We're back with the Scotch Malt Whisky Societies June 2025 outturn review. This month has 33 new whiskies, including four venue-exclusive releases for The Vaults, Queen Street, Bath Street and Greville Street.
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...
1.293 - Glenfarclas Distillery
Name: A Cream Sherry By Way of Whisky
Flavour Profile: Deep, Rich & Dried Fruits
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: Ex-1st fill American oak PX hogshead & 1st fill Spanish oak Oloroso hogshead
ABV: 59.7%
Age: 11
Price: £80.00
The nose has lots of herbal aromas, eucalyptus, mint, moving into copper, Irn-Bru, raisins, cinnamon doughnuts, gingerbread and Red Kola. The palate has a sweeter, more balanced feel, lots of Red Kola, cherry jam, strawberry laces and a bit of spice behind. It leaves a bit of pepper on the finish, and is a tad warmer than we’d like. It's a crowd pleaser, sweet sherry, a bit hot but we’ll let it pass.
Score: 7/10
Value: Independent bottlings of Glenfarclas are always a bit pricey, and this one doesn’t break the trend.
8.48 - Tamdhu Distillery
Name: Flamenco Dancer’s Coffee Break
Flavour Profile: Deep, Rich & Dried Fruits
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-PX butt
ABV: 59.2%
Age: 9
Price: £60.00
The nose has a hit of rancio, cured meats, coffee revels, cinder toffee, puréed ginger, a little red cherry and sherry vinegar. Lots and lots of meaty, savoury sherry here. The palate has a reasonable mouthfeel, a mixture of sweet brown sugar, salty unsmoked bacon and grape must. There’s a rich coffee note and some Terrys chocolate orange coming through too. Good whisky, we can’t deny, just a bit simple. Sherry lovers will rejoice.
Score: 7/10
Value: A 9-year-old with full sherry maturation is a pretty good deal.
10.270 - Bunnahabhain Distillery
Name: Vinegar Three Ways
Flavour Profile: Heavily Peated
Region: Islay
Cask Type: Refill bourbon hogshead
ABV: 57.5%
Age: 11
Price: £75.00
The nose is nutty, peaty, with heavy smoke, charred wood, smoked almonds, and a little smoked fish too. There’s a mustiness sitting in the background as well. The alcohol has good balance and the spirit really jumps out of the glass at you. The palate has chocolate and hazelnut, Nutella, vanilla cream, and heaps of heavy peat smoke. There’s a slight coastal salinity that appears for us too. It feels a bit basic, it doesn’t have the refinement we want from the dram, the latter palate is a bit rough.
Score: 6.5/10
Value: We can’t complain about a heavily peated Islay for £75.
11.58 - Tomatin Distillery
Name: Skolbred Transference
Flavour Profile: Sweet, Fruity & Mellow
Region: Highland
Cask Type: 1st fill HTMC hogshead
ABV: 57.8%
Age: 10
Price: £65.00
The nose opens with peach, lemon custard, lime leaf, a bit of papaya, a dusting of icing sugar and some eucalyptus. There's good alcohol balance, soft fruits and a little cakeiness too. The palate has more upfront fruit, zingy citrus, ripe peaches, with good alcohol integration making it very drinkable. It's a fruit explosion with a drizzle of custard, great quality like a lot of the sister casks released in the last 6 months.
Score: 7.5/10
Value: A few pounds cheaper would have been nice, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that this is very good whisky.
19.106 - Glen Garioch Distillery
Name: Let’s Get Bready to Rumble
Flavour Profile: Spicy & Sweet
Region: Highland
Cask Type: 2nd fill ex-PX barrique
ABV: 53.0%
Age: 13
Price: £85.00
The nose gives it away as classic Glen Garioch, with pineapples, confectionary shop armoas, it's esthery, with a little vanilla, ripe mangoes, actually lots and lots of mangoes, some green grapes too. We're not really detecting any of the PX finishing cask. The palate has warm vanilla custard, grilled pineapple, lots of mango purée, with a good mouthfeel, no off notes, and some citrus appearing after a little bit. This is a really solid Glen Garioch, really well made. We might be biased, it’s probably an 7.5 for some but it’s an 8 for us.
Score: 8/10
Value: £75 would have felt like a better price point.
