt to add freshness. Mid-palate the fire dries the taste, which flies still higher now in its salty-smoky intensity. A dash of water rounds and sweetens but it’s the smoke that dominates.

Finish: Long, with great waves of peat-smoke, and new- fired heights 
of spiced and smoky intensity that last wonderfully in the aftertaste.

Blended Scotch Whisky
Bottled By Glenallachie Distillery 70cl / 48%

A magnificent resurrection for the White Heather blended Scotch whisky brand, after decades languishing in nostalgic oblivion. Billy Walker, impresario of Glenallachie has reclaimed the White Heather brand and reimagined it as a prestige blend, and there literally couldn't be a better man for the job.

White Heather 21-year-old has been made by vatting a batch of 18-year-old single malts and grains from ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks before returning them to sherry casks and a few virgin oak casks for an extraordinary three years of marrying before bottling at a hearty 48%.

The blend itself has a remarkable 47% malt content of which the vast majority is Speyside and Highland single malts (it's a fair guess that there's a hefty chunk of sherried Glenallachie in there), with a dash of Islay malt to add smoke and depth.

It's always great when an old favourite makes a triumphant return. Kudos to Mr Walker and his team, we can't wait to see what's next for White Heather whisky.

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Tasting Notes

Nose: Beautifully soft background with heather honey, butterscotch, peat reek and hints of tannins.

Palate: Rich notes of heather honey, butterscotch, orange peel and soft tannins.

Finish: Balanced with a wonderful presence of peat and smoke.

Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky 
Distillery Bottling 70cl / 43%

Benromach 21-year-old was reintroduced in 2020 by owners Gordon & MacPhail after a long hiatus and is a marriage of 100% first fill ex-sherry and bourbon casks. The previous Benromach 21-year-old was a short-lived bottling issued by G&M in the mid-Noughties and was comprised of refill sherry casks filled shortly before the distillery was mothballed by former owners DCL in 1983. 

G&M bought Benromach in 1993 and distilling began again in 1998, so it's great to have the 21-year-old back in the Benromach stable, and no doubt the owners are delighted to now have a fully mature core range 21-year-old whisky all from their own production. Expect sweet sherry, spices and a thread of savoury smoke.

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Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Distillery Bottling 70cl / 46%

Balblair's 18-year-old was introduced in 2019 and looks the pick of the range for those who don't wish to shell out for the 25-year-old. This 18-year-old Balblair was matured initially in ex-bourbon casks before a finishing period in first fill sherry butts, and has been bottled at 46% without colouring or chill filtration, just as it should be.

Balblair is one of those brilliant Highland single malts whose spirit is of such high quality that it's delicious when young but also has the technical quality and character to survive and thrive for much longer ageing periods. This 18-year-old has a foot in both camps, with youthful exuberance tempered by delicious leathery, spicy oak.

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Tasting Notes

Colour: Oiled cedar.

Nose: Rich toffee and baked pears shine bright against an elegant backdrop of new leather.

Palate: A masterful balance of juicy apricots, seasoned oak and vanilla custard.

Finish: Long and warming with chords of fresh spices and raisins.

Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky 
Distillery Bottling 70cl / 63.5%

Bottled in 2019, this 3-year-old Octomore 10.4 was a limited edition of virgin oak casks filled in 2016 and remains one of the youngest ever official bottlings of Bruichladdich's hyper-smoked peat monster whisky.

Octomore Edition 10.4 is peated to 88ppm, a trifle for Octomore but still more than double the phenolicity of Lagavulin or Caol Ila. Combined with an epic bottling strength of 63.5%, this is perhaps not the ideal pick for someone trying smoky whisky for the first time, but Octomore fans will go mad for it.

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Tasting Notes

Official Tasting Notes

Colour: Tawny.

Character: A dram of depth and worth taking some time to get to know. Greater than the sum of its parts with each of those parts having an individual story of their own.

Nose: There is a richness, chocolate, tobacco, bonfire smoke, leather. Vanilla custard, blueberry, dry straw and pear drops.

Palate: Warming, spicy – mulled wine. Leather and tobacco, malt sugar, icing sugar. All wrapped in earthy peaty smoke. Dry on the palate.

Finish: Oak driven, coconut, tobacco, vanilla, then smoke. The time in the cask has calmed the smoke, both through the phenols lowering naturally over time and the influence of the oak becoming greater. 

Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Distillery Bottling 70cl / 46.8%

Released late in 2022, remarkably Fettercairn 18-year-old Scottish Oak is the first ever official 18-year-old single malt from Fettercairn distillery and will be an annual release going forward. Fettercairn 18-year-old Scottish Oak has been bottled at the tasty drinking strength of 46.8% without colouring or chill filtration.

This 18-year-old Fettercairn has been matured in first fill and refill American oak casks before being finished in locally sourced Scottish Oak wood and is the first release in Fettercairn's new Scottish Oak programme, masterminded by Master Whisky Maker Gregg Glass to create a symbiotic relationship with the distillery's eastern Highlands location while supporting the future of the local Highland Scottish oak forests.  

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Tasting Notes

Official Tasting Notes

Natural Colour: Golden amber.

Nose: Sugared almonds, baking spices, passion fruit and guava tropical fruits.

Palate: Exotic syruped fruits, patisserie sugars, brioche and spices with soft hints of berry fruits flow through to cacao and natural vanilla finish.

Highland Single Grain Scotch Whisky 
Bottled by: Duncan Taylor 70cl / 48.1% 

A long-aged 1990 Invergordon 32-year-old Highland single grain whisky bottled from a single cask in 2022 by Duncan Taylor for their Rare Auld Grain series.

Invergordon is Whyte & Mackay's grain distillery, and as such its output is almost entirely spoken for by its owners' many blends, so independent bottlings of Invergordon single grain whisky have historically been relatively few and far between.

This Duncan Taylor 32-year-old 1990 Invergordon was matured in a sherry cask and has been bottled at its cask strength of 48.1%, so this should be one of the grain whisky events of the year.

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Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky 
Bottled by: Gordon & MacPhail 70cl / 42.8%

A UK Exclusive Glenrothes 2007 14-year-old bottled in 2022 by Gordon & MacPhail for their Connoisseurs Choice Cask Strength range.

This 14-year-old Glenrothes 2007 spent its maturation period in a first fill sherry hogshead cask, yielding 313 bottles at the unusually low cask strength of 42.8% - particularly surprising as Glenrothes often fill their casks at 69%. The angels must have liked this cask a lot...

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Tasting Notes

Official Tasting Notes

Nose: Fragrant vanilla pod aromas combine with stewed raisin and cocoa powder.

Palate: Fruitcake flavours give way to forest fruit and charred oak.

Finish: A medium bodied finish with summer berries and spice.