DramMaster Daily Whisky News — 13 September 2026

By Murray

Supermarket Scotch Wins Blind: Lidl £18 Islay Malt Takes Gold

The Whiskey Wash rounded up six own-label bottles from Lidl, Aldi, and Marks & Spencer that each won Gold or Silver at three blind-judged 2026 competitions: the World Whiskies Awards, the International Spirits Challenge, and the Scotch Whisky Masters.

Lidl's Ben Bracken Islay Single Malt won Gold in the Islay single malt category at the World Whiskies Awards 2026, the same category where Bowmore's 21 Year Old Sherry Oak Cask was named World's Best Single Malt. It sells for around £18. Three Ardbeg releases took Gold in the same category, priced from £32 to £245.

M&S Collection Kilchoman Islay won Gold at the ISC 2026 at around £40. Aldi's Highland Black 8 Year Old took Silver at the Scotch Whisky Masters for £14.99. Aldi's Glen Marnoch Speyside won Silver at the same competition for £18.49. M&S also stocks Glenfarclas 10 at £54 and Glengoyne 12 at £45, both ISC Silver medallists.

All three competitions judge blind. No branding, no packaging. Medals are awarded on what is in the glass.

Murray's take: The own-label category works because the liquid comes from established distilleries that cannot be named on the label. The whisky inside Ben Bracken is not made by Lidl. It is made by a Scotch producer bottling through the Clydesdale Scotch Whisky Company in Glasgow, with supply partners linked to Whyte & Mackay and Ian Macleod Distillers. The £18 price reflects the absence of marketing overhead, not the absence of quality. When a bottle at that price takes Gold in the same category as a £245 Ardbeg, the question is not whether supermarket Scotch is good. It is why more drinkers do not take it seriously.

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Thompson Bros Ardbeg 2008: 16-Year Single Cask, 200 Bottles

Thompson Bros, the independent bottling arm of Dornoch Distillery, has released a 16-year-old Ardbeg single cask to celebrate the Thompson family's 25th anniversary at the Dornoch Castle Hotel.

Distilled on 29 October 2008, the whisky spent 16 years in a refill butt. The outturn was 200 bottles, bottled at natural colour, non-chill filtered, and cask strength: 57.1% ABV. The reviewer at The Whiskey Wash rated it 10 out of 10.

The tasting notes describe a pale straw appearance. The nose opens with barbecued lemon, metal polish, paraffin, and sooty smoke alongside coastal salt and crushed oyster shells. The palate is oily: chargrilled lemon and lime, bonfire smoke, oyster shell minerality, barbecued meat, dark chocolate, turmeric spice, and earthy peat. The finish is long with lingering industrial smoke.

The reviewer noted minimal sherry influence from the refill butt, allowing Ardbeg's distillery character to come through clearly.

Murray's take: A refill butt is a neutral container. It does not impose flavour. What it does is let the spirit speak, and after 16 years, Ardbeg's spirit has plenty to say. 200 bottles at 57.1% is a small outturn for a 16-year Islay single cask from one of the most sought-after distilleries in Scotland. The 10-out-of-10 rating from an independent reviewer who specialises in IB bottlings is not a gift. The absence of sherry influence is the point. If you want Ardbeg wrapped in dried fruit, buy something else. If you want Ardbeg tasting like Ardbeg, this is what that looks like.

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Why Johnnie Walker Black Label Costs Under £25

The Whiskey Wash published an analysis breaking down the economics behind Johnnie Walker Black Label's sub-£25 shelf price. The bottle carries a 12-year age statement and has been sold since 1909. British supermarkets stock it for around £22. In the United States, it goes for roughly $34.

The blend combines whiskies from across Scotland, with the often-quoted figure of 29 to 40 single malts and grains. The 12 refers to the youngest whisky in the blend. Every component has spent at least that long maturing.

The pricing starts with grain whisky. Much of Black Label's volume comes from Cameronbridge distillery in Fife, which produces approximately 130 to 150 million litres of pure alcohol per year using continuous column stills. Glenfiddich, one of the largest single malt distilleries, produces around 21 million litres annually with 43 pot stills. Grain whisky uses cheaper cereals like wheat and maize rather than malted barley.

