DramMaster Daily Whisky News — 2 September 2026

By Murray

Romania Takes Master at the World Whisky Masters 2026

The World Whisky Masters 2026, run by The Spirits Business and judged blind, has awarded its only Master in the European single malt category (excluding Ireland and Scotland) to Carpathian Single Malt Whisky Peated Sherry Cask Strength. The whisky is made by Alexandrion Group at its Saber 1789 distillery in Bucov, Romania. Master distiller Allan Anderson spent three decades in Scotch and Irish whiskey before taking the role. Production uses Romanian malted barley, local spring water, double distillation in copper pot stills, and malt smoked to around 35ppm. The winning whisky is matured in a sherry STR quarter cask and bottled at 62.5% ABV, priced at £116 ($157). Eight Golds went to The Lakes Signature (47% ABV, £69), Wire Works Port Cask (50.2% ABV, £60), two further Carpathian finishes (Fetească Neagră and Greek Beer, both £59.95), The Lakes Boundless (48% ABV, travel retail exclusive), Nebo Peated from Croatia (48% ABV, 500ml, £57), Salty Dog from England (40% ABV, £55), and Wire Works Pineau des Charentes (not yet released). The judges called the Carpathian Master "rich, decadent, and inviting, nutty with a little bit of smoke."

Murray's take: Romania beating England to the only Master in European single malt is not a fluke. Alexandrion opened a purpose-built whisky distillery on the site in 2023 and hired a master distiller with three decades of Scotch and Irish experience. The Romanian Wine Cask Collection — using casks from the group's own wineries — gives Carpathian an ingredient pipeline most distilleries cannot match. The English whisky boom is real, but the European map is wider than England now.

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Loch Lomond Waypoint 31 Year Old: The Oldest Peated Malt in the Distillery's History

Loch Lomond Whiskies has released Waypoint 31 Year Old, the oldest peated whisky ever bottled by the distillery. Available globally from 1 September, priced at £750 ($1,010), and limited to 2,600 bottles, it is the third expression in the Waypoint Series, joining the 16 and 17 Year Olds. The single malt celebrates the trail between Inversnaid and Inverarnan on the north-east shores of Loch Lomond — one of the most challenging sections of the West Highland Way. It was matured in three types of ex-bourbon American oak casks and finished for 12 months in Tawny Port pipes. Loch Lomond crafted the expression using its signature straight neck stills; the distillery is the only one in Scotland to house both traditional swan neck and straight neck stills. The whisky carries a 99/100 score from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and a Gold at the International Spirits Challenge. Master blender Michael Henry said: "After 31 years of maturation, the whisky has developed a deep, rich rose colour and remarkable layers of dark chocolate, raspberry, cedarwood and woodsmoke." The nose offers blackberry and honey, the palate shows dark chocolate, raspberry and cedarwood, and the finish delivers woodsmoke and dark fruits. Bottled at 44.1% ABV, non-chill filtered and natural in colour, it comes in an etched wooden case with an internal copper tube and artwork by illustrator Brett Breckon.

Murray's take: Thirty-one years is a long time to wait before bottling a peated malt. Most peated spirit is released young — the smoke fades with age, and distilleries bottle early to keep the punch. Loch Lomond let the peat settle into the wood for three decades, then finished it in Tawny Port. The 99/100 SFWSC score says the gamble paid.

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Rosemaund Ditches the Ballot: Director's Cut 10-Year-Old Goes Open Sale

