Our ultimate guide to last-minute Christmas spirits, including our whiskies of the year
Christmas may be ruined, but things always look better through the bottom of a bottle. If you were planning on stocking up on last-minute gifts before the big day, you may have to rethink. But the silver lining of this new lockdown means you can claw back a few days to pick up the ideal present for your loved ones, ready to hand over when you can finaly see each other face-to-face once more. Our eclectic list of seasonal suggestions includes something to suit every taste, from the best whisky to the finest rum.
The Art in Whisky
If you’d like to read about the process behind creating your favourite dram as you swill it around your back teeth, we wholeheartedly recommend The Art in Whisky, a “visual journey” through the crafting process from grain to bottle to glass. This sumptuous tome guides you through both old and new world whisky, from Bushmills in Ireland to Bowmore in Scotland, and further afield to Kavalan and Nikka in Taiwan and Japan.
Limited to 1,000 hand-numbered copies, this is the ultimate guide to the ultimate spirit and should be on the shelf – or in the stocking – of every self-respecting whisk(e)y connoisseur.
£450, artinwhisky.com
Aultmore 9 Year Old Reserve Cask – Parcel No. 4
This Aultmore single malt is an independent bottling; part of Elixir Distiller’s Single Malts of Scotland Reserve Cask series, which presents accessibly priced “parcels” of small batch whiskies. The fourth parcel includes spirits from Linkwood and a third, unnamed Speyside distillery, as well as an Orcadian offering.
The Aultmore has a light colour, complimented by a nutty, biscuity aroma and an initial taste of sweet orchard fruits and cream, which gives way to white pepper and resolves into hazel nuts. It is an unexpected journey in a glass.
£52.95, thewhiskyexchange.com
Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie
The Bruichladdich distillery’s ethos and commitment to transparency were made more explicit this year, with the launch of its ambitious and multifaceted “No Hidden Measures” campaign, which is intended to educate drinkers about the factors influencing flavour, the provenance of ingredients, the recipes of specific vattings, and the laws governing what information can be disclosed.
Made exclusively with Scottish barley, the Classic Laddie is the distillery’s signature bottling. It has the characteristic peaty smoke of an Islay whisky, but understated (especially compared to some of its stablemates), and while the bottle does not carry an age statement, inquiring minds can check the distillery’s website for the youngest component in a particular batch. There is some variation between vattings, but fruity, floral flavours are prominent, with rich vanilla and underlying salinity:
£42.90, The Whisky World
The Dalmore Distillery Exclusive 2003 Vintage Highland Single Malt
Dalmore only produced 100 bottles of this 2003 single malt. Aged in ex-bourbon casks and finished in luxurious Premier Grand Cru Bordeaux wine barriques, it is one of a pair of cask strength bottlings available exclusively from Harrods, (the other, larger batch is a 2006 vintage with a Marsala cask finish, which is also delightful but more accessibly priced at £200). Naturally coloured and attractively presented, this is a whisky that makes a statement, with an initial scent of banana bread and figs, and orange and vanilla on the tongue, it finishes with hints of coffee and red fruits.
£1,500 harrods.com
GlenDronach Cask Bottling 1992 27 Year Old Oloroso Sherry Puncheon Cask
The GlenDronach distillery’s Cask Bottling collection is a showcase for some of their finest single malts, and this whisky is one of the jewels of the eighteenth and most recent batch. Master Blender Rachel Barrie has selected 18 exemplary casks, from 1990 to 2009, with recommended prices ranging from £97 to £861, depending on age and scarcity. The 1992 Oloroso Puncheon Cask is dark with sweet rich plum which begins on the nose and carries through to the palate, weaving in cherries, chocolate and hints of mulled wine. A beautiful drink that evokes the tastes of Christmas:
£524.95, royalmilewhiskies.com
Highland Park 2003 16 Year Old Sherry Butt
From the Northern Isles of Scotland, only 585 bottles of this dusky and deeply rewarding single malt were produced, exclusively for the Whisky Exchange. Fans of heavily sherried whiskies will be blown away as scents of barmbrack and a hint of pine explode on the palate with an intensity of sweet dried fruits, and a light smokiness. The finish is satisfyingly lengthy, softening into baked apples, caramel, and spice. This is an utterly enjoyable winter treat.
