Blended Malt 19 yo 2001/2020 (44.9%, Watt Whisky, sherry butt, 630 bottles)
I’m extremely happy to see Kate and Mark doing their own thing, the whisky world needs more anti-nonsense, pro-fun people. Colour: amber. Nose: a style of sherry I really enjoy, that is to say lean, clean and rather leafy and mineral. Given time to open it develops some nutty aromas, praline, milk chocolate and rolling tobacco while also retaining these highly pleasurable mulchy, earthy tones. Mouth: lovely arrival, full, soft, darkly fruity sherry. Lots of sultanas, fig jam, raisins, tobacco and some slightly mushroomy vibes. Perhaps a wee dollop of treacle as well, but globally it remains elegantly drying. Finish: good length, densely earthy, getting richer and more towards figs, tobacco, dunnage and walnuts. Comments: If you’d handed me this blind and said an old Glendronach 15yo from the 1990s I’m not sure I’d have blinked even once. Superbly fresh, clean and vivid sherry with an old school accent. Recommended!
SGP: 561 - 88 points.

Blended Scotch Whisky 38 yo 1980/2020 (48.6%, C Dully Selection, cask #23, sherry hogshead, 230 bottles)
This is one of these ex-Edrington ‘blended whisky’ casks that rarely seem to taste like actual blends… Colour: brownish amber. Nose: deep, raisiny and rather luscious with these thick notes of tobacco, walnut oil, treacle and various dark fruit jams and chutneys. Evolves along these rather thick, earthy lines with quite a bit of hessian and leather. Pretty superb! Mouth: nice arrival, all on rancio. treacle, cloves, spiced fig jam, mulling spices and walnut liqueur. If you like old school sherry then this will tickle your boat no doubt. There’s a thickness of texture and an earthiness that I find extremely satisfying. Finish: medium with figs, sultanas, more tobacco, leaf mulch, hessian and rancio. Comments: I couldn’t detect one iota of grain whisky in this. Make of that what you will. Either way, this is a rather simple but direct and excellent old school sherried dram. No doubt it will be pestering a few tumblers this Winter.
SGP: 661 - 89 points.

Royal Brackla 12 yo ‘Batch 1’ (47.9%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company, 1472 bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: fresh, youthful and almost hyper-natural with these immediate notes of ripe green apples and pears. Also gooseberry, cut grass, sunflower oil, lemon rind… entirely the wrong time of year to be drinking such a whisky as it almost makes you look up and expect to see spring sunshine out of the window. Some rather dry and crisp cereals emerge in time. Mouth: a little more basic than the nose. Cooking oils, butter, oatcakes, water biscuits, plain breakfast cereals, freshly made porridge and a single barley sugar. Some green and grassy notes such as parsley persevere. Finish: medium, gently drying, lightly peppery, more cereals, sunflower oil and a wee bit of natural sweet maltiness. Comments: The nose was lovely, but I wonder if this isn’t rather blending backbone whisky. Now, I suspect it probably makes a very fine highball with this rather natural and pure style.
SGP: 451 - 81 points.

Royal Brackla 2011/2018 (68%, Whisky Illuminati ‘Solaria Series’, cask #900077, 1st fill sherry butt, 150 bottles)
This series seems to all have been filled at super high strength, hence such frightening ABVs in their youth. However, so far the sibling bottlings have been pretty good and no doubt such high strengths will be an asset as they age further. Colour: orangey amber. Nose: surprisingly light and citrusy at first nosing. Lots of orange peel and marmalades. Some kumquat, orange juice, toffee apple and barley sugar. Very nice. With water: gets nicely bready and autolytic now with notes of oatcakes, pollen, sweet cereals and even some fresh linens. Surprisingly approachable. Mouth: you do feel the alcohol and there is an initial impression that it’s masking quite a lot. Although there’s some nice notes of orgeat syrup, Battenberg cake and cherry cola. Hints of lychee, marzipan and rose water too. Quite floral, although the alcohol may well be emphasising the higher notes. With water: bigger and fatter now, notes of dark fruits in muesli, flapjack, sultana, orange cocktail bitters and mulling spices. Plain old chocolate orange as well. Finish: long and doubling down on these chocolate and orange notes with some wee glimmers of those earlier bready notes. Comments: I like this one quite a bit, you get a sense of the Brackla distillate in balance with the sherry.
SGP: 651 - 85 points.

