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.
When You Love A Distillery…
The second part of this story is more personal. There’s a French proverb – ‘quand on aime on ne compte pas’, when you love, you don’t count – and in the case of Glen Moray, that has been true… except that I very much do count. Ever since visiting the distillery and taking part in several events during Spirit of Speyside 2019, meeting Graham Coull, Iain Allan, and Emma Ware, making friends and being welcomed at some unforgettable tastings, Glen Moray has shifted for me from ‘under‑the‑radar’ to ‘closely watched’. I started following every development, buying more and more bottles (I’m now north of 20 at home, official and indy, including Mastery), and keeping track of each dram tasted. With these five whiskies, I’ve now reached – for the first time with any distillery – 100 Glen Moray expressions tried. It’s a number on a spreadsheet, yes, but it’s also a reminder of just how far affection and curiosity can take you with a distillery once it becomes more than just a name on a label.
Glen Moray 2008 The Whisky Cask (2020) Review
The Whisky Cask, based in Tübingen, has operated as an independent bottler and specialist retailer since 2005, selecting individual casks predominantly from Scotch distilleries and bottling at natural cask strength. This Glen Moray was distilled in 2008 and bottled in 2020 at 12 years of age, after maturing in a single ex-bourbon barrel. It was bottled at a cask strength of 53.8% ABV, natural colour, and non-chill-filtered, with an undisclosed outturn. This release is unfortunately sold out.
Colour:
Deep copper.
Nose:
Neat: Fresh, clean, and fruit forward from the first nosing – the signature of well-selected Glen Moray ex-bourbon stock. Pear drops, lemon custard, and light vanilla cream lead, accompanied by fresh sourdough, malt biscuits, and a gentle floral lift of elderflower or white blossom. At 53.8%, a pleasingly warm edge adds definition and intensity, without heat. With air, ripe apples, tingling lemonade, and a whisper of honey develop.
With water: A few drops lift the floral and citrus elements, bringing lemon cream and orchard blossom more clearly to the fore while the sourdough and malt notes settle into the background.
Palate:
Neat: Rich and rounded on entry, with a nice oily texture. Icing sugar sweetness arrives first, followed by a mid-palate wave of vanilla, pear, and caramelised lemon – then a warm build of cinnamon and white pepper from the bourbon wood. The palate is big and creamy, buttery, with vanilla, lemon zest and pepper. The alcohol is well integrated despite the 53.8% strength.
With water: Water opens the sweetness considerably, revealing more vanilla, honeyed pear, and light tropical notes (peach, apricot ever so slight hints of pineapple), while softening the spices.
Finish:
Medium in length, warm and sweetly drying – vanilla, lemon peel, and a pleasant oaky bitterness.
Comments:
We start quite well, with a very good 12-year-old Glen Moray selected by The Whisky Cask. Quite typical bourbon matured GM, with fruits, honey and creaminess. Just the right amounts of spices and wood, and it swims well on top of things.
Rating: 7/10
Glen Moray 2008 High Spirits (2021) Review
High Spirits Distribution is a Swiss-based independent bottler and distributor. Their Glen Moray 2008 was released as part of their Longvalley Selection sub-label, bottled in June 2021 after 12 years of maturation in a 1st Fill Burgundy Wine Hogshead. It was bottled at 50% ABV (so probably some reduction was involved), non-chill filtered and with natural colour.
Colour:
Burnished
Nose:
Neat: The Burgundy cask makes its presence felt immediately but elegantly – a slightly sour, vinous note flows out of the glass, consistent with white Burgundy rather than red given the absence of colour. Vanilla and wine aromas reminiscent of Sauternes without quite the same sweetness sit alongside vanilla, sheet cake, and plum stones. Tropical fruit adds a surprising brightness – pineapple and honey, before sweetening into apricot and peach, with a delicate oak spice backbone providing structure.
With water: A few drops make the nose sweeter and more herbal, and more vanilla emerges; vanilla intensifies, while a slight soapy note also appears.
Palate:
Neat: Round and full in texture, with the wine cask contributing a pleasing grip. White grapes, light acidity, and vanilla lead the entry, then red Haribo bears sweetness; lychee, gooseberry, and peach follow in the mid-palate. It gets progressively sweeter as it develops – caramel, milk chocolate, vanilla, and coloured pepper join the fruit, with the Burgundy acidity acting as a counterpoint to the increasing sweetness.