£199, thewhiskyexchange.com
The Macallan Edition No. 6
This whisky was crafted to celebrate the association between the Macallan distillery, and the River Spey, a stretch of which passes through its estate. Aged in American and European oak casks – which had been seasoned with sherry for a complex and multilayered whisky – it went on sale through specialist retailers at the end of September. However, you would be hard-pressed to find it in the primary market now. The value of bottles in the secondary market has more than tripled in less than three months, to around £300, (demonstrating the potential of whiskies as an investment). If you can get your hands on a bottle, you will be rewarded with a drink that marries rounded fruits with nutmeg and prickling ginger, vanilla with toffee, and chocolate with plums; an excellent example of a Macallan, and one with hidden depths that invites you to take another sip.
Mortlach 21 Year Old 2020 Special Release
The Mortlach distillery has a well-deserved cult following. Dubbed “the Beast of Dufftown” by Dave Broom, Mortlach’s robust and muscular whisky is often characterised as “meaty”. One reason for this is the peculiar set-up of stills and a late-Victorian “2.81 distillation” process that allows them to produce three very different new-make spirits in-house, which can then be combined in different proportions to create deep, provocative whiskies.
In this sherry-finished special release savoury aromas of dark dried fruits lead into a smooth, intense taste of rich fruit and cured ham or dry-rubbed barbecue, and a lengthy finish which which draws together the sweet and savoury notes. Master Blender Craig Wilson describes it as “the Beast, tamed”, a prospect that any lover of big, bold malts should be eager to investigate further.
£575, malts.com
Royal Lochnagar 175th Anniversary 17 Year Old
Royal Lochnagar is a tiny distillery, and most of its output is used as components in blended scotch whiskies, such as Johnny Walker Black and Blue labels. But, to celebrate its 175th anniversary it has released this rare, and highly collectable, mid-aged single malt. The original distillery, founded in 1826, was burnt down in suspicious circumstances fifteen years later.
It reopened on its current site in 1845. The new location, close to the Balmoral Estate lead to a visit from Queen Victoria in 1848, and a royal warrant soon followed. Aged in a combination European oak sherry casks, and bottled at cask strength, the 17-year-old is an exceptional highland single malt, which melds local flavours of bracken and bramble with surprising tropical notes of melon and mango.
A whisky with crossover appeal, it should be as warmly received by lovers of fine whisky, ardent monarchists, or fans of Netflix’s mega-hit The Crown: £250, thewhiskyexchange.com
The Singleton 38 Year Old
This is something very special from Maureen Robinson and the Singleton of Glen Ord Distillery. After 12 years in American oak, this whisky underwent a 26-year secondary maturation – the longest in The Singleton’s history – using an unusual assortment of casks including bourbon, Pedro Ximénez, Oloroso, and first-fill, green American oak casks.
This spirit is a tangible legacy of the experimentation which was taking place in the industry in the ’90s, and specifically the need to discover what would be the effect of re-resting the Singleton for an extended period. Now, 38 years after the whisky was originally distilled, we have an answer, in the form of a wonderfully warming, autumnal embrace.
It is baked apple, sultanas, and crème caramel. Its pepper will stipple your lips and its gentle alcoholic heat will bloom through your chest. Only 1,689 bottles were released globally, so if you want to taste this piece of history, you cannot afford to hesitate.
£2,100, masterofmalt.com
Talisker 25 Year Old
The Talisker 25 year old captures the windswept beauty of the Isle of Skye. This exquisitely structured whisky has the white pepper and briney hints of sea mist that typify the distillery, accompanied by well-measured minerality, smokiness, sweet caramel, and intimations of lychee.
