Whiskies of the Year
2025
Each month, our team picks their Top 10 Whiskies to point our big ‘Master of Malt’ spotlight at. It’s like the Bat-Signal, but better because there’s no crime afoot; just bottles of proven whiskies waiting to be poured. Throughout 2025 a total of 10 of us championed a new release or old favourite they were enjoying that month. So that's worked out neatly.
We’ve looked back through all the selections each whisky lover submitted and asked them to pick out a highlight. Included is the original reason they chose them. This is our Top 10 Whiskies 2025, as picked by the people from your favourite retailer. Happy New Year, and have a great 2026!
GlenAllachie 20 Year Old 2005 - PX Sherry Hogshead
Scotch single malt whisky, Speyside region
"Specially bottled to celebrate 40 years of Master of Malt", this magnificent 20-year-old single cask GlenAllachie is an exclusive you won't find anywhere else! Distilled in August 2005, the whisky spent two decades maturing in a Pedro Ximénez sherry hogshead, yielding 353 bottles in September 2025. It's a bold, characterful dram, packed with generous waves of baking spices and orchard fruits, with rich notes of muscovado and mocha beneath.
"A beautifully mature whisky—rich yet vibrant. Sherry leads the nose, with figs, plums, raisins, chocolate, and spice on the palate. For a 20-year PX cask, it’s impressively complex and great value."
Michael Monte
Spirits buyer, but in French (& sometimes Mandarin)
Tasting notes
Rich chocolate, spiced orange, honeycomb, and hazelnuts, with muscovado sugar, salted caramel, crystalised ginger, and a touch of tobacco.
Baking spices and heather honey lead, with mocha, dried plums, and more brown sugar in tow.
Juicy raisins, buttery caramel, espresso, and orchard fruits.
Kinglassie Raw
Scotch single malt, Lowland region
A limited edition peated single malt, one of the first from Fife's InchDairnie distillery! This heavily peated Lowlander matured in bourbon barrels for eight years before being bottled at a satisfying 46.3% ABV for an untamed profile that's packed with punchy peat smoke and complex malt.
"KinGlassie Raw is what happens when you skip the niceties and go straight for the throat... All scorched oak, malt muscle, and a finish like a pub brawl in a sauna."
Adam O'Connell
Whisky nerd and certified mate of Ainsley Harriott
Tasting notes
Scorched heather and wet bonfire logs lead. Beneath the smoke lies a minerally core of chalky flint and coastal stones, followed by sweeter touches of caramelised banana, lemon oils, and charred vanilla pods.
Ashy smoke, black pepper, smoked bacon, and salted toffee. Hints of green apple, ginger root, sourdough crust, damp oak, and a bright citrus zing.
Cracked black pepper, spent coffee grounds, and liquorice root.
Glen Grant 18 Year Old
Scotch single malt whisky, Speyside region
Founded in 1840, a number of distinctive distillery features date to the time of ‘The Major’, aka James Grant, who inherited the distillery in 1872. These include the tall, slender stills, their purifiers (one of the earliest examples of this uncommon bit of kit – essentially a small condenser attached to the lyne arm that returns heavier vapours back to the still). Glen Grant can be easy-going at younger ages, but also ages wonderfully as this 18-year-old malt really begins to show.
"A highly rated malt over the years, it's light and subtle (the only distillery in Scotland with purifiers on both wash and spirit stills), but with hazelnut/praline/Ferrero Rocher deftly coming through on the finish. Cracker."
Jake Mountain
Resident doer of things, spirits buff & MoM OG
Tasting notes
Rich and floral with oaky overtones and hints of baking spices.
Malty caramel, delicate, dried raisins and vanilla.
Long, sweet with hints of nuts and spice.
Bain’s Shiraz Cask 10 Year Old Single Grain
South African single grain whisky
This limited edition South African single grain whisky from Bain's was originally released as a Travel Retail exclusive. The whisky spent its initial five years of maturation in bourbon casks, followed by another five years finishing in American oak shiraz red wine casks, bringing generous layers of earthy red fruit and vanilla to the toffee and spice at its core. Bottled at cask strength, and in a nice big one-litre bottle too.
"One of the world's most recognised single grain whiskies, made by the great Andy Watts, aged no less than 10 years, and bottled at an insane ABV of 63.5% for under £45? Yup. TAKE. MY. MONEY."
Sam Simmons
Whiskevangelist, Blender of the Year & guitar shredder
Tasting notes by producer
Bold, rich notes of shiraz-soaked oak lead the way, backed by vanilla, ripe fruit salad, and a touch of pepper.
Drying and tannic, with vinous red fruits, bold oak, toffee, and cacao.
Woody spices, spiced red fruits, robust oak, grilled pineapple, and vanilla.
Glen Garioch 33 Year Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company)
Scotch single malt whisky, Highland region
Old school Glen Garioch, distilled in 1988, and bottled by That Boutique-y Whisky Company for their Cinema Series. “There's a special rung in hell reserved for people who waste good Scotch.” So says Michael Fassbender. That may have something to do with the hand-illustrated cinema design on this incredible whisky... A batch of just 242 bottles.
"Back in 1988 Glen Garioch still used Highland peat and floor malted everything. It's actually 34 years old too, but that didn't work with the label story. Cool eh? An utterly stunning whisky!"
Dave Worthington
Olive-fueled, affable & beardy award-winning whisky ambassador
Tasting notes
Wow! This is waxy. Overripe apples, green bananas, and hints of camphor, chalk, perhaps a little piney, and some fresh bread dough.
Just sublime! That waxiness comes across to the palate too, mulled cider, with dried peel, apricot compote, and white pepper.
