From a deeply underrated distillery, this Allt-a-Bhainne bottled by the Stewart Whisky Company under their Stiùbhart Single Cask label is a glorious example of what happens when a cask is simply allowed to mature as it should. A natural cask strength of just 44.9% after 24 years makes it clear that this was maturing at an accelerated rate, losing a lot of alcohol and water but the phenolic oils that remain have led to an extremely concentrated whisky; a masterclass in bourbon-wood maturation.

Appearance: Showing a brilliant old-brass colour courtesy of the bourbon wood and that unique concentration through the ageing process.

Nose: this whisky jumps out of the glass with notes almost reminiscent of a great White Burgundy. Crushed river stones and struck flint alongside golden delicious apple and herbes de provence come across on the nose.

Palate: The palate is gentle as one would expect from the lower ABV but it is oily and viscous with a sensation of scented candle followed by sea salt, delicate earthy peat and a return of that golden delicious apple note.

Finish: Extremely long and gentle with the initial notes of crushed stones mingling with sea salt and stewed orchard fruit.

Experience the exquisite Benriach Speyside Single Malt 25YO NV – a remarkable representation of the Speyside region’s ability to produce an extraordinary malt. Distilled at the world-renowned Benriach Distillery, nestled in the heart of Speyside, Scotland, this sublime single malt benefits from a meticulous crafting process and time-honoured traditions.

Matured for 25 years under the watchful eye of their Master Blender, the spirit is aged in an assortment of barrels, conferring complexity and depth to its flavour profile. Upon the palate, one can indulge in a medley of honeyed fruits, caramelised nut and a hint of dark chocolate, finishing with a spicy oak undercurrent.

Crafted for the seasoned malt enthusiast, the Benriach Speyside Single Malt 25YO NV encapsulates the quintessence of high-quality Speyside Malts. Encased in a beautiful presentation box, it offers an unparalleled tasting experience, sure to impress any whisky connoisseur.

We are thrilled to have secured a small parcel of 2011 casks from this rising Speyside superstar and to be able to present them with recent regauges carried out just this past August and compelling prices which combine to suggest excellent upside for the next ten-plus years.

Whisky Base (93)

n/a

Colour: Full, rich dark gold.

Nose: Full, complex aromas with dried berries and sherry-infused malty tones

Palate: Sweetness akin to a fine, aged cognac with incredible oloroso depth and freshness. Fruit, nuts, marzipan and Christmas cake warming spice.

Finish: A whisky you never want to end and it almost feels as if it won't, the finish goes on forever with spice, decadent dark cocoa and forest floor. A final flourish of spiced demerara rum leaves you longing for more.

Colour: Autumnal, red gold.

Nose: Fresh sweetness with fruity Turkish delight with a power akin to the first whiff from a freshly opened bag of Java coffee beans.

Palate: An undeniably decadent sweetness on the palate with salted caramel, dark cocoa and Oloroso-soaked raisins. Sherry comes through with excellent power, bringing with it Sherry and spicy demerara notes.

Finish: Lingering and persistent with alternating layers of sweetness and dry roastiness and peppery spice. Extremely complex and enthralling.

A special, limited edition release from one of Scotland's most iconic distilleries, this fabulous bottling celebrates the long history of Glenfarclas and its independent ownership under the Grant family, the distillery's custodians since 1836. A classically sherried, balanced and refined Speyside, everything we have come to expect and love about Glenfarclas, this is a must have for the collector and a treat for the drinker. A vatting of casks from the past 50 years this combines the best of the mature stock lying in Glenfarclas' historic warehouses with the vibrance and verve that makes the younger bottlings so thrilling and complex. A beautiful rewarding whisky by any measure and a must-have collector's item to boot!

Colour: Amber with dark-gold highlights.

Nose: Complex yet refined with tempting aromas of marmalade, nuts, freshly ground coffee and chocolate.

Flavour: Full-bodied and robust with some oaky tannins courtesy of its exceptional age in sherry barrels.

Finish: Powerful but never overbearing with exceptional balance. Intense and long in the mouth with beautiful finesse and freshness.

One of the hottest commodities on the cask market over the past year is assuredly The Glenrothes. Stablemate to Macallan and Highland Park and under the masterful guidance of Gordon Motion who took the reins in 2009, there are few Speysiders which have the reputation for longevity and excellence as The Glenrothes. After a rapturous reception to our recent offering of the 2011s and a follow up of 2012, we are pleased that we can offer a last butt of 2013 to our customers as well.

