It’s time to talk about the good stuff. The really good stuff. But be warned great Scotch whisky doesn’t come cheap. Especially when it’s rare. If you want to drink the best of the best, you’re going to pay for it. $100 is cheap in the context of today’s tasting.
For this “double-blind” taste test (meaning I don’t even know which bottles are in play), I let my wife pour some of the most ridiculous bottles on my shelf. The only throughline is that these are all Scotch, all expensive, and all great. Oddly, these were way easier to rank than I expected, even double-blind. Bottles this rare are also very unique and distinct — that makes it a tad easier to identify and rank them.
Our lineup today is:
- GlenDronach 21
- Bowmore 20 David Simson Edition
- Aberfeldy 20
- Glenfiddich 23
- Laphroaig 25
- Oban 21 (2018 Edition)
- Talisker 25
- Glenkinchie Distillers Edition
- Aberlour A’Bundha
- Johnny Walker Blue
See those? All bangers all the time! Now let’s get into it!
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Scotch Whisky Posts of The Last Six Months
- The 50 Best Scotch Whiskies Of 2021, Ranked
- The 100 Best Whiskeys Our Head Drinks Writer Tasted In 2021
- The Best Scotch Whiskies Under $50, Ranked
- Every Scotch Whisky Brand From Diageo’s Massive Portfolio, Ranked
- The Best Value-Per-Dollar Scotch Whiskies, Ranked
Part 1: The Tasting
Taste 1
Tasting Notes:
This is all about the sweet red berries and the dirt under the bushes intermingling with spicy oatmeal cookies with plenty of raisins and walnuts next to soft and supple maltiness on the nose. The palate leans into soft and creamy vanilla with black-tea-soaked dates, wintry spice, and a dash of orange oil. Dark chocolate arrives on the mid-palate and drives the finish toward more of that wintry spice, stewed plums, mincemeat pies, and a whisper of dry cedar on the very end.
Taste 2
Tasting Notes:
Fresh Band-Aids mix with leathery prunes on the nose with a thin line of smoked pork fat lurking underneath. The palate is delightfully spicy with a hint of cinnamon next to anise and maybe some dried chili yet tempered by creamy dark chocolate and berries. The mid-palate stays spicy before veering into wet charcoal with a hint of that smoked fat making a reappearance.
Taste 3
Tasting Notes:
Honey and apples all day on the nose (hello, Aberfeldy!) with a sense of soft rainwater, light maltiness, and summer wildflowers. The palate mixes red berries with apple skins as buttery toffee and lightly spiced malts lead to a leathery dried apricot, sultanas, and cream soda. The end leans into the honey with a cedar vibe next to an orchard full of fruit with a nod to the soil on the very backend.
Taste 4
Tasting Notes:
More apples, tart, sweet, bruised, stewed, drive the nose with a gentle floral edge next to buttered brioche with a dollop of marmalade served on an old maple plank. The palate has a lush vanilla feeling to it as pear candy and dried roses lead to floral yet creamy honey. The sweetness lingers from the mid-palate to the finish as apple and pear skins and cores melt into a pot of that floral honey.
Taste 5
Tasting Notes:
This is so pale. Interesting. The nose mixes old Band-Aids with smoked pork belly, pine-infused honey, woodruff, and maybe a touch of sea rocks. The palate leans into malts with a spicy edge — think anise, cloves, Red Hots. The mid-palate creates a flavor matrix of sweet yet smoked pork fat that’s perfectly spiced with heat and seasoning that all leads back to the soft malts, light medicinal touch, and a hint of wet charcoal.
Taste 6
Tasting Notes:
Saltwater taffy wrappers counter a bold rush of Douglas fir firewood stacked in very black dirt with a hint of sap next to buttery caramel malts, red fruit leather, apple taffy, and a hint of soft and supple leather. The palate is all about the Nutella before a toasted coconut vibe leads to a burst of seawater-soaked cedar, dark chocolate and dried chili tobacco, and all the spices from a sticky toffee pudding boiled down to a tincture bomb of flavor. WOW.
