Raasay 2018/2025 (60.4%, OB 'Draamers' Cask #3', 1st fill bourbon barrel)
Unpeated spirit made with Champagne yeast. Colour: pale straw. Nose: you immediately feel that there is 'something' going on that's out of the ordinary. A charismatic profile full of rice wine, yellow fruits, putty, lime curd and pineapple, also some bready qualities and even a nice yeasty / waxy subtleness. With water: really on pineapple jellybeans, yellow flowers, malt extract and notes of warm draff and freshly baked white bread. Mouth: naturally sweet with lemon barley water, assorted citrus curds, some slightly dried out herbal notes, glazed pastries and heather flowers. There's still this lovely bready richness about it and some creeping coastal notes that add freshness. With water: thicker in texture now, getting more bready, yeasty and autolytic - to the point you wonder how much of that is coming from Champagne yeast? Also beerier and spicier now too, with an elevated coastal side that starts to really become salty and sharply citric. Finish: quite long, back on breads, seaweed crackers, chalky mineral notes, limestone and caraway. Comments: unusual, complex and excellent whisky that shows a superb coastal side without any peat. Challenging at times as it sort of demands that you pay attention, but it's really characterful and actually rather powerful as well. You are left with the feeling that it might have shown better with a few degrees reduction at bottling, but also that this is distinctive and impressive spirit. 
SGP: 461 - 87 points. 

Raasay 2019/2023 Distillery Exclusive (52%, OB, 1st fill American oak ex-Manzanilla sherry hogsheads, 2500 bottles)
This one should be peated. It was bottled to mark their award for tourism destination of the year 2022, if you've ever been to Raasay, it's easy to see why they nabbed that particular gong. Colour: pale gold. Nose: a creamy fusion of peat and American oak coconutty notes. Also seawater, gherkins, gentian root and touches of malt vinegar and squid ink. Walks a perfect tightrope between cask influence and some pretty impeccable distillate credentials. With water: develops a very slightly farmy and more earthy profile, going inland, so to speak... More towards wood smoke and black olive now. Mouth: it's the peat and the coastal power that come through loud and clear now, the wood takes a back seat and it's all things salty: salted liquorice, wet kelp, seaweed crackers, pickling brine and anchovy paste. Superb umami qualities about the whole thing, and it really does make you think of Manzanilla! Where is the nearest plate of Iberico ham...! With water: high definition, bone dry peat smoke, whelks, beach pebbles, kiln smoke and tar. Finish: long, with a deeper, more rugged smokiness emerging, more densely peaty and still extremely salty. Comments: youthful and vigorous, but this is already extremely excellent. Apart from a wee flourish of coconut up front, you really do get lashings of Manzanilla character from this wee baby. A superb dram to spend time with in your copita, as opposed to your tumbler. 
SGP: 366 - 87 points. 

Inchmurrin 11yo 2011/2022 (58%, Dram Mor, cask #2996, refill barrel, 225 bottles)
Colour: bright straw. Nose: they say Inchmurrin was created as a clone of Littlemill for blending purposes, I'm not too sure if that's true or not, but I cannot escape that thought every time I nose a modern Inchmurrin, there is an inescapable sibling fruitiness with some older Littlemills that I find very funny and extremely excellent at the same time. This one is really on those sorts of general all-purpose exotic fruit salad juice vibes, add to that some crushed nettles, notes of old Irish whiskey and hints of metal polish and gorse flower. With water: limeade, exotic fruit teas, tiger balm and a few floral, pollen notes. Mouth: same excellent fruit juice vibes. Only here it's a bit greener, a bit sharper, more tart with sharp gooseberry, nettle, star fruit, lime and cider apple notes. With water: a little firmer, spicier and more peppery and warming. Still superbly fruity but brining in some oranges and bergamot now. Finish: long and very citric, full of lemons, limes and oranges of all shades. Comments: I find these Inchmurrins irresistible, I wish I had the current official 12yo here for a head-to-head as it's one of the very best OBs on the market just now in my view. This one was absolutely excellent! 
SPG: 651 - 88 points. 

Inchfad 5 yo 2017/2022 (58.2%, Watt Whisky, refill hogshead, 300 bottles)
Inchfad usually means heavily peated in my experience. Colour: pale white wine. Nose: yeast, bread, pale ale and pure lemon juice! Then the whole thing gradually evolves towards rock pools, chalk, seawater and beach sand - becoming hyper coastal and precise. With water: lemon juice drizzled through sheep wool, smoked mussels, antiseptic and tar. Mouth: grizzly young peaty malt whisky! Really all about gherkins, brine, some tarry notes, some kind of smoked yeast starter, really going towards peated grist, wash and draff: we're in the belly of a working distillery! With water: gathers a certain oiliness, makes you think of motor oil and toolboxes, but really it's still dominated by raw peat and wood smoke, seawater, tar and pickling vinegar. Finish: long and very ashy, briny and smoky, plenty more wood smoke and lemon juice. Comments: for anyone who likes young, no nonsense peat monsters, this will float your fancy and tickle your boat. I find it actually very nostalgic, it makes me think of tasting Ardbeg Very Young when it first came out (remember those days?). 
SGP: 367 - 83 points.

