Tasting sets

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Spring has sprung, and we're getting ready to enjoy five new whiskies from Scotland, Kentucky, and even Bristol. Prepare to discover new grain types, yeast strains, and lesser-spotted cask finishes! 

Ledaig 12 Year Old 2008 Amarone Cask Finish: A peated Ledaig single malt, limited to just 2,753 bottles available either only at the distillery itself or on Master of Malt (which powers Pour & Sip!). The final year of its 12 years of maturation was spent finishing in amarone wine casks, adding a dose of rich, spicy tannins to the sweet, smoky, and distinctly maritime whisky

Dalwhinnie 15 Year Old: One of Diageo’s six ‘Classic Malts’, Dalwhinnie 15 Year Old is a great introduction to the gentle, yet complex whisky from the Highland distillery, known for a honeyed sweetness.

Circumstance Single Grain Estate Whisky: The first core whisky release from the Bristol-based distillery, created from four different types of organic grain (malted barley, unmalted barley, malted rye, and malted wheat), three different brewing yeasts, and matured in three different types of casks (bourbon, new European oak, and oloroso sherry).

Aberfeldy 15 Year Old - Cadillac White Wine Cask Finish: A limited-edition Aberfeldy, finished for six months in Cadillac white wine casks, known for its sweet, aromatic wines for a rich, sweet, fruity whisky here.

Angel's Envy: A fantastic Kentucky bourbon finished in Port casks, with the rich fruit notes of the cask finish working wonders with the sweet, vanilla-forward notes of the bourbon itself.

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We've found a tiny number of these down the back of the sofa! There's still time to enjoy an awesome Pour & Sip countdown to Christmas.

The 2024 Advent may have Sold Out, but this one's packed with some of our favourite drams from 2021/late 2020...

Whether you're new around here, or have been part of the club for a while, inside this Advent calendar you’ll find 24 wax-sealed drams, filled with whiskies that our members have enjoyed over a year of flavour exploration. Whether you're revisiting them, or enjoying ones you missed, they’re delicious, tried, and tested. Just solid gold hits for the festive run-in.

Happy Sipsmas!

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It's May! As we enter the month in which Islay holds its annual festival of music and malt, we've once again made the famous whisky island the focus of our set. That doesn't mean everything is peated though, and we've rounded the set off with a curveball from the Highlands aged in casks that previously held a famous Italian wine...

Kilchoman Batch Strength: A new release matured in a combination of re-charred red wine casks, oloroso sherry butts, and bourbon barrels. It’s bottled at 57% ABV for a “colossal” single malt with all the rugged power of the farm’s bull Rory.

Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie - Scottish Barley: Bruichladdich’s flagship unpeated single malt release, made with 100% Scottish barley. It’s bottled at a hearty 50% ABV, which is a chunk higher than equivalent releases from almost any other distillery (usually 40-46%). This bottling strength is said to help bring the barley notes to the fore.

Islay Whisky 8 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company): The very Best Small Batch Islay Single Malt 2024! So say the knowledgeable folk who judge Whisky Magazine’s World Whiskies Awards. Launched at the tail end of 2023, this Islay 8 Year Old is part of their new ‘core range’.

Mac-Talla Mara: An intense cask strength nod to Islay whisky’s maritime ‘from the sea’ character, matured in American oak casks and bottled with neither chill-filtration nor added colour. Mac-Talla reflects the Morrison family’s connection to the island and its whiskies spanning five generations.

Tomatin 12 Year Old 2010 Italian Collection - Barolo Cask: Hold on, this isn’t from Islay! Nope, here’s something entirely different. A limited edition released towards the end of last year as part of a trio of Italian red wine cask finished whiskies. While the Amarone and Marsala releases were intriguing, we couldn’t resist bringing you the Barolo cask.

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We're revisiting some old faves this month (with more sherry in two cases), plus a household name from America whose premium releases you may have overlooked…

High Coast Silent Mills Collection - #2 Sandö: High Coast produces both unpeated and peated spirit. The Silent Mills editions all build on the same peated, bourbon cask matured base as Timmer from their Origin range 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 for added dried fruit tang and roundness. The peat level is around 45 PPM.

