More Drams, Less Drama - Coldorak's Whisky Blog.

5 Blair Athol From the 1970s to 2020s

27th July 202627th July 2026Coldorak

Blair Athol is one of those distilleries that rewards a broad tasting approach because its character has shifted noticeably across eras and bottling styles. Here, five whiskies – two 8-year-olds bottled in the 1970s and late 1980s, the 12-year-old Flora & Fauna, a 2010 independent release from Elixir Distillers’ Single Malts of Scotland range, and a 35-year-old from Signatory Vintage – offer a compact but revealing look at how this Highland malt can move from older official bottlings to a more contemporary cask-selected expression.

What makes this line-up especially interesting is the mix of perspectives it gives on the same distillery. The two older 8-year-olds should show Blair Athol in a more old-school official guise. The Flora & Fauna provides the classic distillery bottling reference point, and the 2010 Elixir Distillers and 1988 Signatory releases bring in the independent bottlers’ interpretation of Blair Athol’s spirit. Taken together, they create a useful comparison of age, era, and bottling philosophy, and a reminder that Blair Athol has long been more than just a quiet component of blends, as we’ve been able to see on these pages already.

Annandale 2016 Man O'Words and Holyrood Pitch

Recent Lowlands: Annandale 2016 & Holyrood Pitch

24th July 202623rd July 2026Coldorak

We’re taking a first look today at two newer Lowland distilleries in Scotland: Annandale and Holyrood. Both are still relatively small compared with the industry’s long-established heavyweights, but each has already built up a fair amount of output through official releases and, in some cases, independent bottlings. Today, though, I’m staying on the official side with an Annandale 2016 Man O’Words and Holyrood Pitch.

Kilchoman Loch Gorm & Sanaig Cask Strength

Kilchoman Loch Gorm 2021 & 2026 vs Sanaig CS

22nd July 202622nd July 2026Coldorak

It’s been a few years since my last – and only – Kilchoman review, so it feels overdue to bring the distillery back to the tasting table. This time I’m looking at three sherry-influenced expressions: Loch Gorm 2021, Loch Gorm 2026, and Sanaig Cask Strength. Previously I found Kilchoman a little hard to love, particularly its pronounced farmyard note, which I also struggled with in Ledaig, but my palate has shifted over time and that character bothers me far less now. With that in mind, I’m curious to see how Kilchoman shows today, and as always, my impressions should be read with a pinch of salt, as they inevitably reflect my own preferences and subjective leanings.

Dalwhinnie 15-Year-Old vs 2008 NSS

20th July 202620th July 2026Coldorak

Dalwhinnie 15-year-old has been a staple of whisky bars and whisky occasional drinkers’ cabinets for years, but is it worth it? Like most of Diageo distilleries’ core range expressions, it’s targeted at large retailers and occasional whisky drinkers, so not really my usual readers. But this doesn’t mean it should be dismissed and ignored by this humble blog, so let’s take a look at it and compare it to a (really) rare independent bottling of Dalwhinnie, with a 2008 from North Star Spirits.

Amrut Herald and 2012 French Connections

Amrut Herald & 2012 French Connections

17th July 202616th July 2026Coldorak

Amrut is one of those distilleries I like to revisit, as they consistently produce solid single malt when the cask selection is sensible – American oak hogsheads are a good example. They also have a strong experimental streak, whether through the Greedy Angels series with comparatively long maturations, given India’s extreme angel’s share, or via more unconventional, highly contrasted maturation regimes. Here, I’m looking at one of those experiments, Amrut Herald, alongside a more classic reference point: a 2012 single cask Amrut bottled for La Maison du Whisky.

