Or, to quote Magritte: Ceci n’est pas un 2024 whisky of the year post. Because squeezing a whole year of memorable whisky in a single mention would be reductive at best. And it would be a great disservice to all the intriguing drams I had over this year, which deserve a mention. I already had to argue with myself a lot to reduce the list to what you will find below.
So instead of a whisky of the year, this is a selection of my most memorable whiskies, mostly single malts, of 2024.
The every day drams I keep going back to
Let’s start with those whiskies that have been there throughout the entire year. The everyday sippers if you wish. This could be a very long section. The number of last-minute exclusions is significantly longer than the three drams I decided to pick, three to four-fold by my best estimate. But I feel these three drams are a step above, purely for the enjoyment they have consistently delivered. They impersonate the definition of permashelf bottles.
Thompson Bro.s TB/BSW
I am intrigued by everything the Thompson Bro.s are releasing. Hopefully, one day I will manage to get my hands on a Dornoch single malt. Meanwhile, I am happy to explore their range of Independently Bottled whiskies and their fantastic blends. And among them, the pick has to go to their TB/BSW, an incredible value of a sherried dram which doesn’t fool anyone with that “aged at least 6 years” statement. There might be some young stuff, but this tastes and smells like a much older, complex sherry cask stonker. And since it will (at some point, not immediately) disappear, I will enjoy it and stockpile a few bottles while I am at it.
Turntable Bittersweet Symphony
My second pick is another blend and another sherried one at that: Turntable’s Bittersweet Symphony. TB/BSW is a classical sherried dram, sweet, nutty and transporting me at times to an old smoking parlour. Turntable’s take is instead a tangy, fruity, and spicy dram, almost like a Mexican tamarind and chilli candy. Fun and unique, and every time I go back to it, I am surprised by how much I like it. So much so, that it makes me do a little dance every time I sip it.
Loch Lomond 12 years old
A change in direction for the last pick in the everyday dram category, veering into funk this time with Loch Lomond 12. Funky whiskies are my sweet spot, I will admit to that. So having a very affordable, fun, funky and peaty dram available that does not require me to go spend over the odds is great. Not having to rely on luck in being in the right spot at the right time before it’s gone is a gift. Would I love for Loch Lomond to remove the caramel colouring? Sure, but it is not a hill I need to die on. There are other Loch Lomond releases that more than make up for that, as you will see in a moment.
The new distilleries I am most excited about
This is another category with a lot of distilleries worth mentioning. Is Ardnamurchan still a new distillery? Not by OSWA standards. Ardnahoe, Kingsbarns and Raasay come very close to making the cut. They don’t simply because I need to explore their production more. White Peak/Wire Works would deserve a spot, but due to the limited availability outside the UK, it feels like unobtanium. No reason to despair, there are plenty of shiny new stars on the horizon.
Lagg
Lagg is a distillery I will keep a close eye on in 2025 and beyond. I missed their early limited releases. Their standard lineup bottles, Kilmory and Corriecravie, even if a bit overpriced, are very impressive for whiskies that are just three and three and a half years old, respectively. Part of my curiosity about Lagg definitely comes from visiting the distillery. Learning that a local barley and a heavily peated version of Lagg are in the works is exciting. The Distillery exclusives I tried, a Tokaji cask finish and the ex-Lochranza cask were as good if not better than the standard lineup. And finally, the sneaky 5-year-old Corriecravie I managed to sample at Glasgow Whisky Festival is promising a brighter future for the heavily peated “Lowlander”.
Glasgow Distillery
It should be no surprise that my second pick is another Lowlander: Glasgow Distillery. It is the distillery I am most excited about, and considering distribution is poor outside the UK, one of their bottles is always a must-buy when I visit the UK. Out of all their products, their peated line is the one I enjoy most, especially when combined with a sweet wine finish or maturation. Critiques might call it gimmicky to hide the youth. But when it works so well, is it a gimmick or simply, I would argue, a skilful use of what the distillery has at hand? In any case, I will enjoy the output now and wait to see how Glasgow Distillery will evolve in years to come.
Samples and unobtanium
And when I mean unobtanium, it is properly so. These are not very hard-to-find whiskies. These are cask samples not available for sale, at least at the time of writing.