With water: More wine character comes forward with water – softer oak, red fruits, but also a plastic note that detracts.
Finish:
Medium length, with the fruit of the nose returning – peach, apricot, plum – alongside green tea, pepper, and chocolate.
Comments:
A very nice Glen Moray matured in a white Burgundy wine cask. White wine, in my own humble opinion, always works way better than red wine, and for me we have another proof here with this Glen Moray. The wine cask provided some structure, spice, acidity and some fruitiness, which, added to the natural fruitiness of Glen Moray, makes a very good combination.
Rating: 7/10
Glen Moray 2008 Whiskybase (2024) Review
This Glen Moray 2008 Archives is released under Whiskybase’s Archives independent bottling label – a series that selects individual casks for the Whiskybase community, often themed with distinctive label artwork. This particular release carries the ‘Unwanted Creatures’ label design, featuring an ant. It is a single ex-bourbon barrel matured for 15 years. It was distilled on the 29th of October 2008 and bottled on the 25th of February 2024. The cask had an outturn of 112 bottles only, filled at 54.5% ABV, with natural colour and non-chill-filtered. The bottle was released at €129.50 exclusively on the Whiskybase shop and is now sold out. You’ll have to be lucky on the secondary market to get one.
Colour:
Pale gold.
Nose:
Neat: Immediately generous and fruit forward – pineapple leads the charge, accompanied by pear, kiwi and mandarins. Cereals, honey, vanilla, and white chocolate provide a soft, rounded backdrop. Floral and malty notes emerge with time, joined by an appealing confectionery dimension, as well as a light mineral aroma.
With water: A few drops of water enhance the floral and citrus elements while integrating the alcohol further, also adding a nice creamy and buttery side reminiscing of gâteau basque (the one with pastry cream, not cherry jam)
Palate:
Neat: The palate arrives with a nice thick, oily mouthfeel from the outset. Initially lots of ripe apples, transitioning into ripe pears before shifting gear into tropical territory: mango, melon, and pineapple. Lemon pie, love hearts, vanilla, tangerine, and orange peel contribute sweetness and citrus brightness throughout the mid-palate. A peppery note – white pepper and a faint orange peel bite – emerges on the back palate.
With water: Like with the other Glen Moray 2008 reviewed above, a few drops of water bring out some lemon drizzle, but this time some passion fruit appears, bringing a lovely tropical tartness. There’s also a touch more wood, which can become slightly excessive if you add too much water.
Finish:
The finish is medium long and round. Ripe tropical fruit persists with some sweetness, before a balancing freshness of lime and liquorice brings it back into equilibrium, with a touch of oak and citrus peel.
Comments:
A superb Glen Moray, fresh and tropical, a perfect summer dram (though to be honest, a good bourbon-matured Glen Moray is perfect for any season), that benefited from 15 years of maturation in a somewhat slightly leaky barrel, or maybe from greedy angels who left tropical fruits in exchange for a lower level in the barrel.
Rating: 7.5/10
Glen Moray 1989 Asta Morris (2019) Review
Asta Morris is a Belgian independent bottler founded in 2009 by Bert Bruyneel – a former meat industry professional turned whisky devotee who established the bottler after years of involvement with Belgian whisky appreciation society The Wee Dram Whisky. Bruyneel is known for his preference for fruity casks, meticulous ABV calibration (sometimes bottling at precise fractional percentages to optimise character), and a close relationship with the Scottish indie scene.
This Glen Moray 1989, cask AM128, was distilled in 1989 and bottled in 2019 at 29 years of age, after a full maturation in a single ex-bourbon cask. The cask yielded 204 bottles filled at cask strength (53.20% ABV), without chill filtration nor colouring. It is unfortunately sold out at retail, with an original retail price of approximately €240.
Colour:
Deep gold.
Nose:
Neat: Fresh and immediately generous – this is Glen Moray at its most expressive after three decades in good bourbon wood. Orchard fruits lead: pear, apple, mirabelle plum, apricot, and guava, with a slightly floral edge of orange blossom weaving through. Polished oak (furniture polish, creamy wax), manuka honey, and a whisper of sunflower oil add depth and the characteristic old bourbon cask patina. In fact this is a quite strong waxiness alongside tropical ripe fruits (mango, pineapple) and dry field herbs. Lime zest and a touch of coconut sit at the edges.
With water: A small addition softens the furniture polish note and draws out more of the floral and tropical fruit character.
