Collaborative release | 58.6% ABV

Score: 7/10

**Very Good Indeed.**
***TL;DR***
*Like many, this one demands your time*

Decision Time

One of my anticipated highlights of 2026 would be attending the Glasgow Whisky Festival in November once more.

After going in 2024, I’ve been hoping to return in alternate years, so it was always part of the plan that I would make my way across the globe from Hong Kong to Scotland again this year.

From experience, every time I visit, bottles come back with me, which means I have to prepare a home for them, but as I looked at my shelves recently, they are creaking, which means I need to buy less, or share more, in order to clear up enough room for any incoming bottles in November.

I’ve tried bottle bans before, but just like my New Year's resolutions, I have never successfully upheld a bottle ban for a significant time period. So, instead of a straight up ban, in April I imposed a rule where I can only buy whisky if I’ve never owned a bottle from that distillery. I haven’t thought about blends just yet, but this rule will suffice for now.

As someone a bit obsessed with numbers and metrics, I have a spreadsheet which contains information about my stash, bottles that are sealed, opened, and polished off, which means I know exactly which distilleries are off limits.

Now you must be thinking, what distilleries are still fair game for Murdo? Let’s have a quick dive into the data.

Using the list from Wikipedia, there are 159 active malt distilleries in Scotland, and I have previously - or currently - owned whiskies from 76 of them, leaving me with 83 eligible distilleries.

Obviously, not all 83 distilleries have produced whiskies, so the number is a little bit smaller than that, but technically there are still a lot to choose from. Among the eligible, I’ve earmarked some interesting names which I can seek out: such as Benriach, Cardhu, Glengoyne, Edradour, Glenglassaugh, Glen Moray, Tamdhu and Tomatin.

There are also a few things to bear in mind: I have excluded Brora and Port Ellen, and I’ve also excluded defunct distilleries such as Imperial or Caperdonich, for the simple reason that they are generally too expensive, even though I would be very grateful if I can own a bottle from one of them.

Keeping in mind is that the whole point of this self-imposed restriction is to curb my whisky purchases, I haven’t gone out to seek out bottles from these eligible distilleries, I’m just going to let serendipity do its thing, and if I stumble upon an interesting one, I’ll pull the trigger.

Barely a day has gone by, and my iPhone read my mind.

Three consecutive ads popped up on my Instagram feed: an 11 year old Benriach from Signatory for £93, a 22 year old Cragganmore from Cadenhead’s for £168; and a 23 year old Glendullan from Chorlton Whisky for £128. These ads landed in my feed almost back-to- back, all of these are eligible according to my self-imposed restrictions. I’m not a religious person, but if I was to become a man of faith it would go to the whisky gods, who have already offered me three options.

The obvious choice would be the Benriach, a bottle from Signatory’s Cask Strength Collection, finished in an Amontillado Hogshead, sub £100, but my mood isn’t really into sherried whiskies recently, so I’ve decided to give that one a pass, which leaves the Cragganmore and the Glendullan. Both fully matured in ex-bourbon casks for over twenty years, there isn’t much between them in terms of specs, the Cragganmore is a rare release and from a more reputable bottler, Cadenhead’s, whereas the Glendullan is a full £40 cheaper. I’ve got a decision to make.

Let’s take a little tangent on the science of decision making, with a full disclaimer that I’m not a scientist and that I’m just regurgitating what I remember with a little bit of research on the internet.

From what I gather, there is research suggesting that when we think we’re making a conscious decision, subconsciously the decision has been made inside our heads, the conscious “decision” is only the final step of that process. This is nothing to suggest that we don’t have free will, but it’s just a quirk of human psychology.

Whether this is related to my whisky purchasing decisions is inconclusive, but I included it here because it seems to explain one thing: from the very off, I had been gravitating towards the Glendullan. Chorlton Whisky isn’t a bottler that’s been discussed much within my whisky circles, but recently, one of the local shops seemed to have been granted exclusive importing rights to my market, and it’s through their website that I’ve learned about them.

Their pricing, as they arrive in Hong Kong, varies from bottle to bottle, for instance a 14 year old Auchroisk would set me back £80, an 18 year old Caol Ila for £136, both I’d consider decent value, whereas a 13 year old Mannochmore for £118 or a 14 year old Deanston for £148 is less appealing.

Review

Glendullan 23yo, Chorlton Whisky for The Rare Malt, refill ex-bourbon hogshead, 58.6% ABV
£128 paid

So I ended up choosing the Glendullan over the Cragganmore, and if I could put it down to one reason, it would be price, £128 for a 23 year old cask strength whisky is just cracking value, but for all the talk about value, it’s only good value if the whisky lives up to it. Being a Diageo owned distillery, experience tells me that their spirit is probably solid, so maybe it’s Chorlton Whisky on test for me, and let’s see how they fare.

Nose

Very inviting nose, lots of citrus fruits, lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruits, really right down my alley, there’s also a hint of vanilla, and a candlewax note, quite promising so far.

Palate

Gloopy and thick on the arrival, as one might expect from a 58.6% ABV whisky, quite astringent without water, but a dash of water and time in the glass, the flavours come to life.

The gloopy texture softens into something more chewy instead, the citrus fruits from the nose carry through, along with green apples and pear, layers of baking spices in the development, the refill hogshead is gentle with its influence, but after 23 years, there’s still some vanilla and oakiness seeping through; the finish is a long and lingering one, the fruits slowly fading, with the vanilla note the last one standing, a vanilla ice cream to finish the journey.

The Dregs

Like a lot of high ABV high age statement whiskies, this one needs time and water in glass and, as I’ve written before, if you give a whisky your time, it usually rewards you. This one is no different. Without time and water, especially time, the flavours are quite closed, and my initial reaction to this whisky was one of disappointment; a 5 at most. But, as time and water did its work, the flavours opened up and the complexity revealed itself, and it moved from an “Average” up the scoring ladder through a ‘Good Stuff’ 6 and on to a solid 7 “Very Good Indeed”, even threatening to push through to an 8, although I’ve decided it’s not quite a “Something special’ - yet. So, a high 7 it is.

I have to give Chorlton Whisky some attention here, first of all, fantastic whisky for its value, and in this case, I applaud them for letting the spirit sing and not put it into an active cask for finishing just for the sake of it; we are always asking for well-aged whisky in a quiet cask as if there isn’t much effort required because the whisky is just being left in one slow moving cask, but I’m sure work has been behind the scenes to make sure the whisky has survived more than two decades in its organic container without leakage or other disasters, after all I have tasted bad whisky with similar specs from reputable distilleries.

I have to mention The Rare Malt as well, the retailer that has brought Chorlton’s whisky to Hong Kong, in addition to Chorlton, they’ve managed to bring Maltbarn and Liquid Treasures as well in the way of independents, and I appreciate their efforts. In the case of this particular bottle, it’s a joint bottling between them and Chorlton, while there isn’t much information as to whether The Rare Malt had any influence in the selection of the cask, hopefully my appreciation of the value and quality of the whisky has been outlined in the review above.

I’ll try to stick to my rule to save buying whisky until November.

Edit: I’ve broken it already, I replaced my bottle of Springbank 10yo a few days ago, but no rules should apply to Springbank, right?

Score: 7/10

Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. MMc

Dramface is free.
Its fierce independence and community-focused content is funded by that same community. We don’t do ads, sponsorships or paid-for content. If you like what we do you can support us by becoming a Dramface member for the price of a magazine.
However, if you’ve found a particular article valuable, you also have the option to make a direct donation to the writer, here: buy me a dram - you’d make their day. Thank you.
For more on Dramface and our funding read our about page here.