Wolfburn 9YO OB for ImpEx Beverages Inc 70cl 56.9% ABV
Single Cask Bottling series
Distilled 05.2015, bottled 05.2024
Cask type: ex-Bourbon
Cask no. 2015 # 430



Color: golden.
Nose: light smoke, barley, apples, damp newspaper, wax, vanilla, anise, sardines in oil, pine needles, peat, blackcurrants, black peppercorns, burnt wood, vanilla, oilcloth, chocolate, peaches. Great but takes time to open up.
Taste: toffee, a touch of smoke, peat, lemons, milk chocolate, honey, apples, blackcurrants, pepper, salt.
Finish: apples, peaches, chocolate, lemons, salt, peat, pepper, mint. Somewhat hot.
Score: 8 ½. Good. +2+1+1.

Conclusion: my first Wolfburn with a strong ABV, and it feels noticeably better than the diluted 10-year-old they released in 2023. A good malt, but they must do better. 85/100. From 2013 until 2022, Wolfburn was the northernmost whisky producer on the Scottish mainland, before that title passed to the curiously named 8 Doors, which has yet to release a 3-year-old spirit. As noted on their website, Wolfburn distillery has no automation and from milling through to bottling everything is done on-site by hand with care and attention.

Lochlea NAS OB For ImpEx Beverages Inc 70cl 60% ABV
Small Batch series
Matured in Refill Bourbon barrels and finished in American Oak STR casks
Casks no. 283, 284, 285



Color: rich gold.
Nose: honey, melon, bread, crushed red pepper, quinces, lemon pie, almonds, eraser, dates, cherries, bananas, clay, hay, chocolate, tea, meadow herbs, cucumbers, and a touch of tar. The honey note is absolutely remarkable. I cannot recall it ever being this intense in a whisky.
Taste: chocolate, honey, star fruit, guava, blood oranges, pepper, lemons, apples, and pears. The tropical fruit notes are appealing, but the overall profile is dense and sweet.
Finish: chocolate, cocoa, honey, pepper, pears, oranges, and lemon zest.
Score: 8 ½. Good. +2+1+1.

Conclusion: a sweet malt. I do not particularly favor this style, but the honey character presented here is just outstanding. The strength feels satisfying as well. There is no indication of cask strength on the label, so perhaps the batch was slightly diluted to yield a rounded ABV. Adding a few drops of water does not change much. 85/100. An interesting Lochlea, one of the best I have tasted. It is reassuring that this new distillery can produce great whisky and that their future looks even more promising.

Raasay NAS OB 70cl 61.3% ABV
Cask Strength series
2024 Edition
Lightly peated (using Highland peat)
Rye Whiskey, Chinkapin Oak & Bordeaux Red Wine casks
Bottle 3,008 of 8,400 (different number on the stock photo); 1,140 bottles for the US
Bottle code L002183


Color: golden.
Nose: rye bread, canola oil, apricots, smoke, peat, cranberries in sugar, ground black pepper, caraway, rosin, ash, tar, maple syrup, blackcurrants, leather, sprats, blueberries, heather. Powerful and intense. With water: varnished wood, chocolate, figs, and the aroma becomes clearer.
Taste: chocolate, blueberries, smoke, peat, olive oil, vanilla-chocolate ice cream, apricots, pepper, mint, salt, rowanberries, a bit of alcohol sharpness. With water: more chocolate, prunes, more sweetness overall.
Finish: smoke, peat, bread, pears, pepper, salt, rowanberries, chocolate, alcohol sharpness. With water: more sweetness.
Score: 8 ½. Good. +2+1+1.

Conclusion: a solid malt from the Isle of Raasay, a bit more interesting after adding a few drops of water. By the way, finally got around to ordering a Glencairn pipette. This whisky is slightly better than their standard diluted version. 86/100.

Glen Scotia 9YO OB 75cl 56.2% ABV
Bottled for Campbeltown Malts Festival 2024
Matured in 1st fill Bourbon barrels and finished in Fino Sherry casks for a minimum of 6 months¹
Unpeated
Time code L4.024.24 24.01.2024

Color: golden with a greenish tint.
Nose: yellow apples, sea salt, milk chocolate, hay, figs, wild strawberries, earthy notes, sunflower oil, plums, lemons, wax, nuts, apricot jam, green olives, cinnamon, melons, dried mushrooms, coffee notes, and green tea. Quite delightful, with plenty of nuances and a bit of funk.
Taste: vanilla-chocolate ice cream, lemons, pepper, salted nuts, honey, red currants, pears, and lingonberries. Not overly complex, somewhat sharp but drinks very well.
Finish: a little oily, with notes of limes, chocolate, pepper, mandarins, salted nuts, lingonberries, and licorice. Hot, with a bit of biting edge.
Score: 8 ½. Good. +2+1+1.

