A double blind guided tasting, freeing everyone from the burden of expectation
When: 25th September 2026
Where: The Yard – Ely
Host: Elliott Drinks Whisky
I have hosted and reviewed a number of blind tastings in the last 12 months, so far all at Thirsty and in flight form. This is the first I’ve taken to Ely and the first where I’ve done a full guided tasting. Not only that, but this was double blind, made possible by the wonderful Mystery Malt series from the Thompson Bros. Now on to its 6th edition, this series sees the brothers continuing to show off their cask selection and curation skills by hiding it all away until the point of drinking. The point is, whatever you get is going to be something great, so you trust the luck of the draw and buy a bottle, or a case. Every bottle is a single malt Scotch whisky at 46.3%, and the cheat sheet shows that there are 38 options. Made up of whiskies from all Scotch regions except Campbeltown, the youngest is 6 years old, the oldest 29, and cask types in the list cover ex-bourbon, sherry, wine, port, and plenty of refill.
I’ve taken well-received Thompson Bros whiskies to Ely in my lineups before, and I’ve been part of Mystery Malt format tastings twice before (1, 2) with the Cambridge University whisky society, so I was happy it would work and happy it would go down well. But, it is a different style of tasting for people, and possibly hard to be excited about when presented with little to no introduction, so how did I introduce the night to the room? I emphasised the importance of enjoying whisky over expecting something from it. Gathered together, presented with a whisky we know nothing about, we are free to think about the whisky without the pressure of a label, a distillery, a cask history. We can nose and taste and savour and draw our own conclusions. As always, I say that the ‘guessing’ element is entirely optional, as it is rarely easy and often overwhelming, but see what you can taste – see if you can find fruit or wood or smoke or cereal – see if you enjoy the experience of drinking it. That’s ultimately the most important thing. And there were no prizes for guessing anyway!
To set the pouring order, I uncorked and sniffed each bottle a few times in a few different orders. Not a perfect science by any means, I would say I was confident with the placement of 3 out of 6 based on that alone – the other 3 were a touch less forthcoming from the bottle, but I was fairly happy with the order I chose at the start, and by the end confident it had worked well. I revealed each bottle’s identity before moving onto the next. And throughout, we talked about what the colour might mean, what a particular flavour might mean and how casks and time can lead to different hints we might be sensing. While I may not have had pages of notes about the lineup, I did have answers to questions or opinions to share, because although we were all drinking the same whiskies, we’ve all had different experiences that fuel our tastes and perceptions.
The Whisky
Glenburgie – 17 – 1st Fill Bourbon Barrel
Single Malt Scotch Whisky – 46.3%
Quite a pull to open with! Glenburgie is a Chivas Brothers (Pernod Ricard) distillery, and mostly finds its way into Ballantine’s blends. Very rare to find bottled by Chivas Brothers themselves, Glenburgie is more common in the independent bottling world, though often at quite old ages (even older than we have here), meaning prices are high.
What struck me with this in my glass was that it felt young and woody. The notes I got suggested plain or rejuvenated wood. I didn’t find the vanilla or toffee sweetness I might have expected, knowing this was a bourbon barrel. I’m not familiar with Glenburgie spirit though, and 17 years is a fair age to have spent in that barrel, so picking up the wood and spice is not surprising.
Notes: 👁️ Quite pale👃🏻Appley, cereal, yeast, melon 👄Peppery, woody, citrus oil, ginger, baking spices.
Lindores – 6 – STR ex-Wine Hogshead
Single Malt Scotch Whisky – 46.3%
Another surprise and quite a swing in style for bottle 2. I found much more fruit in this glass compared to the first, so maybe I was caught by the contrast, but I was expecting sherry cask with some time behind it. Though, again, ex-Wine can explain/excuse some of my notes.
This 6 year old Lindores was delicious and drank older than its statement. I am a fan of Lindores and have presented and enjoyed numerous bottles (I have an unopened bottle from a privately owned cask sat on my shelf that I bought on my Spring ’26 trip to Speyside that’s almost as dark as these painted mystery malt bottles!). Their story is fascinating, laying claim to a place in Scottish whisky history, as the oldest written record of whisky production in Scotland points to it happening in Lindores Abbey. And their attitude of cask exploration has always produced moreish drams, so I’m happy to have tried another here, and been reminded of the quality (without expectation).
Notes: 👁️Darker than the first👃🏻Orangey wine, amaretto, not yeasty but fresh cask fruitiness 👄Bubblegum, peppery, orange liqueur, bitter grape, ouzo, little cask toast, leathery.
Clynelish – 13 – Dechar/Rechar
Single Malt Scotch Whisky- 46.3%
This is one of two bottles that were duplicated from the second of the Cambridge University tastings I mentioned in the opening. A little bit of a shame to draw two dupes given the range of bottles available, but luckily they were lovely bottles to taste. And proving that this guessing malarkey is plenty difficult, I didn’t instantly remember that I’d had either before – although maybe that says more about me than the game itself 😅.
