New Scotch whiskies are dropping left and right. It’s hard enough to keep up with new bourbon whiskey drops, so you can be forgiven for not keeping up with the scotch ones too. It’s a lot. But that’s why you’ve got me. I’m lucky enough to get to taste a lot of these whiskies when (and sometimes before) they drop.
To that end, I gathered up a whole bunch of tasters and new bottles and put them to a blind taste test. For this lineup, I’m only focusing on new labels and/or new editions of limited-edition releases. As for the blind tasting, I do know the lineup but I have no idea the order. This is about finding the best-tasting new Scotch whisky for you to track down and add to your bar cart.
With the exception of one pretty rare bottle (rare in the U.S. anyway), these are all pretty easy to find and relatively affordable.
Anyway, the lineup today is:
- Mossburn Vintage Cask No.12 MacDuff 10-Year
- Bowmore Aston Martin Masters Selection 21 Year Old
- Lochlea First Release
- Springbank 10
- Kilchoman Madeira Finish
- Longrow Peated
- Ardbeg Ardcore
- Laphroaig Cairdeas PX Cask Finish
Let’s dive in!
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Scotch Whisky Posts of The Last Six Months
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- The 100 Best Whiskeys Our Head Drinks Writer Tasted In 2021
- The Best Scotch Whiskies Under $50, Ranked
- Every Scotch Whisky Brand From Diageo’s Massive Portfolio, Ranked
- The Best Value-Per-Dollar Scotch Whiskies, Ranked
Part 1: The Tasting
Taste 1
Tasting Notes:
The nose is kind of like a bowl of raw oats and fresh red berries drizzled with floral honey and just touched with fresh mint. The palate spices things up with a dusting of ground cinnamon and a hint of fresh ginger sharpness as the mid-palate sweetens with a hint of salted caramel and more of that honey. The finish builds towards an oatmeal cookie with raisins, walnuts, and another hint of cinnamon with an echo of old oak and a touch of water.
This is a nice start. We’ll see where it goes.
Taste 2
Tasting Notes:
This is pretty interesting with a balance of creamed honey next to woody maple syrup, Nutella, boot wax, and a hint of creamy peanut butter. The palate is part sweet and spicy mulled wine and part savory fig and almost squash with mocha lattes, smoked cherrywood, and bespoke Almond Joy hitting on the mid-palate. The finish slows the sweetness of all that lush chocolate and candied fruit and hits notes of burnt marshmallow, sticky chili-chocolate tobacco, and dark fruit leather with a whisper of smoked plum and maybe singed cedar bark.
This is complex and luxurious. This is definitely the dram to beat out of the gate.
Taste 3
Tasting Notes:
There’s a touch of black licorice with old peaches and honey but it’s all very light and malty. The palate leans into spiced malts with bruised banana and melon next to a hint of non-descript oak and maybe some dry oats. The finish has a nice peppery warmth with a hint of bourbon vanilla smoothing things out on the short and slightly watery end.
This is very young but very promising. I’m not so sure it’ll rank too high though.
Taste 4
Tasting Notes:
This is soft on the nose with layers of bourbon vanilla, prunes, toffee, spiced honey, and an earthy mix of wet moss and dry sage. The taste is very orchard forward with sweet, tart, and dark fruits leading to a slightly spicy hint of black pepper and cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, and clove. The end sweetens with salted caramel as dried peat adds a dark soil and moldy grass vibe to the end.
Bourbon vibes and mossy/peaty funk? This has to be a Springbank.
It’s a little sharp on the tongue though. I’ll have to think about this one.
Taste 5
Tasting Notes:
There’s a clear sense of oaty malts next to sweet plums, Christmas spices, singed cotton candy, candied citrus peels, and a hint of new leather. The palate dives further into those notes while bringing about a spicy mulled wine vibe next to red berry leather and rock candy with a good dose of cinnamon and nutmeg rounding things out. The end is a lush slide into sticky berry tobacco with a dash of sharp cinnamon, an echo of old cellar beams, and a fleeting hint of mince meat pies with a sugar frosting.
Damn, this is good. It’s like Christmas in a glass.
Taste 6
Tasting Notes:
Vanilla pudding mingles with a line of smoke from a smoldering backyard firepit while a savory herb garden grows nearby and then the nose veers toward singed marshmallows and burning fruitwood. The palate leans into that burning fruity wood before creamy vanilla leads to a brand new Ace Bandage. That medicinal note gives way to a wet clay with a nice minerality before the sweet and fruity smoke kicks back in and layers together vanilla, winter spice, and leather sandwich on the finish.
Taste 7
Tasting Notes:
There’s a hint of wet charcoal next to sour and almost waxy cacao nibs on the nose next to white pepper, grapefruit, and a hint of dried florals. The palate has an old cigarette ashtray vibe (Hello, Ardbeg!) with a hint of black licorice, buttery scones, dark chocolate, and cardamon. That Islay medicinal note hits on the mid-palate like a fresh box of Band-Aids before a menthol-chocolate tobacco cigar ash leads to a whisper of dry asphalt.
This is by far the boldest whisky so far. Now, I just have to figure out what that means against these other whiskies.
