We're back with the Scotch Malt Whisky Societies December 2024 outturn review. This month has 24 new whiskies, a few gins, and a few re-releases from last year. There's also a new number added to the SMWS roster, 163, the Isle of Harris Distillery.
Not all bottles from the outturn were available at the preview, but check out our social media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) to get an updates on any missing bottles and heads up on our other reviews.
The scores below are based on our initial impressions. For full disclosure, we won't spend as much time with a dram as we usually do for a full review, but we hope you'll find the scores useful.
- 10 - Perfection. One in a million
- 9 - Outstanding. Exceptional whisky.
- 8 - Great. Would seek this out.
- 7 - Good. Quality whisky.
- 6 - Above average. Happy to have a dram.
- 5 - Average. Drinkable whisky.
- 4 - Below average. Passable.
- 3 - Flawed. Noticeable negatives.
- 2 - Defective. Significant faults.
- 1 - Offensive. Pour it out.
Onto the bottles...
2.140 - Glenlivet Distillery
Name: Calorific nonchalance
Flavour Profile: Deep, Rich & Dried Fruits
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill STR oloroso seasoned butt
ABV: 56.7%
Age: 17
Price: £115.00
The nose smacks us across the face with sulphur, it’s rancio, smoked cured meats, dry orange peel and bisto gravy. This is fairly aggressive sherry, salty, nutty, meaty, almost craigellachie-like. The palate has more of the same, meaty, chicken powder, salt baked meats, parmesan rind, along with a bit of light brown sugar and pistachio. It’s intense, savoury, peppery, tough for us personally however some people may like this style. We’ll go with 6/10.
Score: 6/10
Value: We'd have preferred if this was cheaper, but you don't see much independent Glenlivet.
4.350 - Highland Park Distillery
Name: Smoky duck prosciutto
Flavour Profile: Lightly Peated
Region: Highlands
Cask Type: 1st fill bourbon barrel
ABV: 62.7%
Age: 11
Price: £70.00
The nose opens with mellow peat, honey, heather, it’s quite stereotypical highland park. There’s a dustiness, sugar syrup, sponge cake and lemon peel, with a bit of smoked fish too. The alcohol is high but noses a bit softer, alongside cheese rind and fresh cut chives. The palate has lemon, butterscotch, salted caramel, bitter herbs and sugar syrup. It’s sweeter than expected, but there’s a citrusy peat smoke riding behind. The alcohol is a bit punchy, chili heat, but it’s not too overpowering (if you’ve had a few drams). It’s fine, not our favourite Highland Park.
Score: 6/10
Value: A few pounds cheaper would have been nice, but we won't complain.
4.364 - Highland Park Distillery
Name: Huckleberry Wintergrinn
Flavour Profile: Lightly Peated
Region: Highlands
Cask Type: 1st fill bourbon barrel
ABV: 62.5%
Age: 13
Price: £77.00
The nose is alcohol forward, must, dusty cupboards, with a coastal, salted fish aroma. There’s a bit of sugary sweetness along with wonder bread and lemon peel. The palate has a decent mouthfeel, moving into charred oak, bitter wood flavours, but fairly light on the peat notes. There’s also vanilla pudding, sponge cake and lemon zest. It’s a fine dram, too hot but drinkable nonetheless.
Score: 6/10
Value: A year older and the same price as Salt Baked Viking released last month.
4.395 - Highland Park Distillery
Name: Red wine and brine in the old coal mine
Flavour Profile: Oily & Coastal
Region: Highlands
Cask Type: 1st fill oloroso ex-bodega butt
ABV: 50.4%
Age: 25
Price: £295.00
The nose opens with salt water, red grape, honey butter, almond praline, sugar syrup, currant jam, rum and raisin ice cream and cherry jam. It’s a very pleasant nose, it noses its age - clearly 20+ years old with good integration. The palate has mellow notes of chocolate, cherry, heather, butterscotch, salted caramel, coconut oil and some green foliage. It’s well balanced, tasty, and we’re quite surprised we’re liking it this much.
Score: 7.5/10
Value: £200 feels like a fairer price for this.