Croftengea 18 yo 2007/2025 (52.1%, The McSandforthe Whiskyclub and Billy's Whisky Barrel, ex-rum barrel)
I'm always sceptical / nervous about rum casks near whisky, but a full-term maturation is another matter, not to mention the fact that Croftengea is another of Loch Lomond's peated makes...  Colour: gold. Nose: no excessive rum (phew), rather more on soft briny notes, pink grapefruit, smoked olive oil and hints of seawater and miso. It's all rather elegant and sophisticated in fact. With water: beach sand, green peppercorns in brine, capers, cornichons and all things green and salty! Well, maybe not all things... Mouth: soft and slightly sweet peat smoke, with smoked tropical fruits, seawater, olive oil, again those elegant briny notes, some green olive, preserved lemon and notes of heather smoke and smoked ales. I'm sure the rum is doing some clever, invisible work in the background, but it remains reassuringly seamless. With water: really great now, an alignment of grapefruit, lemon, soft peat smoke, hints of tarred rope and smoked fennel seed. Finish: long, on waxes, camphor, pine wood resins, tar and gentle, peppery peat. Comments: don't let any mentions of rum casks deceive you, it's another excellent Croftengea, very nice selection. Why are we not all more interested in Loch Lomond Distillery? 
SGP: 465 - 87 points.

Ledaig 28 yo 1993/2021 (54.1%, Gordon & MacPhail 'Connoisseur's Choice', cask #703, refill sherry butt, 517 bottles)
Colour: light amber. Nose: leafy, slightly salty, and earthy mature sherry cask profile. That's the funny thing about Ledaig, pre-1995 it seemed to be the wilderness years for peat! This one continues with some earthy black teas, Maggi, lovage and lightly cured game meats. With water: some bitter marmalade, prune, fig and sultana, all very classical and pleasing. Mouth: very drying on arrival, really on tobacco, coffee, bitter chocolate, mole sauce, old leather and bouillon. Eating a whole dried roast pheasant with no gravy! With water: a more mellow profile emerges, back towards those sultanas, prunes and impressions of old Fins Bois cognac. Still quite a lot of dark chocolate with sea salt and freshly brewed black coffee. Finish: long, umami, leathery, salty, slightly gamey and rather rugged and rustic, going towards old Baco Armagnac. Comments: Excellent, as expected, but perhaps a little on the chewy and dry side for me. 
SGP: 461 - 87 points.

Ledaig 17 yo 2006/2023 'Autumn' (55.4%, The Whisky Exchange 'Seasons', sherry butt)
Colour: deep orangey gold. Nose: tar and charcoal! We're smack bang in textbook, modern Ledaig territory with big notes of black olive tapenade, roof pitch, camphor and BBQ sauce. With water: a tiny gingery note, some salted almonds from the sherry influence and some sort of smoked miso broth! Mouth: just simply very big and powerful whisky. Smouldering fir woods full of resins, pure tar, old rope, hessian bung cloth, anchovy paste, smoked chilli and a feeling of kerosine. With water: pure kiln smoke, seawater, tar, pine wood and salty liquorice. Finish: long, very drying, salty, umami and smoky. Comments: these are very good, very big whiskies, but I find them a bit tough to be honest. You really have to be in the mood. Not unlike Jazz, arguably. 
SGP: 367 - 84 points.

Ledaig 19 yo 2005/2025 (65.5%, Scout Whiskies, cask # 900002, butt, 130 bottles)
A brand-new series from our friend KC Fan. Colour: gold. Nose: much more streamline and concentrated, was this one of those casks where the maturation delivered a tiny outturn naturally? The ABV and profile of this nose would suggest so. Crystalline peat, wood ashes, brine, varnish and pure pine tar, like nosing a tarred fence post! Then camphor, fir buds, hardwood resins and smoked teas. With water: peat embers in a kiln, malt vinegar cut with pickling brine, a dirty martini full of green olive juices and enough bitumen to resurface Leith Walk. Amazingly dense and intense whisky where you really feel it has undergone some unusually concentrative maturation. Mouth: rather terrifying at cask strength, even though you feel the power and purity of the dram, the simmering heat of the alcohol does call for H2O... with water: tiger balm, miso paste, old tar liqueur, herbal cough syrups and fir woods once again. More breadth and complexity with water, but still immense and potent whisky. Going off in various simultaneous directions: camphor and farmyard; seashore and minerals; peat and smoke of various shades. Finish: long, very peaty, smouldering, ashy, some mineral salts, lots of black and green olives and various umami / savoury stocks, broths and infusions. Comments: I find these whiskies extremely hard to score, probably due to the fact that they are themselves extreme! Quite an amazing drinking experience, but very salty, very potent and something that you have to be armed with a whole bandolier of pipettes to do battle with. 
SGP: 367 - 88 points.