A new year, a new writer. Debutant Archie sips from Long Beach California and for his first Dramface piece he went for four from Woodrow’s. A Balvenie, Laphroaig, Dailuaine and an Ardna. Nice.

You’ve asked we do more of these, despite samples being a hot topic at Dramface. Well this time it’s sample-debutant Charlie’s turn with a set of minis from the Decadent Drinks June outturn. How will he get on?

In grabbing an anticipated Batch 2 of Ardnamurchan’s Madeira Cask release, Wally decides to compare it to something that you might not expect. Building Lego. Specifically; post-2004 Lego.

In trying to understand why Ben Nevis is such a ‘connoisseur’s malt’ Ainsley assembles a trio of indies and pours them alongside each other for a cosy night hiding from the Parisian rain.

Dougie takes another look at Glasgow 1770 with two releases: their Unpeated Cognac Cask Finish and Manzanilla Sherry Cask Fully Matured. In them he finds how a few key decisions made well can swing the opinion of many.

Taking a broad view of the rapidly expanding Australian whisky scene, Tyree delivers a snapshot with four Aussie single malts, and almost uses the full gamut of our scoring to do so.

Isle of Raasay reached out to share a bottle of their Manzanilla-matured Distillery Exclusive, we arranged that it went to the Doog for analysis and (a particularly pleasing) photographic study. This is how we manage donated bottles.

Sweet with savoury peat, but only as Australians know it.