Dornoch Vertical 2024

Overview

Dornoch Distillery has become my favourite distillery. I love their relentless pursuit of flavour in the whiskies they release, whether it's spirit produced in their miniscule distillery in the Northern Highlands of Scotland or in the form of yet another excellent independent release under their Thompson Bros brand. They're doing things their way, and I think they're nailing it.

A Dornoch single cask release (if you can get your hands on one) is never dull experience. This is especially true when you're sampling one of the small octave casks from their early crowdfunder days – every cask is different, and the early ones can be wonderfully wild. More recent single casks showcase Dornoch's evolving house style of spirit, which continues to be excellent. Each of their single cask releases is a unique experience, as are all single casks of whisky, but there's nothing out there quite like Dornoch. They're consistently dialing it up to 11.

For over a year, I've been patiently gathering a diverse group of Dornoch single cask bottlings to share with you. Let's delve into what Dornoch's been up to.

Special Guest

Jack Lowrie of Dornoch Distillery and Thompson Bros has joined us to talk about the drams and the various, fabulous whisky antics that are happening up Sutherland way.

Jack's official title is Warehouse Manager, but he's also a highly skilled, creative blender, and he wears many different hats due to how small the Dornoch team is. Dramface recently did a fun interview with Jack if you'd like to learn more.

Quite generously, Jack has brought with him two drams that he's chosen specifically for this tasting – cask #136 and a sample from his own private cask #463.

The Lineup

The lineup consists of seven Dornoch single casks, plus a mystery bonus welcome dram. That's a total of eight drams on this tasting – a bit mad, but hopefully you'll forgive me. 😅

Note: Two of the Dornoch single casks have been supplied by Jack, which are not pictured here (see further down the page for details).

Sláinte ✌️