Here’s your private audience with the inestimable Mr. Beveridge. After contemplating impeccably selected aged liquids from the big five Distillers Company Limited (DCL) grain distilleries, he’s ready. Three vattings representing cask character, distillery character, and Highland single malt were combined in the final blend. Fresh layers of lemon and honey mingle with wood smoke. A seductive soft and creamy palate, saturated with fudge and delicate vanilla fuse together in a study of honeyed perfection. A fine indulgence. The best yet. (8,888 bottles)

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2016)

Distilled in May 2001 from a bourbon-style sour mash, this whisky was intended for blending. However, times change and Wiser’s recently vatted all 132 barrels as an Ontario exclusive. High esters, sweet pitchy resins, clean wood, caramel, barley sugar, floral notes, burley tobacco, green grapes, and Granny Smith apples. And that’s just the nose. Rich toffee, vanilla, brisk white pepper, ripe black fruits. Lingering, peppery, caramel corn finish. (Canada only) C$65

Reviewed by: Davin de Kergommeaux (Summer 2016)

From this first-fill bourbon cask emerge light, delicate, aromatic fruits: think white peach, poached pear, and lychee with creamed coconut, nutmeg-spiced latte, Simnel cake, Chinese five-spice, and richer apple notes. A seemingly chaste dram that begins with honey, egg-washed brioche, stewed pears, and slender pink rhubarb before innocence is lost as sweet bursts of fruit explode, while dark vanilla, clove, rum and raisin, chocolate, and rye divert the action. Dried apple with Christmas spices marks the finish. (186 bottles, The Whisky Exchange only) £245

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2016)

First you think you love Redbreast, and then they go and release a triple-distilled single pot still sherry single cask from 1999. Coffee beans, chocolate buttons, nougat, wet leather jackets, macaroon, and black bananas. A sweet sherry baptism of fresh fig fruit and dark toffee, with blackened char wriggling delightfully under the tongue. Thick and oily, a savory tone surfaces, closed by coffee and heavy clove. Chicory coffee and licorice finish. Epic: extroverted northern cardinal to the chirpy European robin. (576 bottles, The Whisky Exchange only) £180

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2016)

This is massive. It even pours thickly, as the aromas spill out of the glass: rich stewed apple, dry oak, a passing digestif trolley wobbling with dark sticky bottles, and currants on the tummy of a gingerbread man. There is a rum-like quality to the thick texture that lands squarely on the palate, bursting out with sweet apple and brown sugar. It hardly loses its grip after swallowing, dissipating almost imperceptibly against the approaching oak flavors. Special indeed. (330 bottles, WoodWinters Wines & Whiskies only) £150

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2016)

The nose is bathed in aromas of lime, bergamot, lychee, and fresh pineapple cores. This is delicate, refined, and complex, with touches of fragrant spices and a calming influence of oak. A web of citrus strands, barley sugar, and toffee is shot through by wood spices and surpassed by a delicious butterscotch flavor that continues into the finish.  Effortless, relaxed, and brilliant whisky, and quite frankly, I’m not sure you could find better 30 year old whisky at this price. £106

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2016)

The first release from Ailsa Bay distillery is an NAS peated single malt. The new make spirit initially spends 6 to 9 months in 24 to 100-liter Hudson Baby Bourbon casks. It’s then transferred to virgin oak, first-fill, and refill American oak casks for several years. The ultimate vatting is non-chill filtered. A sweet, smoky nose with almonds and walnuts leads into a palate featuring citrus fruit, spicy peat, and cereal notes, with cocoa and soft oak in the finish. (UK and Nordic availability) £55

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Summer 2016)

A wheated recipe bourbon that was aged in experimental barrels with staves utilizing various methods of seasoning. Oak spice is important with a wheated bourbon, as there is no rye to balance the sweet notes, and this whiskey does a great job here. Delicate in personality, with nutty caramel, dried citrus, and golden raisin segueing to polished leather, warming cinnamon, clove, and hints of a cigar humidor.

Reviewed by: John Hansell (Summer 2016)

Inspired by Crown Royal Monarch, Crown Royal is introducing a new line of equally remarkable whiskies called the Noble Collection. This “Cornerstone Blend” begins the series. Rye-grain whisky, fresh-cut lumber, and new oak. Sweet, with a broad spiciness, rich heady nose, floral overtones, and fruity esters. Vague milk chocolate, tropical fruit, and ripe bananas soften the peppery spices. Powerful yet elegant. Complex and tightly synthesized into a single, well balanced whole.

