Last year, I looked at all of my favourite tastings and picked some of my favourites that I’ve come across on this journey. This year, I’m back with my favourite selections, but not exactly “the best” since I couldn’t have possibly tried them all. Nevertheless, here are my picks of the year. I’ve limited my selections to only five in each category, which I have reviewed on this site, and compiled these without peeking at the favourites of the year past to see if my tastes have changed. After all, this is as much for you as it is for me to mark yet another year in this whisky adventure!
The youngest whisky still appears to be [mostly] from Islay, as I like my peated Scotch pretty young:
An honourable mention goes to Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength, which I had but did not review this year.
The 12-year-olds managed to stay across various regions and independent bottlers:
- Bunnahabhain 12 (Cask Strength)
- anCnoc 12
- Tobermory 12
- Linkwood 12 (James Eadie)
- Miltonduff (Càrn Mòr)
An honourable mention goes to Lagavulin 12 (SR), which I finished but did not review again this year.
There were no particular 15-year-olds that stood out, but the 18-year-olds have delivered:
An honourable mention goes to Jura 18, which I returned to but did not get to review again this year.
The 21-year-olds have definitely stepped it up a notch with a few familiar distilleries:
- GlenDronach 21
- Glengoyne 21 (Old Particular)
- Speyside #1 (TBWC)
- Balvenie 21 (Single Barrel)
- Highland Park 21
An honourable mention goes to Glenlivet 21, which didn’t win this year but is still great!
The 30-year-olds are absolutely at the luxury end of the experience and are worth every penny:
An honourable mention goes to Glenlivet XXV, which I celebrated with again this year!
Finally, I want to mention my three favourite blended malts, which you should check out:
An honourable mention goes to Campbeltown Loch, which will surely appear here soon!
It’s worth noting a few more of my favourites, which I still haven’t reviewed here but, I suppose, deserve more honourable mentions nevertheless. These are bottlings (in no particular order) from Ardnamurchan, Lagg, Kilkerran, Port Charlotte, Ledaig, Glen Scotia, Wolfburn, Kilchoman and, of course, Springbank. Honestly, I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the above.
My favourite purchase of the year is the stash of 5 bottles of “Speyside 18” from Signet‘s Cask Strength Collection, which is the best non-chill filtered Macallan I have ever had! There’s also a 17-year-old of the same, which I found in Glasgow. I also keep enjoying those cask-strength editions of Laphroaig, Bruichladdich and Lagavulin, even if they didn’t officially show up on these lists (I have acquired a new appreciation for Laphroaig after visiting the distillery this summer). Finally, I really wanted to love the Japanese whiskies this year, but alas, the best I have had was only available in Japan (I visited the Yoichi distillery in the Spring), and what’s exported here is diluted, filtered, coloured, and may not even be Japanese. In any case, here’s to a brand new year – I’ve got a lot more to discover, and I hope that you will too!
Two Drams A Day 