Even the youngest spirits in this bottling have spent a quarter of a century in American bourbon and Spanish sherry casks, but oakiness takes a back seat to vanilla and raisins. This is sure to become a favourite for drinkers who appreciate a more playful and mischievous smoky island single malt: £294.99, malts.com
Westland Garryana 2020 Release
This was intended to be a list of Scottish single malts, but Westland’s 2020 Garryana release swaggered in with such confidence that it could not be denied a place. Based in Washington State, Westland is a pioneering producer of American single malt whiskey.
Co-founder and Master Distiller Matt Hoffman’s background in beer-making is recognisable in Westland’s whiskies, and helped him realise that putting great-tasting liquid into a still can only improve the final product. So for instance, the inclusion of chocolate malt in the mash bill (more typically used to make hearty, dark porters) carries over into notes of vanilla-chocolate pudding in the finished spirits.
And while the flagship American Oak Single Malt splendidly showcases Westland’s respect for the Scottish tradition, innovation, and a dedication to locally sourced ingredients and materials, the Garryana whiskey takes thing even further, by using barrels made from Garry oak. This tree, which is native and unique to the Pacific Northwest, has an alchemical effect, super-charging spirits with flavours of rich vanilla, cloves, and almost artificial fruits. Westland’s Garryana whiskey is gustatory adventure.
£165, thewhiskyexchange.com
A Fine Christmas Malt 2020 19 Year Old
This is the third instalment of what has become an annual tradition for the Whisky Exchange; their Fine Christmas Malt. Unlike last year’s offering this is a blended malt scotch, but it still earns a place on this list, not only because Christmas is a time when rules are suspended, but because this offering so perfectly captures the spirit of seasonal excess.
Deliberately loaded with “Christmassy” scents and flavours, this is a rum-soaked fruit cake, full of cinnamon, sultanas, and candied peel. The label includes the now-expected pastiche of The Night Before Christmas, but while oozing with the obligatory schmaltz, this year’s poem achieves genuine pathos, by acknowledging the social isolation that 2020 has imposed on us all.
Here’s hoping that we will soon be drinking with friends and family again, in 2021.
£74.95, thewhiskyexchange.com
Buffalo Trace
Moving away from the classic Christmas single malt, there’s a movement among mixologists and spirits enthusiasts towards whisky’s American cousin, bourbon. One of our favourite bottles is Buffalo Trace, distilled on the banks of the Kentucky River for more than 200 years. A rich, complex whiskey with hints of vanilla, toffee and candied fruit, this is a wonderful drink served neat or on ice, or mixed in a festive cocktail.
£24.95, thewhiskeyexchange.com
Sazerac Rye
Another excellent American spirit, Sazerac Rye is a rye whiskey rather than a bourbon, giving it a more savoury taste compared to the corn-based bourbon’s trademark caramel. Sazerac Rye is a “spicy and assertive spirit” made in New Orleans and is the key ingredient in the so-called “first American cocktail”, The Sazerac. According to legend, the cocktail was created at the Sazerac Coffee House on Royal Street where some ingenious proto-mixologist mixed rye whiskey and Peychaud’s bitters. Sazerac Rye has tasting notes of candies, spice and citrus, with a hint of licorice to finish.
£30.95, houseofmalt.co.uk
Lost Years Four Island Rum
If you’re in the market for something a little different, Lost Years is a new range of luxury rums with the novel aim of saving endangered sea turtles. Every bottle generates a donation to sea turtle charities through not-for-profit organisation SEE Turtles. Lost Years, the debut brand from family-owned rum house Cane & Able, is delivered in plastic-free packaging. It’s a beguilingly sweet spirit that’s best sipped over ice but also forms a solid base for your favourite rum-based cocktails, should you crave an unseasonal mojito on this most unusual of winters.
£37.95, lostyearsrum.com
Remy Martin 1738
The world’s most famous cognac needs no introduction. If you have a sophisticated drinker to take care of over the festive period, you can’t go wrong with a bottle of France’s finest. Remy Martin 1738 Accord Royal Cognac sits between the distiller’s VSOP and XO bottles. It’s a smooth cognac with subtle toffee notes – perfect for toasting the Queen’s speech.
£42.45, thewhiskyexchange.com