We're back with the Scotch Malt Whisky Societies November 2024 (Part 1) outturn review. As with each year, the November outturn is split into two parts, this first part seems to be on the smaller side with only 13 bottles available at the preview tasting. Saying that, there's lots of Christmas sherry, a few new Vaults collections, and a peated Chichibu to top it all off.
Part 2 of the November outturn should be online on the 20th of November.
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...
1.291 - Glenfarclas Distillery
Name: Picnic on the sunny banks of the Spey
Flavour Profile: Sweet, Fruity & Mellow
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel
ABV: 57.6%
Age: 12
Price: £79.00
The nose is fairly light, soft fruits, a bit of pineapple, lemon peel, peach, strawberries dusted in icing sugar, white bread, and vanilla syrup. The alcohol is present but not too overpowering. It's fairly simple and one dimensional, but pleasant enough. The palate has a bit of pineapple and orange up front, moving into deeper flavours of cocoa nibs and coffee beans. There’s a fairly oily texture, but it seems to fall off fairly quickly into the palate. The alcohol follows suit, seeming quite restrained up front but then kicks you on the finish. The sweetness is fairly synthetic, very much artificial fruits rather than real fruit. It’s got the hallmarks of a good whisky but the palate lets it down for us.
Score: 6.5/10
Value: Nice to see the proces coming down on society Glenfarclas.
8.44 - Tamdhu Distillery
Name: Touched by a bear's paw
Flavour Profile: Spicy & Dry
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-oloroso butt
ABV: 59.7%
Age: 8
Price: £62.50
The nose is fairly dry, sawn oak planks, pickled walnuts, vanilla, turmeric, a little coriander seed and leather handbags. It’s a very dry style of sherry, very little fruit or sugar to balance this out. The alcohol is present but not too punchy. The palate has lots of oak, alongside marzipan, a little milk chocolate, raisins, burnt toffee and bitter burnt wood lingering on the finish. There’s also some toasted black peppercorns giving a fair whack of spice. It’s… not for us. It’s just too dry, astringent and lacks balance.
Score: 5.5/10
Value: A few pounds cheaper than the last release.
28.94 - Tullibardine Distillery
Name: Curry ice cream flurry
Flavour Profile: Spicy & Sweet
Region: Highland
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel
ABV: 59.9%
Age: 10
Price: £64.00
The nose is very confectionary-forward, lots of sweeties, pear drops, strawberry gummies, parma violets, alongside a little bit of fresh dough. We’re also getting tangerine, fresh cut flowers and a bit of earthy turmeric too. There’s a fair bit of tingly alcohol spice giving away the ABV though. The palate begins with some zesty orange and lemon, quickly transitioning into a real earthy spice, both herbal/woody, and peppery. There’s a bit of vanilla sweetness here too but those dirty, earthy, funky flavours dominate. Better on the nose than the palate but not for us. We’re between a 5.5/10 and a 6/10, it’s Christmas so we’ll go with 6.
Score: 6/10
Value: It's a couple of pounds more expensive than the last release from the Society.
35.340 - Glen Moray Distillery
Name: Merry with sherry
Flavour Profile: Deep, Rich & Dried Fruits
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-oloroso hogshead
ABV: 60.1%
Age: 16
Price: £97.00
The nose is a little tight, sour cherry, orange marmalade, rancio, cola cubes, cinnamon sugar and toffee bon bons all appear after a bit of time. There also some runny caramel and blackberry jam coming through too. The palate has more of a dry sherry note, roasted nuts, honey, a little sherry vinegar, along with a little dark chocolate on the finish. The mouthfeel is passable, not as textured as we’d like, but the finish does linger for a fair while with cherries, raspberry jam and cocoa nibs. Decent sherry finish, there’s some complexity here that makes us want to go back for another sip, but it’s a touch warm and drying in places.
Score: 7/10
Value: A few quid cheaper would have been appreciated.