Ardnamurchan AD/ Sherry Cask Release: Ardnamurchan also makes both peated (30-35PPM) and unpeated spirit. Both are used in this release, just as they are in the excellent core AD/ release. The difference? The Sherry Cask Release is 100% sherry cask matured. Full maturation in a mix of oloroso and Pedro Ximénez butts. As Chris in our curation team noted recently, “Ardnamurchan is slowly taking over my everyday drinkers shelf at home!”

Glasgow 1770 - The Original: In 2015 whisky distilling returned to the city of Glasgow for the first time in a century. Like others in this set, Glasgow Distillery produce both peated and unpeated spirit. The Original is unpeated. 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.

Aberlour 12 Year Old Double Cask Matured: A classic Speyside name, Aberlour is known to work well with sherry casks, with maturation here taking place in both bourbon and sherry casks as the name implies. Compared to the 14-year-old, this 12-year-old offers a crisper, more citrussy take from the popular distillery. A little more of the new make’s green apple is on show (alongside trademark leafy blackcurrant character).

Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Select: Jack Daniel’s is world famous. You know most people enjoy ‘JD’ with cola. But let’s be clear: within the slightly more premium offerings is good stuff. Their single barrels are excellent, as are their bottled-in-bond releases. 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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Three different styles of Irish whiskey this month, Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Plus two single malts from longstanding Scotch distilleries both still drawing inspiration from their storied pasts.

Ballechin 13 Year Old Batch 1 - Cask Strength Edition: All tiny distilleries celebrating more traditional methods owe a debt to Edradour. ‘Scotland's Little Gem’ is a surviving farm-scale distillery dating back to 1837, purchased by top independent bottler Signatory in 2002. In 2006 the first peated malt from Edradour was release under the Ballechin name. This excellent cask strength edition was aged in oloroso and bourbon casks.

Glen Garioch 12 Year Old: Founded in 1797, Glen Garioch (pronounced ‘Glen Geery’) is one of Scotland's oldest distilleries. The stills have the country's steepest descending lyne arms, reducing reflux for a hearty, robust Highland malt. Fruitiness comes from clear wort and increased fermentation times in more recent years. This bourbon and sherry cask matured 12yo from their core range is nonetheless bottled at a generous 48% and non-chill filtered.

Saints & Sinners & Rebels & Rogues 18 Year Old: &Whisky is all about no nonsense, tasty, peerless value whisk(e)y. This Irish blend is 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. Delicious, fruity, and creamy, classically Irish.

Glendalough Pot Still Irish Oak Finish: Glendalough (pronounced ‘Glen da-Loch’) are craft distillers who also release whiskeys sourced elsewhere (like this one). Pot still Irish whiskey is a quintessentially Irish style (in this case made with a 1:2 ratio of malted and unmalted Irish barley). Here it's unusually finished in fresh Irish oak casks from trees in the Wicklow mountains selected under a Continuous Cover Forest Management System.

Temris 5 Year Old P.X. Sherry Cask Finish: 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, initially aged in bourbon casks then finished in casks that previously held rich, sticky Pedro Ximénez sherry.

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Selecting 3x Lowland whiskies this month (and 5x between Dec & Jan) wasn’t done on purpose by the way! They were chosen on merit and it's just worked out that way. It does highlight however, how very good – and varied – things are happening in a whisky region that not so long ago only contained two active distilleries.

Daftmill 2011 Winter Batch Release 12 Year Old: It’s incredibly exciting to be able to bring you this. Daftmill’s one of the smallest distilleries in Scotland, and grows all the barley on their own farm. Early releases sold out instantly! This is a slightly larger release, but production on the sixth generation family farm remains tiny, only making whisky during a few short months when farmwork is quieter, filling as few as 100 casks a year.

Tomintoul 10 Year Old: “The gentle dram” tells you something about what they’re going for. Founded in 1965, their classic and multi-award-winning 10 Year Old was launched in 2002, a couple of years after current owners Angus Dundee bought the distillery. We haven’t featured a Tomintoul since early 2021, and this malty, floral, softly fruity whisky is a wonderful way to ease ourselves into the new year.

Holyrood Ambir: Truly one of Scotland's new wave of innovative distillers, this fruity, buttery beauty is the distillery’s third release. Established in 2019 in Edinburgh’s historic old town, they take influence from the city’s rich brewing history. That’s certainly the case with Ambir, which features 4 speciality malts, and 10(!) different yeasts. Maturation is largely in first and second fill bourbon casks, with just over 10% in oloroso casks.

