The CHALLENGE

We are delighted to reveal the winners of the Scottish Field Summer Whisky Challenge 2020. In early spring, 51 whisky samples were delivered to each of our whisky judges for our Summer Challenge blind tasting

– all of them new expressions released since 1st January 2019.

Luckily, the whiskies arrived with our judges before lockdown began. The judges were able to blind taste all 51 whiskies and email us their scores. Unfortunately, one judge, Douglas Wood, temporarily lost his sense of taste and smell and was unable to take part he has since recovered.

How did the new expressions fare and which whiskies were picked out as the top notch new drams? The overall winner was the Tamdhu Dalbeallie II which also won the £50-£100 category gold award. This winning whisky was described as ‘a rollercoaster of aroma and flavour with a soothing, warming and comforting charm’, by judge Darren Leitch.

Our judges clearly have excellent judgement and taste buds because this whisky also recently won Gold at the World Whiskies Awards 2020. The Tamdhu Dalbeallie II is a limited edition whisky and the distillery say the bottling was made in honour of the Dalbeallie Station and the vital role the Victorian railway played in bringing the finest sherry casks from Spain to Speyside. The whisky is matured in Oloroso sherry casks from Jerez and only 1,000 bottles are available. Tamdhu Distillery did particularly well this year with their 15 Year Old also coming in sixth place.

Glenmorangie’s new expression The Quinta Ruban 14 Year Old, with flavours of Seville orange and dark chocolate, won the Under £50 gold award. This single malt is first aged in bourbon casks, then finished in ruby port pipes and barriques from Portugal. Our judge Robin Russell described it as ‘creamy, juicy, citrusy cheesecake with crème anglaise, apricots in brandy and a hint of fennel’.

Loch Fyne’s Glentauchers 11 Year Old came second overall and Rare Find’s Speyside Cask Strength Aged 18 Years came third. The awardwinning GlenAllachie Distillery achieved fourth place for their Speyside Single Malt 15 Year Old.

The £100 plus category received only two entries, the Tomintoul 21 yr old single malt and and The Tribute single malt from Glenmorangie.

The top whisky in each category will go through to the Grand Final this autumn. If you’d like to be considered as a Reader Judge for the Readers Challenge, please email whisky@scottishfield. co.uk today.

Sláinte

Scottish Field Whisky Challenge Team

Luckily all the whiskies arrived with our judges before the lockdown began