Those dark chocolate tobacco leaves fade out as the saltwater taffy makes a comeback on the finish with a hint of hot seawater next to Christmas cake.
Taste 7
Tasting Notes:
Campfire smoke wafts from far down the beach as beeswax candles mingle with unfiltered apple cider in a rock mug mixes with creamy chocolate pudding and a hint of sea spray. The palate is all about old cellar beams with cobwebs next to grains of sea salt, wet moss, orange tobacco, and wisteria. That campfire smoke makes an appearance late as misty sea-heavy fog descends on the finish with white wildflowers next to smoked prunes and a dash of dried smoked chili malts.
What a journey!
Taste 8
Tasting Notes:
This is downright thin compared to the last sip. The nose is a soft mix of cedar, red berry, and vanilla pods next to a bowl of fruity candy. The palate starts off watery but then explodes with flavor — black pepper, brie rinds, sour candy, a dirt cellar floor, smooth malts, and a hint of sour apple tobacco. The finish continues to build with a cheese cellar vibe next to fresh cream touched with winter spices and vanilla on the backend.
This was a wild ride!
Taste 9
Tasting Notes:
This is very bourbon-y from the jump with plenty of leather, spicy plum jam, vanilla cream, and hefty brown and woody spices. The palate is hot with those spices and oak staves as prunes and dates add some sweetness (but not much). Candied pecans give way to dark chocolate bitterness as the finish builds on that heat with hints of old leather and dark fruit buried underneath it all.
Taste 10
Tasting Notes:
This is incredibly soft on the nose with hints of plums, old leather, Christmas spices, and a whiff of fireplace smoke.
Johnnie Walker, is that you? I think so.
The palate is orange-infused marzipan covered in dark chocolate with a hint of rose water next to floral honey, smoked plums, and plenty of tap water. The malts get lightly spicy as the dried stone fruit takes on a thin line of smoke with almond and orange peaking in through the watery finish.
Part 2: The Ranking
10. Johnny Walker Blue — Taste 10
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $276
The Whisky:
This is the mountaintop of Johnnie Walker’s whiskies. The blend is a marriage of ultra-rare stock from extinct Diageo distilleries around Scotland. That’s just … cool. This expression is all about barrel selection and the mastery of a great noser and blender working together to create something special.
Bottom Line:
It’s kind of amazing how this stood out against the single malts, and not in a good way. Full disclosure, my wife grabbed this by mistake due to it being “expensive” but not a single malt.
All of that aside, I just couldn’t get past the watered-down nature of this one.
9. Aberlour A’Bundha — Taste 9
ABV: 56.2% (varies)
Average Price: $95
The Whisky:
A’bunadh (ah-boon-arh) means “the original” in Gaelic and the juice in this Highland bottle represents that for Aberlour. The whisky is matured in old Olorosso sherry casks exclusively. The juice then goes into the bottle at cask strength, unfussed with.
Bottom Line:
This was just too hot today. Had it been poured over a single rock, it might have jetted to the top three.
8. Aberfeldy 20 — Taste 3
ABV: 43%
Average Price: $210
The Whisky:
This special release from last year spent 20 years mellowing in re-fill bourbon and sherry casks. Then the prime juice was married and filled into hand-selected Sauternes sweet wine casks from France for a final year of maturation. The results hold onto the signature honeyed heart of Aberfeldy while adding more sweetened nuance to the dram.
Bottom Line:
This was nice but a little one-note with that apple and honey vibe. I know, I know, that’s “two” notes. But that was the dominating factor on the palate and you had to really dig to find more.
7. Glenfiddich 23 — Taste 4
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $360
The Whisky:
It’s all in the name of this yearly special release from Glenfiddich. The whisky matures for over 23 years in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks before it’s vatted and then filled into French Cuvée casks that held Champagne. That whisky is then cut down to proof and bottled just in time for the holiday season.
