Region

The Speyside representative of the Classic Malts series is rich and spicy, with a very satisfying complexity and well-sherried backbone.

An 8-year-old bottling of Tamdhu released by independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail as part of The MacPhail's Collection series. This would have been produced using the distillery's own maltings, which sadly closed down at the end of the noughties.

Bowmore 12 year old has a place in many hearts as Islay's 'medium-peated' malt. A pronounced iodine character with plenty of pepper, the current 12 year old bottling is a welcome return to the classic Bowmores of the 1960s and '70s, with the emphasis on tropical fruit and smoke. A deserved runner-up in our Whisky of the Year 2014-15 blind tasting.

A much-loved single malt, Cardhu is an easy-going, charming Speysider. With clean, crisp oak and sweet malt evoking flavours of honeyed flapjacks and home-made caramel squares, this is one for the sweet-toothed among you.

A top-quality packaging update (farewell, stags!) for this Founder's Reserve Glen Garioch which has been bottled at 48% and priced very sensibly. A very welcome return to form for a distillery with enormous potential.

Glen Scotia Double Cask starts its life in first-fill bourbon barrels, before being finished in Pedro-Ximenez-sherry casks. Notes of spicy fruit and vanilla.

Isle of Jura 10yo is an accessible, easy-drinking malt. Medium-bodied with a delicate sweet palate, with a hint of brine developing on the finish. A great introductory malt.

A 2010 vintage Ledaig from indie bottler Signatory as part of The Un-Chillfiltered Collection. Distilled on 21 June, it was aged in a pair of first-fill bourbon barrels for six years, before being bottled on 2 February 2017. Ledaig is the name for the smoky, peaty whisky from Tobermory distillery on the Isle of Mull.

An eight-year-old Ardmore from Douglas Laing's Provenance range. One of the few distilleries in the Highlands that produces peated whisky, this was distilled in July 2008 and bottled in November 2016. Sweet and mouthcoating with notes of smoke, smoked meat and sugar syrup.