Diageo does not publish the malt-to-grain ratio. Tax accounts for roughly 70% of the shelf price in the UK. Black Label is bottled at 40% ABV, chill filtered, and coloured for consistency. It sits at the entry point of the Johnnie Walker range.

Murray's take: The price is not an accident. Grain whisky made continuously at industrial volume, a production base of nearly 30 distilleries, a tax bill consuming most of the shelf price, and a deliberate position at the bottom of the range all combine to hold Black Label where it sits. The whisky is built for reliability rather than intensity. Drinkers who want power will find it gentle. That is the design, not the defect. A 12-year-old blend that has been consistently good for over a century at £22 is one of the most efficient whisky purchases on the shelf.

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Disneyland's Napa Rose Builds California Whiskey Collection: 170 Bottles and Counting

Napa Rose, the fine-dining restaurant at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa in Anaheim, has assembled one of California's largest whiskey collections, with more than 170 expressions of bourbon, Scotch, and rye on the menu.

Beverage director Patrick Kirchen has been building the collection since the restaurant reopened earlier this year after an extensive refurbishment. The list includes a 1940 vintage of The Macallan Fine & Rare, Balvenie 40 Rare Marriages, and pours priced up to $11,250 for a 1.5-ounce serving. The accessible end carries Macallan 12, 15, 18, 20, and 25, plus Highland Park 12 through 25.

The bar also stocks allocated American whiskey like Michter's 10 Bourbon, a cask-finished American whiskey bottled exclusively for the bar, and Kirchen's personal favourite: a cask strength Harvest Rye from Olde St. Nick. The signature cocktail, the Sequoia Skyline, is infused with actual redwood smoke.

Kirchen told Forbes he is still searching for a Port Ellen 40-Year-Old Ghost & Rare, distilled before the Islay distillery closed in 1983. Whiskey pairing dinners with distillers are planned for later in the year.

Murray's take: A whiskey collection inside a Disneyland hotel sounds like a gimmick until you look at the list. A 1940 Macallan Fine & Rare is not a decoration piece. It is one of the rarest bottles in the category, and it sits on a menu accessible to anyone who walks through the hotel lobby without a park ticket. The 170-bottle count puts Napa Rose in the same conversation as dedicated whiskey bars in Manhattan and London. The Disney purchasing power does not hurt when negotiating allocated releases with distributors, but Kirchen still has to prove the liquid will be respected and regularly depleted. The fact that local drinkers are now showing up without entering the park tells you the collection has crossed from novelty into destination.

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Scotland Served: 400 Venues, One Scotch Cocktail Festival

Scotland Served, a nationwide festival celebrating Scotch cocktails, will run from 14 October to 1 November across more than 400 venues in Scotland. The festival is created in partnership with Johnnie Walker and The Singleton.

Three Ayrshire venues have been announced among the participating locations: Lochgreen House Hotel, Tides at Seamill Hydro Hotel, and Tales at Brig o' Doon. The full programme spans bars, pubs, restaurants, and hotels across the country, including destination drinking spots, late-night speakeasies, and cocktail dens.

Participating venues will offer cocktail experiences with bartenders creating their own approaches to whisky. The festival coincides with the World Class Global Finals, which will bring more than 50 bartenders from around the world to Scotland to compete for the World Class Bartender of the Year 2026 title.

Organisers describe the event as a homecoming for Scotch, returning it to the country where it began.

Murray's take: 400 venues across Scotland pouring Scotch in cocktails for three weeks is a serious logistical operation, and tying it to the World Class Global Finals puts the country at the centre of the global bartending calendar. The Johnnie Walker and Singleton partnership gives the festival scale and marketing reach that an independent operator could not match. The interesting question is whether the cocktail format pulls in drinkers who would not otherwise order whisky, or whether it serves an existing audience in a different format. Either way, 400 venues running simultaneously means there is one near you if you are in Scotland this October.

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