The month of August was dominated by Scotch whisky among our tasting panel, as releases ramped up ahead of the holiday season.
After a quiet summer, the new expressions come thick and fast at this time of year, and, true to form, so-called Silly Season (September 1st – December 25th) started with the release of the oldest Scotch whisky ever bottled: The Balvenie 88 Year Old.
The World of Fine Spirits editor Alex Martin was one of the very few individuals invited to review it, and we’re pleased to say it lived up to its billing (and price tag) with August’s highest score. What else made the cut? Take a look at the list below to find out.
If you’re new to The World of Fine Spirits, check out how we score spirits here.
Del Maguey, Pechuga Mezcal
This unassuming bottle comes from single-village mezcal producer Del Maguey. It was founded in 1995 by artist Ron Cooper, who pioneered single-village mezcal from Oaxaca.
Pechuga takes the double-distilled Minero from Santa Catarina Minas and runs a third distillation with wild mountain apples, plums, plantains, pineapple, almonds, and rice, plus a skinned chicken breast suspended in the still. Yes, you read that correctly.
It won August’s blind tasting session with a score of 87, and sneaks into this month’s highest-scoring spirits as a result.
The Dalmore, Distillery Select 2026
The Dalmore launched Distillery Select in 2024 to show a different side of its single malt, and the 2026 edition is the first since the distillery reopened.
A 2012 vintage matured primarily in ex-bourbon casks, it takes a 21-month finish in Semisecco Marsala casks from Sicily, and those casks have certainly had an impact.
The nose is full of citrus and floral notes, the palate bursts with candied orange, honey pomelo and freshly cracked walnuts, and drying oak balances the finish.
Non-chill-filtered, natural color, 53.7%, and limited to 1,110 bottles sold only at the appointment-only distillery. Our taster described this as “full of citrus and floral notes”.
Aberfeldy, Exceptional Cask 24 Year Old
Aberfeldy’s Exceptional Cask Series gathers single- and double-cask bottlings hand-picked by malt master Stephanie Macleod, and this is its latest edition.
After more than two decades in ex-bourbon casks, the whisky was moved into white Port casks from Portugal’s Douro Valley for its final stretch.
The distillery, founded by the Dewar brothers in 1898 and the brand home of Dewar’s blended Scotch, is known for a honeyed house style.
Our taster described this dram as “intensely sweet” thanks to its distillery character and white Port influence.
Hibiki, 12 Year Old Travel Retail Exclusive
Hibiki 12 Years Old has returned to global travel retail after an 11-year absence, reimagined by Suntory’s fifth-generation chief blender Shinji Fukuyo rather than reissued, and it draws on Yamazaki, Hakushu, and Chita whiskies matured in American, Spanish, and Mizunara oak.
The 24-faceted bottle, which represents Japan’s 24 microseasons, carries new packaging drawn from the Kacho-Fugetsu tradition.
Bottled at 43% and priced at around $188 for 700ml, it debuted at Dubai Duty Free in May, 2026.
Our taster described this whisky as having a “weightless quality” and said it has been “beautifully composed”.
House of Hazelwood, Calm Waters
Calm Waters is a 34-year-old blended malt in House of Hazelwood’s Legacy Collection, the more accessible of its two ranges, sitting below the rarer Charles Gordon Collection.
Drawn from a mixture of first-fill and refill sherry butts, it is a heavily sherried Speyside of the kind that usually commands several thousand pounds a bottle.
Bottled at cask strength, 52.1%, and limited to 297 bottles. Our taster describes a complex nose ranging from “deeply sweet to lightly floral”.
Louis XIII, Black Pearl 2026
Louis XIII only releases a Black Pearl when the cellar master finds something extraordinary in the cellars of Remy Martin.
This edition launched in 2026 when cellar master Baptiste Loiseau discovered an eaux-de-vie with the specific quality of changing flavor profile across temperatures.
The only way to bring this to the people was to sell it in its own mini fridge (Louis XIII calls it a cooling cellar). Our taster described it as “a stunning example of blending and refinement”.
Loch Lomond, Waypoint 31 Year Old
This is the oldest peated malt Loch Lomond has ever released.
The Highland distillery runs peated spirit only a few weeks a year, and this drew on the heavier end of that output: 30 years in ex-bourbon casks, followed by a 12-month finish in a Tawny port pipe.
Non-chill-filtered, natural color, and limited to 2,600 bottles globally, the whisky is presented in a handcrafted wooden case with an internal copper tube and artwork by illustrator Brett Breckon.
Our taster described it as “one of the most elegant, well-matured Loch Lomond expressions I’ve come across in a long time”.
Signatory, Secret Speyside (M) 2008
Signatory cannot reveal the distillery this 18-year-old single malt Scotch whisky hails from, but has given us some tantalizing clues.
Apparently it’s a Speyside distillery, west of Craigallachie, begins with the letter ‘M’, and has an affinity with sherry casks. Does that leave you in any doubt? Well, it really shouldn’t.
Aged in first-fill oloroso sherry casks, this independent bottling offers a full-bodied sherry bomb at a punchy 57.1% – and at startlingly good value, too.
Our taster described it as “an absolute bargain for the Macallan drinkers out there.”
Blue Hanger, 14th Release 26 Years Old
Berry Bros. & Rudd’s in-house blend, Blue Hanger, returns after more than a decade, the first release since the 13th Edition and the first composed by spirits curator Felix Dear.
The blend includes seven casks – six ex-bourbon hogsheads and one ex-sherry butt – with the youngest malt aged 26 years.
Non-chill-filtered and natural color at 45.6%, it’s limited to 2,500 bottles.
Our taster described it as “a delicious reminder of just how characterful a great blended malt can be”.
The Balvenie, 88 Year Old
The Balvenie 88 Year Old is one of the most remarkable Scotch whiskies ever bottled.
Filled into a single sherry cask in March 1931, the whisky survived booms, busts, and World War II before being filled into glass by malt master Kelsie McKechnie in 2019.
It hid away for seven years before being released as the oldest Scotch ever bottled in 2026. Just 17 bottles exist, all of which were sold before its public unveiling. Our taster described the whisky as containing “the personality of the warehouse”.