Clynelish exists for Diageo very similarly to how Glenburgie does for Chivas. Not often seen bottled as a single malt, though highly respected as one, it is more commonly used to make blends such as Johnnie Walker.
This dram was sort of a mix of the 2 that preceded it with that grape and pepper, but with an extra boost of something earthy and green. A nice treat and well placed in slot 3 to appreciate that difference.
Notes: 👁️Somewhere between 1 & 2👃🏻Ginger, grape spirit, cereal, perfumed, little balloony/earthy 👄Granola, citrus oil, fire, crackers, melon, icing sugar, bitter liqueur, herbal.
Auchentoshan – 27 – 1st Fill Wine Barrique
Single Malt Scotch Whisky – 46.3%
The wonderful thing about the Mystery Malt series is it lets me include a bottle worth a few hundred pounds in a line-up, which is definitely not something I would otherwise be able to do. The shortlist for batch 6 of the series doesn’t feature too many heavily fruited casks, so nosing and pouring this substantially narrows down the options – I was also quite confident that this belonged in slot 4 when I was ordering the bottles at the start of the evening.
Auchentoshan is owned by Japanese conglomerate Suntory and stands out in Scotland as being one of very few distilleries to triple distil its spirit; this leads to a lighter, floral style. There is plenty of own-bottled Auchentoshan around, and the distillery was actually among the first to push single malt in a market dominated by blends at the start of the 70s; in fact.
I really wasn’t expecting this to be a wine cask, having found many notes I commonly associate with sherry cask whiskies, but how different from some sherries is a rich red wine, really. The likes of this bottle are not something I will be able to get used to tasting, but being given the opportunity is almost as special as the whisky itself.
Notes: 👁️Dark!!👃🏻Jam on toast, dark chocolate powder, paint stripper 👄Dark sherry, raisin, syrup, bitter grape.
Bowmore – 9 – Bourbon Barrel
Single Malt Scotch Whisky – 46.3%
This is the second repeat pull from the University tasting a couple of months before. But as with the earlier Clynelish, not something I was able to discern well. I had questioned that it might be Bowmore, with a subtle smoke character, but I was way off with the cask, despite having got such a vanilla whack up on the nose, and that being a common bourbon barrel trait.
This was definitely a lovely whisky and of a quite particular style. From the voting around the room at the end of the tasting though, I think it wasn’t a style that people were looking for on the night. Bowmore’s history affords it quite a strong place in the whisky market, with a solid (if low ABV) own-bottling range, and a number of independently released expressions as well, offering a look at how it behaves at higher strength.
Notes: 👁️Paler again👃🏻Smoke, vanilla! Cereal, little smoked fish, crackling 👄Light smoke, salt, woody, lime, butterscotch, little tar/bitumen.
Caol Ila – 12 – Dechar/Rechar
Single Malt Scotch Whisky – 46.3%
We ended with a bottle that, on the initial nosing research, was very clearly destined to sit in this sixth slot with oodles of smoke. Not heavy, and filled with sweetness, but very present and obvious. Caol Ila doesn’t always offer the most Islay experience, with an often nudge into lighter, fruitier smoke, but this one is savoury and chocolatey with a solid vegetal tinge.
Caol Ila isn’t a rare whisky, and this isn’t a particularly ancient find either, but it is a pretty reliable distillery, whether it’s being released by Diageo or by independent bottlers. It is versatile, handling itself well at a young age, and taking on time comfortably without becoming too expensive due to that wide availability. I remember a couple of years ago hearing that Diageo wanted to tighten the leash a bit, presumably sensing a chance to artificially increase demand and drive up prices. But, for now, Caol Ila is available, and casks like this can find their way into great deals like this, to round out fun line-ups and events like this.
Notes: 👁️Pale!👃🏻Seaweed but not iodine, slight tropical fruit, little chlorine, honey roast parsnips 👄Salty, chocolatey, undercooked chips, cocoa powder, roasty smoke.
The Winners
Vote Winners: Bottle #1 – Glenburgie & Bottle #4 – Auchentoshan
Unfortunately, because we were revealing each bottle as we went, the vote for favourites at the end may not have been entirely impartial and in the spirit of the blind tasting methodology 😅. But being in and observing the room, I think the vote matches fairly well with people’s reactions to the whiskies when they were poured and sampled blind. Which would appear to be a win for older whiskies being better (and that’s definitely not always the case) – the voting here pretty much perfectly matched descending age, with a tie at the top.
When I smelt number 4 in the bottle, I knew I was excited by it, having no idea about its age at that point, nor its flavour. I am a sucker for a cask influence, and that was all over the Auchentoshan – certainly not a complicated whisky, but sometimes that’s what the people want. The Glenburgie, as revealed in slot 1, was perhaps more complex, but was a good sipper and a great start. If the room didn’t want smoke, and they were in the mood for whiskies to drink, but without the think, then the vote definitely makes sense by that measure as well.