38.26 - Caperdonich Distillery
Name: Treasure hunt
Flavour Profile: Sweet, Fruity & Mellow
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 2nd fill ex-bourbon barrel
ABV: 49.8%
Age: 27
Price: £310.00
The nose is full of soft peaches, lemon sponge cake, orange essence, parma violets, boiled sweeties, light fudge and vanilla too. The alcohol is well done, balanced, but there’s not much jumping out of the glass to excite us (however it’s very pleasant to nose). The palate opens with tangerine, lemon peel, peach cobbler, vanilla syrup, and a bit of white pepper on the finish. It’s fairly floral, and the palate mirrors the nose reasonably closely. The mouthfeel has a bit of texture and the finish lasts a decent length with more of those soft peach notes along with pineapple rings. It’s a whisky to introduce newcomers to, breakfast whisky, pleasant, nice, not overly complex or interesting for us. Still it’s a 7/10.
Score: 7/10
Value: Not exactly a bargain, but significantly cheaper than most recent Caperdonich releases.
41.180 - Dailuaine Distillery
Name: Two-stroke engines and wood-fired pizzas
Flavour Profile: Deep, Rich & Dried Fruits
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-oloroso hogshead
ABV: 56.9%
Age: 14
Price: £80.00
The nose is quite expressive, lots of chocolate, blackcurrant, alongside more savoury notes of well fired pizza dough and the torched sugar top of a creme brûlée. There’s a floral, parma violet note here too. The alcohol is there but not punching us in the face too much. The palate has a good texture, nice and syrupy, and we’re finding blackcurrant jam, blue raspberry, burnt caramel, red currants, mejool dates and a little cinder toffee too. There’s more alcohol on the palate than expected, it hits you as it moves into the finish with a fair bit of ginger and pepper spice. It’s also quite dry on the finish too. It’s an interesting dram, there’s bits we really like here, lots going on, but there’s a real burnt note that lingers on the palate that we don’t particularly enjoy (or that melds well with the sherry cask).
Score: 7/10
Value: We suppose it's not a bad considering the cask finish.
46.150 - Glenlossie Distillery
Name: Nostalgia was better in the olden days
Flavour Profile: Deep, Rich & Dried Fruits
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-oloroso barrique
ABV: 51.3%
Age: 31
Price: £375.00
The nose opens with caramel, cherry jam, a little brown sugar, lime zest, lemon water, oak spice and chocolate truffles. There’s a clear bourbon cask influence here, it’s a little disjointed with the sherry finish, but it’s not I a bad way (they’re not fighting eachother). We’re also getting lightly roasted coffee and cinnamon. The palate is… waterier than expected. We begin with cherryade, cola cubes, light brown sugar, vanilla fondant, moving into coffee revels on the finish. It leaves a bit of raspberry ripple ice cream on the tongue, however this is pretty far in the background. This feels like a tired 26-ish year old Glenlossie that was thrown into a sherry cask for 5 years but it hasn’t really lifted it in the way that was potentially wanted. It’s fine.
Score: 6.5/10
Value: Its nice to see 30+ year old releases heading back down to nearer £300.
64.141 - Mannochmore Distillery
Name: Leathercraft in a quince orchard
Flavour Profile: Deep, Rich & Dried Fruits
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-PX hogshead
ABV: 54.7%
Age: 15
Price: £92.00
The nose is has lots of sugary sweetness, confectionary, Irn Bru, candied ginger, caster sugar.. it’s almost overly sweet on the nose. The alcohol is present but in balance, and we’re finding caramac, fudge, lemon boiled sweets and green apple too. The palate has a very similar profile, lots and lots of sugary sweetness, but in a well balanced and integrated way. We’re getting butterscotch, caramel, fudge, light toffee, apple strudel, icing sugar and vanilla fondant. It may be a bit too sweet for some, but it’s eminently drinkable. It’s not super complex but it’s the one we’d happily drink many drams of in an evening.
Score: 7/10
Value: Another one where a few quid cheaper would have been appreciated.