Five Glen Moray To Reach My 100th

15th July 202624th July 2026Coldorak

Reaching 100 Glen Moray tasted feels less like crossing a finish line and more like coming home after a very long, very enjoyable detour. This new line‑up of five independent bottlings – from The Whisky Cask, High Spirits, Archives/Whiskybase, Asta Morris and Celtic Whisky Distillerie – is both another step on that journey and a small personal milestone. These aren’t ‘official story’ bottlings, but rather five external, sometimes quirky lenses through which to look at Glen Moray’s spirit: different casks, different philosophies, different markets, all converging on the same Elgin DNA. Taken together, they say a lot about how adaptable Glen Moray is, and why it lends itself so well to being interpreted by bottlers beyond the distillery gates.

5 Loch Lomond: Glenshiel / Inchmurrin / Decadent Drinks

13th July 202612th July 2026Coldorak

Loch Lomond is one of those wonderfully odd distilleries whose output resists neat boxes and tidy categories, and this line‑up leans straight into that eccentricity. On the table we have an old Glenshiel ‘pure malt’ from the days when blended malt labelling was still happily opaque, alongside four Inchmurrin bottlings: two official expressions and two from Decadent Drinks, with the latter, in fact, being a deliberate vatting of Loch Lomond and Inchmurrin rather than a single‑stream malt.

This tasting is less about ticking off labels and more about mapping the distillery’s multiple personalities – how the lighter, fruit‑forward Inchmurrin style plays against the denser, more heterodox Loch Lomond profile, and how an older, nameless‑by‑design Glenshiel fits into that picture. By placing official bottlings next to independent vattings, we can get a clearer sense of what is ‘house character’ and what is the blender’s choice, and perhaps also understand why Loch Lomond remains both underappreciated and quietly fascinating for those willing to chase down its more obscure releases.

Three BenRiach: 1996 Single Cask / Whiskyland / Authenticus

10th July 20269th July 2026Coldorak

Back in October 2025, we looked at several BenRiachs bottled in the 2010s, and today we’re returning to that period with two further releases, plus a much more recent independent bottling. The lineup consists of a BenRiach 1996 Single Cask bottled for the German market, the 25-year-old Authenticus peated expression, and a 33-year-old BenRiach released by Decadent Drinks under their Whiskyland range.

Four Rums: Breizh'Cool / Hampden / Caroni

4 Rums: Breizh’Cool / Hampden / Caroni

8th July 20268th July 2026Coldorak

We’ve reviewed rums… only twice on More Drams. I have a few samples accumulating, but it’s too hot with the third heatwave of the year in France, so let’s just have four today. We’re trying rums from a distillery located really close to where I live, Breizh’Cool, as well as an 8-year-old Hampden and a 19-year-old Caroni bottled by Valinch & Mallet.

Four Yoichi: Single Malt, Grande, 12-year-old Sherry & Sweet and 20-year-old

Yoichi Single Malt / Grande / 12yo Sherry & Sweet / 20yo

6th July 20266th July 2026Coldorak

Yoichi is one of those distilleries we keep coming back to, not out of duty but out of sheer affection. There is something about that coastal peat, the old‑school direct coal firing, and the quietly uncompromising house style that makes even a simple line‑up feel like a mini‑masterclass in what a Japanese single malt can be when it leans into its roots rather than chasing trends. In this session, we are looking at three expressions that map out very different phases of Yoichi’s story: the Yoichi Single Malt, the Grande, the 12‑year‑old Sherry & Sweet, and the venerable 20‑year‑old.

If you have followed our previous Yoichi coverage, you will know we have already spent time with several distillery exclusives and the NAS trio that effectively stepped into the space once occupied by the 12-year-old Sherry & Sweet and its two siblings (the woody and vanillic, and the peaty and salty). This new line‑up lets us reconnect with that lost benchmark, place it alongside a more contemporary ‘Grande’ interpretation, and then look up toward the long‑aged 20-year-old as a sort of North Star for mature Yoichi character. Taken together, these three whiskies should give us a useful snapshot of how the distillery’s profile stretches from youthful, cask‑forward charm to fully developed, time‑polished depth – and why, after all these reviews, Yoichi still feels like a distillery we haven’t finished exploring.