Bottles

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When you see a whisky with a straightforward age statement name like this, from a 19th century distillery, you’d be forgiven for assuming it had always been around. This new (fantastic value) 12 Year Old, however, was only released in August 2025! No nonsense, simply 100% first fill bourbon cask, fruity, maritime Campbeltown goodness.

Following intermittent production and closure during the 1990s, the Glen Scotia range has seen many changes this century (and some ‘disco cows’, which has to be worth a google…), but has really gone from strength to strength in the last decade, becoming essential and truly beloved by whisky geeks. Campbeltown meanwhile was once “the whisky capital of the world”, but today there are only three distilleries. It’s the smallest of the official whisky regions in that regard (even with another three distilleries on the way).

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Note: the real 'RRP' of this bottle is >£70, but we're matching the current massive discount as currently presented on Master of Malt here

Laphroaig is at once one of the best selling single malts in the world, and a cult whisky that happily plays up to its Marmite-esque ‘love it or hate it’ reputation. The distillery still runs traditional malting floors (four of them!), providing an impressive 20% of their not insignificant requirements rather than solely relying on specialist maltsters. Only about ten distilleries in Scotland do this to any extent, so it’s not only unusual for one of the big boys, but is something that sets them apart from their heavily peated Kildalton neighbours (Ardbeg and Lagavulin) on the south coast of Islay.

This is also natural cask strength i.e. the whisky hasn’t been diluted at all after coming out of the cask (bourbon barrels here). Weighing in at nearly 60% ABV, that may cause either excitement (those on the last live tasting?) or a little trepidation! Remember you can always add a splash of water!

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Part of independent bottler and blender That Boutique-y Whisky Company’s ‘core range’, each of which has a deer on the front label of the 70cl bottles. Except this one. Which has a moose. Because Canada. Yes, this is something a little different. We usually see corn in bourbon (which must be at least 51% corn, with rye or wheat usually included). This is corn whisky (Canada uses the spelling ‘whisky’, as opposed to ‘whiskey’ most common in America) made with 95% corn and 5% malted rye. Plus it’s matured, unusually, in 100% oloroso sherry casks!

The first Boutique-y bottles were unveiled at Maltstock 2012 (the Dutch relaxed whisky weekend). They added some colour and dare we say much needed fun to a whisky world stuck between the traditional and a narrow style of luxury-minded modern branding. That and some seriously tasty small batch whiskies!

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Usually when you see an exciting or unusual style of wine cask used in whisky, the spirit has only spent its final months or perhaps a year or two max in that cask. A finishing period. Not so here. This limited edition – only released in March 2026 to great excitement – is full maturation in Maury wine casks. (Since 2021, for those wondering). Think kind of Port-style fortified wine from southern France, made with at least 75% Grenache Noir grapes. Strawberry jam and honeyed dates notes. Bold stuff from Kilchoman, a distillery we love, founded in 2004.

Family-owned, they grow up to 440 tonnes of barley on Islay each year and run their own traditional floor maltings. Although this is largely reserved for their 100% Islay releases. All the malt they use is peated to a hearty 50 PPM (phenol parts per million), but distilled to preserve some lighter citrus character.

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Time to mix it up. How about Norwegian whisky? From the northernmost distillery in the world, in fact, at 69.39°N. Arctic whisky. Aurora Spirit distillery sits beneath the Lyngen Alps and produces spirits under the name Bivrost, literally meaning ‘shaking road’ in ancient Norse. It’s the Viking term for the Northern Lights, the magical path between earth and Åsgård. Cool, right? Yggdrasil is their ‘core whisky’ but it’s released annually.

Distilled between 2018 and 2021, during which time they were working with a local brewery (mashing is now in-house), this release used Pilsener Malt (Planet and Popino Nordic barley) as well as some heavily peated malt. Lager and Old English ale yeasts are used, as well as glacial meltwater. It was matured in oloroso sherry seasoned and in-house charred casks. In a Viking longhouse. With average temperatures of 0.6°C!

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If the Aberargie, Kilchoman, and Bunnahabhain were keeping you relentlessly up to date, this one’s a taste of the future! Not officially released until 22 May 2026, this special Big Peat marks the 40th anniversary of the legendary Fèis Ìle (the annual Islay festival of music and malt, with a little more emphasis on the latter…). Big Peat is of course a legend in its own right.

The forerunner and first of Douglas Laing’s Remarkable Regional Malts, it’s an Islay blended malt known to include Ardbeg, Caol Ila, Bowmore and more, and even a teeny smidge of Port Ellen (now we really are talking legendary!), bottled at natural cask strength without chill-filtration. Usually, sherry cask finishes are reserved for the popular Christmas limited editions, but here we have specifically Pedro Ximénez sherry casks used. Still smoky and unapologetic, but richer and more indulgent.

