The Whisky Wrap Up - Looking back at 2025

Another year has passed, and with it has come significant change across the whisky industry. We have seen a number of distilleries slow production, or halt it altogether. For us, that is difficult news to hear. It raises concerns about what the future may hold for one of our greatest shared passions and hobbies, and for something that has allowed us to meet many new friends and enjoy countless memorable afternoons and evenings at tastings and events.

That said, we would like to take a step back and reflect on our own whisky year. What we have tried, what we have loved, and what might lie ahead.

To begin, let us look at some numbers. In 2025, we reviewed 547 different whiskies from 141 distilleries. That is 41 more bottlings than last year, alongside 21 additional distilleries added to our list. We also explored whiskies from 30 different independent bottlers, just one fewer than last year’s total of 31.

From these, here are the top 5 drams based on our rating scale:

1. Dramfool’s Gold Port Charlotte 21yo cask #661 - 9/10
2. Springbank Duty Paid Sample Warehouse 8 Rotation 22/P213 - 2 12yo Fresh Palo Cortado - 9/10
3. Fragrant Drops Strathclyde 1994 Cask #455300 - 9/10
4. SMWS 33.132 (Ardbeg) - 8.5/10
5. Woodrows Arran 28yo Cask #172 - 8.5/10

From the 547 reviews this year, we average a score of 6.9/10.

While we strive for objectivity in our reviews, personal tastes always come into play. Here are our individual favourites (not necessarily released this year, but whiskies we tasted in the last 365 days):

Alan's Top 3 Drams of 2025

1. SMWS 33.132 (Ardbeg)
2. Brora 30yo 9th release (2010)
3. Fragrant Drops North British 31yo Cask #48670

Daniel's Top 3 Drams of 2025

1. Dramfool’s Gold Port Charlotte 21yo cask #661
2. Adelphi Clynelish 9yo Cask #51261
3. SMWS 19.102 - Glen Garioch - Effortless mindfulness

So what is coming in 2026? In many ways, more of the same. We will continue with our Monday, Wednesday, and Friday review schedule, alongside our monthly SMWS outturn reviews. Going into 2025, we had hoped to explore more in person tastings around the Edinburgh area. While we did not quite manage that, it remains very much on our agenda as we look ahead to 2026.

Finally, we would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has read our posts this year. We began this blog with no expectations, simply as a Covid era side project to catalogue our thoughts on the whiskies we were trying. It has since grown into something that has led us to meet some incredible people and make friends for life. We hope you continue to find our reviews useful, and that they help you uncover the hidden gems of the whisky world to share with others. We are very much looking forward to what 2026 will bring.

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