The Glen Scotia 1999 refill Sherry European oak cask strength sample I tried during the Glen Scotia Master Distiller tour is arguably the whisky that impressed me most. In 2024 At 25 years old it showed an incredible complexity. The choice to use a refill Sherry cask from the 50s enriched the whisky rather than overtaking the spirit. The end result was an elegant marriage of the Glen Scotia spirit character with refined sherry notes/ Complex, incredibly long and unique.
The Octomore 2009 (110 ppm) aged 14 years in second fill Sauternes (Yquem) casks is my second pick. I tried this last summer while visiting the distillery. I love the combination of young heavily peated spirit with sweet wine casks (think Glasgow 1770). Seeing how such a marriage can evolve over 14 years was captivating. This Octomore is rich with notes of burnt honey and marmalade, charred tropical fruit and a cocoa butter mellowness. Considering the prices Octomore goes for today are out of whack with the value it delivers, I don’t even want to imagine what something like this might cost if it ever gets bottled.
The ones that left a mark
I could have called these my 2024 astonishing drams, but that sounds too much like a bad 50s comic. And yet astonishment is the right word. It is such an instinctive reaction. It has less to do with the absolute quality of a whisky than with the ability to open up a new way of seeing things. Or a new aspect of whisky I hadn’t yet considered. And so, the picks for this category were the easiest of this bunch because they are etched in my memory the strongest. As often is the case, they are also associated with particular whisky moments from 2024.
Watt Whisky A Speyside Distillery 13 years old
The first whisky that is firmly etched in my mind is the Watt Whisky Speyside Distillery (starting with M, but in this case Mor….). A 13 year-old, bourbon-cask aged whisky, it kept evolving and changing in the glass like very few other whiskies I had sampled before. I have found a few more bottles that provide a similar captivating drinking journey over the next months. I am sure everyone encounters a similar experience in their journey with different drams. But you never forget your first. And so this remains a special bottle for me.
Wire Works Petites Eaux Proofing
The other two surprising drams were both drams I tasted at Roy Duff’s Aqvavitae under-the-table tasting the day before the Glasgow Whisky Festival. The first of the two is Wire Works “Petites eaux” vatting. An experimental bottling, not commercially available, using a technique sometimes employed in Cognac, replacing the water used to dilute the cask to bottling strength with the petites eaux (small waters), a cask-aged low abv liquid which extracts the water-soluble aromas present in the oak wood. If you want to geek out and learn more, check out this Dramface post. It is an accomplished whisky with a unique profile and tastes way older than its actual single-digit age. It is fascinating to see what can be done by mixing tradition and experimentation.
Loch Lomond Distillery Edition 7
The last surprising dram of 2024 is one other have swooned about and another Loch Lomond product. Amid a fantastic tasting, including a Springbanks recent Amontillado Cask release and a fantastic upcoming Glencadam in Calvados cask, this dram shone like a ray of sun. And it immediately made me a fanboy of Micheal Henry, Loch Lomond’s master Distiller. The whisky was Loch Lomond’s 7th Distillery Edition, one of Loch Lomond’s famous Chardonnay yeast + brewer yeast fermented whiskies. A fantastically bright and fruity dram and proof that in an era where cask finishes are mainstream, excellent execution paired with simplicity can triumph.
The one that deserves more hype: Glen Scotia 15 years old
Last but not least. This is an expression very fitting for a dram, which I feel deserves a lot more recognition and accolades. The whisky in question is Glen Scotia’s 15-year-old. I love how the estery and maritime character of the Glen Scotia liquid shines here. It is enriched by a bit of age but still bright and fresh. To my taste, this is a much more interesting dram than the Victoriana (a tasty dram in its own right), which seems so much more popular with whisky enthusiasts.
Maybe it has to do with the positive bias towards cask strength and peat. Or maybe it is the fact that the Glen Scotia 15 lacks a clear attention-inducing hook. It has no high abv, no special cask finish, and it is no special release. I don’t care. It is such an enjoyable, well-made whisky And another great product from the Loch Lomond group.
And with that, I hope you enjoyed my “not the 2024 whisky of the year” list. I wish you all a great start to 2025, full of life and whisky experiences to brighten the year and those grey days which will inevitably pass. Slàinte Mhath!
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