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St. Patrick’s Day is almost upon us, so a duo of single pot still Irish whiskeys is just the ticket! Still room for three intriguing Highlanders though…

The Dalmore 17 Year Old: Officially released 3 March 2026, this new release couldn’t be hotter off the press! It enjoyed a lengthy finish in a combo of Apostoles, Amoroso, and Matusalem Oloroso sherry casks from the distillery’s exclusive century-long partnership with González Byass. Some of these true bodega casks held quality sherry for 30 years! Not all sherry casks are created equal, folks. Before that, it started life in bourbon casks. It’s like the 15 Year Old’s older brother, in silk slippers.

Green Spot 10 Year Old 100 Year Anniversary Limited Edition: This is single pot still Irish whiskey. A quintessentially Irish style made with both malted and unmalted barley. Green Spot was first advertised in The Irish Times back in 1925, with this limited edition marking its 100th anniversary. It’s aged in bourbon and sherry casks like the regular Green Spot, but where that’s aged between 7-10 years and bottled at 40%, this is aged for at least 10 years and bottled at 46%. Nice.

Boann Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey Madeira Cask: 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. 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). Boann’s also reproduced ‘heritage mashbills’ with more of these other grains (but can’t label them single pot still… currently.)

GlenWyvis The Drover: GlenWyvis is unique. With nearly 4,000 members, it’s community-owned and run as a not-for-profit Community Benefit Society. It’s not all been plain sailing (the project has long since fallen out with its originator, with whom they’re locked in legal disputes), but the whisky is certainly shaping up nicely. The Drover 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.

The Ardmore Legacy: Founded in 1898, Ardmore has unusually continued to produce an old fashioned peated style of Highland whisky right through to 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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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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Officially released 3 March 2026, this new release from one of the most famous single malts in the world couldn’t be hotter off the press! It enjoyed a lengthy finish in a combo of Apostoles, Amoroso, and Matusalem Oloroso sherry casks from the distillery’s exclusive century-long partnership with González Byass. Some of these true bodega casks held quality sherry for 30 years! Not all sherry casks are created equal, folks. Before that, it started life in bourbon casks. It’s like the 15 Year Old’s older brother, in silk slippers.

The distillery features flat-topped wash stills, and spirit stills with water jackets for added reflux. Different sizes of each are also present. Pity those planning the production runs, prize the permutations for flavour. The resultant robust and fruity new make spirit is especially well suited to the maturations Dalmore pride themselves on.

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This story dates back over a century, to when Mitchell & Son – founded in 1805 as a Dublin bakery and confectionery business, and run today by the 6th and 7th generations of the Mitchell family – expanded into the wine trade in 1887, and then started filling new make spirit from the nearby Jameson Distillery into their own casks. They’d mark how long they planned to let them mature by daubing coloured ‘spots’ of paint on each one (green, red, blue, etc.).

This is single pot still Irish whiskey. A quintessentially Irish style made with both malted and unmalted barley. Green Spot was first advertised in The Irish Times back in 1925, with this limited edition marking its 100th anniversary. It’s aged in bourbon and sherry casks like the regular Green Spot, but where that’s aged between 7-10 years and bottled at 40%, this is aged for at least 10 years and bottled at 46%. Nice.

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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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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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As this set came together, we couldn’t help but think “Cor, this is a bit good!” Huge Islay peat. Sherried Islanders. Campbeltown modern classic. Blended malt from the hottest bottlers around. Enjoy!

Jura 19 Year Old The Paps: 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. 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.

Laphroaig 10 Year Old Cask Strength - Batch 016: 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. 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).

Isle of Harris - The Hearach First Fill Oloroso Cask Matured: 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. 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. 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’, and transparency.

Glen Scotia 12 Year Old: 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 Aug 2025! No nonsense, 100% first fill bourbon, fruity, maritime Campbeltown goodness. After intermittent production and closure during the 1990s, Glen Scotia has really gone from strength to strength in the last decade, becoming essential and truly beloved by whisky geeks.

The Heart Cut x Barley Named Independent Bottler of the Year at Whisky Mag’s Icons of Whisky two years running (2024 & 2025), The Heart Cut has now bottled over 20 eclectic whiskies from some of the coolest distilleries around the world, always dealing with distilleries direct. No brokers or middle people. Plus, they’ve created this new ‘house’ blended malt. 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!

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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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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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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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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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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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Two independent farm distilleries, three female master whisky makers, and even a trip to Japan! We’re starting 2026 in style. Happy New Year!

Filey Bay STR Red Wine Cask: One of two ‘field to bottle’ single estate whiskies this month, Filey Bay single malt is made at the Spirit of Yorkshire distillery in God’s own county. Their Flagship release is matured in bourbon casks, but this new permanent addition to the core range is fully aged in STR (shaved, toasted and re-charred) red wine casks. These are a speciality pioneered by the late, great consultant Jim Swan, who offered vital guidance to Spirit of Yorkshire on the road from concept to reality.

Benriach The Original Ten: Amazingly our first unpeated Benriach! We’ve recently mentioned Benriach alongside Glendronach and former owner/master blender Billy Walker. It was current master blender Dr. Rachel Barrie, however, who completely overhauled Benriach’s range back in 2020. Her CV from over 30 years in the industry is legendary, creating whiskies for Glenmorangie, Bowmore, and Laphroaig. This natural colour 10-year-old brings together 3 cask types: bourbon, sherry & fresh American oak.

Lochlea Orchard & Oak - Single Estate: 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).

The Glenrothes 15 Year Old: Founded in 1878, Glenrothes has long been valued by blenders, and benefits from the unparalleled sherry cask programme of Edrington. Glenrothes’ casks are said to cost 10x the industry average, and they run their tall stills very slowly. The result is an elegant spirit that ages beautifully with rich, smooth, rewarding character. This relatively new 15 Year Old was first released at the end of 2024, using casks personally selected by master whisky maker Laura Rampling.

Nikka Pure Malt Red: 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. ‘Pure Malt’ refers to what we would now call a blended malt, here meaning a combination of single malts from Yoichi, and Miyagikyo. 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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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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One of two ‘field to bottle’ single estate whiskies this month, Filey Bay single malt is made at the Spirit of Yorkshire distillery in God’s own county. The distillery is split in two, with mashing and fermentation taking place on co-founder Tom Mellor’s regenerative family farm, where 100% of the barley is grown (also the location of Wold Top brewery). The stills are found a couple of miles down the road in Hunmanby, where you can take a tour or pop into their Pot Still Coffee Shop.

Their Flagship release is matured in bourbon casks, but this new permanent addition to the core range is fully aged in STR (shaved, toasted and re-charred) red wine casks. Those of you who’ve been with us for a while will know that these are a speciality pioneered by the late, great consultant Jim Swan, who offered vital guidance to Spirit of Yorkshire on the road from concept to reality.

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Founded in 1878, Glenrothes has long been valued by blenders, was unusually released in vintages as opposed to regular age statements between 1993-2018 (during a long association with Berry Bros. & Rudd), and benefits from the unparalleled sherry cask programme of Edrington (who also own The Macallan and Highland Park). Glenrothes’ casks are said to cost ten times the industry average, they’re known to run their tall stills very slowly (at a flow rate around half the speed of many other well-known distilleries), and also possibly use the softest water in the industry (from an underground volcanic spring).

The result is an elegant spirit that ages beautifully with rich, smooth, rewarding character. This relatively new 15 Year Old was first released at the end of 2024, using casks personally selected by master whisky maker Laura Rampling.

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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.