Dalmore, located on the northern shores of the Firth of Cromarty, deep in the Scottish Highlands has been making single malt whiskies since 1839 and the bottles still bear the stag crest of the Clan Mackenzie. Their Cigar Malt Reserve is a wonderful blend of three different oak types of 10-15 year old whiskies. White American oak, 30 year old Matusalem Olorosso Sherry casks and Premier Cru Cabernet Sauvignon wine barriques. The final blend has an enveloping aroma and flavour of the finest hand-made cigars; rich and smoky and extremely long lasting.

The Glen Grant 18 Year Old Scotch Whisky matures in the highest quality, handpicked oak casks, which creates a radiant golden colour and seductive floral and oaky aroma. Deeply layered and complex, this rich and vibrant whisky delivers beautifully intricate flavours of malted caramel, vanilla and raisins and lingers with a long, sweet and pleasantly spicy finish.

The Loch Gorm 2019 Edition is a vatting of twenty oloroso sherry butts filled in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011; the first edition to contain 12 and 13-year-old casks. Peat level 50ppm. NOSE Dried fig, orange peel and sea salt with hints of bacon, oaky spice, cinnamon and citrus sweetness. PALATE Stewed plums, morello cherries and dark chocolate with layers of salted caramel, herbaceous heather, honey and wet ashy peat smoke. FINISH Cooked apples and pears with waves of all spice, dark chocolate and barbecue smoke. Kilchoman's Loch Gorm Release: Named after a famously dark and peaty loch overlooked by the distillery, Loch Gorm is a sherry cask single malt matured exclusively in oloroso casks, extracting the rich spicy character of the European oak as it ages in Kilchoman's Islay warehouses. Loch Gorm is Islay's biggest freshwater loch with an abundance of wildlife and dark peat coloured waters. The Allt Gleann Osamail burn, from which Kilchoman collect their production water, is one of the loch's major tributaries. Loch Gorm is exclusively matured in oloroso sherry casks from the renowned bodega, Jose Miguel Martin. It is common for distilleries to use a variety of sherry producers but for Kilchoman's consistent quality and character, it is vital that they source them all from just one bodega. Kilchoman select a combination of sherry butts and hogsheads from Jose Miguel Matin that provide two separate styles of maturation. These ex-oloroso sherry casks impart a combination of heavy sherry notes, spicy dark chocolate, rich fruits and burnt sugar. This balances beautifully with the Kilchoman peat smoke and citrus fruits found within the farm crafted spirit.

Matured exclusively in the finest sherry oak casks. Vibrant summer fruits burst on the palate, followed by a rewardingly long finish. Natural colour and un-chillfiltered.

Lagavulin, pronounced 'Lagga-voolin' (meaning 'the hollow where the mill is') is distinctive and powerful. Once described as 'liquid bandaid' for its strong medicinal character, it is perhaps the most assertive, complex and intensely dry of all the Islay malts.The palate overwhelms like an ocean wave with powerful peaty, salty overtones that re-emerge on the finish. The taste sensation lingers long in the mouth. On a cold wet winters night, there is perhaps no finer tonic than a dram of Lagavulin.

Note: New blue packaging, not old brown packaging. While the twelve year old is a relatively non-descript malt, older Glenfiddich bottlings are now gaining high praise including one award as the world's best single malt Scotch whisky. However, as a representation of the house style, the 18 year old pretty much nails it. Always a centre-piece of the portfolio, the company has further emphasised its place by redesigning the packaging to give it a more superior look than its 12- and 15-year-old stablemates. The Glenfiddich distillery lies on the river whose name it bears. 'Fiddich' refers to the fact that the river runs through a valley inhabited by deers – hence the company's logo which features a stag. A proportion of the whisky in this version of Glenfiddich is supposedly even older than the label suggests. Tasting note: Deep gold colour. Moderate aromas include honey, clove and vanilla laced malt. On the palate, dried apricots and spice are augmented by soft peat, adding depth to the toasty malt. Plush mouth feel. Clean, dried fruit and spice finish. Rich and round, in the mainstream of Sherry influenced malts. 40% Alc./Vol.