Glenrothes is best known as a sherry-aged Speysider and this cask shows why that reputation is so justified; taking the best elements of the wood and developing into a thoroughly impressive malt. Having spent the last decade in first fill butts and taking on some remarkable characteristics as well as impressive depth of colour, they are nothing short of blue chip casks in the early days of their trajectory.

Stored at Glenrothes distillery since distillation, this has not been regauged hence the cask being listed with OLA details but a sample drawn has indicated excellent colour extraction and a recent regauge of the 2011 casks we purchased registered RLA 262.5 which is par for the course on a 1st fill Sherry butt and we would expect this to be regauged in the coming weeks between 262 and 285 RLA or thereabouts with an ABV in the low to mid 60s, indicating excellent longevity.

Tasting Note
Glenrothes’ spirit generally sports a clear barley-driven aromatic profile the key to this cask’s appeal is the classically oily, muscular structure that has become a hallmark of Glenrothes’ extremely age-worthy spirit over the years. The sherry wood is working wonders inregards to the develoment of a complex, decadent flavour profile as well as colour; a not insignificant element of the overall experience, so be sure.

We are pleased to have secured a number of 2021s in a year when many distillers are severely cutting their allocations of casks to the market and it is a particular coup's barrels specially selected for us; bourbon-sized barrels previously used for top-grade Oloroso sherry giving a smaller surface area than ex-sherry hogsheads, butts or puncheons. Therefore the whisky will develop relatively quickly, rewarding the years more profoundly than lower-quality, lower-cost refill barrels.

The peat is fine-grained, much more clearly highland peat than Islay or Coastal as it foregoes the iodine and TCP or boat oil, more reminiscent of an autumn bonfire somewhere in the distance. The sherry brings in the classic Macallan profile to work in perfect balance with that unique peat-inflected edge. A true masterpiece of the bottler's art. Just 690 crystal decanters filled at 47%.

COLOUR: Rich Autumn Gold.
NOSE: Warm and inviting scents of butterscotch meet aromatic heather, encapsulated by orange zesty charcoal Smoke.
PALATE: Satisfyingly, creamy and peppery with aromas of roasted nuts, nutmeg and clove, with hints of Madagascan vanilla, dark chocolate, honey, candied fruits and floral smoke.
FINISH: Long-lingering sweet, oaky spice.

Savour the full-bodied complexity of the Macallan Highland Single Malt Sherry Oak Cask 18YO Bottled 2023 NV, a distinguished spirit renowned globally. Matured exclusively in handpicked Spanish oak sherry seasoned casks for 18 years, this extraordinary dram embodies the Macallan's commitment to exceptional cask management from their Speyside distillery in the Highlands of Scotland.

The Macallan Highland Single Malt Sherry Oak Cask 18YO Bottled 2023 NV offers a symphony of sophisticated flavours. The nose will enchant you with the aroma of dried fruits, ginger, and toffee. Palate-wise, you're introduced to a balanced richness with notes of dried fruits and spice, complemented by hints of vanilla and dark chocolate. The finish is long lasting with a warming oak and a smooth velvety texture.

Hailed as a paragon of its kind, this whisky is the quintessence of The Macallan’s craftsmanship, promising a sublime taste experience.

The Mortlach Speyside Single Malt Sherry Finish 21YO Bottled 2020 1999 is a perfect representation of the renowned quality of the Mortlach distillery in Scotland. Richly matured for 21 years in American oak barrels and creatively finished in Oloroso sherry casks, this Scotch elicits a remarkable aroma and distinct flavour profile.

Noteworthy is the warmth of its sherry finish, a result of the maturation in traditional oak casks. The full-bodied spirit reveals tantalising hints of dark chocolate, dry fruits, and spicy undertones, resulting in an unforgettable palate. Taken in conjunction with a long, smooth finish, the Mortlach Speyside Single Malt Sherry Finish 21YO Bottled 2020 1999 speaks volumes about the distillery's commitment to incomparable quality and artisanal craftsmanship.

This fine whisky confirms Mortlach’s reputation for producing robust, complex spirits, a delight to both discerning connoisseurs and curious seekers of fine whisky globally.

