These are five Master of Malt Bottlings for 2025 that we think you’ll love.
Last year was the 40th anniversary of Master of Malt. To celebrate, we bottled up so much great whisky you would think we were performing some sort of daring warehouse heist. Which we weren’t. You can’t prove anything.
The top Master of Malt Bottlings 2025
Anyhoo… 2025 might be so last year, but looking back, we have found ourselves looking at a select few whiskies rather fondly.
Like an old Tobermory that’s fruitier than Carmen Miranda’s favourite hat. Or a Ben Nevis that tangoes with rum casks in a dance so marvellous Len Goodman is giving it a “SEVEN!” from heaven*.
What about a refill, distillate-forward Bunna? We love the OBs from Bunnahabhain… but c’mon! Some unsolicited feedback from a customer via Instagram reads as follows: “Got one of these for my uncle for Christmas, he thinks it is pure heaven, and I am the best nephew ever now. THANK YOU!” Beat that.
Or we could travel to North America for two mashbill monsters, one a rye whiskey that’s 95% rye, the other a Canadian corn that’s inverted (95% corn, 5% rye). The rye is like climbing inside a fresh batch of rye loaf and being sprinkled with love by the rye gnomes. The corn reminds you of caramel-covered soft serve ice cream from one of those trucks at the park. Vanilla ice cream near parents and screaming kids has never been so interesting.
We bottled some beauties last year. Be sure to check them out.
The top Master of Malt Bottlings 2025
How’s that for a Top Five? Get yourself a bottle or two and kick the new year off right.
Tobermory 29 Year Old 1996 Single Cask – Masterpiece
The best Tobermory Boutique-y Dave has ever tasted. Yes, that good.
Ben Nevis 26 Year Old 1998 Single Cask – Masterpiece
The rum cask finish makes this all kinds of fruity and fun. Think tropical juice for titans.
Bunnahabhain 15 Year Old 2009 Single Cask
The kind of Bunna that fans will love. Just pure distillery character on show.
A Secret American Distillery 6 Year Old 2019
High ABV, high rye mashbill (95/5) whiskey that is succulent, savoury, sweet, spicy, unbelievably gluggable.
A Secret Canadian Distillery 5 Year Old 2014
Canadians are known for saying “sorry,” but this sweet cask of Canadian corn has got nothing to apologise for.
It’s here!
PLUS… A new Burns Night whisky
Every 25 January, we set out to bottle a whisky that can hold its own between the Selkirk Grace and the final chorus of Auld Lang Syne. Our Sam Simmons (head of whisky round here) got married on Burns Night, so he never lets us phone it in. Make of that what you will.
Here’s our 2026 edition: Secret Highland 16 Year Old Single Cask – Burns Night Edition (Master of Malt).
This year’s effort turns up in bookish finery, dressed as it belongs on a lectern rather than a back bar. The distillery stays under wraps, but what matters is inside the bottle: a 16-year-old Highland single malt, matured in a PX hogshead and bottled at a forthright 50.5% ABV.
Expect thick, fudgy sweetness up front, layers of warming spice, and bright, juicy fruit cutting through the richness. It is big, generous, and deeply likeable. Natural colour, non-chill-filtered, and very much built for passing round the table rather than nursing alone in a corner.
There is even a silly little poem on the back.
*He only didn’t go for the 10 because the rhyme was right there.