Ardnahoe Infinite Loch: A new Islay distillery! Well, it was founded in 2017, but its inaugural release only appeared in May 2024, followed by this (their first core release) in Sep. The distillery was built by top independent bottler and blender Hunter Laing who worked with Jim McEwan (legendary former Bowmore and Bruichladdich master distiller) to build the distillery and perfect their craft. A classic peated (40PPM), fruity Islay spirit.

Lindores Thiron 2024: Fans of whisky and history may recognise Lindores Abbey in relation to the first recorded mention of Scotch whisky (or at least distilled malt spirit). 523 years later – Drew & Helen McKenzie Smith returned distilling to the site, and hit the history books again fir this release. Lindores was a Tironensian abbey, and this whisky uses new French oak casks from trees grown in Thiron-Gardais.

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May brings a celebration of Islay single malts coinciding with the isle’s festival of music and malt – plus a curve ball or two…

Bunnahabhain Toiteach a Dhà: The first peated Bunnahabhain (their whiskies are usually unpeated) we’ve featured in Pour & Sip. 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.

Kilchoman Sanaig Cask Strength 2024 Edition: Kilchoman's 20th anniversary is this year! Peated to a hearty 50 PPM (phenol parts per million), yet distilled to preserve some lighter floral and citrus notes, this one of their richer offerings. A much anticipated limited edition cask strength version of Sanaig, their predominantly sherry matured style (either finished or fully matured in American oak oloroso sherry hogsheads from Bodegas José y Miguel Martín).

Bowmore 12 Year Old Sherry Oak: Not the classic Bowmore 12 Year Old here, but rather a brand new 12yo whisky from their brand new Sherry Oak Collection! This particular release is aged in oloroso sherry and bourbon casks, with an additional oloroso cask finish. Bowmore distillery was founded way back in 1779, making it one of the very oldest distilleries in Scotland and the oldest on Islay, with a peat level of 25-30 PPM.

SRV5 8 Year Old Blended Malt (Thompson Bros.): Really very affordable whisky lovingly put together by whisky geeks (off of the brilliant Dornoch Castle Hotel and the celebrated Dornoch distillery), for whisky geeks. 'Station Road Vat 5' is the 1k litre European oak ‘solera’ vat (never emptied to less than a third) where this non-chill filtered, natural colour blended malt (North Highland, Islay & Speyside single malts) slowly integrated over many months.

Godawan Series 02 - Fruit and Spice: An Indian whisky that takes its name from the endangered Great Indian Bustard (contributing to their preservation). It's matured in bourbon barrels and finished in cherry wood casks. In Scotland, 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!

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This month we’re taking a closer look at American whiskey, with two different bourbons (one made with rye, the other wheated) and a fabulous single malt drawn from a single cask that you won’t find anywhere except Master of Malt and Pour & Sip. There are also a couple of exciting Scotch whiskies to keep things balanced. A light, zesty blended malt with a little Campbeltown influence, and a big, complex, highly sought-after, heavily peated Campbeltown single malt!

Four Roses Small Batch Select: A quirk of history means Four Roses have 10 recipes, using five different yeasts and two different mashbills. The classic Small Batch uses all 10, while this excellent Small Batch Select utilises six. The focus is on spice, with herbal and light fruit supporting. If you only had room for one bottle of American whiskey in your drinks cupboard, then this rye-forward sippable non-chill filtered bourbon might just be the one!

Bardstown Bourbon Co. Wheated Bottled-In-Bond Bourbon: This Kentucky straight bourbon is part of Bardstown Bourbon Company’s Origin Series, which means it all comes from their own distillery. Wheated bourbons such as this swap some or all of the rye out in favour of wheat. Famous examples include Maker’s Mark and Pappy Van Winkle. This leads to a more approachable, milder, smoother style of bourbon that many favour.

Westland 7 Year Old Exclusive Single Cask - Cask 6205: A Master of Malt and Pour & Sip exclusive from Seattle craft distillers leading the way for American single malt, and using exciting full flavoured malts (including some common in dark beers, porters and stouts). Cask 6205 is a Jurançon French white wine casks used to finish this whisly. Westland is also a Certified B Corporation, meaning that they’ve met extremely high social and environmental standards.

