Dongwei (63.9%, OB, cask #C.01, 2nd fill barrel, bottled 2024, 106 bottles)
A distillery started in 2014 that uses gas fired distillation, six row north western Chinese barley and Chinese peat. Apparently this one was made to deliberately have a slightly soapy character - not sure why that would be, but it sounds both totally mad and completely fascinating… Colour: bright straw. Nose: indeed, there is something fragile and feathery, like old face cream and hand lotion, dried lavender and violets. It’s like one of the more gentle versions of 1980s Bowmore in some respects. There’s a rather brittle and dry smoke fading in and out too, that also comes across as elegantly coastal at times. With water: camphor, clay, sandalwood and beach sand with plasticine and sun lotion. Mouth: indeed, some soap is here. It’s not intolerable levels, we aren’t in 1980s Edradour territory and reaching for the factor 50 toothpaste. But there are distinct flavours that conjure lavender, violets and perfume, with wee hints of fairy liquid. With water: rice wine, some slightly stale notes, salty porridge, hints of waxed canvass and soda bread. Some further generic ‘soapy’ notes’. Finish: pretty long, carbolic, drying, salty and soapy. Comments: how on earth do you score a whisky like this? To deliberately make this kind of profile is highly provocative and almost a philosophical challenge. To me, soap is a flaw, and I have to say, I don’t particularly enjoy this whisky, but I find it technically impressive that someone has created a sort of Chinese 1980s Bowmore tribute dram. I am going to score it purely as if it were a soapy dram in its own right, on its own merits as a whisky, but I also begrudgingly commend the distiller for being so crazy! 
SGP: 452 - 65 points. 

Dongwei (62.8%, OB, cask #C.15, bourbon, bottled 2024, 109 bottles)
This one should be peated, and hopefully not soapy… Colour: gold. Nose: excellent, clean and tightly focussed peat smoke. Feels rather rich, creamy and thick, with some lovely notes of wood smoke, paraffin and pine resin. Love this rather concentrated, syrupy and camphory character. With water: more coastal and a tad more ‘Scottish’ perhaps, with crushed seashells, seawater, medical embrocations and bandages. Retains an excellent sense of density and weight. Mouth: great arrival! Very peaty, full of concentrated tarry notes, also a lot of herbal characteristics such as old herbal liqueurs, verbena, wormwood and eucalyptus. And a very resinous, fir wood character that runs throughout. With water: more creaminess and spice characteristics from the wood come through here, which in combination with the peat, manifests as a mix of coconut cream, fir wood resins, herbal ointments and wood smoke. Also showing wee notes of oily kippers and creosote. Finish: long, very tarry, peppery, with more fir woods and hardwood resins, camphor and herbal extracts. Comments: seriously very impressive whisky. Feels like the balance of climate, oak, peat and distillate has really been struck brilliantly. I’d also say it’s so far away from cask C.01 that it starts to make that bottling look increasingly very clever by comparison.
 SGP: 466 - 88 points. 

Dongwei (62.8%, OB, cask #C.22, STR barrique, bottled 2024, 152 bottles)
A mashbill of coffee malt and crystal malt this time. Colour: orangey amber. Nose: more extreme in profile this time, a big sense of bitterness, full on artichoke liqueur, salted liquorice, then tea tree oil, green walnuts, orange cordial and almond paste. Very big and rather extreme whisky. With water: richly on wholemeal breads, game meats, natural tar extracts, hardwood resins and herbal cough mixtures. Like the peated one, it gives an impression of fullness of texture and fatness. Mouth: again really quite full on with big bitter notes of artichoke liqueur, espresso, coffee grounds, very dark chocolate, cheng pi, aniseed liqueur and mole sauce. I have to say, it’s extreme, but there’s something undeniably impressive about the texture and fatness of the whole profile - would that be down to direct firing? With water: enhances these chocolatey vibes, notes of chocolate sauce with chipotle chilli, camphor, aniseed, shoe leather, mushroom powder, BBQ sauce and biltong. Finish: long, back on black salted liquorice, old Burgundian pinot noir, camphor, sooty notes, boot polish and dark chocolate dissolved in espresso. Comments: it’s whacky and undeniably extreme at points, but I can’t help but find this impressive nonetheless. I prefer the peated one, but this is still very good. 
SGP: 472 - 85 points. 