Bottom Line:
This was very similar to the Aberfeldy but a bit more nuanced and deep. That said, that 80 proof isn’t doing this any favors.
6. Bowmore 20 David Simson Edition — Taste 2
ABV: 50.7%
Average Price: $627
The Whisky:
This distillery exclusive is Bowmore at its finest. The juice in the bottles is lightly peated malt that spends 20 years in both Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez sherry casks before it’s vatted and bottled as-is without proofing or filtering.
Bottom Line:
This was pretty damn nice. It was a little milder on the palate with that “Band-Aid” vibe carrying on a little too long. I’m splitting some serious hairs though. This was very drinkable — just not as deep and arresting as the next five.
5. GlenDronach 21 — Taste 1
ABV: 48%
Average Price: $325
The Whisky:
Don’t let the name fool you. In this case, the “parliament” is the collective noun for rooks — a type of European crow that nests above the distillery. That dark essence is rendered in the whisky through 21 long years of maturation in Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez sherry casks exclusively.
Bottom Line:
This is delicious. But it’s a little easy. This feels like a crowd-pleaser, and that’s fine. “Great but didn’t wow me like the rest” was in my notes.
4. Laphroaig 25 2020 Edition — Taste 5
ABV: 51.4%
Average Price: $669
The Whisky:
Where Bowmore goes light on the peated malts, Laphroaig goes all-in, like a drunken sailor at a poker table. This whisky spends 25 long years aging in both ex-bourbon barrels and Oloroso sherry butts before it’s masterfully blended seaside and the bottled as-is with zero fussing (hence the pale color).
Bottom Line:
This is a goddamn masterpiece. It’s subtle yet striking. Had the mid-palate been a little more brazen, it might have been number one today.
3. Glenkinchie Distillers Edition — Taste 8
ABV: 43%
Average Price: $85
The Whisky:
This limited edition expression from last year’s Diageo Distiller’s Editions is expertly crafted whisky. The juice has a finishing maturation in a specially made barrel which is constructed from used and new American oak that’s then filled with Amontillado sherry for a month. Once that fortified wine is dumped, the whisky goes in for its final maturation.
Bottom Line:
This was the biggest surprise by far. The sip started off so watery and mellow and then just went in so many unique and delicious directions. A “cheese cellar”?! Come on, that’s an amazing note to find in any whisky.
2. Oban 21 2018 Edition — Taste 6
ABV: 57.9%
Average Price: $730
The Whisky:
This whisky from 2018 is much-sought-after. The classic juice from the tiny Oban Distillery spends 21 years resting in a combination of used European oak barrels in Oban’s small warehouse nestled between a black rock cliff and the lapping of the sea. The juice is then married and bottled at cask strength, capturing all the nuances and uniqueness of Oban in the bottle.
Bottom Line:
I wrote “wow” in my notes while tasting this one. It’s so … vivacious. The palate is big but not overwhelming and makes perfect sense from beginning to end. This is truly the good stuff.
1. Talisker 25 — Taste 7
ABV: 45.8%
Average Price: $902
The Whisky:
This whisky is a marriage of American bourbon barrels, Spanish sherry casks, and Talisker’s seaside location. The whiskies in this single malt spend a minimum of 25 years resting in old bourbon and sherry barrels a few short steps from the sea in the Isle of Skye. Talisker’s tiny warehouse feels a bit like an old pirate ship that’s seen too many sea battles and that aura is imbued into every barrel as it matures.
Bottom Line:
This took me on a journey of flavors and nostalgia. I’m not joking when I say that it damn near brought a tear to my eye when I thought about drinking Talisker for the first time with my now-passed father-in-law. That’s a transformational whisky.
Part 3: Final Thoughts
As soon as I smelled that Talisker 25, I knew this competition was over. I love that Oban and it would have handily won if the Talisker didn’t make it in the lineup.
Overall, I think we all learned that, yup, great whisky is great. I know, big surprise, right? Still, if you can get any of the bottles top five, you’ll be in for a true treat, but that Talisker is just something else entirely. Happy whisky hunting!