35.401 - Glen Moray Distillery
Name: Sugar-Coated Confoundment
Flavour Profile: Sweet, Fruity & Mellow
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel
ABV: 59.3%
Age: 11
Price: £59.00
The nose is quite biscuity, showing vanilla cream biscuits, lemon peel, peach syrup, a little funkiness and some wood spice too. There’s an off note, like over fermented pineapple that appears. The palate has more of that mushy pineapple, some soft pear, and peach too. There’s some tangerine and black pepper spice coming through as the dram opens up. The mouthfeel is fine, nothing special. It’s a fine bourbon cask but there’s better this outturn.
Score: 6/10
Value: Not a terrible price—it’s just a shame the whisky falls a little short.
36.230 - Benrinnes Distillery
Name: Country House Complexity
Flavour Profile: Juicy Oak & Vanilla
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: New American oak HTMC hogshead & 1st fill American oak Oloroso hogshead
ABV: 52.6%
Age: 17
Price: £92.00
The nose has a real floral quality to it, with violet, rose, caramac bars, and vanilla bon bons. There are some nice aromas coming through but they feel quite disjointed. The palate is a rollercoaster of Turkish delight, chocolate, brown sugar, soft white fruits and fabric softener. It’s not married together very well for us, the casks in this vatting seem to be fighting eachother.
Score: 6/10
Value: Not a bad price considering the age and cask types.
44.191 - Craigellachie Distillery
Name: Red Stag
Flavour Profile: Spicy & Sweet
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill toasted oak barrique
ABV: 60.9%
Age: 17
Price: £105.00
The nose opens with sour grapes, apple cider vinegar, citric acid, pork, A1 sauce, red currants.. it’s overwhelmingly sour for us. Not too much Craigellachie funk though. The palate has sweet BBQ ribs, molasses, brown bread toast, a bit of cooked honey and sausage meat. You know what, this isn’t too bad, the HTMC has done some real heavy lifting here. Probably the highest we’ve scored a Craigellachie in years.
Score: 7/10
Value: £90 would have felt like a better price point.
48.177 - Balmenach Distillery
Name: Memories of Holiday and Summer Strolls with Dad
Flavour Profile: Spicy & Sweet
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel
ABV: 59.3%
Age: 12
Price: £69.00
The nose opens with sponge cake, a little raspberry jam, vanilla fondant, almond marzipan, it's very bakery forward. There's a little too much alcohol though, it's a bit punchy. The palate is thinner than we’d like, light, sugar syrup, brown sugar, more almonds and a bit of chili and ginger spice on the finish. Pleasant, nothing too special.
Score: 6.5/10
Value: A few pounds cheaper would have been nice.
52.47 - Old Pulteney Distillery
Name: Juggle Lemons on the Beach
Flavour Profile: Oily & Costal
Region: Highland
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel
ABV: 56.7%
Age: 11
Price: £68.50
The nose has salt water, oils, lemon peel, mineral, wet pebbles, a little green apple and sweet biscuit. It’s pretty simple, very coastal, with a decent alcohol balance. The palate has a good texture, sea salt flakes, squares of good quality chocolate, some ginger biscuits, lemon oils, but a bit of warm chili spice that throws it a little out of balance. It’s more spirit driven than other Pulteneys we’ve had from SMWS, but it’s still pretty solid.
Score: 7/10
Value: Not a bad price considering the distillery.
53.498 - Caol Ila Distillery
Name: All The Feels
Flavour Profile: Peated
Region: Islay
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-bourbon hogshead
ABV: 57.2%
Age: 15
Price: £99.00
The nose opens with wet cardboard, smoked mackerel, old newspapers, and a soft but punchy peat smoke - quintessential bourbon Caol Ila - more spirit forward than cask forward. The palate is reasonably oily, grilled lemon, soft smoke, a little burnt paper, light vanilla and singed twigs. The age has mellowed the peat but perhaps not enough, we would prefer punchier and younger or softer and older, this sits somewhere inbetween.
Score: 7/10
Value: In line with what most other IBs are charging for Caol Ila.
55.95 - Royal Brackla Distillery
Name: A Bowl of Trail Mix and a Glass of Malbec
Flavour Profile: Deep, Rich & Dried Fruits
Region: Highland
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-PX hogshead
ABV: 56.1%
Age: 15
Price: £95.00
The nose has strawberries, black pepper, synthetic sugar, red currants, brown sugar, and raisins. There’s also some toffee and caramel, cinnamon and a hint of clove. It's a classic PX sherry finish on the nose for us. The palate has warm orange and clove, black pepper, ginger snap biscuits, brown sugar, fudge and chili heat. Stereotypical sherry finish but the Brackla spirit is too hot and it’s not quite melded together for us.
