Laphroaig Càirdeas, Daftmill, Teeling, The Whistler & More [New Releases]

Scotland and Ireland have been heard from this week after a recent stream of new American whiskeys. In the west of Scotland, May is festival time for Campbeltown and Islay, which brings forth a slew of special releases, including Laphroaig Càirdeas, which we cover here. Also from Scotland comes the very limited Daftmill, the Lowlands farm distillery whose highly sought-after whiskies are notoriously difficult to find. From Ireland, Teeling is out with the third edition in its Wonders of Wood series—this one aged in Swedish oak—while Bushmills offers a 31 year old as the fourth edition in its Rare Cask series and The Whistler unveils a 21 year old madeira-finished single malt.

From the U.S., Barrell has a new batch, while Colorado distiller Laws has a trio of bottled in bond expressions. NBA superstar Steph Curry, who came out with his first whiskey, Gentleman's Cut, last year, last week released Gentleman’s Cut Player Exclusive 15 year old, a high-rye bourbon, priced at whopping $4,500 a bottle. Only 230 bottles, released in celebration of Curry’s 15^th year in the NBA, were numbered and signed by Curry. Considering the First Gentleman's Cut release was priced at $80 and scored 88 points, this seemed quite a leap. But the celebrity and collectibility factor proved irresistible, as it sold out within a matter of days.

Laphroaig Càirdeas Cask Favourites (2024 Release) Scotch Single Malt

ABV: 52.4%
SRP: $110/700 ml
Availability: Limited

Former Laphroaig distillery manager John Campbell introduced Càirdeas—Gaelic for “friendship”—back in 2008 to celebrate Friends of Laphroaig, the distillery’s loyalty club. For the 2024 release, master blender Calum Fraser took 10 year old casks, a callback to the first release, which was also 10 years old. Similar to the Càirdeas Triple Wood release in 2019, the whisky was first aged in heavily charred first and second-fill bourbon barrels and quarter casks before being finished in Pedro Ximénez sherry casks, like 2021’s PX Cask release. Cask Favourites was bottled at cask strength, as many Càirdeas whiskies are.

Fraser stepped into Suntory Global Spirits' chief blender role in 2022; this is his first Càirdeas whisky. While previous Càirdeas releases were exclusive to the club, this latest whisky is available to all via ReserveBar, and it will begin shipping to the U.S. later next month.

Daftmill 2010 Cask Strength Scotch Single Malt

ABV: 58.7%
SRP: $325/700 ml
Availability: 2,400 bottles

Daftmill is Lowlands farm distillery that operates on a minuscule scale, producing just 100 casks a year from 100% single-estate barley that’s grown during just two summer months and two winter months. The distillery’s latest release is a marriage of 15 first-fill bourbon casks distilled between January and July 2010, and bottled at cask strength.

Brothers Francis and Ian Cuthbert run Daftmill; their family has owned the land the distillery sits on since the 1980s (and they’ve cultivated the surrounding farmland since the early 1900s). Its first whiskies were distilled in 2005, but wouldn’t debut until 2018 when they reached 12 years old. When it opened, Daftmill was the first new Lowlands distillery since 1966; nowadays, another 17 distilleries have joined the Lowlands fray. The region’s whiskies are characterized by lighter color and body, and delicate and floral flavors.

Torabhaig The Legacy Series: Cnoc Na Mòine Scotch Single Malt

ABV: 46%
SRP: $65
Availability: 9,600 bottles in the U.S.

Skye-based scotch distiller Torabhaig has released the newest member of its Legacy Series: Cnoc Na Mòine. The smoky single malt, which has a name that translates to “hill of peat,” was distilled from grains peated to 55-60 phenols per million (PPM). It also marks the first time Torabhaig has released a whisky aged partly in sherry casks; sherry casks make up about 8% of the overall maturation—approximately 6% oloroso and 2% PX casks—with the remaining 92% taken up by American oak bourbon barrels.

Torabhaig Distillery is a relative newcomer to the scotch game, having been founded in 2017. Alongside Talisker, it’s one of only two whisky distilleries based on the Isle of Skye. Still in its formative years, Torabhaig doesn’t yet have a flagship bottling: The Legacy Series is meant to document the distillery’s path to creating a 10 year old single malt, which is intended to be that first core offering.

No two Legacy whiskies are the same: Each is the result of some experimentation or change to the whisky-making process, which are meant to further refine what the distillery’s house style will look like. This time around, the change was the introduction of sherry casks. (The previous entry was aged in a mix of bourbon barrels and refill whisky casks.) Results have been promising so far with very impressive scores from Alt Gleann (93 points) and Alt Gleann Batch Strength (95 points).

Bushmills The Rare Casks No. 4 31 year old American Oak Cask

ABV: 45.6%
SRP: $2,600
Availability: U.S. exclusive limited release of 780 bottles available at Reservebar and select stores

Bushmills has released the fourth iteration in The Rare Casks series with a 31 year old triple cask-matured whiskey. This triple distilled single malt spent 14 years maturing in bourbon barrels and sherry butts before undergoing a 17-year secondary maturation in new toasted American oak casks. Selected by master distiller Alex Thomas, this is the oldest whiskey and the final release in The Rare Casks series. There has been a noticeable jump in price with the fourth release, which costs more than the combined price of the earlier three releases.

