Member Exclusive Bottles
A core benefit of membership to the Cambridge Whisky Club is access to some specially selected bottles on the bar at Thirsty at a ‘bottle share’ price per dram. Those bottles are chosen to give members the opportunity to try something that they wouldn’t normally be able to try a dram of, without buying the whole bottle. Often, that means the bottles will be higher in value or limited in release. Importantly though, measures from these bottles will be priced to make it feel more like a bottle share, with Thirsty agreeing to be at their break-even point. Hopefully, as many members as possible get a chance to try these delicious whiskies!
Current Bottle
(Click a bottle to hear about it from the source)
Living Souls – 40 yo Blended Scotch Whisky #2
Blended Scotch Whisky
Lightly/ex-peated
40 years old – 45.1% ABV
Marrying since 1998 in an ex-Islay sherry casks
(Click for bottler info)
Selector: Elliott_Drinks_Whisky
Why?
There are a few reasons why this felt like a good choice for club bottle number 3.
Firstly, I have enjoyed all of the Living Souls expressions that I’ve tried, and having spent time at their stand at a couple of festivals now, they’re lovely to chat to. They are releasing genuinely interesting things, a skill which has, I’m sure, been honed from the founders’ many combined years across the industry.
The remaining reasons are best explained together. We have a blend, which is 40 years old, and been left to marry in an ex-Islay (ex-sherry) cask. This pick, then, naturally follows on from our most recent (September) flight tasting theme of Second Hand Smoke – a fourth in the trilogy on display there.
Yes, it’s a blend, but, (say it with me) blends aren’t bad! They might vilified or given the stink eye by ‘proper’ whisky drinkers, but just like grain whiskies (and, well, all whiskies), they deserve your time. Of course, as with any category or style of whisky, we won’t like them all, but there’s no such thing as an objectively bad whisky, only subjectively bad experiences.
With the youngest component of the blend being 40 years old, that puts us in the realms of whisky we can scarcely find anymore, let alone afford. The rumours are that 60% of this bottle is grain whisky (with the other 40% comprised of single malts from multiple distilleries), and a large portion of that coming from the now lost Cambus Distillery.
The official notes seem to be weighted more towards the tropical side, compared to the first dalliance that produced my notes below, so as always, don’t take what I or they have written as any sort of fact. This is from batch 2 of 3 that are currently available, and after trying this I am definitely encouraged to seek out the other batches. To say this is rare whisky feels a bit understated, but what should not be understated is the opportunity we have now to try this gem at our bottle share dram price!
Notes
👃🏻: Dirty rubber rum funk. Creamy ginger beer. Icing sugar, mango, unripe banana. Bitter almond, like a pineapple bakewell tart. Distant tobacco & hospital cleaner from the Islay cask.
👄: So much more ash & charred meat than the nose suggests. Chocolatey malt. Tropical fruit jus. Coconut spiced rum.
⌛: That rubbery funk like I’m blowing up a balloon, and burnt toast or chargrilled beef burger. Some sticky toffee richness. But the final, lasting, lingering impression is of earth.
Past Bottles
(Click a bottle to hear about it from the source)
Dà Mhìle – Tokaji Cask Special Edition
Organic Welsh Single Malt Whisky
Unpeated
NAS (Distilled 2019, released 2024) – 46% ABV
1st-fill Tokaji cask – 180 bottles
(Click for distillery info)
Selector: Elliott_Drinks_Whisky
Why?
I was fortunate enough to try some of this at Croydon Whisky Festival 2025 at the Welsh Whisky Society stall. The first Dà Mhìle (pronounced da-vee-lay) I tried was during a virtual lockdown tasting in 2021, and I remember it blew me away; a complex sample with a distinct transition of flavours between 3 stages. I’ve tried a second in the intervening years, but a bottle always feels like a rare sight from this family-run farm distillery, so it was exciting to see it at that festival. It was another satisfying experience, so when I noticed it online knowing the limited availability of bottles, and wanting something without smoke to contrast the last member’s bottle, this felt like an easy pick!
Notes
👃🏻: Red boiled sweets, roast ham, charred pineapple, fragrant forest, popcorn.
👄: Bitter vegetal toffee, spicy sherried grapes, fruit leather, touch of coffee.
⌛: Toffee, sticky, cask char.
Glen Scotia – Campbeltown Malts Festival 2025 Limited Edition
Single Malt Scotch whisky
Heavily peated
9 years old – 54.3% ABV
1st-fill bourbon barrel matured with 5-month red wine finish
(Click for distillery info)
Selector: Elliott_Drinks_Whisky
Why?
I received an email from Glen Scotia announcing the pre-sale of their 2025 Campbeltown festival bottling around the same time I was founding the club. I’m a fan of Glen Scotia, but felt like I hadn’t seen a really smokey release from them for a while. And I’m always a sucker a fruity finishing cask. So, the whisky itself, plus the early access to it, convinced me it would be a great start to this member’s tradition.
Notes
👃🏻: Chocolate, strawberry liqueur/cream. Potato peel, jam tart.
👄: Lemsip, smokey jam, pate, bready baking spice. Leather, charcoal, chalk.
⌛: Dusty caramel. Fragrant, weird wood.