It’s a Fletcher Friday. Upon encountering yet another entry into the indie bottler space; he considers if it’s even possible to bring anything truly ‘different’ today.

After we were treated to Dougie’s Campbeltown trips in our feature section, he reviews one of the Cadenhead’s Warehouse bottles he snagged. Yep, it’s a Garioch and he’s in love.

The Dougie Crystal Blend. A meticulous, carefully crafted plan to create the best possible blend, was quickly tossed out the window as the giddiness of eight cask strength bangers took hold.

Dougie remains committed to mining the rich purple seam of Glen Garioch. This time it’s a Cadehead’s 12yo . A 20cl bottle that, on first sip, sends him back for a full 70cl. Maybe two.

Dougie marvels at whisky’s way of bringing distant folk together. Over a particularly delicious Little Brown Dog bottling of Glenwyvis, he enjoys some sunny Skye time with a new soul mate.

On a trapse to the Big Smoke to explore some whisky in his favourite bar, Doog catches the lurgy. But not before he discovers a belter of a Ben Nevis form Woodrows - and the concept of a bloodtub.

Dougie, deliberately, seeks out the distillery that everyone has told him is terrible, he pulls the trigger on a bargain to discover “Jura is well worth the chase. Jura is magic whisky. Jura is hugely enjoyable and fun.” 😳

Let’s hand this tease over to the author; “But I reckon I’ve been blindsided by this ‘single cask’ truth and it’s making me wonder if anything is what it seems anymore.” Doog uncovers untruths…

Dougie encounters a home intruder, only to discover at his new home on the Isle of Skye, it’s ‘the done thing’. And anyway, this intruder brings a surprise mystery bottle of Foursquare finished Blended Malt Whisky from Mossburn.

It seems we’ve discovered the next rabbit hole that threatens to swallow our Doog for a while - that of Single Grain. Old, decadent, tasty and fairly priced stuff too.

As part of a ‘team building exercise’ Hamish is invited to stretch his olfactory senses in a structured test. His colleagues - knowing he’s a whisky reviewer - determine that he’ll “boss it”. Well, did he? You know the answer…dontcha?

Dougie is caught trolling the dying embers of the auctions once more for bargains. What’s this he’s found? A very curious SMWS oddball he needs to decipher first, both in description and flavour. We suspect he’s hit the rye wall once more.

A golden nugget of vivid, opulent magnificence

Great to visit and experience, but not to own

A robust and characterful Highland malt.

A very solid Teaninich if a little workmanlike in places