8.45 - Tamdhu Distillery
Name: Pockets like Poppins
Flavour Profile: Young & Spritely
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill bourbon barrel
ABV: 60.8%
Age: 8
Price: £57.00
The nose opens with flat peaches, sponge fingers, coconut shavings, wood shavings, light vanilla and caster sugar. The alcohol is in reasonable balance, and it’s a very soft, mellow nose. The palate has a bit of a richer, deeper flavour, caramel slices, orange peel, toffee bon bons, and something a bit too bitter, burnt caramel perhaps, as it moves into the finish. The mouthfeel is ok, a tad thin, and the finish lasts for a medium length with more spice than the nose let on. It’s fine, a little boring and the bitterness and spice on the palate let us down.
Score: 6/10
Value: A few quid cheaper than the last society Tamdhu release.
24.177 - Macallan Distillery
Name: Fig Noir
Flavour Profile: Deep, Rich & Dried Fruits
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill American oak PX
ABV: 62.1%
Age: 15
Price: £125.00
The nose has rich sherry aromas, candied almonds, candle wax, a little copper, furniture polish, red currants, stroopwaffle, and wafer cones. The palate has a good texture, fairly viscous with brown sugar, plum jam, red currants, cinnamon sugar, tunnocks caramel wafers and a bit of pepper on the finish. It’s sherried macallan, it doesn’t matter what we we write, it’s still going to sell out. Saying that, we quite enjoyed it.
Score: 7.5/10
Value: The extra few years of maturation has added around £30-£40 compared with previous releases, but it's a good price for Macallan.
35.351 - Glen Moray Distillery
Name: Pudding whisky
Flavour Profile: Deep, Rich & Dried Fruits
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill Spanish oak oloroso hogshead
ABV: 53.1%
Age: 17
Price: £97.00
The nose opens with milk chocolate coins, toffee, brown sugar, fudge, a little grassiness, and cinnamon sugar. It feels quite well integrated, good balance of spirit, cask and alcohol. The palate has a reasonable mouthfeel, some cherry jam, chocolate brownies, vanilla frosting, chewey caramel sweeties and some ginger spice lingering on. The palate does disappear a bit quickly, but it’s a pretty good sherry finish.
Score: 6.5/10
Value: A year older and the same price as Merry with Sherry released last month.
35.384 - Glen Moray Distillery
Name: Soy sauce on Christmas cake
Flavour Profile: Deep, Rich & Dried Fruits
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill Spanish oak oloroso hogshead
ABV: 62.3%
Age: 9
Price: £60.00
The nose has cherry and dark chocolate, raspberry jam, a little dirt, brown sugar, candied ginger, blackcurrant, casis, and red currants. There’s a fair bit of alcohol punch here, the she is coming through for us. The palate has ginger juice, caramel, milk chocolate, chili spice.. wow it’s really really hot. There’s some nice sherry sweetness and nuttiness here, but it’s massively overpowered by the alcohol. Not for us.
Score: 5.5/10
Value: Not bad for some sherry finished whisky.
39.283 - Linkwood Distillery
Name: A tasty proposition
Flavour Profile: Sweet, Fruity & Mellow
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill bourbon barrel
ABV: 56.7%
Age: 13
Price: £79.00
The nose has musty, dusty cupboards, fresh orange juice, candyfloss, a little cocoa, fudge and oak furniture. It’s fairly fresh and light on the nose, with apples and a handfill of dark berries. The palate has a good mouthfeel and opens with chewey fruit candies, but its moves into a savoury, almost roasted root vegetables flavour. The alcohol is in reasonable balance, but kicks in more towards the latter palate. There’s a fair bit of oak coming through on the finish. It’s quite a consistent flavour coming through, and it’s fine, but nothing special.
Score: 6/10
Value: If you're desperate for Linkwood this month, go for 39.305 and save yourself a few pounds.