Reviewed by: Davin de Kergommeaux (Summer 2016)

Cask-strength rye made from Arkansas-grown grain, aged 26 months. Must be a small barrel; it’s quite dark. Nose of crushed rye grain, well-polished oak furniture, and moist rye bread. Swift and certain in the mouth: dense, chewy flavors of rye bread, sweet and full and bitter, crackling with oak spice, and drawing to a sizzling finish. I do like a small distiller whiskey that knows where it’s going. Very impressive.

Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Summer 2016)

If Picasso sketched bourbon, it would look like Booker’s, with deep golden and auburn hues. But higher-proof color can deceive. Not here. Think bourbon warehouse: oak, caramel, tobacco leaf, cinnamon, vanilla; floral with hints of honey and blueberry. And then it really comes alive. Oh, baby! Candy corn, crème brûlée, maple syrup, nutmeg, and traces of chipotle and cayenne. The proof strength doesn’t show. I recommend this batch neat for full, unrelenting flavor.

Reviewed by: Fred Minnick (Summer 2016)

Think the holidays: nutmeg, butterscotch, cinnamon, gingerbread cookies, and saltwater taffy. Mouth-coating sensations down the jawline and palate roof. Caramel and vanilla follow it home to the finish, where out-of-nowhere black currant and blackberry jam linger to the very end. This is a fun sipper for those who love the barrel-finished style. (375 ml.)

Reviewed by: Fred Minnick (Summer 2016)

The soft fruit theme continues in this vatting of whiskies from, you guessed it, five decades of the distillery’s life. This has a heavy, heady, honey element alongside apple blossom and then peach and apricot pulp. There’s real complexity. The palate is lighter, although still layered with some heat. With water there’s more apricot skin and some banana. Don’t overwater, as it becomes a touch too tannic. You want that unctuous elegance. Highly recommended. £250

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Summer 2016)

Angela D’Orazio selected both birch sap wine and PX sherry casks, combined with a few punchy 30-liter casks for this beauty. An incredibly rich, intense, and complex nose; a medley of cooked fruits, cherry cake mix, marzipan, tree blossoms, stem ginger, herbs, cigar box, beech nuts, and scorched coconut. Unctuous and syrupy, the palate is immersed in vanilla extract, dry fruits, cocoa, and inky black coffee. A lengthy finish of oak, dark vanilla, and toasted coconut. Result? A whisky colossus. €140

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2016)

The first of five annual releases of Local Barley from Springbank. This practice revives a concept discontinued in 2001. The barley in question was grown at Low Machrimore Farm in the south of the Kintyre peninsula and was distilled in September 1999. Barley, damp earth, sea salt, and citrus fruits on the lightly peated nose. The buttery palate yields spicy peat, orchard fruits, and more earthiness, closing with smoky lemon.

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Summer 2016)

Released in the spring of 2016. True balance and consistency from nose to finish, showing toffee, saltwater taffy, cinnamon Jolly Rancher, crème brûlée, nutmeg, toasted pecan, chocolate, fruit, delicate spice. Hints of pear, peach, and apple. I love the coffee and hazelnut on the long finish. I wonder if the taste would improve in the 107 to 111 proof range. As it is now, this is a must-have sipper.

Reviewed by: Fred Minnick (Summer 2016)

This is the bigger, spicier, and more complex of the pair (see below). A prickly start leads to heavy peat smoke, pink and Szechuan peppercorns, vanilla, dark chocolate, angelica, then seaweed. The palate is oily, with a detonation of gunpowdery peat, licorice, smoked eel, and a feral edge that adds grunt. Layered and complex.

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Summer 2016)

Matured in bone-dry Alberta, where the angels quenched their thirst with water, not alcohol, and the strength steadily climbed over the 35 years spent in wood. Butterscotch, but no inkling of spirit, yet blistering heat on the palate. Surprisingly smooth, though your tongue simply glows. Water adds complexity: dry grain, fresh denim, dust, peaches, green apples, sweet woodiness, and a long blazing finish. Pretty spectacular. (Taiwan only) NT$22,310

Reviewed by: Davin de Kergommeaux (Summer 2016)