Tag Archives: Single Malts of Scotland

2025 Whisky Show – Elixir offerings

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Once upon a time, London’s Whisky Show was synonymous with both The Whisky Exchange and Sukhinder Singh & team. With the mega sale, Sukhinder has shifted focus to his distilleries and Elixir brands, providing several different ranges like The Elixir Trails with cross-country explorations, Elements of Islay, Port Askaig, Macbeth, and more.

We managed to catch up with Sukhinder early Saturday morning and exchanged the usual pleasantries. He shared his tips for the show and then led us to his booth, suggesting a few drams we really must try as “value” expressions from The Single Malts of Scotland range.

Where did he point us to? No surprise, Linkwood led the pack!

Linkwood 11 year (2014/2025) Small Batch 48% (The Single Malts of Scotland)

  • Nose – Juicy and joyful. What a treat for early in the day! Lots of orchard fruits – green apples and pears, lightly floral, warming into caramel with vanilla ice cream
  • Palate – Easy drinking with just enough substance to make it interesting, well-balanced
  • Finish – Lasts

Over the years, I’ve generally found Linkwood to be good value for its quality. Mostly decently priced and fairly consistent in delivering a good dram. Alas, we couldn’t get our preferred pick – the Linkwood – either at the show or even the Whisky Exchange – as it was sold out! Pity.

We moved from Speyside to the Highlands with Blair Athol – known for its bold flavours.

Blair Athol 18 year (2006 / 2025) PX 47.6% (Elixir – The Single Malts of Scotland)

  • Nose – Delightful sherry yet not heavy-handed, all those sherry dried fruits, nuts, and spice – sweet and sultry
  • Palate – Coffee spice and everything nice, lovely fruits, and again exceedingly well-balanced
  • Finish – Cosy up by a warm fire, closing with more mocha, dark fruits, and spice

Sukhinder shared how this expression was an absolute hit at Paris Whisky Live 2025. With our little sniff and swish, we could see why! Like the Linkwood, it seems to be sold out, and was last seen retailing for approx Eur 135.

In a bit of a departure so early in the day, we shifted into peat. I’ve often admitted to a certain skepticism about Bunnahabhain – I’ve had a few clunkers over the years, yet equally a few gems too! So, we were curious to see how this young 6 year stacked up!

Bunnahabhain 6 year (2009 / 2018) Small Batch 48% (The Single Malts of Scotland)

  • Nose – Warm with that elusive bacon maple sweep aromas, some salt joining the sticky smoked sweetness
  • Palate – Tasty! Cinnamon toast, chai tea, clearly peaty yet was balanced with the sweet
  • Finish – Long and lovely

Bunnahabhain was known as the “ladies” Islay with minimal peat. By contrast, this expression from a refill hoggie was heavily peated. And yet you don’t find that ashy iodine style, instead, it was more of a warm wood smoke.

Unlike the others, depending on where you live, you may be able to track down a bottle – currently retailing for approx GBP 52.

We returned to Speyside with an undisclosed distillery (ahem! Macallan “style”)…

Speyside 15 year (2009) 57.5% (The Single Malts of Scotland)

  • Nose – Big sherry, big red fruits, juicy plums, generous smattering of sweet spices
  • Palate – Spice, big, bold, and beautiful, loads of ripe fruits, including juicy blood red oranges, chocolate, bit nutty too
  • Finish – Strong, flavourful finish

There was no mistaking that this is a “BIG” whisky! From start to finish, it delivered. If this is your style, it is a great example. If you prefer something a bit more reserved, this isn’t for you. And yet, even though it was “BIG”, it wasn’t too big! We understand this bottle retails for around GBP 100.

We closed our flight with a lesser-known distillery from Speyside. This particular small batch expression is notable for being matured in two sherry butts, one sherry hogshead, and a heavily charred barrel, making for an interesting result.

Dailuaine 12 year (2011) Small Batch 48% (The Single Malts of Scotland)

  • Nose – Mellow and fruity – veering more towards berries like raspberry or blueberry, biscuits
  • Palate – More of a spicy kick than we anticipated from the aromas, peppery, taking time to settle in the glass before the fruits came to the fore. With a bit of time, the biscuits were back – this time covered in chocolate
  • Finish – There, yet nothing particularly notable

Where the Speyside was bursting with bold red fruits, the Dailuaine was fruity with a subtler hand.

Overall, our “The Single Malts of Scotland” flight delivered the goods and was a terrific exploration early in our 2025 Whisky Show wanderings.

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Peaty Highlander – Aird Mhor 8 year 55.3%

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Sound it out… “Aird Mhor” and you realize perhaps this might be “Ardmore”… and sure enough it is!

Our Whisky Ladies session dove straight into this cask strength offering from the Single Malts of Scotland range bottled by Speciality Drinks. It was purchased at their Whisky Exchange Covent Garden store under the guidance of Duncan.

So what did we think?

Aird Mhor 8 year (1 Dec 2009 / 25 June 2018) Cask 707910 55.3% 261 Bottles

  • Colour – Golden
  • Nose – Gentle smoke, leather, wood, citrus, orange, as it opened became increasingly sweet
  • Palate – Spice, tobacco, warm, 2nd sip was like an echo of Laphroaig, calming, sweet
  • Finish – Long finish with a bit of liquorice and vanilla
  • Water – No surprise it initially ramped up the spice, but when it settled down it brought out a nicely nutty quality, helped balance it out a bit, with it a bit oily on the palate

This one was a bit curious and not for everyone. Going straight from zero to full cask strength was also an adjustment.. though one our Whisky Ladies can easily make!

One remarked this whisky was a bit of an “attention seeker” with a fierceness and forcefulness that demanded notice. In this respect, it showed its youthful enthusiasm.

We discovered that the hint of Laphroaig peat came from the Ardmore being matured in ex Laphroaig barrel.

It wasn’t complicated and yet it provoked a clear divide between those who enjoyed and those who didn’t care for it so much.

Apparently Mogambo also has something to say!

Aird Mhor + Mogambo courtesy DevPaula

What did the folks at The Whisky Exchange have to say?

A smoky dram from Aird Mhor (aka Ardmore distillery). While nearby distilleries are better known for unpeated whisky, Ardmore bucks the trend, making a powerful and smoky dram. This single-cask bottling from The Single Malts of Scotland – distilled on 1 December 2009 and bottled at years old on 25 June 2018 – is a classic, with punchy smoke, honey and lemon.

I must say, I rather think “punchy smoke, honey and lemon” is a rather good way to describe this one!

What else did we sample in our Whisky Ladies Peaty Highland drams evening?

And what else have I explored from Ardmore?

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