39.285 - Linkwood Distillery
Name: Plum sauce on the coir doormat
Flavour Profile: Light & Delicate
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill bourbon barrel
ABV: 61.7%
Age: 11
Price: £68.00
The nose opens with a hit of alcohol, it’s quite punchy. Behind this sits whipped vanilla cream, floral air freshener, green apple peel, peach ring sweets, alongside a plum jam. It’s fairly expressive on the nose, lots of aromas jumping out the glass. The palate has a tingly acidicty up front, lots of freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice, but the alcohol is pushing through too prominently. We’re also getting apple flesh, freshly diced chili peppers, simple sugar syrup, and something sulphury on the finish. The mouthfeel is decent and the finish has a medium length, mostly showing alcohol spice and a bit of lime cordial. It’s just unbalanced, needed more time to mellow out for us.
Score: 5.5/10
Value: We'd have liked to have seen this a few pounds cheaper.
39.305 - Linkwood Distillery
Name: Welcome in, 2025
Flavour Profile: Sweet, Fruity & Mellow
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill bourbon barrel
ABV: 58.6%
Age: 12
Price: £69.00
The nose opens with soft peach, poached pears, a little cheap white wine, floral aromas and some simple sugar. It’s got decent alcohol integration with more fresh tropical pineapple and mango aromas coming through. The palate opens with candied apples, hard toffee, and burnt toast on the finish. There’s a real bitterness that gives quite an astringent flavour as the palate develops. There’s wood varnish, oak spice and black peppercorns. Better alcohol balance than the other linkwoods, but too bitter overall for us.
Score: 6/10
Value: In line with other Linkwoods of similar age.
53.475 - Caol Ila Distillery
Name: Big, bold and oh-so smoky
Flavour Profile: Peated
Region: Islay
Cask Type: Refill HTMC hogshead
ABV: 58.9%
Age: 13
Price: £92.00
The nose opens with burnt oak logs, pickle brine, herbal rosemary and thyme aromas, alongside background brown sugar sweetness. The HTMC has given a woodsmoke that sits on top of the spirits’ peat smoke. The palate has a decent mouthfeel, more citrus up front, lime and lemon, with some salted caramel, lots of peat smoke and brown sugar in the background. There’s also some liquorice and brown bread. It’s a bit overpowering for us, too strong in the woodsmoke which combats the peat. There’s a bit too much spice too.
Score: 6.5/10
Value: Sadly not bad given the distillery and the cask type.
60.38 - Aberfeldy Distillery
Name: Fizzy fruit smoothie
Flavour Profile: Spicy & Sweet
Region: Highlands
Cask Type: 2nd fill bourbon hogshead
ABV: 57.3%
Age: 10
Price: £64.00
The nose opens with red apple - skin mostly, white lilies, dusty cupboards, lemon peel, simple sugars, bay leaves, cut grass and a bit of milk too. The palate has a decent mouthfeel, with vanilla slices, whipped cream, lime zest, wafer comes, and finishes with a bovril sort of flavour. The finish does fall away a bit too quickly, and there’s a dustiness to the palate too. We’re not overly enamoured with it, it’s fine.
Score: 6/10
Value: A little more expensive than we'd like for a 10 year old.
68.120 - Blair Athol Distillery
Name: Christmas in the orangie
Flavour Profile: Spicy & Sweet
Region: Highlands
Cask Type: 1st fill STR oloroso barrique
ABV: 55.0%
Age: 15
Price: £95.00
The nose opens with warm oak spice, a bit of sulphur, cured meats, rancio, red currants, milk chocolate and plum jam, alongside a handful of strawberries. The alcohol is present but not overpowering. The palate has a decent texture, raisins, chocolate buttons, acidic cherry liqueur, crushed strawberries and savoury charcuterie. There’s a lot of black pepper spice that makes itself know as the palate develops. It’s a bit unbalanced, however the palate is interesting as it moves from fruit to savoury meats.
Score: 6/10
Value: Feels overpriced compared to other options this outturn.
70.53 - Balblair Distillery
Name: Fragile fruits and floaty flowers
Flavour Profile: Light & Delicate
Region: Highlands
Cask Type: 2nd fill bourbon barrel
ABV: 57.3%
Age: 14
Price: 83.00
The nose has a real pear, pineapple, mandarin segments, flower petals, and jelly baby sweeties. The sweetness feels quite artificial, but it’s just full of synthetic fruit aromas. The alcohol is fairly mellow and integrated on the nose. The palate continues through with the synthetic fruit candies, with a syrupy mouthfeel, moving into slightly toasted oak, fudge and a little bread dough. The finish falls off a bit too quickly for us, although it’s a pleasant dram overall.