Long, fruity, honeyed, and a little peppery spice. Just a hint of peat reek at the very end too.
Bardstown Straight Wheated
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
The folks at Bardstown Bourbon Co. are all about pushing boundaries, and this Kentucky straight wheated bourbon boasts a mash bill with a whopping 39% wheat alongside 53% corn, and 8% malted barley. The use of wheat instead of rye achieves a softer texture with less spice, and plenty of bready, pastry-like character. Matured for six years, and bottled at a robust 53% ABV.
"I was given a bottle of this for my birthday, and it's one that will stay with me. It’s everything you could want from a wheated bourbon, and then some. At 53% ABV you can pour it over ice for a cracking highball without losing any of that Bardstown character. Perfect."
Thomas Burton
Customer service guru, translator to the dev team & MoM OG
Tasting notes
Ripe apricot and lemon rest on leather and crème brûlée.
A bold palate of oak and pastry.
A lightly spiced, full-bodied finish.
Compass Box Nectarosity
Scotch blended whisky
Behind all the most exquisite patisseries are test kitchens, where delicious creations are invented, and it's much the same for whisky blenders! Straight out of the Compass Box test kitchen, Nectarosity is a blended Scotch whisky combining spirit from the likes of Linkwood, Cameronbridge, Girvan, Clynelish, and Balmenach, and it's brimming with notes of sweet honeyed fruit, butterscotch, and cinnamon pastries.
"Originally nominated by Sam, I'm more than happy to champion this as it is delishhh!!! Compass Box share so much about it (thank you, transparency!), but none of that's needed to sip and say, "whoa". Delicate, textured, and complex."
Giovana Petry
Spirits marketer, cervaja founder & pomeranian parent
Tasting notes
This whisky is intended to be a pastry of a dram and we get that immediately on the nose, with frangipane, croissant, pineapple cubes, cinnamon, and apricot yoghurt.
Generous layers of fruit lead the way, with juicy peach and nectarine, poached pear, and tropical notes of pineapple.
The finish gently waves away with tropical fruit, warm pastries, and marzipan.
Dailuaine 16 Year Old 2008 (MoM)
Scotch single malt whisky, Speyside region
Sherry and rum cask collide in this utter beauty of a single malt Scotch whisky from Dailuaine, matured for 16 years between 2008 and 2025, and bottled by us for our exclusive Master of Malt collection. The whisky began its maturation in a refill sherry hogshead, then transferred to a refill rum cask, bringing just the right layer upon layer of rich fruit, honeyed sweetness, and subtle tropical funk. A release of 425 bottles, without added colour or chill filtration.
"I can see why Sam chose this as the headliner in our first batch of shiny new-look MoM bottlings. It's a stunner, with funky tropical fruit, boiled sweets, and creamy condensed milk. More please!"
Emma Symons
Whisky word-engine, rum nut, imperial stout maven & MoM OG
Tasting notes
Apple pastries, doughy. Buttery shortbread, vanilla. Creamy, zesty notes of gooseberry fool, yeasty bread/Champagne?, a hint of blue cheese?! drying hay, a touch of funky fruit, porridge, pithy tangerine.
Gorgeous creamy, tropical, with vanilla custard, banoffee, candied mango, Werther's Original. Gentle ginger in the distance, toffee ripple, tangy, overripe fruit, green and yellow fruit pastilles.
Rusk biscuits, buttery oak, condensed milk, caramel, sweet citrus, dried mango, boiled sweeties, estery and delicious, long, with a touch of spice - ginger/nutmeg creeping on the edges so it lingers even longer.
Ardnahoe Infinite Loch
Scotch single malt whisky, Islay region
The first core release from Islay's Ardnahoe Distillery, Infinite Loch was matured in a combination of bourbon and oloroso sherry casks. This single malt Scotch whisky was bottled at the distillery's preferred strength of 50% ABV, without artificial colouring or chill-filtration. The name was inspired by Loch Ardnahoe, located a stone’s throw from the distillery, known as the ‘infinite loch’ because no one knows the extent of its ‘hidden depths’.
"50% ABV and 40 PPM, but approachable, sweet, smoky and delicious. A perfect start to Ardnahoe's core range."
Charlotte Gorzelak
Erstwhile social media empress & "the Dr. Frankenstein of cocktails"
Tasting notes
Sea spray and coastal peat join zesty notes of orange oil and salted lemons, malt biscuits, and cocoa.
Sweet and salty with a tangle of menthol and fresh fruits and smouldering beach bonfire embers.
Rich peat smoke and zesty citrus linger, with a touch of peppery warmth.
GlenAllachie 15 Year Old
Scotch single malt whisky, Speyside region
This 15-year-old single malt was treated to a finishing period in a combination of puncheons and hogsheads that previously held Pedro Ximénez and oloroso sherry before bottling. Master distiller Billy Walker described the whisky as having an "exceptional balance of the distillery’s spirit and the influence of the sherry casks used during maturation." We'd have to agree.
"If you're a fan of sherry-influenced whiskies (like me) then GlenAllachie is a distillery worth spending some of your hard-earned pennies on. Yes, take my pennies!"
Chris Wood
Spirits buyer, spirits seller & spirits drinker (& also MoM OG)
Tasting notes
Peanut brittle, dates and a big scoop of chocolate ice cream.
Walnut, raisin, Christmas spices and fresh ginger.
Coffee, Turkish delight and just a hint of flaky sea salt.
Whisky by flavour
Choosing between hundreds or thousands of whiskies can be overwhelming to say the least. We've organised the world of whisky into five instantly understandable flavour groups to help you explore this amazing and diverse spirit.
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