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Simply one of the most exciting releases of 2026. This hit shelves in March, and widely sold out. Why? As the name suggests, it’s the first ever Aberargie. Built by the Morrison family (who bring us Old Perth and Mac-Talla, and are former owners of Bowmore) on their own family farm, they grow all the barley they use. Yes, it’s another (of still only a tiny handful) exciting single estate farm distillery! Everything except malting happens on site, and they’ve already been calmly distilling since 2017.

Technically a Lowland malt, it lies on the Highland border and they’re forging their own path. Descending lyne arms, long fermentations, wide cut points, and flavoursome heritage grain create a fruity, oily, rich spirit. Inaugural uses 52% Golden Promise (heritage) and 48% Laureate (modern higher yielding) barley, and a 50:50 split of first-fill bourbon and sherry casks.

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Jura is an island with few people (around 200) and one road. It’s largely wild, full of deer, and has a landscape that’s dominated by three mountains known as the Paps of Jura. They can be seen clearly from across the water on Islay (the view from the Caol Ila still house is particularly excellent), but also from as far afield as the Mull of Kintyre, Skye, or even Ireland.

Jura say they put this whisky together to be as striking as The Paps themselves, something no Diùrach (person from Jura) would say lightly. Matured for an impressive 19 years, the whisky started off in American oak bourbon barrels, before being finished in sherry casks of extraordinary quality, having previously held fine 40 year old Pedro Ximénez sherry. This is the pinnacle of Jura’s Sherry Cask Collection, previously only available in global travel retail (i.e. in airports and cruise ships and the like).

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Lochlea is an independent family owned farm and distillery, making single malt exclusively from the barley they grow and harvest themselves. (Much like Spirit of Yorkshire.) We’ve enjoyed Lochlea’s seasonal releases, but Orchard & Oak – matured in a trio of first-fill bourbon, fresh American oak, and Calvados casks – is part of their first ever core range (alongside the sherry and Port matured Dark Briar, and ex-peated and red wine cask Smoke Without Fire).

Most single estate distilleries still have to get their barley malted off-site (as almost all distilleries do), but Lochlea are reportedly floor malting ~20% of their own barley now, and aim to reach 100%. Hopefully we’ll get an update during the live tasting! Former Laphroaig manager John Campbell has now moved on, but with the likes of award-winning master blender Jill Boyd on board, Lochlea is still in very safe hands.

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It’s been a while since we’ve had a Japanese whisky. Let’s fix that. Nikka was founded back in 1934 by Masataka Taketsuru, the father of Japanese whisky. Back in 1918, Masataka-san travelled to Scotland, studied organic chemistry at the University of Glasgow, and worked apprenticeships at distilleries such as Longmorn in Speyside and Hazelburn in Campbeltown. He took everything in, and returned to Japan with meticulous notes as well as a Scottish wife, Rita.

‘Pure Malt’ refers to what we would now call a blended malt, here meaning a combination of single malts from Yoichi (on the northern island of Hokkaido), and Miyagikyo (near Sendai, founded in 1969). Of the three in this particular range, which also includes White and Black editions, the Red is the one that predominantly comes from Miyagikyo. What does that mean? It means it’s the fruity one!

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GlenWyvis is unique. With nearly 4,000 members, it’s community-owned. Run as a not-for-profit Community Benefit Society, with many volunteers, a portion of proceeds go back into local communities through their GoodWill Fund. The distillery is also powered as much as possible by renewable energy sources including wind, hydro, solar, and biomass. It’s not all been plain sailing though. The project has long since fallen out with its originator, who still owns the farmland the distillery is built on (they have a 175-year lease), and with whom they’re now locked in legal disputes.

The whisky, however, is shaping up nicely. The Drover – part of their Highlad Legacy Series – is a limited release of 3,000 bottles matured in a wonderfully integrated combo of 37% Sauternes wine barrique, 30% Madeira hogshead, 21% first fill bourbon barrel, and 12% first fill oloroso sherry hogshead.

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This team is on a tear. Named Independent Bottler of the Year at Whisky Mag’s Icons of Whisky two years running (2024 & 2025), they’ve now bottled over 20 eclectic whiskies from some of the coolest distilleries around the world. They’ve achieved that while always dealing with distilleries direct. No brokers or middle people. Plus, they’ve created this new ‘house’ blended malt. That’s all truly extraordinary even before you hear that it’s a wife and husband duo, and that they started the business just a couple of years ago around the same time that their twins were born!

The Heart Cut x Barley brings together English single malts from Copper Rivet (32.6%), Cotswolds (29.7%), Adnams (21.1%), The English (10.2%), and White Peak (6.9%). Highly sippable, certainly mixable, founders Georgie and Fabrizio also suggest pairing it with a Small Beer Lager for a ‘Half and Half’.