Score: 6/10
Value: Definitely feels on the pricier side.
59.94 - Teaninich Distillery
Name: Home for the Holidays
Flavour Profile: Juicy Oak & Vanilla
Region: Highland
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-oloroso hogshead
ABV: 62.3%
Age: 17
Price: £96.00
We're greeted by butterscotch, honeycomb, brown sugar, sponge cake, cola, and Christmas spices on the nose, subtle yet quite pleasant. There’s also some stewed berries and currants, synthetic sweetness though. The palate has sour grapes, dry red wine tannins, grapefruit, blackcurrants and burnt toffee. The nose had us excited but the palate is one of the driest we’ve tried in a while - quite unbalanced.
Score: 6/10
Value: £90 would have felt like a better price point.
63.118 - Glentauchers Distillery
Name: Cobblers and Confectioners
Flavour Profile: Deep, Rich & Dried Fruits
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-bodega PX barrique
ABV: 58.2%
Age: 15
Price: £90.00
The nose has cocoa nibs, blackcurrants, musty old furniture, moving into more ginger, crunchy nut cornflakes, honeycomb and something a little buttery too. The palate has sweet brown sugar, cherry syrup, milk chocolate, candied ginger, cinnamon and clove spice… it’s all good until the finish that is a bit too warm. Ugh, we had high hopes, it’s nice but just falls short at the latter palate.
Score: 6.5/10
Value: Pricier than we’d have liked, but the Bodega cask likely added to the overall cost.
68.114 - Blair Athol Distillery
Name: Fruits of the Earth
Flavour Profile: Spicy & Sweet
Region: Highland
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-PX barrique
ABV: 59.8%
Age: 14
Price: £85.00
The nose is closed off initially, there's some blackcurrant cordial, lemon cleaning spray, grapefruit, it's a little chemically overall.. and a tad spicy too. The palate has more blackcurrant, it’s like alcoholic Ribena, buckfast, dry tea, lemon sour mix. Too much pepper spice on the finish. It’s fine, a few off notes for us.
Score: 6/10
Value: Another one we’d have liked to see priced a little lower.
68.130 - Blair Athol Distillery
Name: Ginger Liquorice Herbal Tea
Flavour Profile: Spicy & Dry
Region: Highland
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-oloroso STR barrique
ABV: 58.4%
Age: 13
Price: £80.00
The nose is really quite dusty, with old cupboards, a little citrus, some floral aromas.. but tight, restrained and not particularly pleasant. The palate has dried oak staves, grapefruit, leftover vanilla pod, some grass, it’s just all dry with no reprieve. They got the right flavour profile for this.
Score: 5/10
Value: Like the other 68 this month, it feels a bit on the expensive side.
72.126 - Miltonduff Distillery
Name: Cheeky Cherry Vanilla Pudding Parfait
Flavour Profile: Juicy Oak & Vanilla
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-bourbon hogshead
ABV: 59.3%
Age: 13
Price: £73.50
The nose is light, quite closed off. We're finding some pastries with vanilla cream, pineapple, soft white fruits, lemonade, little bit of spice, and a few strawberries too. The palate is a tad thin, and it’s quite spice forward with bitter oak and grapefruit pith on the finish. We’re getting lots of wood and a bit of white sugar, but it’s quite astringent. Disappointing.
Score: 5.5/10
Value: A few pounds cheaper would have been nice.
78.87 - Ben Nevis Distillery
Name: Like a Back Rub
Flavour Profile: Deep, Rich & Dried Fruits
Region: Highland
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-oloroso hogshead
ABV: 59.0%
Age: 10
Price: £72.50
The nose opens with asphalt, smoky bacon crisps, vegetable oil, cinnamon sugar, pork scratchings, gammon and maybe a bit of pineapple. It’s very meaty. The palate has sweet BBQ pork ribs, cloves, raisins, black pepper, burnt coffee grounds and Chinese 5 spice. It’s a bit too warm but the sherry cask has done some heavy lifting and covered a lot of the traditional Ben Nevis funk. 6.5 for us, but some may say a 7.
Score: 6.5/10
Value: Not a terrible price given it’s a sherry cask, but we’d still have liked to see it come in a bit cheaper.
