Bottles

Pour & Sip

Strictly 1x bottle per member

A few years ago Springbank was easy enough to get hold of. Not these days! Springbank’s a cult whisky that sells out immediately when it hits Master of Malt’s shelves. Why? Because it’s unique, beloved, and production is limited by old school methods. They proudly malt, distil, mature and bottle everything on site. They malt 100% of the barley for their whiskies using their traditional floor maltings. Nobody else in Scotland can claim these things. Founded in 1828, it’s still independently owned.

Three styles of single malt are produced: heavily peated double distilled Longrow, unpeated triple distilled Hazelburn, and classic lightly peated ‘two-and-a-half’ times distilled (we’ll have to get into that on the live) Springbank. Funky, coastal, very Campbeltown, we’re beyond thrilled to bring Springbank single malt to Pour & Sip for the first time!

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This Islay distillery is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year! One of the earliest of the wave of new distilleries this century, when it was founded in 2005 it was the first new distillery on Islay in over 120 years. They grow their own barley (321.22 tonnes of Diablo and Laurette varieties in 2024) and run their own traditional floor maltings, providing about 30% of their needs prior to the latest expansion plans to add a third pair of stills and additional washbacks. All the malt they use is peated to a hearty 50 PPM (phenol parts per million), but distilled to preserve some lighter floral and citrus notes.

This richer offering is the much anticipated limited edition cask strength version of Sanaig, the name given to their predominantly sherry matured style (either finished or fully matured in American oak oloroso sherry hogsheads from Bodegas José y Miguel Martín).

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In 2015 whisky distilling returned to the city of Glasgow for the first time in a century, and the Glasgow Distillery Co. acknowledged the past by naming their single malt after the year one of Glasgow’s original distilleries (Dundashill) was founded. Yep, in 1770. Like others in this set, Glasgow Distillery (how many times can I say Glasgow here?) produce both peated and unpeated spirit. (Some triple-distilled too.)

Having featured one of their peated whiskies a couple of years ago, we’re now looking at the unpeated side of their double-distilled production: The Original. Their fresh and fruity flagship whisky is matured in first-fill bourbon casks, then finished in fresh American oak casks that have had no prior contents. It’s non-chill filtered and natural colour. It’s also available in a highly-rated Cask Strength edition, which is well worth seeking out too.

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Founded by independent bottler Adelphi in 2014, Ardnamurchan makes both peated (30-35PPM) and unpeated spirit (about 50:50 in terms of production). Both are used in this release, just as they were for the excellent core AD/ release we featured in August 2023. The difference? The Sherry Cask Release is 100% sherry cask matured. Full maturation in a mix of oloroso and Pedro Ximénez butts. It’s a difference that’s immediately clear in the gorgeous natural colour!

Situated in a remote part of the west coast, Ardnamurchan’s power and heat all come from local renewables, and they’re producing some fantastic whiskies. As Chris in our curation team noted recently, “Ardnamurchan is slowly taking over my everyday drinkers shelf at home!”

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The Thompson brothers (Phil and Simon) put family-owned Dornoch Castle Hotel on the map as one of the greatest whisky hotels in Scotland, championing ‘old style’ whiskies made with heritage barley, brewer’s yeast and long fermentations, and going on to set up the tiny Dornoch Distillery in 2016 (with plans for a much larger site now afoot). They’ve also become award-winning independent bottlers for releases such as this.

Really very, very affordable whisky lovingly put together by whisky geeks, for whisky geeks. SRV5 aka 'Station Road Vat 5' is the name of the 1,000 litre European oak vessel where this non-chill filtered, natural colour blended malt (North Highland, Islay and Speyside single malts) rested and slowly integrated over many months. This ‘solera’ vat is never emptied to less than a third, so each batch includes whisky from the previous releases.

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A new Irish single malt whiskey here, completing three different styles of Irish whiskey in this box. ‘Temris’ is an ancient (Proto-Celtic) word meaning ‘sanctuary’ or ‘sacred place’, which they liken to their goal of creating a “haven of flavour”. It’s natural colour and non-chill filtered, and has been released by InnoBev, whose shareholders somewhat incredibly include Swizz Beatz, the American rapper and record producer who’s married to Alicia Keys! Apparently he took one of those DNA tests and it told him he was 30% Irish.

Founder and head of innovation Stephen Dillon sees the parallels between music and liquid production, blending the elements just right, and “creating experiences”. Initially aged in bourbon casks, this whiskey was finished in casks that previously held rich, sticky Pedro Ximénez sherry.