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The Hearach is the name of the lightly peated (12-15 PPM) single malt from the Isle of Harris distillery, and we’re big fans (they also make a great gin with hand-harvested local sugar kelp). It’s a project rooted in community, employing dozens on an island with a population of fewer than 2,000, with locals trained up to be distillers. Back in June 2024 we featured their flagship whisky (which is around 11% oloroso cask), and feel it’s high time we shared the exclusively oloroso sherry cask matured edition.

Like many exciting younger distilleries, they pride themselves on longer fermentations (about 60% of their wash is fermented for 120 hours), manual distillation with a ‘human touch’ (as opposed to lots of automation), and transparency. All the spirit is matured, married, and bottled on the Isle of Harris and as you may expect, it’s also non-chill filtered, with no artificial colouring.

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The Glencadam distillery was founded back in 1825, and though it was mothballed at the turn of the millennium, family owned Angus Dundee (who also own Tomintoul) purchased it in 2003 and had it back up and running within a couple of months of the ink drying! It’s located in Brechin, a few miles from the coast between Aberdeen and Dundee, proudly reinstated a 4.3m water wheel in 2021, and has been open to visitors since 2025.

Glencadam is known to be light thanks to plenty of reflux, and can be both floral and notably creamy. Riserva di Amarone has a pronounced Amarone Italian red wine cask finish, after starting out in bourbon casks, all aged in the distillery’s traditional dunnage warehouses (think stone walled, earthen floored, casks stacked no more than three high – perfect maturation environment, but less cost effective than modern racked warehouses).

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For a new wave Irish distillery, Boann was top of our list: independent, family owned, innovative, award-winning, using local Irish grains and has a sustainability focus. Founded in 2019, they won World’s Best New Make in 2021 (World Whiskies Awards) and released their first whiskeys in late 2024. This one’s finished in a selection of sweet to dry Madeira casks from renowned producer Justino’s. Single pot still is a uniquely Irish style made with a minimum 30% malted barley and a minimum 30% unmalted barley, plus an optional up-to-5%-total other cereals (both oats and rye used here).

There’s more to the story, however, with work done by historian Fionnán O’Connor and others to show far more than 5% of these other cereals were historically used. Boann’s even reproduced these ‘heritage mashbills’ (but can’t label them single pot still… currently.)

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Founded in 1898, Ardmore has unusually continued to produce an old fashioned peated style of Highland whisky right through to today. They even used coal-fired stills right up to 2001, when legislation forced their hand. With the new steam coils (the regular approach these days), they tinkered for 7 months creating hot spots and tweaking cut points before they were happy with the character again. Why such persistence? Like many Victorian distilleries, it’s always been crucial to certain blends: primarily Teacher’s in this case.

Today Ardmore’s underrated single malt has both fans who hunt independent bottlings, and those who’ve found this release in particular a perfect gateway to smoky whiskies. Legacy combines 80% (Highland) peated (12-14 PPM), and 20% unpeated malt, for a so-affordable-why-would-you-ever-not-have-a-bottle(?) lightly peated yet fragrant treat.

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Amazingly our first unpeated Benriach! We’ve previously mentioned Benriach alongside Glendronach (also owned by Brown-Forman), and former owner and master blender Billy Walker. It was the current master blender Dr. Rachel Barrie, however, who completely overhauled Benriach’s range back in 2020. Barrie’s CV from over 30 years in the industry is legendary, creating whiskies for the likes of Glenmorangie, Bowmore, and Laphroaig. She was one of the first women to hold the titles whisky blender and master blender, and the first woman to be inducted into the Whisky Hall of Fame.

She was also named Master Blender of the Year at the International Spirits Challenge 2022 (an award which, incidentally, has been won by women twice since). This natural colour 10-year-old brings together 3 different cask types: bourbon, sherry & fresh American oak.

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Founded in 1885, Scapa is a fascinating distillery based on the Orkney Islands, but always different in style to neighbours Highland Park. It was mothballed and then had intermittent production from the mid 90s into the 21st century, which contributed to a decade-long wait for the return of age statement releases. Thankfully, at the end of 2024 new 10, 16, and 21 year olds emerged.

The reborn range is all American oak barrel matured, bright, luscious, and tropical in tone, leaning into the Scapa’s historic long fermentations, juicy new make spirit, and fruity character. Uniquely, the wash still (for the first distillation) is an old Lomond still installed in 1959 – the only one of its kind used for whisky making today. Made to be adjustable, here all the extra plates are removed from the wide straight neck, and a purifier increases copper contact on the way to the condenser.