68.125 - Blair Athol Distillery
Name: Conkers in a bonfire
Flavour Profile: Deep, Rich & Dried Fruits
Region: Highland
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-PX hogshead
ABV: 57.3%
Age: 12
Price: £75.00
The nose has ginger ale, toffee sauce, butterscotch, vanilla ice cream, Demerara sugar, artificial cherry flavour and red kola. There’s a bit of alcohol kick, but it’s not too bad. The palate has more cherry coming through, fresh cherry juice, some lime, grapefruit, red berries and cinnamon/ginger spice. It’s lighter than the nose would suggest, both in mouthfeel and general flavours, but there’s a real spice here that throws it off for us. The finish continues with the cherry-dominated flavours, alongside a bit of charred oak and grapefruit peel. There’s some nice notes here but there’s too much spicy cinnamon for us.
Score: 6/10
Value: £70 feels fairer.
85.95 - Glen Elgin Distillery
Name: Chocolate pigs and sticky figs
Flavour Profile: Deep, Rich & Dried Fruits
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 2nd fill ex-PX hogshead
ABV: 58.8%
Age: 13
Price: £80.00
The nose has a little fizziness to it, like haribo cola bottles, alongside sultanas, chocolate coins, brown sugar and toasted marshmallows. It’s a fairly balanced nose, quite deep and rich with the alcohol providing a good backbone to the dram. There’s also a bit of Irn Bru here too. The palate is really well balanced, the alcohol has great integration and you go back and forth between blackcurrants/figs and rich chocolate and toffee flavours. The finish lingers for a good length with lots of milk chocolate, dates and a bit of honey too. We didn’t expect much from this but we’re pleasantly surprised… one of the best Glen Elgin’s we’ve had in a good while.
Score: 8/10
Value: A few pounds off would have been nice, but it’s not a terrible price.
100.42 - Strathmill Distillery
Name: Mochi and chicharrónes
Flavour Profile: Deep, Rich & Dried Fruits
Region: Speyside
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-oloroso hogshead
ABV: 58.1%
Age: 13
Price: £75.00
The nose has a really buttery feeling to it. If you’ve ever bought a whisky nosing kit, this is identical to the butter aroma in those. We’re also getting a bit of serrano ham, rancio, bacon fat and tangerine right in the background. The palate has more of that salty, meaty character, more ham, bacon fat and butter, very very similar to the nose. There’s a mellow sweetness here reminiscent of red currants, but it’s a fairly savoury dram overall. Not particularly for us, however some may enjoy it more.
Score: 6/10
Value: Not bad for the distillery and the finish.
130.9 - Chichibu Distillery
Name: Across herbaceous borders
Flavour Profile: Peated
Region: Japan
Cask Type: Refill ex-bourbon barrel
ABV: 60.2%
Age: 7
Price: £350.00
The nose has a nice sweet, floral peat note up front, rose water, salty brine, Vicks vapour rub, seaweed, and eucalyptus. It’s not something we’ve ever seen from a Japanese distillery before, it’s a cross between Highland and Islay peat styles for us. The palate has upfront peat smoke, in a smoked honey, lemon, farmyard funk, seaweed, engine oil, and heather sort of way. The palate is enveloped by smoke, but it’s balanced well with the alcohol and sweeter notes of vanilla and caster sugar. It’s pretty simple, but the balance impresses us a lot. If this was priced appropriately, well.. if it was £50, we’d buy a case. Unfortunately it’s not. Either way, it’s an 8/10 on a technical level.
Score: 8/10
Value: Ouch, savage price for a 7yo, but then Chichibu is never cheap.
135.59 - Loch Lomond (Inchmoan) Distillery
Name: As dauntless in batti as tender in love
Flavour Profile: Deep, Rich & Dried Fruits
Region: Highland
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-oloroso hogshead
ABV: 54.9%
Age: 19
Price: £135.00
The nose has a slightly burnt sugar, cask charred-bourbon note up front, toffee, chocolate, clove and cracked black pepper appear too. It’s fairly alcoholic for a 19yo, even at 54%. The more we nose this, the more bourbon wood we get and the less sherry influence appears. The palate is all coffee.. mocha, coffee grounds, chocolate milk, it’s very one dimensional. There’s more of that black pepper, a little dark chocolate and cherry candy, and some cask char on the finish. The mouthfeel is good though. It’s a reasonable sherry finish, but it’s quite boring for us, and not the type of boring that we sometimes get where we want to drink it all night long.
Score: 6/10
Value: This feels like it should be cheaper.
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