Today’s revies come from the Thompson Brothers’ Mystery Malt series. For those unfamiliar, these bottles were launched in April 2025 by Simon and Phil Thompson of Dornoch Distillery. Each release contains one of sixteen different Single Malt Scotch whiskies, ranging in age from 4 to 29 years.
The bottles are identical in appearance, with no external indication of the whisky’s distillery or age. The true identity is only revealed upon opening, via a label beneath the capsule and on the cork itself. All whiskies are bottled at 48.5% ABV, non-chill filtered, and natural in colour. Priced at £65, each bottle offers the chance to purchase a whisky that might otherwise cost significantly more.
Today, we’ll be looking at the Lochlea and Aultmore releases. You can find reviews of the Ardnamurchan & Clynelish here.
Value: Since the contents are unknown until after opening, we’ll cover value in one section for both. All credit to the Thompson Brothers, while some of the younger releases might be less desirable to certain drinkers, £65 isn’t a bad price to pay for any of the whiskies in this series.
Thompson Brothers Mystery Malt Aultmore
Region: Speyside
ABV: 48.5%
Price: £65.00
This release is a 16yo Aultmore that was matured in Red Wine Barrique. 279 bottles were released as part of the Mystery Malts series one.
Nose
The nose opens with chocolate orange, lots of runny caramel, brown sugar topped torched figs, cinnamon sugar doughnuts and Chantilly cream. Lots and lots of cask influence here, but it feels well integrated with the spirit. Going back, we’re finding chewy irn-bru bars, roasted hazelnuts and toasted almond flakes, perhaps some roasted coconut too.
Palate
The palate opens with cocoa beans, vanilla bon bons, stem ginger, warm buttery pastry, toffee apples and date syrup. It’s hotter than expected, a little fiery with cinnamon, ginger and a touch of clove, all backed up by a lingering black pepper. The mouthfeel is ok, not overly thick but not thin, and we’re getting honey nut cornflakes and a handful of red currants as the dram opens up. Again, lots of cask influence, although perhaps some bitter oak starting to appear as the finish lingers on.
Nose (with water)
Palate (with water)
The reduced palate maintains the relatively viscous mouthfeel and presents lots of syrupy caramel goodness, sweet ginger, cinnamon sugar and a bit of clove spice too. It feels warmer, like the ABV has gone up instead of down, perhaps it’s more wood spice coming through.
Conclusion
The whisky has a really good integration between spirit and cask, the full maturation has definitely worked well here - there’s still some malty character that compliments the cask flavours to become really quite tasty. Perhaps not the most complex dram but it’s incredibly drinkable and quite moreish.
Score: 7/10
Thompson Brothers Mystery Malt Lochlea
Region: Lowlands
ABV: 48.5%
Price: £65.00
This release is a 4yo Lochlea that was matured in Refill bourbon cask. 172 bottles were released as part of the Mystery Malts series one.
Nose
The nose opens with honeysuckle, fresh yeast, light orchard fruit aromas, pears and apple juice, lime cordial and a host of cereal grains. It’s fairly newmake-esque, lots of young spirit aromas coming through. Going back, we’re finding porridge oats, hints of mango and light fondant icing notes sit quite far in the background, but are still there if you delve deep enough.
Palate
The palate opens with citrus water, a mix of freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice into some fresh spring water. It’s develops more into a zesty, slightly sweetened drink with mellow vanilla, coconut and fudge flavours carrying through. There’s still a bready, yeasty new make spirit flavour to contend with, however there’s lots more fruit in the way of freshly chopped apple and a bit of poached pear in dry white wine that appear as the palate develops. The mouthfeel is decent and the finish does stick around, with mostly lime, apple and mild vanilla flavours lingering on.
Nose (with water)
The reduced nose feels richer, the bread dough is now in the oven, there cereal grains are now toasted, there’s more milkiness, definitely a bit more interesting.
Palate (with water)
The reduced palate continues with the freshness, fruitiness, there’s even a bit of grassiness that’s appearing. There’s a warming candied ginger spice that starts to kick in towards the finish, giving the dram a bit more depth.
Conclusion
The nose was a little concerning for us, we’ll be honest.. very young, very new make spirit-forward, however the palate made up for it with lots of fresh orchard and citrus fruits. It’s definitely a spirit driven dram, and we’d like to see a bit more cask influence however it shows potential for the distillery as it gets more mature spirit.
Score: 6/10
- 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.
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