A few Dornoch for our peaceful enjoyment


February 17, 2026

A few Dornoch for our peaceful enjoyment

I think that’s something of an understatement. It’s been quite a while since we last tasted any Dornoch, and they’ve rather piled up on the shelves at WF HQ. It was high time we did something about it…

(Dornoch Castle and Distillery)

Naturally, we wondered in what order we ought to taste them and, in a thoroughly Trumpian flourish, decided to employ a highly scientific method: at random! In any case, they’re all still more or less young…

Dornoch 4 yo 2019/2024 (52.2%, OB, PX octave, cask #187, 89 bottles)

Colour: gold. Nose: rather on walnut cake and honey cake, alongside amber ale and even a touch of mead, then moving towards a curious combination of crushed slate and ginger biscuit. With water: it becomes rounder, more civilised, though the slate persists, now joined by hints of amaro and triple sec. The ginger has not entirely departed either. Mouth (neat): an amusing medley of bitter orange, mentholated tobacco and Japanese seaweed of the wakame persuasion. The PX sends in a few raisins, though with most welcome restraint. With water: citrus fruits with honey, turmeric and ginger, then increasingly leather and tobacco. Finish: fairly long, softer, more coating, more honeyed. Alas, the aftertaste turns spicier once again. Comments: the small cask makes itself known, yet the whole remains balanced. And very good indeed, of course.
SGP:651 - 84 points.

Dornoch 5 yo 2017/2023 (54.5%, OB for Whiskyfun’s 21st Anniversary, 1st fill bourbon octave, cask #49, 63 bottles)

That is right, our cask. We have never published a tasting note, and indeed we shall not even add a score, for that would be inelegant, would it not? Colour: pale gold. Nose: tension and freshness, green apple and grapefruit, farmhouse cider, white pepper, meadow honey. It is, of course, entirely to my taste; the contrary would be rather absurd, would it not. With water: fresh baguette (yes), banana and wildflowers, plus touches of poppy seeds and sunflower seeds. Mouth (neat): the purity of ex-bourbon, here with a fair amount of white pepper over a slightly oily side, vanilla and lemon, with touches of angelica. We remain close to the raw materials, which is always what we cherish most. With water: truly lovely, pure, in the style of the unpeated Nordics, I would say. After all, Dornoch is fairly Nordic, is it not? Finish: long, slightly dry, on barley and bread. Comments: I confess we are very pleased with this cask. Naturally, we are not selling a single bottle; some went to charitable causes and the rest, well, I scarcely recall. Obviously, we are keeping our own modest stock for future generations (should they still be drinking).
SGP: 451- -- points.

Sorry, we’ll have to pick up the pace… (and not “the pieces”, as that marvellous Scottish band the Average White Band would have said)

Dornoch 4 yo 2019/2024 (58.6%, OB, for Germany, ex-bourbon, cask #180, 103 bottles)

It was Van Gogh on the label, wasn’t it? Colour: gold. Nose: close to cask WF-21 owing to the bourbon, yet rounder, perhaps easier, and also more marked by exotic fruits, mango, even more banana, and even a touch of fermented cane juice… With water: oh yes, this is very good, magnificently honeyed and spicy. Kougelhopf dough. Mouth (neat): really very good, taut yet rich and oily at the same time, on grapefruit zest and wax. With water: perfect, especially at this age. Splendid notes of oranges in all their forms. Finish: long and oily, it wraps around the mouth for quite some time. Comments: life is unfair, it is better than WF-21. In our opinion…
SGP:651 - 87 points.

Dornoch 6 yo 2018/2024 (52.5%, OB, ex-bourbon, cask #59, 77 bottles)

We are rather fortunate, that makes three ex-bourbons in a row drawn at random. Chance does things well. Colour: gold. Nose: blast, this is beautiful, one might almost think of Balvenie from the great years. Bananas, quinces, vanilla, honeys, mirabelles. With water: much the same, merely in a slightly different order. Mouth (neat): a bourbon side. High-class bourbon, of course. A clear line, honey, oranges, quince paste, in short everything is perfect here, I fear. With water: very, very exasperating. Finish: the same. Comments: I shall dare to assert that in certain respects, it reminds me of Daftmill. Please, put away your pistols and revolvers, we are merely saying what we think.
SGP:651 - 88 points.

Dornoch 5 yo 2018/2023 (57.4%, OB, refill bourbon, cask #124, 167 bottles)

I do not quite know what the label is alluding to; the colours rather bring DHL to mind, although we loathe DHL (while adoring their drivers who are in no way to blame, wink wink). Colour: gold. Nose: we are very close to the previous one. Come, let us save time… Ah yes, magnificent notes of crème brûlée. With water: earth, barley, fudge, quinces. Enough said. Mouth (neat): but how good this is! Lemon, caramel and nougat, who would have guessed that all this would marry so well… With water: more herbaceous notes, almost verging on bitterness, come to temper our enthusiasm somewhat. Finish: long, very taut, on quinine and bitter orange. A splendid oiliness surrounds it all. Comments: I confess that at one point, we were brushing against the 90 mark.
SGP:561 - 88 points.