The series has included a $500 28 year old Cognac Cask Finish (95 points) released in 2020, a 29 year old Pedro Ximénez Cask (93 points) released in 2022 at $750, and a $1,000 30 year old Madeira Cask (93 points) released in 2023.

Teeling Wonders of Wood Third Edition Virgin Swedish Oak

ABV: 50%
SRP: $100
Availability: Nationwide

Teeling Whiskey master distiller Alex Chasko selected new Swedish oak for the third installment in Wonders of Wood, its series of single pot still whiskeys fully matured in unconventional and interesting woods. Swedish oak is in regular use at Swedish distilleries such as High Coast and Mackmyra, but it has rarely been utilized by non-Nordic distilleries. It grows in the southern half of Sweden, at a latitude that produces a dense oak that Teeling says produces a candied ginger and almond treacle character in Irish whiskey.

The Wonders of Wood series uses Teeling’s classic triple distilled single pot still recipe made with 50% unmalted barley at the distillery in Dublin. The releases to date include Virgin Chinkapin Oak and Virgin Portuguese Oak. Impressively, both expressions scored 93 points and made back-to-back Whisky Advocate Top 20 lists. The series is about more than the flavor that great oak casks impart on single pot still whiskey, as Teeling has partnered with the Tree Council of Ireland to plant an acre of native Irish tree species with each release.

The Whistler 21 year old Madeira Finished Irish Single Malt

ABV: 54.5%
SRP: €1,000 (approx. $1,085)
Availability: Boann Distillery’s website (U.S. delivery is available to 21 states)

Ireland’s Boann Distillery has unveiled The Whistler 21 year old Justino’s Madeira Collaboration. It’s a twin pack featuring one bottle of Irish whiskey and one bottle of madeira wine—both of which are the result of a joint project between Boann and madeira winemaker Justino’s Madeira Wines. The collaboration began when Justino’s filled two 350-liter French oak cognac casks with madeira and left the wine to mature for 20 years, using the traditional canteiro method. The casks were then emptied and sent to Boann Distillery, where they were filled with sourced 20 year old Irish single malt that had been matured in bourbon barrels. The whiskey was then finished in the two madeira casks for 18 months before bottling. The 20 year old madeira was also bottled.

The result is this 21 year old Irish whiskey, accompanied by its companion bottle of Justino’s 20 year old Malvasia Colheita 1999 madeira, bottled as a single cask expression at 19.5% ABV. The 1,000 sets of 500 ml bottles have laser-engraved wooden stoppers crafted from the madeira cask staves, with the level clearly visible where the madeira penetrated the wood. The label images of the sun and the moon represent the passage of time—the whiskey was aged for 7,665 sunrises, while the madeira was aged for 260 lunar cycles.

Barrell Bourbon Batch 036

ABV: 57.22%
SRP: $90
Availability: Nationwide; 36,000 bottles

Kentucky blending house Barrell Craft Spirits’ Batch 036 is a blend of aged bourbons sourced from Indiana (7.5–10 year olds), Kentucky (9 year old), and Tennessee (8 and 15 year olds) which is bottled at cask strength. The blend has a mashbill of 79% corn, 16% rye, and 5% malted barley.

Since its founding in 2013 Louisville-based BCS has risen to superstar status in the blending world, and is arguably one of the foremost blending houses in the country. It boasts an impressive history of scores, with many expressions rated at 93 points or higher. The new batch’s predecessor, the 6 year old Batch 035, earned a 94 rating and was named our No. 11 Whisky of 2023. Its Vantage blend scored 95 points in our 2022 Top 20 list.

Batch 36 is the first release with Barrell’s new label design. The new label puts the batch number in big orange lettering and includes the states where each whiskey was sourced, along with their ages. The back label also includes the batch’s mashbill—something BCS has included for recent Cask Finish series expressions, but is completely new to its batched releases. The idea is to make it easier to identify the batch on shelves, while providing more transparency on what’s actually in the bottle. The new labeling will apply to other batches going forward as well.

Laws 7 year old Bottled in Bond Four Grain Bourbon (2024 Release)

ABV: 50%
SRP: $85
Availability: In select states and online

Laws 7 year old Bottled in Bond San Luis Valley Rye (2024 Release)

ABV: 50%
SRP: $85
Availability: In select states and online

Laws 7 year old Bottled in Bond Centennial Wheat Whiskey

ABV: 50%
SRP: $85
Availability: In select states and online

Laws Whiskey House has released new batches of three of its bottled in bond expressions: Four Grain bourbon, San Luis Valley rye, and Centennial wheat whiskey. Age statements can vary batch to batch, and this year’s versions are all 7 years old. Usually these whiskeys are released separately throughout the year, but this is the first time Laws has opted to release them simultaneously.

Founded in 2011, the Denver-based Laws Whiskey House crafts whiskeys with Colorado terroir in mind. In addition to using fresh river water, the distillery has a fondness for heirloom grains sourced from farms in the state. These heirloom varieties are often the highlight of Laws releases, and that’s the case for these three whiskeys as well: The rye and wheat whiskeys are both distilled entirely from single heirloom grains (100% San Luis Valley rye and 100% centennial wheat), while the bourbon features heirloom wheat, rye, and malted barley strains. These grains came from Cody Family Farm in the San Luis Valley.

Previous batches of these three whiskeys have scored well. Centennial and San Luis Valley have both taken home ratings of 91 points, the highest marks in the Laws portfolio. Bonded Four Grain scored 89 points.