Dongwei (66.9%, OB, cask #C.31, Mongolian oak, bottled 2024, 126 bottles)
Don’t think I ever tasted anything from Mongolian oak before, but their website suggest that they use this wood type to try to find the possibilities of ‘more Chinese characteristics’ which I think is a very smart endeavour for a Chinese whisky. Colour: gold. Nose: wood resins and runny honey, some hints of caraway and fennel seed too, but certainly also a little closed off by the high alcohol. With water: some green wood, green peppercorn, rosewater and even a subtle hint of Gewurztraminer. Still a sense of wood spices and sappiness about it. Mouth: rather sappy and syrupy, wood varnish, lime leaf, coconut and ground ginger. Quite a bit of oak spice, but a balancing creaminess of texture which carries it well while also thankfully masking the high ABV somewhat. With water: a much broader spiciness emerges, very punchy now, with lots of dried cupboard spices, pink peppercorn and even a hint of Szechuan pepper (but that may be the power of suggestion). A few preserved yellow fruits in syrup also peeping through. Finish: long, but very spicy and a little hot. Comments: probably my least favourite (apart from the soapy one, but it’s increasingly clear that was some kind of deliberate experiment) but it’s still evidently some high quality distillate with distinctive oak influence. 
SGP: 571 - 84 points.   

Dongwei (62.3%, OB, cask #C.19, 1st fill bourbon, bottled 2024, 118 bottles)
We’re being a bit random with our order selection here, but this is Whiskyfun, not Whiskyorder! (what?) Colour: deep gold. Nose: a lovely nose of acacia honey, wormwood, gorse flower and quite a few bright cereal notes and other elements that suggest natural sweetness, such as lemon barley water, flower nectars and fruity muesli. With water: juniper, oak spices, cedar wood, creme brûlée and some lovely notes of fennel and tarragon. Mouth: excellent concentration and syrupy quality, a real sense of texture and many fruit salad juices and honey impressions. Some slightly dusty pollen notes, white tea and candied citrus peels. With water: pineapple, pine wood resins, some green fruits such as cider apple and gooseberry, but also a slightly firmer, more peppery side emerging. Finish: medium, getting a tad drier and spicier now. Comments: the finish dragged it down a little, but overall I’d say this is another example of where the classic cask types always seem to deliver the more enjoyable whiskies - wherever they’re used in the world. 
SGP: 461 - 85 points. 

Dongwei (63.3%, OB, peated, cask #C.28, ex-rye cask, bottled 2024, 146 bottles)
A final peated one to finish. Colour: deep gold. Nose: a richer, deeper and more robust smokiness, bonfire and BBQ smoke, with wood ashes, tarred rope, pine resin and camphor. Also hints of coal smoke and lanolin, which adds a soft medicinal undercurrent. With water: creamier and slightly more farmyard in character, earthier, sootier, some roasted vegetables such as parsnips, and still quite a persistent wood smoke note. Mouth: again, very big whisky! Rather tarry, very dry and thick smokiness, lots of creosote and roof pitch - almost Ardbeggy at times. Then some dried black olives and hessian. With water: rather mashy, like sipping peated wort, then smoked sea salt, tarry rope, ointments, mercurochrome and smoked olive oil. Finish: long, on a deeper and slightly sweeter smokiness, with a few maritime characteristics like dried seaweed appearing. Comments: another very solid peaty one, but was this Chinese peat? I preferred the first peated one by a notch, but this is still excellent. 
SGP: 466 - 87 points.