Noble Rebel Orchard Outburst: A blended malt brand launched in 2023, with Orchard Outburst providing “zingy citrus & salty ocean waves” alongside crisp ripe orchard fruits. Loch Lomond distillery offers vast versatility, with malt whisky from Glen Scotia also used. Some is also fermented using Chardonnay wine yeast to help intensify the fruit and citrus flavours, before being matured in ex-bourbon casks and bottled at natural colour without chill filtration.

Kilkerran Heavily Peated Batch No. 9: Campbeltown whiskies, especially those from J&A Mitchell & Co.’s independently owned Springbank and Glengyle distilleries, are in very high demand these days! We’re therefore delighted to share this Kilkerran single malt from Glengyle with you. Glengyle only operates for part of the year with the majority of production dedicated to their lightly peated style, making this heavily peated whisky an even rarer treat.

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This July we’re celebrating the spirit of independence (American or otherwise) throughout the box, from perhaps the most famously independent of classic Scotch distilleries to a cracking old indie bottling.

Leiper's Fork Bottled in Bond Tennessee Whiskey: Founder Lee Kennedy and others successfully campaigned to overturn laws restricting distillation to just 3 counties in Tennessee, opening the door for a new wave in a further 41 Tennessee counties! Since 2016, Leiper’s Fork’s been on a mission to resurrect the small-batch, pot-distilled whiskeys that once flourished in Middle Tennessee before Prohibition. Made the slow way – with a sweet mash rather than sour, and lower barrel entry strengths, this one's 4-5 years old.

Blended Grain 37 Year Old 1987 (Master of Malt): One of the Independent Bottlers of the Year  at the Whisky Magazine’s Icons of Whisky 2023, Master of Malt just gave their range a bit of a relaunch with handsome new labels and new releases. Selected by (also award-winning) Head of Whisky Sam Simmons, this extraordinarily well aged grain whisky was distilled in Dec 1987 and is comfortably the oldest whisky to ever feature in Pour & Sip!

Stowloch Ozark Highlands Whisky: Codified in Missouri law in 2022, Ozark Highlands spirits must be fermented, distilled, aged, and bottled in the Ozarks; use pure, chemical-free limestone-filtered Ozark Highland water; and if aged must be aged for a min of 4 years in Missouri-made oak barrels. Stowloch's made with heirloom, non-GMO grains, long fermentation, and a rye-less mashbill (like a wheated bourbon).

Torabhaig Sound of Sleat - The Legacy Series: The smoky breadcrumb trail to Torabhaig's first 10 year old continues with Sound of Sleat. Their island style revolves around “well-tempered” peat. 78 PPM is high (higher than most heavily peated Islay whiskies), but the peat used and crucially the tight cut points during distillation (only selecting the aromatics they desire) makes Torabhaig an entirely different experience..

Glenfarclas 15 Year Old Cheltenham Festival Edition: Although we featured a Glenfarclas of this age (and strength) back in 2021, when the opportunity to include this limited edition vatting presented itself we didn’t have to think about it very long. Sherry matured, mid-teen, 46% Glenfarclas has always been a sweet spot in the range, with this bottling marking 15 years of the distillery sponsoring Cheltenham’s famous cross country steeplechase.

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We have Springbank this month, a huge coup! Plus another 100% floor malted gem, and a
dram with an entirely different coastal influence... We also rejoin the Strathearn story.

Springbank 10 Year Old: Springbank’s a cult whisky – 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. Funky, coastal, very Campbeltown.

Old Perth Manzanilla Limited Edition: Old Perth’s history dates back to 1908, brought back as a 100% sherry matured blended malt by the Morrison family in 2014. Unusually, that means a vatting of 11 handpicked manzanilla sherry casks here. Manzanilla’s essentially a type of dry, slightly salty (think sea spray) fino sherry that must be made around coastal Sanlúcar de Barrameda that can still be fresh and zesty in character.

Stauning HØST: Stauning’s whiskies are made from 100% floor-malted local rye and/or barley, and are double distilled in small direct-fired pot stills. It’s rare to malt rye, while double pot distillation is more like Scotch than classic rye except direct-fired stills (and their Maillard reactions) are now extremely rare in Scotland. HØST blends single malt and malted rye(!), matured mostly in American oak casks, but also using some Port barriques.