Glenturret 12 yo 2006/2018 (48.4%, Douglas Laing Old Particular, refill sherry hogshead, 389 bottles)
I always feel nervously excited when trying Glenturret, it can just go in absolutely any direction… Colour: amber. Nose: a rather hot and modern style of sherry with wood embers, paprika, cherry stones and things like cask-aged porter and roast walnuts. Punchy and rather vivid, but in a good way. Also some chilli-infused dark chocolate, leather and game meats. Mouth: I think that in this instance the Glenturret itself is somewhat hidden by this big, weighty cloak of sherry. Lots of wood spices, dark fruit chutneys, ointments, graphite oil, black pepper, soot, earthy black teas and mineral oil. It’s clean but also rather on the woody and spicy side. Finish: medium, slightly tarry, lots of more black pepper, cola syrup, ointments and bitter herbal extracts. Comments: Technically pretty good I think, you just have to enjoy this rather hot and powerful style of sherry. I don’t think the poor Glenturret distillate survived (who said ‘phew!’ ??)
SGP: 572 - 84 points.

Glenturret 28 yo 1987/2016 (50.4%, Signatory Cask Strength Collection, cask #372, hogshead, 149 bottles)
These batches of casks by Signatory seem to provoke some division amongst whisky folk. However, I have to admit I usually really enjoy them. Colour: gold. Nose: yup, acrylic, bubblegum, ‘fruity’ waxes, new leather, white pepper, mineral oil and even some sort of sweetened olive oil. A very specific and pretty old style profile which Glenturret seems to exude when on form. With water: fresher, chalkier, more clean starchy fabrics, more medicines and a little pine resin. Mouth: a tad more unlikely perhaps, some notes of plasticine, clay, asparagus, honey roasted parsnip, juicy fruit chewing gum, aniseed, bouillon broth, canvass and overall a little more of this ‘chemical’ side of things. With water: again this goes drier with water and more towards fabrics, linens, camphor, hessian, putty, lemon oils, herbal throat medicines and vapour rubs. Still rather persistently waxy and with this chemically accented fruitiness. Finish: medium, with plenty plastic, clay, plasticine, red chilli, medicines, mineral oil and more umami and vegetal broths. Comments: These Glenturrets are just such funny, often whacky distillates. However, despite the fact they are clearly divisive and unusual, I cannot help but be charmed by them when they possess this style. Better this eccentricity than boring, oak-doped uniformity I say. The kind of bottle you can have a lot of fun with while dramming with friends - you know, socialising, remember that…? Anyway, please take my score with a pinch of salt.
SGP: 652 - 86 points.

Caol Ila 9 yo 2011/2020 (58.5%, C Dully Selection, cask #101, 1st fill barrel, 262 bottles)
Colour: pale straw. Nose: pure and hyper-fresh young Caol Ila, full of seawater, coastal flowers, lemon peel, grapefruit, lime juice and fresh linens with many wispy notes of pure peat smoke in the background. Also crushed seashells, dry chalky medicines, lemon cough drops and some savoury super salty pasta water. I just love this nose. With water: pure seawater, rockpools, wet seaweed, soy sauce and briny olives. Mouth: perfectly concise with the nose, except here the peat smoke is deeper and more raw and direct. Rather like you’re in direct communication with working kiln. There’s also charred shellfish, black olives in pickling juices, malt vinegar and tarry rope. Powerful but also balanced and wonderfully pure. With water: perfection now! Thick and wonderfully textural in the mouth, like tar mixed with petrol! Also seawater, fresh herbs, top quality olive oil, sandalwood and bonfire embers. Finish: long, briny, lots of umami paste, sardines in oil, black olive tapenade, smoked heather beers and again with this wonderfully petrolic, mineral and seawater fusion. Comments: I feel like I’m running out of things to say about Caol Ila after all these years. It’s just utterly impeccable spirit. Terrific selection by those cunning Swiss!
SGP: 367 - 90 points. 