Wine Advocate (98)

The single-vineyard Sorte O Soro had not been produced since 2016, and the 2019 Sorte O Soro is the next vintage after that. This plot has always shown additional elegance, freshness and salinity since he started vinifying it in 2004, because of the altitude (710 meters above sea level) and the north exposure to the Bibei Valley, where the old clone is planted on fine granite sand and quartz soils. Like As Sortes, this Sorte also fermented and matured with lees in new 500-liter French oak barrels for eight months. It has 14% alcohol with a pH of 3.12 and higher acidity (at 7.5 grams) than the rest of the 2019s. It feels very harmonious, elegant and nuanced with some creaminess, with notes of wet pollen and yellow flowers. The palate reflects the soil, with vibrant granite and very fine sand and electric quartz (saline), and it's also round and powerful from the clone that is planted in the vineyard. This vineyard is in the process of being organically and biodynamically certified. 2,240 bottles were filled in September 2020. I tasted the 2019s and 2020s from Rafa Palacios in Valdeorras. For him, these are two very good years. 2019 had a mild and dry winter and a rainy and cold spring that delayed budding, followed by a mild summer with fewer hours of sunshine, which meant a delay in the ripening process. Harvest was more than one month later than usual, and the grapes achieved very slow ripening and full development of aromas and flavors while keeping the acidity. The harvest started in October and finished in November. It's a beautiful, homogeneous vintage with very good wines. 2020 saw a moderately cool and rainy winter and a dry and cold spring that resulted in 20% less bunches than in 2019. The summer was also quite dry but, fortunately, not too hot. Given the low yields, maturation was accelerated, and the harvest began at the beginning of September for Louro and from September 25th for As Sortes. Given the scarce water, the plants had to work harder deep down into the soil, which marked the wines; the silica and quartz from the sandy soils of O Bolo shaped a saline identity and the wines achieved a lot of elegance and balance. It's a more heterogeneous vintage, and the higher-altitude vineyards behaved better. The 2020 O Soro is out of this world. He gave me a quick preview of the very cold 2021, a vin de garde vintage but a challenging year with a lot of rain. They are in the process of certifying their vineyards (organic and biodynamic), but they have some problems in the vineyards with neighbors who are not organic, so it will probably be faster for O Soro and Sorte Antiga.

Decanter (98)

Sampled from a vat, this is one of the best As Sortes I have ever tasted, comparable to the iconic 2011. It's a prodigy of subtleness and elegance. Everything is firmly delicate in this wine. Restrained aromas open up parsimoniously, with a steely structure like a great Burgundy, but with flinty acidity almost like Grosses Gewächs from Rheingau. Despite the fact that the sample was not yet bottled, the wine had no oak influence, just the indication that it had been aged, as top Godello must. Rafael Palacios is refining his work year after year, reaching the magic of the greatest wines. A top wine, and one to keep.

Wine Advocate (95)

The 2015 O Diviso felt closed, more reticent, and seems more powerful, despite the fact they did a nonextractive vinification; they did nothing and let the wine ferment at its own pace. This matured in one 600-liter oak barrel, and this is the only red that has a slight note from the oak. There is also a relevant amount of Garnacha Tintorera, so the combination of a warm year, the small barrel and the varietal mix resulted in a more austere and backward wine that is going to require more time in bottle. The fruit is darker and the wine is more powerful than the 2014. It might evolve with time in bottle, because it certainly has the stuffing to do so, but today As Caborcas was singing, and I have to give it the edge. 895 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2016.

Based in the small village of Ballindaloch on the banks of the River Spey, situated a stones throw from Glenfarclas, Tomintoul is a modern classic. Known popularly as "the gentle dram with a peaty tang" it breaks with fellow Speysiders by introducing a hint of peat smoke to their distillery's flavour profile.

Less heavily peated than the likes of Ardmore, Tomintoul has begun to gradually build up its reputation around the world and though it can still be considered an insider's secret, a number of independent bottlings from Gordon & MacPhail, Signatory and Douglas Laing have raised the distillery's profile among the cognoscenti and an increased and much improved distillery-bottled range have paved the way for a very bright future for the brand indeed.

Tasting Note
At 7 years of age but with regauged numbers from April 2021 reminiscent of a newly filled cask, this is a superb long term offering that has excellent upside for the 5-year term bringing it to 12 years old. Fresh and barley driven with that classic Tomintoul peaty tang, there is a lot of potential to develop into a very complex, elegant malt.