SPEY Chairman’s Choice PX Edition: Despite work starting in 1962, Speyside didn'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’. With their lease now ending they’re 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.

Strathearn Single Malt Batch 02: Strathearn was founded in 2013, earlier than most ‘craft’ minded young distilleries, helping to blaze the trail. Douglas Laing then purchased the distillery in 2019 and doubled down on the use of heritage varieties of barley and long fermentations (144 hours). Their “inaugural” release was drawn from (bourbon, fresh oak, and sherry) casks laid down by both Douglas Laing and the previous owners, with Batch 02 featuring more bourbon and less fresh oak for a more naturally creamy and fresh dram.

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Whiskies from Scotland, America, England, and even Finland is this set, from classics, to limited editions, and exciting new wave distillers! All quite different, there's surely something for everyone. One of the oldest single malts we've featured too. Enjoy!

Glen Grant 18 Year Old Rare Edition: ‘The Major’, aka James Grant, inherited the distillery in 1872, and is responsible for the distillery's 22-acre Victorian Garden and also the tall, slender stills with their purifiers. This contributes to Glen Grant’s light character, with the still’s unique boil balls aiding further reflux. Glen Grant is easy-going at young ages, but also ages wonderfully. This very highly-awarded 18-year-old malt shows that.

Glen Scotia 14 Year Old - Icons of Campbeltown Release No.2: Glen Scotia’s usually unpeated, and also rarely seen in wine casks. This is ‘medium’-peated, and spent six months in Barolo red wine casks! The inspiration came from the Campbeltown Market Cross’ depiction of St. Michael slaying a dragon, but also the times when the community came together to fight historic blazes (not least at Dalintober Distillery in 1899).

Kyrö Oloroso Malt Rye Whisky: Their 100% malted wholegrain Finnish rye spirits have won many fans and awards, are made with incredible attention to detail, and provide great concentration and depth of flavour. Since we last featured them, their core range has expanded including this Oloroso Malt Rye (initially matured in new American oak and bourbon casks, but then as the name suggests finished in oloroso sherry casks).

Wire Works Bourbon Barrel: Undoubtedly one of the leading lights of English whisky, and also a whisky coming of age. Here the distillery’s oldest whisky to date has matured exclusively in first-fill bourbon casks. A small amount of peated barley is combined with unpeated (10PPM total), and a blend of yeasts are used including used brewer’s yeast from local brewers with long 6-day fermentations for fruity esters.

Bluegrass Toasted Oak: Craft distillers in the heart of Kentucky, Toasted Oak uses a classic mashbill of 75% (yellow) corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley. After a standard 3 years in fresh, charred American oak casks, it rested in lightly toasted casks for 21 days. Doesn’t sound long, but these lightly toasted (but not charred) barrels give up wood sugars easily and quickly. Such finishes are increasingly popular.

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Seeing as St. Patrick's Day falls in March, we've filled this month's box with four Irish whiskeys! Plus a Mortlach, because who doesn't love a splash of Scotch? Get stuck into some classic styles and new releases in this one.

J.J. Corry Anfa No.2: Created in partnership with Drinks by the Dram, the second edition of this blended whiskey is full of fresh fruit notes, wrapped up in wave after wave of vanilla and honeycomb.

Sailor's Home Stormchaser: This release brings together triple-distilled Irish single malts aged in virgin oak and bourbon casks, with two pretty unique cask finishes: craft Irish stout barrels, and Madeira casks.

Dingle Lúnasa: This is the fourth release in the nine release-strong Wheel of the Year series, this is a triple-distilled single malt, initially aged in bourbon casks before it was finished in casks that previously held bourbon from the Widow Jane distillery, bottled at a generous 50.5% ABV.

Jameson Single Pot Still - Five Oak Cask Release: Jameson's first single pot still whiskey since the 1960s, released in 2022 and matured in five different barrel types: bourbon and first-fill sherry casks, as well as three types of virgin oak made from Irish, European, and American oak.

Mortlach 15 Year Old - Distillery Labels (Gordon & MacPhail): Gordon & MacPhail's Distillery Labels series was created to honour the bottler’s long-standing relationships with over 100 distilleries across the country, and here it's celebrating Mortlach, matured in first-fill and refill sherry casks.