Conclusion: a classic unpeated Campbeltown malt with a notable influence of very dry Fino sherry, even giving the whisky a slightly greenish hue. The aroma is truly impressive! Clearly a young malt, which shows in both the taste and finish. 86/100. My 5th festival Glen Scotia tasted (here are releases from 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023). Campbeltown remains my second love after Islay.

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¹Someone mentioned it was a vat of two batches, one with a 12-month finish in Fino and another with a 6-month finish.

Tamdhu Batch Strengh NAS OB 75cl 56.8% ABV
Batch 006
Oloroso Sherry oak casks, with a high proportion of first-fill casks
Bottle code L 02 05 22


Color: amber.
Nose: dates, caramel, ground pepper, rose petals, wax, marzipan, wool, nuts, hay, soy sauce, chocolate, lemon pie, iced tea, quinces, Cointreau liqueur, apricots, tobacco, and vanilla. Very pleasant, with a pronounced sherry influence.
Taste: cocoa, pears, oranges, lemons, apples, pepper, cloves, a hint of salt, and wood. Very clear, not too sweet, but not overly complex.
Finish: chocolate, cocoa, lemon zest, lime, cinnamon, pepper, apricots, and wood.
Score: 8 ½. Good. +2+1+1.

Conclusion: a pleasant, clearly young, undiluted Tamdhu, and only the fourth malt from this distillery that I've tasted. The quality of the casks is solid, bringing out enjoyable sherry notes in the aroma and cocoa in the taste as well as the aftertaste. It's also great that there's no excessive sweetness. 86/100, with an extra point for taste. Interestingly, the same release in a 70cl bottle, according to Whiskybase, has a completely different code: L 16 08 21. That suggests a 2021 bottling. But if those codes are accurate, does that mean the release for the American market was matured eight and a half months longer? That doesn't seem possible. It was probably just the whisky sitting around in a stainless steel vat before bottling. Still, why so long? Maybe we just shouldn't trust bottle codes in the first place.

Well, I got a bottle for only $50, so perhaps I shouldn't worry too much about the technical details.

GlenAllachie Meikle Tòir 5YO OB 70cl 48% ABV
The Sherry One series
Spirit phenol content: 35 ppm; used mainland peat from St. Fergus
Matured in American oak ex-Bourbon barrels, followed by Pedro Ximénez & Oloroso Sherry puncheons
Bottled August 25, 2023
Meikle Tòir is pronounced "mee-kuhl tor" and means "big pursuit" in Gaelic

Color: deep amber.
Nose: smoke, peat, engine oil, heather, rosin, nectarines, cherries, tobacco, dates, cranberries in sugar, apricots, figs, strawberries, lacquered wood, dried squid, and pencil shavings. Very nice — quite phenolic, with notable sherry influence.
Taste: smoke, peat, mint, pepper, ginger, coffee, ash, lemons, and a hint of salt. Not too complex, yet pleasant and round, still with sufficient strength.
Finish: pears, smoke, peat, coffee liqueur, ash, lemons, dark chocolate, cloves, and pepper.
Score: 8 ½. Good. +2+1+1.

Conclusion: a pleasant peated and sherried Speyside malt. A bit too young, though quite interesting — would love to see how it matures over, say, ten years. I prefer it over Meikle Tòir The Original, but it doesn't quite reach the level of The Turbo, so here we are: 86/100.

Kilchoman 9YO OB for ImpEx Beverages Inc 75cl 56.3% ABV
ImpEx Cask Evolution Series 03/2024
Distilled August 20, 2014, bottled July 1, 2024
Cask type: Bourbon barrel
Phenols: 20 ppm
Cask no: 652/2014
217 bottles


Color: light gold.
Nose: smoke, rubber, chocolate covered nuts, rosin, electrical tape, garlic stem, smoked mackerel, damp newspaper, lemons, peat, dill, ash, rotten wood, camphor oil, pineapples, vanilla, and pomelos. Adding a drop of water brings out more smoked fish, now leaning toward sprats in oil, along with intensified citrus aromas and resinous undertones.
Taste: smoky and oily, with notes of peat, lemons, red currants, honey, pears, pepper, green apples, salt, chocolate, and cranberries. Pleasant and moderately sweet, yet somewhat rough around the edges and lacking depth. With water, the chocolate and bitterness become more pronounced.
Finish: honey, smoke, peat, green apples, lemons, chocolate, pepper, salt, black chokeberries, and subtle oily notes. Some added bitterness with water.
Score: 8 ½. Good. +2+1+1.