Taste 8
Tasting Notes:
There’s that bold medicinal note right up top. It’s like taking a deep inhale on a bin of used Band-Aids next that’s immediately countered by Nutella and marzipan with a touch of apple pie filling and vanilla tobacco ash. The iodine and medicinal notes give this away as Laphroaig immediately. The palate confirms it with more of that old Band-Aids vibe (with a hint of iron) next to salted licorice, smoke apple chips, and dill or fennel. The funk really kicks in on the mid-palate with smoked bacon wrapped in nori next to hints of seawater and Red Hots rounding things out.
There’s just a lot going on here.
Part 2: The Ranking
8. Lochlea First Release — Taste 3
ABV: 46%
Average Price: $52
The Whisky:
This brand new release from a brand new distillery is aiming to put the Lowlands of Scotland back on the map. The juice is a 100 percent malted barley whisky (naturally) that’s aged for three years in a combination of first-fill bourbon and Pedro Ximénez sherry casks. Those barrels are blended and the result is proofed down with local spring water for bottling as-is.
Bottom Line:
This is young whisky. It’s clear from the nose onward. That said, this wasn’t bad by any stretch. I just think it needs two to five more years to really reach its initial potential.
7. Mossburn Vintage Casks No.12 MacDuff 10-Year — Taste 1
ABV: 46%
Average Price: $75
The Whisky:
Mossburn Vintage Casks releases are all about finding the orphan barrels out there and giving them a home. This release is from a few select casks from the Macduff Distillery in the Highlands. The barrels are masterfully blended by the crew at Mossburn and proofed down before bottling with no other fussing.
Bottom Line:
This was fine. It didn’t blow my mind. I could see this being a great highball whisky or a cocktail base to build your empire upon.
6. Longrow Peated — Taste 6
ABV: 46%
Average Price: $82
The Whisky:
This Campbeltown whisky is distilled at the iconic Springbank Distillery. The whisky is a no-age-statement release that leans into the peatier end of the Springbank offerings. The whisky is bottled with a little water added to cut the proof down but without filtration or added color.
Bottom Line:
This was good but didn’t pop today. Again, this felt like a solid highball or cocktail base more than something you have to have in your life every single day.
5. Laphroaig Cairdeas PX Cask Finish — Taste 8
ABV: 58.9%
Average Price: $124
The Whisky:
Laphroaig is always innovating. 2021’s Càirdeas is a triple-matured, cask-strength whisky. The whisky first mellowed in ex-bourbon casks before being moved to quarter casks and, finally, finished in Pedro Ximénez sherry casks. That whisky was then bottled as is.
Bottom Line:
This was a lot. The experience was lush for sure, but it’s really hard to get past “old bloody Band-Aids” if you’re not into that. That said, there’s a lot of love in this pour once you do get past that.
4. Springbank 10 — Taste 4
ABV: 46%
Average Price: $100
The Whisky:
This is the gateway to Springbank, the heart of the Campbeltown whisky region of Scotland. The single malt is aged in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks with a 60/40 split respectively in the final blend before proofing with local spring water and as-is bottling.
Bottom Line:
This is where things get good on this list, but not “great.” I think this is a solid mixing whisky for a killer cocktail that works on the rocks in a pinch.
3. Ardbeg Ardcore — Taste 7
ABV: 46%
Average Price: $135
The Whisky:
2022’s Ardbeg Day release is an outlier for the distillery. The juice is made with a mash of peated Islay barely mixed with a heavily roasted barley in the mix. That dark barley imbues a layer of dark chocolate to the juice that lasts through the aging process.
Bottom Line:
This hit nicely today. All that chocolate kind of made it feel like a good digestif whisky with a dessert feel that still had some serious Islay peat vibes. All of that aside, this whisky took me on a journey and it was a fun, chocolate-y ride.
2. Kilchoman Madeira Finish — Taste 5
ABV: 56.2%
Average Price: $160
The Whisky:
This young whisky from the youngest distillery on Islay packs one hell of a punch. The juice is made from peated malts made in-house on Islay. The whisky then spends four years aging in Madeira casks before it’s bottled as-is at cask strength.
Bottom Line:
This was nearly number one. It’s complex, deep, and really f*cking tasty. That said, it was just a tad less interesting than the next pick. But that’s splitting microscopic hairs on the back of a flea for the sake of this ranking.
1. Bowmore Aston Martin Masters Selection 21 Year Old — Taste 2
ABV: 51.8%
Average Price: $999
The Whisky:
This collaboration between Islay’s Bowmore and Aston Martin is about luxury. The blend of this single malt follows the golden ratio to create an aesthetically pleasing vibe. The base is 61.8 percent 21-year-old single malt aged in first-fill Pedro Ximenez and Oloroso sherry casks. The rest of the blend is equal parts of Bowmore’s other casks that are at least 21 years old ranging up to 35 years old.
Bottom Line:
Yeah, this was the clear winner from the jump with only Kilchoman nipping at its heels. This is just lush and inviting with such a deep yet accessible palate. It’s easy but rewarding. Pretty goddamn great.
Part 3: Final Thoughts
Yeah. I know, I know. The most expensive whiskies won the top three spots. But that value is in that those are just more refined and better built. That’s something you have to pay for in the whisky world, whether it’s from Scotland, Kentucky, Japan, or anywhere else.
All of that said, I think you can easily reach for any of the top five depending on your palate. With the top three getting my biggest seal of approval.
Protip: Look out for the Bowmore 21 Aston Martin Edition the next time you’re at Duty-Free at the airport. The price should be much closer to $400 per bottle.