Maltrunners came together this year as a bit of a lark. Something a few of us had discussed on and off, but never quite got going. Then in June of this year, we finally decided to do it. We set up this little site as a home for our reviews and to share them with interested readers. In slightly over six months, that’s added up to over 1600 posts. There’s a lot more to come, both with archiving old reviews and adding new ones. We hope you enjoy what’s to come. And without further ado, here’s our inaugural year in review.

-The Maltrunners

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The Muskox

Worst pour: Glen Fohdry 12 – Total Wine can keep it, thank you very much.

I can’t stop talking about: MacLean’s Nose – $37 blended scotch shouldn’t taste this good. Complete game-changer.

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Raygun

Best pour: Ben Nevis 26 1996 Aqua Vitae – Been a good year and there were a number of contenders, but nothing beat this. An obscure bottler I’d never heard of, but this was fantastic.

I can’t stop talking about: Tropical flavors. Always enjoyed these, but this year confirmed that some of my favorites have an evident tropical character. Like the aforementioned Ben Nevis, a Rare Malts Glendullan, and others among my top scores this year.

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ricebowl

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Whiskery Turnip

Most disappointing: Mortlach, 2022 Special Release.
In terms of the most biting 2023 low-stakes disappointments, this rivaled the Disney+ reboot of Willow in terms of wasted potential and senseless storylines. It was the closeness to pulling it off and creating something great that made the disappointment so sharp.

Worst pour: Ardmore Legacy
I love Ardmore, but I have no idea what this product is supposed to be. It feels entirely unconnected to the typical profile of the distillery. Perhaps as a cocktail ingredient, though I contend there are better options at a similar or lower price point.

I can’t stop talking about: Whisky friends and travel.
This summer, I hit the road for the first time in about four years. Traipsing through Sydney and Singapore I met up with old friends and made new ones.  Special shoutout to the Oak and Barrel in Sydney, who humored with me a tour of the Australian whisky scene, the staff at LMDW Singapore, many of whom are just waiting to geek out about whisky or rum with anyone who asks, friends at the Auld Alliance in Singapore who made sure we tried the right bottles, and the excellent crew at The Single Cask Singapore who made us feel like old friends.

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The Auditor

Most disappointing: Islay Rum Co Geal 2022
After seeing various rum bloggers extol the quality of the up and coming rum distilleries in England and Scotland I got a few of them to try for myself. I wanted to like them more than I did but it seemed to fall into the issues with most craft American Rum I’ve had. These weren’t awful by any means but I was let down as I expected more.

Worst pour: Rom De Luxe Dominican Republic
This was an un-aged high ester rum from one of the few distilleries located in the Dominican Republic. Bottled at a mind boggling 93% abv no amount of water could save this thing as its an Acetone bomb.

I can’t stop talking about: Viche Puro Rio Saija El Amparo Puro De Surales
2023 for me was kind of a breakout year for fresh pressed sugar cane juice rums from South America. Various bottlings from Colombia and Ecuador made their way to me and they were delicious and of high quality. I look forward to more bottlings of this kind going forward and more folks should try them.

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RyeAmLegend

Most surprising: Fettercairn 27 Year (1995) Whisky Sponge
‘Tropical with a capital T’ is how I described it. Loved this bottle and for the first time, I got such an intense tropical note from a malt. A well-aged Scotch from a distillery that I am mostly unfamiliar with gave me two new experiences with a single bottle.

I can’t stop talking about: Benriach 11 Year (1986) Adelphi Selection
1986 birth year scotch is not very common and it has been exceptionally difficult to find. Getting to share a dram at Jack Rose (with a fellow 1986’er!) was one of my favorite whisky experiences of the year. From a distillery that I know I love, it was a delightful experience to try something distilled way back when.

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BradboBaggins

Best pour: Zind-Humbrecht 40y Marc de Gewurztraminer

This 1976 distilled gem absolutely shocked me this year. I’m generally not a huge fan of marc, and have had little Gewurztraminer distillate (though I’ve had plenty of the wine), so I went into this with moderate expectations at best. Wow, was I blown away when this ended up being a total star of a dram. Complex, wild, punchy flavors combined with a great mouthfeel threw this into the category of “true revelation”. Amazing stuff.

Most surprising: Tullibardine 32 1964 Cadenhead’s

This 1964 distilled cask was a bit of a flyer at Jack Rose over the summer. Multiple older bottlings I’d hoped to try were out of stock, and this was a distillery I generally don’t find particularly interesting. Fortunately, the bartender nudged me repeatedly to try it, and I was blown away with the unctuous, fruit cocktail-like texture and flavor, as well as the complementary tannins, that turned this into one of my most pleasant surprises of the year.

Most disappointing: Compass Box Vellichor

This high end release from the company famous for making creative, boundary pushing blends just totally fell flat for me. At a very high price, and with very expensive/rare components, I expected something that would sweep me off my feet. It by no means tasted bad, but just lacked the kind of complexity, body, and volume that I enjoy in a superlative (or superlatively priced) dram

Worst pour: Tie: Lost Spirits “Immature Brandy” & Hudson “Do The Rye Thing” Rye Whiskey

Both are atrocious in their own way, yet both share this awkwardly sweet baby vomit smell/taste to them, and neither are things anyone should ever imbibe, much less spend money on.

I can’t stop talking about: Eve’s Cidery

This central NY cidery is a standard bearer in the revival of heritage varieties of cider apples and the production of delicious American cider. Coming to spirits after already having studied and been involved with wine for years, I’m always open to the idea that not all things need to be distilled to be delicious. Autumn Stoscheck and her team are incredible and passionate ambassadors for a category that deserves much more attention in the world of American beverages. I strongly recommend you give them a gander online and buy some to enjoy this upcoming year.

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Dustbunna

Most surprising: Abhainn Dearg X.
This 10-year-old Scotch from Isle of Lewis tasted completely singular, there are no comparisons I can make with other distilleries for what I experienced. If you want to talk about terroir in whisky, look no further; it straight-up tasted like I shoved a handful of Lewisian beachside clay into my mouth.

Most disappointing: Ardbeg BizarreBQ.
I’m always looking at Ardbegs that drop into the US market below $100 to see if they’re worth exploring, since they’re not exactly common anymore. Sadly, this one came off very one-note, muddled, and flat to me.

Worst pour: Loch Lomond Inchmoan 12.
A fight to the death between fig jam/blue cheese and the cast-offs from a paper mill.

I can’t stop talking about: New distilleries in Scotland.
So many of them are knocking it out of the park, putting <10 year old spirit up against older whiskies from established distilleries and coming out on top. There’s still tons of room for growth and improvement of course, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised on the whole— particularly with Raasay, Harris, and Ardnamurchan.

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DemiTastes

Most disappointing: Van Winkle 13 Year Family Reserve Rye.
Among the hyped Pappy cadre this was extremely “just okay” and a bit overoaked.

Worst pour: Murlarkey Smokehouse Whiskey.
I enjoyed the experience of tasting this blind because it was so bizarre, but ultimately it was thin in flavor and left me with the lasting impression that it tasted like hot dog water and toasted hot dog bun. Not exactly what I’m looking for in whiskey. Can’t see its use in a cocktail either.

I can’t stop talking about: If Solum hadn’t been my highest rated I would have put that here, too. But leaving the realm of whiskey, the one and only thing I’ve been talking about since it was released was Clear Creek 15 Year Apple Brandy Single Barrel selected by Aficionados Group.

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zSolaris