Scotch 2026
Backyard Whiskey Club — Annual Single Malt
Scotch
2026
Fifteen bottles. One night. Unmistakably Scotch.
The Pour Begins In
Saturday, March 7, 2026
15 bottles of single malt Scotch, handpicked by members of the Backyard Whiskey Club. From the heavily peated shores of Islay to the honeyed valleys of Speyside — a full tour of Scotland, one dram at a time.
The Lineup
The Macallan — Speyside
Harmony Collection
Phoenix Honey Orchid Tea
Inspired by China’s prized Phoenix Mountain oolong tea, crafted with JING Tea. Jasmine, dried apricot, and peach syrup on the nose — the palate offers honeyed stone fruit, yuzu brightness, and a delicate leafy astringency that gives way to soft pepper and clove.
Glenmorangie — Highland
18 The Infinita
Heather honey and beeswax open the nose — quintessentially Glenmorangie, light and aromatic. Candied orange, dried fig, and jasmine blossom, with the Oloroso sherry casks adding quiet depth without heaviness. Silky on the palate: caramelized orange marmalade, candied ginger, and a barely-there wisp of smoke on the finish. Elegance over drama.
Loch Lomond — Highland
Royal St George’s
Crafted for The 149th Open Championship — 20 years in American oak, finished in English virgin oak as a nod to Royal St George’s in Kent. Honeydew melon, lychee, toffee apple, and candied ginger carry through a long, dry finish of lime and caraway spice.
The Dalmore — Highland
King Alexander III
A six-cask symphony: Bourbon, Oloroso Sherry, Madeira, Marsala, Port, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Red berry fruits and passion fruit on the nose give way to citrus zest, crème caramel, and crushed almonds — finishing with cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger warmth.
The Dalmore — Highland
Luminary No. 3
The final chapter of the Luminary Series, finished across seven rare casks including 1989 Calvados, Matusalem Oloroso, and Châteauneuf-du-Pape barriques. Dark chocolate, toffee, blood orange, and cardamom — a finish that keeps evolving long after the glass is empty.
Black Adder — Independent Bottler
Red Snake 11yr — Foursquare Finish
Eleven years in ex-bourbon, finished in Foursquare rum casks from Barbados — bold tropical fruits, toasted oak, and a saline coastal quality on the nose. The palate brings rich dark chocolate, warm baking spices, a hint of coffee, and rum-soaked raisin from the finish cask. Raw Cask bottled with sediment intact — for all its intensity, it intrigues.
Oban — West Highland
15 Year Cask Strength
A US-exclusive sherry bomb from Scotland’s smallest distillery — extended finishing in Oloroso and Palo Cortado casks from Jerez builds caramelized brown sugar, coastal brine, and soft peat smoke into a velvet-textured dram. Double Gold, San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2025.
Jura — Isle of Jura
The Paps
Named for Jura’s iconic three peaks, finished in casks that held 40-year-old Pedro Ximénez sherry. Ginger cake, dark chocolate, spiced pear, and fig syrup on a silky palate — followed by a long, opulent finish of sea salt, rye spice, and bittersweet cocoa.
Highland Park — Orkney
Between You & I
16 Year Old
A Michelin-starred collaboration with Swedish chef Björn Frantzén — led by virgin Swedish oak, Orkney’s first. Cedar, beeswax, and heather honey on the nose; caramelized sugar, dates, and restrained moorland smoke on the palate. Long, dry, and quietly contemplative.
The Balvenie — Speyside
Curious Casks 14 Year
American Bourbon Barrel
First-fill bourbon barrels caught the ghost of a peat week — creating a whisky too smoky for the unpeated range and not smoky enough for the peated. Dense toffee, vanilla, candied orange, and a spectral charred-marshmallow smoke that lingers through a dry, mineral finish.
Lagavulin — Islay
12 Grain & Embers
Smoldering peat like banked coals — controlled and interior, not a bonfire. Iodine, oyster shell, and sharp coastal brine give way to dark dried fruits and a musky sherry-cask depth from PX and Oloroso butts. Weighty and oily at cask strength, with espresso bitterness, toasted almonds, and a surprising flash of tropical fruit before a long, salt-dusted finish.
Ardbeg — Islay
Smokiverse
The 25th Anniversary Ardbeg Day release, born from experimental high-gravity mashing. Smoked bubblegum, tropical fruit, and Ardbeg’s legendary peat collide with muscovado sugar and creosote — ending in a finish that’s practically infinite.
Laphroaig — Islay
Elements 3.0
Born from an accidental kiln fire that burned too hot — an unplanned experiment turned masterpiece. Dark chocolate, crème brûlée, and roasted cocoa lead a bold maritime peat charge, closing on a drying finish of iodine, leather, and sooty chimney smoke.
Bruichladdich — Islay
Octomore 15.2
108.2 PPM of Islay peat, tamed by a Cognac cask finish. Lime zest, lemon meringue, and tropical fruit open over smoked honey and roasted coffee. Viscous and creamy on the palate with a rolling maritime finish of salt spray and earthy peat embers.
Bruichladdich — Islay
Octomore 16.3
Single field, single farm, single vintage — 189.5 PPM from Concerto barley grown on Octomore’s own Church Field. Yet the peat arrives as cool bonfire ash, not a sledgehammer — wrapped in apricot honey, melon, and Nutella, with coastal salt anchoring every sip.