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&Whisky is known for their ‘Seaweed & Aeons & Digging & Fire’ peated single malts, and many other similarly named releases. They’re all about no nonsense, tasty, peerless value whisky. (Or in this case ‘whiskey’, as it’s usually spelt in Ireland – many Irish producers added the extra ‘e’ to differentiate themselves from Scotch as far back as the 19th century.) This Irish blend is certainly no exception.

It’s made with well-aged malt and grain whiskeys from across the whole isle of Ireland (we can’t say any more…), and is described as “dancing whiskey” by Dave Worthington! Its age almost belies its quaffable every day drinker credentials. Or as Sam Simmons says, “it’s blended to be toasted in celebration rather than deep glencairn consideration”. Delicious, fruity, and creamy, it’s of a style that’s classically Irish. Much like its name.

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Founded in 1797, Glen Garioch (pronounced ‘Glen Geery’ – one to impress your friends with) is one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland, located between Speyside and the east coast. The stills have the steepest descending lyne arms in Scotland, reducing reflux for a hearty, robust Highland malt. Fruitiness comes from clear wort and increased fermentation times in more recent years, with an interest in producing an older style of spirit eventually culminating in reopening their own malting floor and reintroducing a direct-fired wash still (while also reducing overall carbon footprint) during a 2021 renovation. Both are extremely rare features these days.

This bourbon and sherry cask matured 12-year-old is part of their core range, but is nonetheless bottled at a generous 48% and non-chill filtered. We’re told it’s “the perfect accompaniment to Parmigiano-Reggiano”.

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We’ve featured many whiskies from tiny distilleries that celebrate more traditional methods, but they all owe a debt to Edradour. ‘Scotland's Little Gem’ was known as the smallest Scotch distillery until 2008 (smaller ones have opened since, plus Edradour expanded in 2018), using open top mash tuns, tiny stills and traditional wormtub condensers. A surviving farm-scale distillery dating back to 1837 – though they track their history back to 1825 when a farmer involved began legal distilling – its existence through to today is a marvellous quirk of history.

In 2002 it was purchased by top independent bottler Signatory, allowing it greater opportunity to shine, and leading to greater use of sherry (and wine) casks, many more releases, and in 2006 the first peated release under the Ballechin name. This excellent cask strength edition was aged in oloroso and bourbon casks.

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Bunnahabhain is usually (proudly, as a point of difference to their neighbours) not peated, but things weren’t always that way. Founded in 1881, the distillery produced the kind of heavily peated whisky Islay is famous for right up until the 1960s when they decided to leave the peat behind.

Starting in the 1990s however (and increasing in the last decade or so), the distillery has got back in touch with its peaty roots on the side! Toiteach a Dhà (pronounced ‘Toch-ach ah-ghaa’) is Gaelic for "Smoky Two", being the follow up to one of their previous smoky releases named simply Toiteach. Matured in bourbon and sherry casks, this second version has a higher proportion of sherry casks. It’s also the first peated Bunnahabhain we’ve featured in Pour & Sip.

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Old Perth’s history dates back to 1908, with grocer Peter Thomson’s whisky blends. Up to the ’70s it was known to contain a high proportion of malt whisky, including quality sherried single malt. In 2014 the Morrison family (previously owners of Bowmore, Auchentoshan, and Glen Garioch) brought it back, doubling down on its virtues to reinvent it as a blended malt (100% malt whiskies), and 100% sherry matured.

We’ve featured Old Perth in previous years, but never one like this limited edition. Instead of the more common oloroso or PX, this is a vatting of 11 handpicked manzanilla sherry casks (6 hogsheads and 5 butts). Manzanilla’s essentially a type of fino sherry that must be made around coastal Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Aged under a layer of flor yeast, it’s a dry, slightly salty (think sea spray) style of sherry, but can still be fresh and zesty in character.

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BACK IN STOCK SOON

Stauning’s whiskies are made from 100% floor-malted local rye and/or barley, and are double distilled in small direct-fired pot stills. Every word cool and important there. It’s rare to malt rye; almost nobody bothers with the effort/cost of creating character via traditional floor malting (let alone 100%!); double pot distillation is more like Scotch than classic American rye, but direct-fired stills (uneven heating but potentially delicious Maillard reactions) are now extremely rare in Scotland.

HØST blends both single malt and malted rye(!). Mostly American oak casks, with some Port barriques. Like Westward (who’ve filed for bankruptcy), Starward, and Fielden, Stauning’s currently affected by Diageo withdrawing from Distill Ventures investments. Jobs have been lost, output has halved and distilling has ceased while they figure things out. We very much hope they do.