Score: 6/10
Value: The same price as the last comparable release from the society.
76.151 - Mortlach Distillery
Name: Cloves studded in honey-glazed ham
Flavour Profile: Old & Dignified
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill Spanish oak oloroso hogshead
ABV: 57.2%
Age: 30
Price: £475.00
The nose opens with a real copper coin, clove, varnished cupboards, savoury honey roast ham, parsnips, raspberry jam, and strawberry purée. It’s an expressive nose, with good alcohol balance. The palate has a good mouthfeel, great texture, with lots of red berries, currants upfront, moving into more of the savoury beef gravy and black pepper spice on the finish. Unfortunately the palate really drop off on the finish, it doesn’t stay around. It’s a good dram, fairly complex, interesting flavours, but just doesn’t last long enough for us.
Score: 7/10
Value: Significantly cheaper than the last older release of Mortlach. Nice to see prices going down.
93.216 - Glen Scotia Distillery
Name: Medication thyme
Flavour Profile: Peated
Region: Campbeltown
Cask Type: 1st fill bourbon barrel
ABV: 59.5%
Age: 9
Price: £65.50
The nose has a coastal salinity appearing straight off, bourbon biscuits, mackerel, smoked almonds, vanilla fondant, alongside heavy coastal peat smoke. The palate has a good texture, viscous vanilla, moving into salted caramel, charred leaves, smoked fish, reasonable balance of alcohol and a good length finish. It’s got a bit of a medicinal quality in places, some antiseptic, perhaps less Campeltown character than usual but it’s still a good dram. It’s a 7.5/10 because of the ABV, but we would potentially stretch to an 8.
Score: 7.5/10
Value: In line with other society Glen Scotia releases.
112.124 - Inchmurrin Distillery
Name: Supping on sweetness
Flavour Profile: Sweet, Fruity & Mellow
Region: Highlands
Cask Type: New oak HTMC hogshead
ABV: 50.6%
Age: 19
Price: £125.00
The nose opens with bourbon aromas, a little rye spice, caramel apples, warm oak, vanilla shortbread, hazelnut liqueur, a little cherry and furniture polish. The alcohol is fairly balanced too. The palate has a bit of a thinner mouthfeel than we’d like, and opens with caramel, brown sugar, clove, and more warm oak spice. There’s a light pepperiness here, but it’s got a pretty relaxed and balanced finish. It’s so inoffensive that we’re finding it a bit boring, and we’re fans of toasted oak casks.
Score: 6.5/10
Value: Not a bad price for a 19yo in today's market.
122.72 - Loch Lomond (Croftengea) Distillery
Name: Warm reekin sausages
Flavour Profile: Heavily Peated
Region: Highlands
Cask Type: 2nd fill Mostcatel hogshead
ABV: 60.2%
Age: 8
Price: £59.00
The nose opens with mint leaves, vanilla essence, eucalyptus, overcooked cake, fresh pear, and only the faintest hint of smoke in the background. The palate has a decent mouthfeel, showing vanilla slices, whipped cream, limeade, fresh cut grass, apple juice and slight dirty smoke. It’s transitions to a thinner texture as the palate develops and drops off a bit too quickly for us. Saying that, there’s some pleasant flavours here.
Score: 6.5/10
Value: A little pricey for Loch Lomond at this age.
128.22 - Penderyn Distillery
Name: Muscat gravy
Flavour Profile: Sweet, Fruity & Mellow
Region: Wales
Cask Type: 1st fill Muscat of Setubal barrique
ABV: 59.9%
Age: 6
Price: £73.00
The nose opens with green grape must, varnish, chlorine, herbal cigar tobacco, a little apricot and something more savoury appearing too, dried rosemary or oregano perhaps. The alcohol has a bit of a pepperiness on the nose. The palate opens with apricot jam, flamed orange peel, a bit of copperiness, and a bit of freshly pressed strawberry too. The mouthfeel is lacking, and the finish has a bit too much spice for us. Disappointing as we’ve had some very good Penderyn from SMWS.
