Whisky Magazine Editors Choice - Gold Award

Royal Salute 21 Years Old
Blended - Scotland - 40.00% 8 After dinner, I would usually think of a malt, but have long enjoyed the unashamed luxuriousness of this blend. This example seems fractionally less voluptuous than I remember, but my memories may be ...

Royal Salute 50 Years Old
Blended - Scotland - 40.00% 8 A work of craftsmanship, elegance and its own style.

Sazerac 18 Years Old
Single Grain - U.S.A. - 45.00% 9 A superb bourbon. As neat and perfectly dressed and combed as Richard Paterson!

Sazerac 18 Years Old Straight Rye
Rye - U.S.A. - 45.00% 8 A trifle sophisticated for my tastes, but a very fine rye whiskey.

Scott's Selection Highland Park 20 Years Old 1981
Single Malt - Scotland - 48.50% 8 What a great dram! Complex and beaming. I like it better neat.

Secret Bottlings Series 30 Years Old
Single Malt - Scotland - 40.00% 8 A superb after dinner dram.

Selected by Berry's Glenlivet 1973 38 Years Old
Single Malt - Scotland - 46.00% 8 A real cracker. Perfect balance. Rich, enticing. Alcohol is beautifully mastered.

Selected by Berry's Speyside Reserve Blended Malt
Blended Malt - Scotland - 46.00% 8 A refined, complex and charming dram. An absolute cracker.

Signatory Highland Park 1988
Single Malt - Scotland - 46.00% 8 A lovely whisky. A sweetish bottling. More complex and elegant than the 'official' 12 Years Old, but not quite as expressive as the 18.

Signatory Laphroaig 1988 Unchillfiltered
Single Malt - Scotland - 46.00% 8 I enjoyed this very much, but it does not add a great deal to the canon.

Signatory Port Ellen 1978 Port Wood
Single Malt - Scotland - 58.00% 8 Typical fragrant, alert Port Ellen, but the port finish lends more fruit and an amazing orangey-pinkish colour.

Spirit Safe & Cask Islay Single Malt
Single Malt - Scotland - 58.80% 8 Might lack subtlety,but sure as hell it definitely delivers.

Springbank 11 Years Old Madeira Wood 1997
Single Malt - Scotland - 55.10% 8 Substantial,multifaceted and complex. Highest recommendation.

Springbank 12 Years Old, Rum Cask
Single Malt - Scotland - 54.60% 8 More rounded and elegant than the earlier, 10 Years Old rum cask. I enjoy the Springbank rum cask whiskies very much, though not at the expense of the more traditional expressions.

Springbank 1975 Limburg Whisky Fair
Single Malt - Scotland - 49.20% 8 Astonishingly citric.

Springbank 1989, Limited Edition Limburg Festival Bottling
Single Malt - Scotland - 55.80% 9 Springbank in pyrotechnic form. The sherry doubles the flavours, but arguably also softens the Campbeltown character.

Talisker 10 Years Old
Single Malt - Scotland - 45.80% 9 Always a classic, though I still miss the 8 Years Old.

Talisker 18 Years Old
Single Malt - Scotland - 45.80% 9 Loch Harport on a winter's day, gale force eight! Less peppery than younger versions. Complex, endearing, balanced. 18 seems a perfect age for malts.

Talisker 1975, 25 Years Old, Cask Strength
Single Malt - Scotland - 59.90% 9 Less instantly explosive than the regular 10. The flavours in the 25 are more tightly combined and take longer to unfold. You pays your money...

Talisker 1982, 20 Years Old
Single Malt - Scotland - 58.80% 9 Doesn't sound enjoyable? You bet it was.

Talisker 25 Years Old
Single Malt - Scotland - 56.90% 8 Bold, subtle, sweet yet smoky. Class.

Talisker 28 Years Old
Single Malt - Scotland - 43.30% 8 More medicinal than other versions. If matched with oysters, add barbecued sausages as the French do in Marennes-Oléron.

Teacher's Highland Cream
Blended - Scotland - 43.00% 8 Malty, even creamy, but never cloying. Big and sustaining. The whisky world's answer to Kendal Mint Cake.

The Balvenie 1970 Vintage Cask
Single Malt - Scotland - 44.60% 9 Extraordinarily distinctive. All the characteristics I expect in Balvenie, but I have never experienced them in such a concentrated intensity.

The Balvenie 1972 Vintage Cask
Single Malt - Scotland - 49.40% 9 The ultimate dessert dram. Beautifully composed.