Rosemaund Farm Whisky has dropped the ballot for the first time. The Director's Cut, its third 10-year-old English single malt, goes on sale directly without one. The whisky launches on 1 September 2026 through rosemaund.com and selected UK specialist retailers. Limited to 3,000 individually numbered bottles at 47% ABV, it carries a UK RRP of £126 for 70cl. Rosemaund's first two releases were allocated by ballot due to small outturns, allowing the Herefordshire distillery to distribute bottles fairly among early customers. Those launches revealed something the team had not anticipated: a significant number of customers were buying Rosemaund as a gift. Co-founder James Dashwood Chase said: "The ballot was the right way to introduce Rosemaund and allocate two very small releases fairly. What surprised us was how many customers were buying the whisky for someone else." Master blender Tristan Stephenson selected a marriage of ex-bourbon casks, Oloroso sherry casks, and a touch of virgin oak. The nose opens with baked red apple, orange soda, wild berries, and nutmeg; the palate is oily yet fragrant with toasted oak, malt, and baking spices, leading to a long finish of white pepper and ripe autumn stone fruit. A bespoke presentation box enters production from October for the gifting market.

Murray's take: Dropping the ballot is the right call. Ballots create hype, but they also create friction — and friction is the enemy of gifting. A 10-year-old English single malt at £126, in a presentation box, with no lottery to enter, is positioned exactly where the category needs to be: accessible.

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Wemyss Malts Brings Back Smoky Shores — Now With a 14-Year Age Statement

Wemyss Family Spirits has launched Wemyss Malts Smoky Shores 14 Year Old, an age-stated release of its acclaimed blended Scotch whisky. The original non-age-stated Smoky Shores launched in 2022 and sold out in full. This new expression is bottled at 46% ABV, limited to 3,552 bottles, and carries an RRP of £65. The blend comprises two coastal single malts with very different relationships to peat: one from a distillery long synonymous with peated malt, the other a less familiar peated expression from a distillery better known for its unpeated house style. Master Blender Isabella Wemyss selected and married the two from a small parcel of hogsheads. The nose delivers coastal brine fused with rich, peaty smoke, with salt air unmistakable from the first pour. The palate leads with medicinal peat and sea salt, harmonised by a subtle zest of orange peel that lifts the whisky and prevents the smoke from dominating. Wemyss said: "Smoky Shores struck a chord with those who tasted it the moment we released it, and I always knew there was more to explore here. Fourteen years of maturation has allowed that character to evolve, while keeping everything people loved about the original spirit."

Murray's take: The original Smoky Shores sold out because it was a good blend at a fair price, not scarcity theatre. Bringing it back with a 14-year age statement at £65 is confident — the price stays reasonable for a blended malt with that much wood age. The two-malt marriage is the interesting detail: one peat-heavy, one from an unpeated house style, both coastal.

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Flinders Ranges First: Outback Distillery Releases Commercial Whisky

Flinders Gin, a distillery based in Quorn, South Australia that has won Australian Gin Awards for its Quandong Gin, is set to release the first commercially available whisky distilled and matured in the Flinders Ranges. Head distiller Alby Trotta said there were "not many whiskies produced this far north before" due to the region's fluctuating climate. Winter temperatures drop to minus five degrees; summer hits 50. That swing pushes the spirit in and out of the oak, so flavour develops faster than in cooler traditional regions. Casks were prepared at a cooperage in the Barossa using oak air-dried for 36 months before hand charring. The Flinders Whisky range was aged in American oak barrels for more than two years and three months, developing flavours of chocolate, toffee, and char. The first release sees 750 individually numbered 500ml bottles hit the market on Sunday for Father's Day, each featuring an outline of Devil's Peak, a local Quorn landmark. Since opening in 2021, co-owners Alby and Leah Trotta built a dedicated gin distillery, winning Australian Gin Awards for their Quandong Gin eight weeks after launch. The whisky operation produced close to 5,000 bottles — a fraction of the 3,000 gin bottles the company produces weekly. Trotta described the whisky as "a labour of love" and confirmed the business will "always be a gin distillery" first due to whisky's time-intensive nature.

Murray's take: An Australian distillery releasing 750 bottles of whisky and calling it commercial tells you where the Australian whisky category still sits — small batch, gin-funded, and patient. The climate story is the real one. Minus five to 50 degrees means the spirit cycles through the oak aggressively, compressing years of maturation into two. The result is not Scotch, and it is not trying to be. It is whisky shaped by a place no one else is distilling in.

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