Palate:
Neat: Mirabelles, lime, and pear arrive first – bright, precise, and juicy. Then follow cinnamon and vanilla to create a ‘bourbonny’ character reminiscent of American whisky but without the sweetness – aromatic rather than sweet. Ginger and pepper add a warming spice in the mid-palate; honey persists throughout. There are a few medicinal herbs, sweet confectionery with cinnamon, oak, and some well-integrated pepper spice that blends back into the fruity sweetness.
With water: Reduction draws out the cask, with more pepperiness, coconut, tannins and medicinal herbs, and the palate becomes dryer.
Finish:
Long, with fruit tea, barley sugar, lime, and wildflowers, which carry through into the close. The medicinal herb and pepper character from the palate fades into medium-length warmth, with residual sweet confectionery and spiced oak.
Comments:
Glen Moray can be superb at old age in a good cask and at a good ABV, and Bert from Asta Morris got that spot on. This is everything there is to like with Glen Moray: lots of fruits, a well-balanced sweetness, and good use of a good cask after a maturation that wasn’t rushed in an overly active cask. This ticks all the boxes.
Rating: 8/10
Glen Moray 25-Year-Old Celtic Whisky Distillery (2023) Review
The Les Fûts Oubliés (‘The Forgotten Casks’) collection is a joint project between Le Comptoir Irlandais – A French large specialist whisky retailer – and the Celtic Whisky Distillerie, based in Plomelin, Brittany (Côtes-d’Armor), known for their Glann Ar Mor and Kornog whiskies. The concept has a genuinely unusual origin: old Scotch casks sent to the Breton distillery for storage or secondary maturation were effectively forgotten for years or decades, only to be rediscovered when the team conducted a warehouse audit – having matured far longer than originally intended, in conditions shaped by the maritime climate of coastal Brittany. The collection is bottled at cask strength in very limited quantities and presented with contemporary artist label designs: the first series (‘La Révélation’, October 2025) featured work by Erika Raio; the second (‘Le Réveil’) partners with Breton street artist AVERI, whose label is featured on the Glen Moray 25-year-old. And because of that maturation and bottling in France, it cannot be called ‘Scotch whisky’, which might explain the price as well.
This Glen Moray was distilled on the 10th of December 1997, and bottled on the 19th of October 2023, and aged 25 years in the single hogshead #7846. The cask gave 206 bottles filled at 56.1% ABV, natural colour, non-chill-filtered, and 70 cl, but released just a few weeks ago, in June 2026, as a France exclusive through Le Comptoir Irlandais, at an initial retail price of €99.50. This is sold out online, though a few of their physical shops might have a few bottles left.
Colour:
Chestnut.
Nose:
Neat: Powerful and boisé – the Breton maritime maturation and quarter-century of wood contact assert themselves immediately. Rich notes of candied fruit emerge as the glass opens, with the intensity building slowly with aeration. The Glen Moray distillate’s underlying fruit character sits beneath the deeper, more assertive oak and spice framework, with caramel, vanilla, raisins, and cookie dough. The nose is intense and needs time to open. After a long aeration, blood oranges appear.
With water: Fruits finally appear more clearly after reduction, but there’s also more oak and a touch of spices.
Palate:
Neat: Dense and intense from the first sip, with a nice structure from the assertive oak, with a syrupy mouthfeel. The Breton maritime maturation has tightened rather than softened the wood influence, producing a palate of controlled, architectural power rather than yielding sweetness. Firm tannins, warm wood spice, and a syrupy richness combine in a way that is commanding if not immediately approachable. Old oak, leather, and buttery shortbread cookies, lemon albedo. After some aeration, oranges and triple sec make an appearance, dark caramel extract,
With water: Creamy vanilla, but mostly lots of orange and oak after reduction. A little pineapple appears, providing a little touch of tropicalness that almost didn’t appear.
Finish:
Long and persistent. The dense oak and spice of the palate carry through into the close, with the Breton maritime influence adding a mineral and slightly saline persistence in the background.
Comments:
Quite a different Glen Moray from the four others tasted above. This 25-year-old, exceptional as it matured in France and not in Scotland (though I don’t know if part of its maturation was still made in Scotland), lacks the fruitiness of its younger siblings, showing more assertive oak and light spiciness. But that doesn’t mean it is any less good, just that it’s a different profile! And at just under €100 a bottle, it was quite a no-brainer! However, this whisky rewards patience, so take your time nosing it and drinking it.