Caol Ila 11 yo 2009/2020 (57.4%, Watt Whisky, hogshead, 303 bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: a slightly lighter and breezier style. Lots of fresh sea air, crab sticks, wet beach pebbles, gorse, starched linens, bath salts and things like chalk, putty and antiseptic on gauze. Pristine, pure, almost irritatingly consistent Caol Ila. With water: deeper and sootier, more things like rope, puffer smoke, anchovies and a little kelp. Mouth: lemon juice, sheep wool oils, mineral oil, pink sea salt and kippers drizzled in brine and lemon juice. Oysters, ink, seawater… you get the picture. It’s basically one of these rather narrow Caol Ilas that displays an extremely pure and chiselled profile focussed on coastal and seashore aspects but with a quieter peat smoke influence. If I put on my ‘Serge Valentin moustache’ for a moment I’d probably say ‘millimetric!’. With water: creosote, black pepper, smoked teas with lemon, pasta water, smoked herbs and more medical things like gauze and TCP. Finish: long, more powerfully smoky, tarry, salty, peppery and with iodine and pure seawater again. Comments: This one rewards water with a little more complexity I think. Yet another superb and very pure Caol Ila, I like the unabashed ‘coastalness’ on display here.
SGP: 356 - 88 points.

Caol Ila 11 yo 2008/2020 (59.7%, The Single Cask, cask #318686, hogshead, 137 bottles)
Caol Ila is proof that you can produce enough whisky that your cask numbers run to the length of mobile phone numbers and still achieve amazing quality… Colour: lovely, a kind of mentholated, honeyed brininess with smoked olive oil, natural tar extract and wonderfully fragrant notes of heather flowers, gorse, sandalwood and smoked dark ales. This one brims with a sense of sweetness and an overall rather syrupy profile. With water: more salty, richly umami, soy sauce, ramen broth, herbal mouthwash, smoked teas. Superb! Mouth: wonderfully gentle and textural on arrival. Smoked mead, olive oil, tar, embrocations, oily peat, hessian and vapour rubs. Blind you’d probably say this was a few years older than 11. With water: just wonderful! Superbly oily, fatty peat, smoked meats, herbal medicines, tar, hessian, freshly kilned malt, brine, salt and vinegar crisps… great stuff! Finish: long, mentholated again with eucalyptus bark, fennel, hessian, ointments and some cured meats. Still this wonderful sense of texture and weight. Comments: This must have been a pretty awesome cask as you really feel it has added something ‘invisibly’ while retaining the full brilliance of the distillate. What is it they say about Caol Ila and independent bottling…
SGP: 566 - 90 points.

Caol Ila 28 yo 1990/2019 (48%, WhiskyNerds, cask #13129, refill oloroso, 192 bottles)
Colour: gold. Nose: you do indeed get the sense there has been some sherry afoot here. Lots of dense, leathery notes of camphor, tar, smoked olive oil, preserved lemons, black olives and a wee dash of seawater. While there’s also these herbal notes in addition and many coastal fragrances like sandalwood, white flowers and gorse. Beautiful! Mouth: this is starting to approach the same profile as these early 1980s casks. Only here I feel the sherry has added something deeper and more leathery and fatty. Smoky bacon, tarry notes, ointment, old rope, hessian, camphor, putty and various cured meats. An impressive and captivating level of complexity I would say. Finish: long, herbal, sooty, tarry, fragrantly coastal and with these wonderful fading medicinal qualities. Comments: a great cask captured at a perfect age. It’s a shame we don’t see more of these early 90s vintages from Caol Ila, I think they’re really becoming terrific.
SPG: 465 - 91 points.