80.60 - Glen Spey Distillery
Name: A Gentle Hint
Flavour Profile: Sweet, Fruity & Mellow
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel
ABV: 56.5%
Age: 14
Price: £75.00
The nose is fairly floral, with fabric softener, lemon balm, white flowers, green apple sweeties, and a pepperiness coming through too. The palate has a decent mouthfeel, slightly musty, but fruity too. Oranges, a little vanilla cream, candyfloss, some caramel. It's too warm for us, amd again there are better bourbon casks on this outturn.
Score: 6/10
Value: A reasonable price considering the whisky’s age and the distillery.
85.102 - Glen Elgin Distillery
Name: Mahogany Mastery
Flavour Profile: Deep, Rich & Dried Fruits
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill Spanish oak oloroso hogshead & 1st fill ex-bodega PX barrique
ABV: 58.2%
Age: 13
Price: £75.00
We're finding overcooked pastry dough, a little ash, burnt toast, but also something a little floral, honeyed, lemon cleaning spray coming through on the nose. It’s weird, it’s just disjointed, half sherry, half bourbon wood, it’s not marrying together well. The palate has sugar syrup, fresh strawberries, cherry jam, moving into burnt wood and grapefruit peel. It’s too spicy and too bitter, just a little disappointing.
Score: 6/10
Value: A few pounds cheaper would have been nice.
105.51 - Tormore Distillery
Name: Huckleberry Finale
Flavour Profile: Juicy Oak & Vanilla
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-bourbon hogshead
ABV: 62.0%
Age: 10
Price: £64.20
The nose opens with white chocolate, milk bottle sweeties, white flowers, soft peach flesh, hints of lemon zest and a little fresh apple too. There's good alcohol integration, and soft yet expressive aromas on the nose. The palate is slightly richer up front, a little bit of chocolate, more creamy vanilla flavours, a bit of candied ginger spice and some black pepper too. It's slightly hotter on the palate but not overly so. The mouthfeel is good, there’s a bit of coffee coming through on the finish. It's a solid 10yo Speyside bourbon cask, good mix of spirit and cask flavours and aromas.
Score: 7/10
Value: Solid whisky—we just wish they’d shave a few pounds off the price.
108.76 - Allt-a-Bhainne Distillery
Name: Gathering Seasons and Friends
Flavour Profile: Juicy Oak & Vanilla
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-bodega PX barrique
ABV: 56.5%
Age: 16
Price: £96.00
The nose has a punch of sulphur, off-meat, sherry vinegar, alongside heaps and heaps of rancio. This is a challenge, we won’t lie. There’s also a bit of caramel and .. well.. bin juice. The palate has more balance, with dark chocolate, pork and walnuts. Unfortunately it has quite a thin mouthfeel and short finish, not overly pleasant. We had high hopes for a bodega cask, but perhaps sherry seasoning is the way to go…
Score: 5/10
Value: Too expensive for what it is—and the whisky itself doesn’t quite deliver.
112.133 - Loch Lomond Distillery
Name: A Hum of Sweet Smoke
Flavour Profile: Lightly Peated
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 2nd fill toasted Hybrid barrique
ABV: 60.7%
Age: 8
Price: £57.00
The nose opens with an Immediate sweet peat aroma, slightly floral too. But there’s also some antiseptic, it’s quite interesting. Custard and cream biscuits, cardamom seeds, and creamy milk-like aromas also appear. The palate has bandages, rye crackers, caster sugar, vanilla custard and warm fudge. It’s a little drier than we expected, a bit astringent and the peat does kick through quite prominently on the palate.
Score: 6/10
Value: Not a bad price, especially considering the funky cask type.
112.134 - Loch Lomond Distillery
Name: Ladyfingers and Pop Tarts
Flavour Profile: Spicy & Sweet
Region: Highland
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-bourbon hogshead
ABV: 55.6%
Age: 17
Price: £105.00
The nose has us reminded of warm, toasty, crusty bread drizzled in honey butter, caramel wafers, brown sugar, custard cream biscuits and toffee pops. One dimensional but not in a bad way. The palate has caramel log biscuits, apple slices in caramel, baked New York cheesecake, a little lemon drizzle too. The nose is better than the palate, it’s a bit simple, we’d have a dram but wouldn’t go further.
Score: 6.5/10
Value: £90 would have felt like a better price point.
115.36 - Knockdhu (AnCnoc) Distillery
Name: Smoked Sweet Paprika
Flavour Profile: Spicy & Sweet
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 2nd fill ex-oloroso hogshead
ABV: 63.8%
Age: 10
Price: £70.00
The nose is a bit mouldy, foosty, fermenting yellow fruit… sadness. Behind this sits lemon peel and a small sprinkling of sugar. It’s uber funky on the nose. The palate has more of the fermented, funky flavours, more lemon and pineapple, a bit of apricot, and grapefruit peel. Just weird, musty, we’re even finding mashed turnips. Not for us.
