Speyside

This 14-year-old Dailuaine single malt is part of The Maltman series from Meadowside Blending. Matured in a single refill sherry butt, the whisky is neither chill-filtered nor coloured in the slim bottles with the iconic black labels. The independent bottler Meadowside Blending is based in Glasgow and fills special single casks from Scotland's renowned distilleries and has already won several awards for its creations.

This 18-year-old Balvenie was first matured in American oak casks and then refined in Pedro Ximenéz sherry butts.

This Balmenach Strictly Limited belongs to the Càrn Mòr series of the independent bottler Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers. The Single Malt was matured for 10 years in First Fill and Refill Oloroso Sherry casks before it was bottled in 2023 in limited form, not chill-filtered and in its natural colour.

The Caperdonich distillery was built in 1897 and was originally known as "Glen Grant Number 2". It was only after rebuilding in 1965 that the distillery was renamed Caperdonich, which can be translated as "the secret spring". The Caperdonich distillery has since closed down.

This Glenallachie is part of Signatory's Cask Strength Collection, in which the whiskies are bottled directly at cask strength. They are particularly recommended for advanced connoisseurs. The Speyside matured for 13 years in a first fill sherry butt.

Half'n'Half is the name of the famous Speyside and Girvan distilleries, which each make up 50% of the Blend. This 11-year-old bottling belongs to the Crafted Blend series of the independent bottler Murray McDavid, who is based in Speyside at the Coleburn distillery. In his various series, he bottles a wide variety of Single Malts, Grains and Blends. In this series, whiskies are post-matured in selected casks. The Blend was first matured in Bourbon Hogshead and then refined in First Fill Spey Valley Stout Casks. The design of the bottle features a thicker glass base and a high quality wooden handle cork. The noble packaging and label of this bottling shines in a fresh colour scheme of silver and yellow gold tones.

This Singleton from one of Dufftown's renowned seven distilleries, Glendullan, was bottled for Special Releases 2023. Themed 'Spirited Xchange', this year's bottlings represent cross-cultural collaboration with a range of Single Malt expressions inspired by countries from around the world. This series of original bottlings perpetuates iconic whisky characters with curiosity, passion and Taste. The Malt Master applied his craftsmanship with the same care that characterises the most famous French fashion houses. The packaging and bottle label are therefore dressed in fashionable garb, which at the same time represents the flavours of the contained fig and citrus aromas with a gentle sea breeze. The 14-year-old Single Malt Whisky was matured in Chardonnay oak casks from Burgundy, France.

This Caperdonich belongs to the Octave series by Duncan Taylor. In the series, the independent bottler experiments with the influence of cask size on maturation. Octave casks, at around 50 litres, are only a fraction as large as the more common cask types. As a result, the whisky has more contact with the cask surface and matures more intensively.

The 18-year-old Balvenie French Pineau Cask is the older brother of the Bourbon Barrel bottling from the new Curious Cask Collection series, which is the result of the curiosity and close collaboration between Malt Master Kelsey McKechnie and Samples Coordinator George Paterson. Both bottlings from this project are the successors to the successful Revelation of Cask and Character series. Unpeated malt was milled, mashed, fermented and distilled. The casks used for the 18-year maturation of the French Pineau Cask Whisky originate from an experiment by David Stewart, who wanted to use them for the 16-year-old French Oak release from The Balvenie before deciding in favour of maturation in other French casks.

This Dailuaine is part of Signatory's Un-Chillfiltered range, in which the whiskies are not chill-filtered. To prevent clouding, they are bottled at 46% vol. This gives the single malts a particularly intense flavour. The Dailuaine was blended from two bourbon casks.

The 15-year-old Ardmore single malt from the Highlands is part of The Alba Trail bottling series from a German importer. It matured entirely in former casks from the Islay distillery Laphroaig. It therefore presents itself with plenty of peat smoke in the flavour as well as on the tongue and palate. The whisky was bottled at 49.5% to bring out the smoky accents even better.

The Benriach First Fill Palo Cortado Sherry Hogshead is also part of the Best Dram series from Michel Reick, Kirsch Import's Whisky Ambassador. As an independent bottler, he selects his best drams personally and locally in Scotland's whisky regions and bottles them as single casks at natural cask strength, neither chill-filtered nor coloured. This Glentauchers single malt whisky was distilled at the Speyside distillery in 2009 and finished in a first fill ruby port cask before being bottled in 2023. A barrique holds 225 litres. This type of barrel was originally used as a transport barrel for wine exports. Michel Reick is also known for his other series Scotch Universe, The Whisky Druid, The Old Friend series and is a true great in the whisky industry.