Conclusion: I struggled to describe this malt for some reason, it took me a long time and too many attempts. According to data from ImpEx Beverages, it contains just 20 ppm of phenols compared to Kilchoman's typical 50 ppm. The peat and smoke are still sufficient, though the taste and finish feel somewhat simplistic. Still, it deserves a bonus point for the taste, bringing overall score to 86/100. But the expression is too expensive. It used to be fair to expect single malt pricing to follow a $10-per-year-of-aging guideline (at least up to a certain age, after which prices really go off the rails), but now we're seeing more and more cases where teenage and younger whisky is priced closer to $20 per year — or sometimes even higher. I’m not signing up for that.

Ardnamurchan AD/10YO OB 70cl 50% ABV
10th Anniversary series
Distilled 2014, bottled September 3, 2024
A mix of 58 American standard ex-Bourbon barrels and 2 butts (all unpeated), 32 of which were subsequently finished for over one year in Paul Launois Champagne barriques
Bottle 939/16,746

Color: pale gold.
Nose: pineapples, wax, praline candies, vanilla, rye bread, meringue cookies, sweet yellow apples, garlic, lemon pie, unripe bananas, cocoa, grassy notes, melon, hay, and subtle hints of sliced tri-tip steak. Delicately fruity.
Taste: pears, wax, honey, lemons, meringue cookies, chocolate, candies, a touch of pepper, peaches, apricots, and lime. Smooth and well-balanced, though feeling somewhat lightweight. Rather sweet.
Finish: mint candies, honey, pears, more prominent black pepper, lime, caramel, vanilla, chocolate, peaches, and a touch of salt.
Score: 8 ½. Good. +2+1+1.

Conclusion: a well-crafted and thoroughly enjoyable Ardnamurchan — congratulations on the 10th anniversary! However, the whisky's texture leans a bit too light, and the choice of Champagne (Chardonnay) barriques for finishing feels somewhat odd. I can't help but think that sherry or red wine casks would have added greater depth. I also find myself longing for a touch of peat, as their peated expressions truly shine. That said, Ardnamurchan remains the most exciting new Scottish Highland distillery in my book. 85/100.

Macduff 10YO Cadenhead's 75cl 46% ABV
Original Collection series
Distilled 2013, bottled January 22, 2024
Matured in Bourbon and Oloroso casks



Color: dark amber.
Nose: dates, marmalade, polished wood, brown sugar, nuts, blood oranges, freshly ground black pepper, a box of chocolate truffles, green and baked apples, cinnamon, cherry cola, vanilla, marzipan, nougat, and unripe pears.
Taste: oranges, dark chocolate, green apples, mint, pepper, a touch of oiliness, cocoa, cinnamon, almonds, sunflower seeds, and oatmeal cookies. Quite sweet, but not overwhelmingly so.
Finish: dark chocolate, almonds, honey, vanilla ice cream, mint, pepper, baked apples, and cocoa.
Score: 8 ½. Good. +2+1+1.

Conclusion: a Highland malt with plenty of depth and intriguing nuances. The cask influence is well-integrated, balancing sherry and bourbon elements while allowing the malt's character to come through. Gains an extra point for its flavor complexity, though it leans slightly sweeter than my ideal profile. 86/100. Only my third Macduff and the first one since April 30, 2014.

Tormore 13YO Douglas Laing Exclusively for K&L Wines 70cl 48% ABV
Old Particular range
Distilled 08.2010, bottled 03.2024
Cask type: Refill barrel
Cask no: DL17588
226 bottles


Цвет: светло-золотой.
Аромат: яблоки, карандашная стружка, амбар с зерном, груши, корица, подсолнечное масло, солёные огурцы, сицилийские апельсины, жареный ананас, кумкват, мёд, ваниль, вереск, табак, леденцы, мята.
Вкус: мёд, яблоки жёлтые и печёные, перец, груши, холодный чай, персики, карамель, ваниль. Сладковатый, ощущается водянистым.
Послевкусие: мёд, яблоки, персики, перец, груши, лимоны, бочка, чай.
Оценка: 8 ½. Хорошо. +2+1+1.

Вывод: говорят, что 48% (48.5% на сайте K&L Wines) — бочковая крепость, подозрительно, ну да ладно. Весьма выразительный аромат у молта, прямо-таки чувствуешь фруктовый салат в тарелке, а вот дальше всё как-то тусклее, хотя и без совсем уж провалов. Сильно не хватает крепости. 84/100. Я и не знал, что дистиллерия перешла в руки сухиндеров, это только укрепляет моё желание и дальше следить за её продукцией!