The Walsh Family releases 6,000 bottles in every small batch of their single malt. Each bottling is a combination of triple distilled whiskey matured in oloroso sherry and bourbon casks. The nose is bright with vanilla icing, butterscotch, and dried peach. The taste is quite active, with honey, cinnamon, gingerbread, ground almond, and dark chocolate. There is a brief flat spot where the bitterness burns through, before it fades to leave a pleasing tickle around the gums.

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Fall 2014)

Torfa is apparently Old Norse for “turf” or “peat,” and this no age statement Glenglassaugh was made using malt peated to around 20 ppm phenols. Heathery peatiness on the early nose, with dried fruits, malt, and cream soda. Ultimately, leathery, mellow smoke. Sweet and lively on the palate, after an initial flavor of coal soot, with ripe peaches, chili, and ginger, backed by floral peat and a hint of ozone. Spicy peat smoke in the relatively long and fruity finish. £40

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Fall 2014)

With only a 10 year old house bottling of Glenturret available, brand owners the Edrington Group have collaborated with independent bottler Hunter Laing to produce this ‘semi-official’ 26 year old expression, matured entirely in refill bourbon casks. Pineapple, dates, honey, and hard toffee on the floral nose. Full-bodied, waxy and chewy on the palate, with vanilla, ginger, cherry liqueur chocolates, and dark spices. Lengthy in the finish, with emerging bitter chocolate notes. £300

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Fall 2014)

Interesting that the label says “Artfully Aged,” yet there’s no actual age statement. Lively nose, good rye snap and spice, a bit of mint and oaky edge. Not hot, well-behaved on the tongue, and happily gives back everything taken on the nose. Sweet, spicy, and easy to like, this is whiskey without flaw, well-done and tasty, if not overly ambitious or challenging.

Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Fall 2014)

Pale gold, with nettles and green apple on the nose alongside almond, light bread crust, and freshly-baked sponge cake. In time, there’s Starburst sweets. Some heat, even at this relatively low strength. There are mineral accents and, with water, the signature ginger. The palate is very sweet and soft with jelly fruits. Clean and supple, especially with water. Zesty, with a refreshing acidic balance.

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Fall 2014)

With the majority of the blend coming from older single malts, this forms a counterpoint to I and II (see below). Toasted spices, fennel, black peppercorns, cocoa, malt loaf, split orange peels, and salted caramel invade the nose. The palate is a gluttony of chocolate. Beneath, look for dried fruits, macchiato, peanut shells, and some tannic bitterness as the older malts show their wares. It leaves a cocoa finish without the sweetness. A great concept for self-educating your palate. £106

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Fall 2014)

While most Wemyss Malts’ releases are named after flavor descriptors, this one adopts a well-known Shakespearean reference. A sherry butt filled in 2002 gave an out-turn of 854 bottles. The nose offers toffee bonbons, coffee with condensed milk, and finally farmyard aromas. The palate is relatively sweet, with spicy sherry notes and contrasting mildly citric fruit, plus a slight earthiness. The finish is medium to long, with lingering spice and a carry-over of coffee from the nose. £57

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Fall 2014)

In style, this is closest to the 1978 in its levels of sweetness. Here, though, there is added key lime pie, juicy white peaches, and whipped cream alongside that deep Glenfarclas roasted ‘polished brass’ note. The medium-weight palate is pure and sweet with light orchard fruits. The most freshly acidic of the selection, with a hint of flowers on the very end. £430

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Fall 2014)

The key smoke characteristic here comes from kilning the barley over beechwood. The resultant aromas conjure up sweet mash, charcoal sticks, slabs of fish from the smoker, and dilapidated casks warming in the sunshine by the shoreline. It’s been matured for over 3 years in French Limousin oak, and the taste runs sweet with peach, nectarine, and melon, through Seville orange, to mixed peel and taffy candy. A finish of dried fruits, with lingering smoke in the tail. €48

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Fall 2014)

One of a series of Berkshire bottlings done in barrels used to age craft beers; this one aged the massive (29%!) and complex Samuel Adams Utopias. The beer barrel adds a depth to Berkshire’s usually brighter character, a rounded and full sweetness with rum and fruit notes. There’s heat and youthful sweetness, and a pleasing fullness that grows toward the warming finish. A nice twist on the usual bottling. (Massachusetts only)

Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Fall 2014)

You wouldn’t believe from the nose on this white whiskey that it’s nearly 50% alcohol. Sweet, fresh-milled cornmeal combines with slightly acidic and floral pear, with just a dash of yeast to form an inviting and approachable nose. On the palate it’s equally affable and well-balanced, with sweet corn, crisp pear, and white pepper spice. A nice long finish with a touch of cooling rounds off an expertly-crafted and enjoyable moonshine.

Reviewed by: Geoffrey Kleinman (Fall 2014)

Master of Malt has accumulated quite a trophy cabinet for their work on blends. The nose is inviting, with butter toffee, Bramley apples, fennel seeds, cut lawns, and chocolate-covered oat biscuits. It’s a pretty smooth proposition, serving up caramel maltiness, stewed apple, and orange and grapefruit pith, with just a hint of sharp lemon freshness to open up with. The ginger finish is zappy but short. A solid, everyday blend.

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Fall 2014)

Plenty of the distillery’s fresh fruits, here with some Demerara sugar sprinkled on the top, a little hint of almond, peppermint, candied apple, and hard fruit sweets. The palate continues in the same vein, with some more apple (baked this time) and a chalky texture. Water allows it to become more creamy (think orange barley water), while a green fresh note emerges in the background. Just slightly bitter behind.

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Fall 2014)

This 17 year old single cask (#10042) bottling of Highland Park was distilled in September 1996 and is presented non-chill filtered and with no added color in Douglas Laing’s Old Particular range. Baked cereal and peeled apples on the peaty nose, while dark, smoky notes contrast with lighter, fruity flavors on the palate, along with a sprinkling of pepper. The finish dries, with more pepper, bonfire embers, and coffee grounds. £90

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Fall 2014)

This 19 year old example of Glen Garioch from 1993 offers a nose of orange blossom, sherry, and milk chocolate, becoming sweeter with time. Finally, butterscotch mousse. Sweet and fruity on the palate, with cherries, icing sugar, and a hint of smoky caramel. Medium to long in the finish, with persistent citrus notes, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. (U.S. only)

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Fall 2014)

Bottle design looks like it came from a 1950s movie. Did bourbon smell like this then: cornbread and cinnamon, seasoned oak and a bare hint of cedar, sweet hot dough? Oily and lazy on the tongue, a pool of sweet corn fire, touched with the cinnamon. The wood is absent, but returns at the end with a grip on the tongue and palate. Another great whiskey for the money; great on the rocks, from a drawer in a private eye’s desk…

Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Fall 2014)

The initial nose is soft fruits doused in condensed milk, which contributes to an overall impression of light toffee and, weirdly for this distillery in its contemporary guise, some smoke. The fruits manage to mix the ripe and slightly sour. Quite intense; it needs water, which calms proceedings allowing typical Glen Grant purity to come through. The fruits now have some added weight and, again, that smokiness. Intriguing! £75

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Fall 2014)

Pale straw. Delicate and a little akin to chilled manzanilla sherry: fresh almond, salinity, light yeast. Vibrant, with the smoke held in check. The palate is much sweeter, with finally some cask-derived sugars beginning to show. Then it rushes to the shoreline and takes a gulp of water, giving an effect like saltwater taffy. It needs water to flesh the palate out. £60/500 ml

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Fall 2014)