Scottish Field Summer Challenge 2025 Results

For 25 years – a quarter of a century – the Scottish Field Whisky Challenge has been helping readers to discover some of the best whiskies from Scotland. The Summer Challenge’s goal in particular is to introduce exciting new expressions from industry giants, small and micro distilleries, indie bottlers and beyond.

This year our expert judges had the monumental task of tasting 58 new expressions. Out of these entries, 53 were single malts and five were blends. Forty bottles came from distilleries and 18 from independent bottlers. With so many scrumptious whiskies to taste, it is undoubtedly a challenge for our judges to single out the best ones – especially when the overall feedback from our judges was that the sample quality was especially good this year.

So while we could only show the winners, there are many excellent drams from 2024 with very respectable scores. The winning drams this year span regions and ages, from well-established distilleries, like Bladnoch, who not only took the top spot but also placed twice. To brand new distilleries like Ardnahoe whose Society Release made it into our top ten.

As many in the industry know, its been a tough year for whisky sales, so we at Scottish Field are excited to see Scottish distillers and bottlers continue to grow, innovate and produce exceptional whiskies to be loved worldwide.

Scottish Field Summer Challenge 2025 winners:

Gold: Cask Craft , Croftengea Highland, Bourbon Finish – Murray McDavid

TASTING NOTES FROM ROBIN:
NOSE: A beautifully smoked seafood Smörgåsbord.
PALATE: Slightly medicinal with tropical fruit and toffee mingling with smoked pecans, creosote and tar.

Silver: Tamnavulin Port Cask Edition 2024 – Tamnavulin Distillery

TASTING NOTES FROM GILLIAN:
NOSE: Overhard fruits, apples and ripe pears.
PALATE: Apple pie with a dry finish.

Bronze:  Glengoyne White Oak – Glengoyne Distillery

TASTING NOTES FROM EWAN:
NOSE: Gentle, sweet, vanilla pods in custard.
PALATE: A little whisper of peat with creamy vanilla. Oily with a long finish.

Gold: Kilchoman Batch Strength – Kilchoman Distillery

TASTING NOTES FROM EWAN:
NOSE: Delicious peat smoke with lemon and lime wafting through. Incredible esters.
PALATE: Peat smoke, citrus, pepper. Light and powerful. Phenolic kick with a long, long finish.

Silver: Tomintoul 14 ¼ Pedro Ximénez Cask Finish – Tomintoul Distillery

TASTING NOTES FROM DARREN:
NOSE: Flat cola and aniseed balls, spiced chocolate, treacle toffee and liquorice allsorts.
PALATE: Dark chocolate with cherry fondant and red laces liquorice. Full bodied with a good mouthfeel and perfectly balanced. On the finish there’s ginger nut biscuits.

Bronze:  WhiskyHeroes, The Relic of the Shore Inchgower 12 – Brave New Spirits

TASTING NOTES FROM VINCE:
NOSE: Clothes in wardrobe. Herb sprig, white chocolate and wood oil.
PALATE: Chocolate liquor with a touch of spice. Old liquor.

Gold: The Wave I – Master Distillers Collection – Bladnoch Distillery

TASTING NOTES FROM MATTHEW:
NOSE: Fruity with plums, dates and a touch of cocoa.
PALATE: The palate is broad with fruity notes of dates, plums and cherries followed by a touch of cacao.

Silver: Tamdhu Cigar Malt IV – Tamdhu Distillery

TASTING NOTES FROM SAM:
NOSE: Elegant, old school sherry. Dried raisins, nuts, boozy drenched fruits.
PALATE: Great balance of cocoa, walnuts, pastry, orange zest & dark cherry.

Bronze:  Connoisseurs Choice Glentauchers 1995 – Gordon & Macphail

TASTING NOTES FROM GILLIAN:
NOSE: Floral gums, mini gems, strawberry laces and sherbet fountain.
PALATE: Possibly cask strength, would add water. Lovely, rich fruit.

Gold: Ardnahoe Society Release – Ardnahoe Distillery

TASTING NOTES FROM MANDY:
NOSE: Islay sea air. Vanilla with hints of damp oak. A lingering smokiness.
PALATE: Pear drops, muscovado sugar. Tangy lime marmalade ending with a luscious meringue pie. Rich, tangy with a slight sweetness.

Silver: Lochlea Cask Strength Batch 2 – Lochlea Distillery

TASTING NOTES FROM DARREN:
NOSE: Fragrant offering black grape and bramble fruits, it then turns chocolatey and some chocolate covered foam bananas.
PALATE: Big bodied with plenty of sherry influence. Spice of cloves and cinnamon with fruity undertones. Water adds a blackcurrant and menthol note reminiscent of cough sweets. A cracking winter warmer of a dram.

Bronze:  Ardnahoe Infinite Loch – Ardnahoe Distillery

TASTING NOTES FROM ROBIN:
NOSE: Sweet oak, chocolate and vanilla with a delicate smoky bouquet.
PALATE: Macerated autumnal fruits, eucalyptus, heather honey and poached peach with vanilla and cardamom.

How the challenge is judged

The Scottish Field Whisky Challenge gains its impeccable credibility through its acutely egalitarian process. Quality alone determines the winners as our judges select not by label, name, or price, but by taste alone.

The team at Scottish Field decanted 58 expressions into 30ml bottles marked with only an identification number to enable our judges to make as impartial a decision as possible. After tasting, the judges provided a mark out of five for each whisky.  The lowest and highest marks were then taken away, and the remaining scores were used to formulate an average for each expression. Alongside this, the judges provided detailed tasting notes on each of the drams.

When the scores are collected, the whiskies are separated into their price-based categories which include under £50, £50-100 and over £100, and  first, second and third place in each category is revealed.  There’s also a separate category for any distilleries that are less than ten years old.  The top whisky in each category then automatically enters the running to be crowned grand prize winner.