Dornoch 7 yo 2018/2025 (56.5%, OB, 1st fill bourbon octave, cask #111, 83 bottles)

More ex-bourbon, what a joy! Imagine that we should stumble back upon wine, it would be dreadful for this session… Colour: full gold. Nose: quinces and liquorice. It is as though you were to say Jagger and Richards, or Page and Plant, or Lennon and McCartney, or Trump and Vance (spot the mistake). With water: petrol and acetone, really? Mouth (neat): I promise you, I swear to you, I certify that there is Jamaican rum in there. With water: it relaxes, it becomes more ‘malt’, yet something must have occurred in the life of this charming little cask. Finish: long and, this time, rather pointing towards Islay peat. Comments: we wish to have the final word of the story. Our lawyer is still on the golf course (of course), but as soon as he is back (next Wednesday), we shall send a letter. For now, a precautionary score.
SGP:563 - 85 points.

Dornoch 5 yo 2019/2024 (56.2%, OB, for Hideo Yamaoka, 1st fill rye octave, cask #170, 82 bottles)

Frankly, we know the Thompson Bros. rather well and I swear they are absolutely not as unattractive as on this label, which must have been created in the very earliest days of ChatGPT. On the contrary, they are rather charming chaps… Colour: gold. Nose: the grand return of smoked nougat, should such a thing exist, alongside proper rye bread. Let us admit that this nose is more attractive than the label. With water: an assortment of 123,748 different breads, as one might encounter at breakfast in five-star hotels in Vienna, Salzburg or Munich. You will tell me they also serve champagne there, for breakfasts yet more perfect. They might equally serve this little Dornoch. Mouth (neat): excellent, compact and coherent, and close to a great Islay from the 1970s, I promise you. With water: simply superb. Earth, roots, citrus fruits, waxes, smoke and so forth. Finish: Comments: no, we do not provide hotel addresses. But well played, Hideo (apart from the label, if I humbly may) …
SGP:552 - 90 points.

Dornoch 5 yo 2017/2023 (59.2%, OB, for Caora, 1st fill bourbon octave, cask #8, 94 bottles)

A Dornoch for Switzerland, quite close to WF Towers. I admit we are rather late here, once again. Colour: gold. Nose: the beauty and purity of ex-bourbon, once more. Unless you happen to loathe vanilla, but I know no human being, male, female, both or none, who genuinely detests a fine vanilla. Also grey pepper, bread dough and banana cake, Caribbean-style. With water: it retreats towards putty and even fresh rubber, which is in fact rather pretty and amusing. Mouth (neat): fairly oily, fairly fermentary, fairly peppery and globally spicy. Truth be told, it is rather forceful at cask strength. With water: things improve, sweet breads and waxes combine with the spices, which nevertheless remain quite pronounced. Finish: long, rather spicy. It is not because the honourable bottlers are Swiss that I shall refrain from mentioning the Basel Läckerlis. Comments: a slight rollercoaster side, yet in the end everything finds its balance around the spices.
SGP:561 - 86 points.

Come on then, just one last one…

Dornoch-63-4-James-Eadie-Project-1927-spirit-drink-2025

Dornoch (63.4%, James Eadie, Project 1927, spirit drink, 2025)

An incredible project built around the very heart of Scottish distillate, bringing together a few highly deserving young distilleries from the Lowlands and the Highlands of Scotland, Dornoch among them, under the guidance of James Eadie. We have not tasted them all, far from it, but the Daftmill had been superb, and so now one cannot help but anticipate, as they say… Colour: white as a wedding dress. Nose: earth, geraniums and fig leaves, lemon and citron peel, fresh croissants at five in the morning… With water: a mixture of tar and rubber emerges. All of that fits perfectly with the fig leaf, in fact… Mouth (neat): it will surprise no one that there is plenty of pear, yet green olive is rather more unexpected in a newmake. I mean in whisky. With water: very, very amusing touches of lavender, ham, capers, even school glue. Finish: not so long of course, but full-bodied, oily, and above all very fermentary. Pear and yeasts. Comments: a great newmake, it is so complex!
SGP:562 - between 85 and 90 points.

In the end, the debate that seems fundamental to us when it comes to quality Scottish malt (leaving aside the industrial cavalry) is this: is wood malt’s best friend, or its worst enemy? Okay, good night, see you perhaps at a ‘masterclass’ on these matters (I still loathe that word; because alas, I am neither Casals nor Horowitz, nor of course Dave Broom or Charlie MacLean, without even mentioning the distillers themselves), one of these days, somewhere in Europe or Asia… But sadly not in America.

Check the index of all Dornoch we've tasted