Score: 5/10
Value: Not a terrible price given it’s a sherry cask, but we’d still have liked to see it come in a bit cheaper.
121.113 - Isle of Arran Distillery
Name: Immersive Beachside Buffet
Flavour Profile: Lightly Peated
Region: Highland
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel
ABV: 64.5%
Age: 9
Price: £57.00
The nose shows soft grilled peaches, butterscotch, and floral, lavender, fabric softener aromas, alongside a little sweet lemonade with a dash of lime cordial. The peat is there, but it's sitting gently in the background. The palate has a good mouthfeel, oily with grilled lemon, vanilla wafers, gentle smoke and a bit of cocoa right in the background. Good quality Arran as usual.
Score: 7/10
Value: A good price for a solid hit of peat.
134.19 - Paul John Distillery
Name: Mango Muscovado Memento
Flavour Profile: Spicy & Sweet
Region: Goa, India
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel
ABV: 58.4%
Age: 6
Price: £120.00
We're finding coriander seed, yoghurt, lime leaf, play doh, grape must and burnt plastic on the nose. It's slightly acidic, mostly herbal and a little nutty too. The palate has more greenery, curry leafs, parsley, preserved lemon, and peppery spice. There’s a funk that comes through that really doesn’t gel with us.
Score: 5/10
Value: Way more than we would personally pay for a Paul John release.
156.5 - Glasgow Distillery
Name: A Glass Full of Summer Vibes
Flavour Profile: Sweet, Fruity & Mellow
Region: Lowland
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel
ABV: 62.1%
Age: 9
Price: £79.00
The nose is slight woody, like nosing a bit of cask sediment, alongside burnt toast. There's also some vanilla milkshake, apples and pears, limoncello, and citric acid. The palate has a good mouthfeel, lots of candied lemon peel, warm oak, apple slices with caramel, and black pepper on top of vanilla ice cream. It has a slightly bitter finish, but good sweetness overall to counterbalance. Quite warming and rich, but also a tad bitter in places. We'd like to spend some more time with this dram.
Score: 6.5/10
Value: A little on the pricey side, but it is the oldest whisky we’ve seen from the distillery.
B5.17 - George Dickel Distillery
Name: Go West, Young Man
Flavour Profile: American Bourbon Whiskey
Region: Tennessee
Cask Type: New charred oak barrel
ABV: 64.3%
Age: 7
Price: £74.00
We're met with sweet caramel, toffee, blackberry, cinnamon spice and lots of raw ginger on the nose. Fairly typical bourbon, with a little menthol appearing too. The palate has a good mouthfeel, with cherry jam, brown sugar, and baked vanilla cheesecake, but it’s a tad too hot. It’s quite well balanced otherwise, not too bad.
Score: 6.5/10
Value: Decent price for a bourbon.
G10.44 - Strathclyde Distillery
Name: Coffee and Cake
Flavour Profile: Juicy Oak & Vanilla
Region: Lowland
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel
ABV: 59.1%
Age: 19
Price: £79.00
The nose opens with nail varnish remover, lemon, white chocolate mice, and it's a little dusty. There’s also crumbly buttery pastry and a bit of overripe raspberry too. The palate has more lemon, more biscuit, a bit of vanilla cream and some toasted marshmallows. The dram has a decent mouthfeel, but it's not overly expressive and a little tight. It's also a bit warm. A decent grain, perhaps a few more years in cask would help to round out the edges.
Score: 6.5/10
Value: Not bad at all for a 19-year-old grain.
RW6.1 - Kyrö Distillery Distillery
Name: Finnish 'Slapped Ears'
Flavour Profile: Finnish Rye Whisky
Region: Finland
Cask Type: New charred oak barrel
ABV: 55.4%
Age: 6
Price: £85.00
Dry.. dry and dry. Aniseed, sawn wood, cucumber, mouldy lemon, dried grass. It’s rough on the nose, we won’t lie. The palate mirrors the nose pretty closely, lots of wood, Jagermiester, dry peels, potpourri, nothing redeeming except a tiny bit of sugar in the background. Just not good.
Score: 4/10
Value: BBR released some rye from this distillery priced at £150 making this seem a bargain.
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