Broddy gathers seven bottles of SMOS Reserve Cask Small Batch releases in a single mega review. He justifies his scoring for each while dropping a bombshell of heresy about oatcakes.

As well as sharing his thoughts on a selection of Decadent Drinks recent outturn, Ainsley also shares his thoughts on his latest visit to the Independent Spirits Festival in Leith.

Some jobs, such as Ainsley’s, means Christmas is hardly a time of rest; too much work and not enough play. Soon though, a rest and a return to the cabinet finds a Decadent Drinks Old Orkney and a return of the mojo.

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?

Ainsley recounts the splendour of the recent Independent Spirits Festival held in Leith. This is just the kind of recap to make sure we see another year of this, and a perfect Fib Whisky Whitlaw to match up.

Continuing the theme this week on age statements, and over Highland Park’s new 12yo, Wally shares his thoughts on why age statements don’t matter in 2024, and also why they absolutely do.

Tav and Wally wade in together on a brand new Scapa. Now there’s something we don’t read too often. This one is the affordable 10 year old, and they both agree on something. The fruit!

When some of the Dramface reviews are for limited outturns, mostly from indies, Earie wonders; What’s the point? Then he finds something like this. That’s the point.

A sudden gust of luck brings a random Instagram win for Earie. In enjoying a Christmas selection set of Douglas Laing’s Rock Island malts, he finds a way to share his splash of good fortune with us all.

Like so many, Drummond is a Lockdown whisky geek. To catch up he ventures into Highland Park’s official 10yo to find some of that famous “all-rounder” character, only to discover something of a bargain no-brainer.

An Orkney that needs a dose of water to put out the fire

A springtime dram if ever there was one.

With winter weather just around the corner for so many of us, we revisit this review of Highland Park’s Cask Strength Batch 001 edition by Broddy. He sought stronger flavours and peat smoke. What he found was potent, dense, and clinging.

Very good whisky, and a huge Tyree deep-dive into cask influence

If these distilleries presented their own core range like this, we’d all be ranting and raving.

Five new whiskies from this impressive independent bottler