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Jack Daniel’s is world famous. You know the branding. You know most people enjoy ‘JD’ with cola. But let’s be clear: the Jack Daniel Distillery makes some very good whiskey if you explore their slightly more premium offerings. Their single barrels are excellent, as are their bottled-in-bond releases (including some interesting ryes too…).

Jack Daniel's has a rich history dating back to the 19th century, and full control of their barrels, distillation and maturation. All the individual barrels chosen for Single Barrel Select releases come from the top floor of their rickhouses, where temperatures are hottest and the most concentrated flavours are created (as well as the most evaporation!). The difference between bourbon and Tennessee whiskey? The Lincoln County Process. Tennessee whiskeys are filtered through maple charcoal prior to ageing for smoothness.

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Originally called Box Destilleri, High Coast (Höga Kasten in Swedish, the region they call home) produces both unpeated and peated spirit with a clear wort (inspired by Japanese whiskymaking), and similar stills to Kilchoman (Islay is another key influence).

The Silent Mills editions all build on the same peated, bourbon cask matured base as Timmer from their Origin range – which we featured in Jan 2023 – but introduce other cask types into the mix. For the second release, Sandö, that means 22% of the final whisky has been aged in oloroso sherry casks instead of bourbon for added dried fruit tang and roundness. The peat level is around 45 PPM.

Large temperature fluctuations in their warehouses (a 60°C swing between a cold winter and warm summer day!), meanwhile, encourage greater interaction between wood and spirit.

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Strathearn was founded in 2013, earlier than most ‘craft’ minded young distilleries, helping blaze the small scale (it’s tiny), traditional, experimental trail, where flavour is a higher priority than yield. Popular independent botters Douglas Laing then purchased Strathearn in 2019, entering the world of distilling themselves for the first time. They’ve doubled down on the distillery’s use of heritage varieties of barley – namely Marris Otter, prized in brewing for its flavour and body (as opposed to efficiency) – and long fermentations (144 hours).

Last June we brought you Strathearn’s “inaugural” release, drawn from casks laid down by both Douglas Laing and the previous owners. Batch 02 uses the same cask types (bourbon, fresh oak, sherry), but this time more bourbon casks are in the mix and the fresh oak is dialled back for a more naturally creamy and fresh dram.

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One of Godawan’s limited releases was rated as the top single malt at the 2024 London Spirits Competition, and since then two of their single malts have hit the UK: ‘01 Rich and Round’ (PX finish), and this more unusual ‘02 Fruit and Spice’ matured in bourbon barrels but then finished in cherry wood casks. In Scotland (and America), only oak casks are allowed, but in other countries woods such as cherry offer opportunities for innovation.The north Indian climate plays a big role too, with temperatures often reaching 50°C. This whisky has an average age of 5 years, but those are very intense years!

‘Godawan’ is the popular name for the Great Indian Bustard, a once common bird that’s now critically endangered with numbers as low as 150 in the wild. They’re therefore a rare and special sight, and the brand proudly contributes to their preservation.

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Glendalough (pronounced ‘Glen da-Loch’) distillery took shape in 2013. One of the earliest players in Ireland’s craft distilling movement, they initially focused on poitín and gin before starting to distill their own whiskey in 2015. By then they’d already started releasing whiskeys sourced elsewhere, but which they’d been able to put their own spin on through maturation and blending.

That’s what we have here with pot still Irish whiskey a quintessentially Irish style (in this case made with a 1:2 ratio of malted and unmalted Irish barley to Glendalough’s specifications), initially matured in bourbon casks before being finished in fresh Irish oak casks from trees in the Wicklow mountains selected under a Continuous Cover Forest Management System. One of the first (for a century or so), and still the most accessible Irish oak matured release.

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Quite a lot to unpack here. Firstly, yes, the Speyside whisky region contains a ‘Speyside’ distillery. In fact there have been two. One from 1895-1911, then another built by George Christie when he discovered his house was previously the home of John MacPherson Grant (director of the original Speyside distillery). Despite starting work in 1962 (having founded a grain distillery in the ’50s), his new Speyside wouldn’t produce spirit until 1990! In 2012 Harvey’s of Edinburgh took the reins. Their family’s SPEY brand (a cask of which is said to have been gifted to King George III by Lord Byron) thus became ‘SPEY from Speyside Distillery’. Until April 2025. With their lease finally ending they’re now moving all the distillery’s equipment to a new site nearer the River Spey.

So enjoy single malt from a newly ‘lost’ distillery! Matured in Pedro Ximénez sherry and bourbon casks.