Archie happens upon a ‘distillery’ he’s never heard of. This ‘Shieldaig’ turns out to be a branded malt, which is fine. It has a purpose. Just like Dramface, which he also wants to discuss a little.

Many of the Dramface team are overly-affected by branding, none more than Ally. In a space rapidly moving towards homogenised ‘clean’ and ‘modern’, he finds solace in Fragrant Drops. Tasty too.

Drummond returns from a short hiatus with an insight into a trait that he’s come to accept; the need to pause and make time for self-care. A trio of Cadenhead’s Bunnahabhain helps of course.

All good things must end. Archie wraps up his Northern California trip & kills off one of his favourite ever from his beloved Caol Ila: a Woodrows in Palo Cortado.

Three of the team hark back to Christmas vibes as they each, independently, happen upon a Signatory 100º Proof Exceptional Cask Glentauchers. As is typical with Dramface, it divides opinion.

Some much needed positivity from Gilbert as he shares why he thinks Scotch whisky is coming home, using Symington’s 10yo Blended Scotch as the perfect example of why.

The hardest questions in whisky? “What’s your favourite?” However, at this moment in time, Hamish has an answer. Today, he shares his all-time favourite whisky! An SMWS Ardmore.

We all hit forks in life’s road. Archie shares one of his. Eventually decisions lead us to other, unplanned opportunities. Like when a bottle he was chasing escaped and made him pick up a peach of an Edradour.

The new year and corporate environs has Hughie thinking about how the dreaded annual performance reviews could be applied to whisky. He cracks an Indy Arran 10 for comparison to the OB.

Finally, Ogie can breathe. The shackles of a toxic workplace & a draining professional life have been shaken off. He sits at his kitchen table in reflection over a Thompson Bros Glen Scotia

Feeling the crunch on his finances, Mason gets introspective. Facing over-accumulation, he naively attempts a slow down and a clear out of languishing bottles & revisits a Cadenhead’s 11yo Garioch.

Even in far-flung California, Archie is landing decent indie bottlings. In a follow up to his Woodrows Foursome, we have a Living Souls Trio: Two Smoky Sevens and a Speyside, all crackers.

Wally tries to blow off the January blues and heads out to a festival; the National Whisky Festival in Glasgow. He unearths lots to be positive about but lands of a terrific and affordable Jane Street Single Malt from Woodrow’s.

Some jobs, such as Ainsley’s, means Christmas is hardly a time of rest; too much work and not enough play. Soon though, a rest and a return to the cabinet finds a Decadent Drinks Old Orkney and a return of the mojo.

Fletcher leans hard to compare indy bottling to music covers, but he has a point. He feels it’s nicer when the song is a legitimate original creation, like this Bittersweet Symphony from Turntable.

In the four years and 1400+ reviews on Dramface, we’ve only ever scored one 10/10. Until today. Murdo shares an under-the-radar old-school Signatory Glenturret which brought a tear, and full marks.

A new year, a new writer. Debutant Archie sips from Long Beach California and for his first Dramface piece he went for four from Woodrow’s. A Balvenie, Laphroaig, Dailuaine and an Ardna. Nice.

Broddy exposes everything anyone could want to know about Dramface scoring. In amongst the deep-dive, he shares a hidden gem of a blend, the OSWA nominated Cadenhead’s 7 Stars.

After a completely hectic close to the year, Charlie is really hoping for a very quiet January. Perhaps one where he’ll get the time to sit and ponder his nice finds, such as this Watt Whisky blend.

It’s Dougie’s turn to step up with a box of the latest outturn from Decadent Drinks. Like this weekend deep-dive read, it’s no small undertaking. But it starts with an Ardnamurchan, so he’s in…