Score: 6/10
Value: Not bad for the distillery,
134.18 - Paul John Distillery
Name: Ham and lobster apple crumble
Flavour Profile: Peated
Region: India
Cask Type: 1st fill bourbon barrel
ABV: 58.5%
Age: 4
Price: £140.00
The nose opens with aromatic aromas of coriander seed, bread dough, mustard seeds, a bit of beefiness, pickled red peppers and feint vanilla aromas alongside fairly prominent peat smoke. The palate has a thin mouthfeel, with mostly peat smoke and lime leaves coming through. There’s a touch of merengue and simple sugar syrup with a decent balance of alcohol. It’s fine, the peat is covering a lot of sins in our opinion.
Score: 6/10
Value: Paul John is always expensive due to the fast maturation in India.
135.61 - Loch Lomond (Inchmoan) Distillery
Name: A Bohemian not a hipster
Flavour Profile: Lightly Peated
Region: Highlands
Cask Type: 1st fill bourbon barrel
ABV: 62.4%
Age: 9
Price: £59.00
The nose has lots of upfront peat, slightly medicinal peat, plasters, cut grass, a little savoury meat and pickling spices. The alcohol is a bit punchy too, although we can get past that. The palate has a bit of a thin mouthfeel, but the peat comes through straight away, bonfire smoke, sweet vanilla, custard cream biscuits, herbal smoke and charred oak. It’s a bit too peat forward for us without having enough balancing flavours, giving a bit too much bitterness on the latter part of the palate.
Score: 6/10
Value: It feels like Loch Lomond used to be cheaper than this.
163.1 - Isle of Harris Distillery
Name: Smokin
Flavour Profile: Lightly Peated
Region: Highlands
Cask Type: 1st fill bourbon barrel
ABV: 58.1%
Age: 6
Price: £85.00
The nose opens with light citrus, lots of lemon, flowers, amaretto biscuits, sugar paste and very light smoke in the background. The alcohol is in good balance and there’s a bit of mustiness around too. The palate has vanilla cake up front, yeasty bread dough, lemon drizzle cake, white sugar and mellow highland peat smoke. It drinks older than it is, but it’s still around the 10 year mark if we were drinking this blind. The mouthfeel is fine, and the finish is medium length with a bit of sharpness kicking in. It’s a good single cask Harris, but it could benefit from a few more years.
Score: 6.5/10
Value: £10 cheaper than the distilleries own first single cask.
Batch 28 - Spruce on the Loose
Name: Spruce on the Loose
Flavour Profile: Blended Malt
Region: Blended Malt
Cask Type: 1st & 2nd fill bourbon & Wasted Degrees Spruce Tip Stout barrels
ABV: 50.0%
Age: 17
Price: £75.00
The nose opens with red apple - skin mostly, white lilies, dusty cupboards, lemon peel, simple sugars, bay leaves, cut grass and a bit of milk too. The palate has a decent mouthfeel, with vanilla slices, whipped cream, lime zest, wafer comes, and finishes with a bovril sort of flavour. The finish does fall away a bit too quickly, and there’s a dustiness to the palate too. We’re not overly enamoured with it, it’s fine.
Score: 6/10
Value: Not a bad price for 17yo malt.
G15.36 - Loch Lomond Distillery
Name: Clean, crisp and refreshing
Flavour Profile: Spicy & Sweet
Region: Highlands
Cask Type: 1st fill bourbon barrel
ABV: 62.8%
Age: 8
Price: £50.00
The nose is fairly dusty, chlorine, coconut, lots of upfront alcohol, white pepper and wet cardboard. There’s also a light white chocolate note in the background. The palate opens with a touch of citrus, mostly lemon zest, but there’s a fair bit of acidity too. The alcohol stays with you, and keeps on going into the finish which has a bit of cream and raw spirit. We really enjoy G15 but this has missed the mark for us.
Score: 5.5/10
Value: Nice to see this at £50.
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