Spectacular review Ralfy. You’re at your best when you’re authentically enjoying your dram. I’ve been watching you since review no. 1. The landscape has changed for everyone globally. I miss the days (era’s) gone by. Available top notch whisky ( in my market) has lessened. But when something extraordinary pops up I know how to identify it. Thank you so much. Your efforts to educate and enable enthusiasts to make sound purchasing decisions has not been lost on me! Thank you so very much. Slainte!

A very enjoyable review as always. Learning little by little from you Ralfy. Thank you very much.

Amazing explanation of the difference between selling quality vs selling a brand. 🤔👏🏻

Wow, I'd love a nip of a dram like this. Love Mortlach and appreciate how this was released. Thanks for sharing!

I’m down with distillers “taming down” their cheapest basic offering as an introduction… but they need to make the higher ABV stuff too and offer higher ABV that’s not an arm and a leg. I’m tired of this 48-50% young whisky being sold at prices as if it were an 18 year dram.

I just open the CRAIGELLACHIE vintage 2012 from signatory it’s also a wonderful whisky ❤🎉

Great review, Ralfy. I came across a Signatory Mortlach 14 Single Cask and was glad to pay the $99 price, whereas I would never pay full retail for official Mortlach with those ludicrous, over-the-shark bottles made to be buried in a pharaoh's tomb ;) It's not as fancy as your bottle, their regular Cask Strength collection. Just says "hogshead" cask type, no additional info. I hope I like it. I've only had amazing malts in this collection.

I’ve had some Signatory misses though few and far between. But when they hit, they hit hard!

Wonderful review. Appreciated the comments around the quality and quantity of ingredients. I could relate as I recently prepared a ralficious multi-veg hearty chicken soup for my team (I'm in South Africa, it's winter here).And they loved it! Back to whisky: A year ago I procured a special batch bottle: Speyside Single Whisky - Distilled at INCHGOWER Distillery, bottled by Signatory Vintage for the Whisky Brother & Co, South Africa. I'm still a novice, but seeing this review, I'm proud I mighty be on the right track! One day I'm would love to share my story of how I became an amateur whisky collector. But let me visit Scotland first!

I live in southern California. Not too long ago, I had a hard time finding any independent bottlings of Scotch whisky. This has changed drastically in the last year or so. The chain store Total Wine has been working with Signatory to bring some wonderful store picks of single barrel, cask strength whiskies to their stores. I haven't seen a Mortlach yet, but I have seen and bought many others. After trying a few, I have determined that I need to buy every one that I see, even if I am not familiar with the distillery. One that I fell in love with was an 11-year, single barrel, cask strength Dailuaine, which was a Total Wine store pick. That distillery is typically blend filler, but I found a unique character in the Signatory bottle. There is a lot of umami funk, and the grainy/malty note is strong. It's a difficult and aggressive flavor profile, but it works well for me, and I have been enjoying that bottle a little too much. For whisky lovers in the UK, I hope you have stores that do single barrel picks with Signatory. If you see any, grab them. You won't regret it. This is a common practice with bourbon and rye in the United States, and I am happy to see it expand to single malts and other whiskies from overseas. BevMo has also gotten into the act - I recently found a store pick of a chestnut-matured Teeling there. It's a bit weird, but I like it. I'll have to check out the local BevMo regularly to see what else they might come up with. Hopefully, the small local stores and bars will be able to get in on this too.

A Wonderful dram Ralfy 🙏

I really enjoyed this high quality, very intense, sound-filled intro. More of this please. Super Ralf.

It's only sold out in a few shops in the last couple of days.Up until then, it was still available.

Thanks for the tip. Just ordered.❤

Greetings Mr Ralfy and thank you for another informative review. I have a 12 yr old and a 13 yr old cask strength. The 12 yr old I have had it for 4 yrs and 13 years old for 2 yrs now, they are not exciting at all. Signatury one is AU$240, and I have a few other single malts in my list, so this one had to wait. The next one on my list is 11 year old Inchgower from an independent bottler. I have one from Lady of Glen, and I want to get one from Private Cellars' independent bottler. Have a great week.

I have a bottle of Thompson brothers 6 year old blend and it's a fantastic pour for about £37. Glad that you gave it a mention and I'm hoping you're going to review it as part of this mini series...

Said it before and I'll say it again, signatory are really very good value for money. They are probably my go to independent bottlers when I want something special for not a lot of money.

I bought the Caol Ila. Also a great dram. Signatory good quality for value

This is great stuff , you actually recommended this to me when you were at the good spirits company last year , I bought a bottle along with a few others you recommended, I do like mortlach but the official bottlings just don't do it justice.

I have the Glenallachie 11 in the same range and its really easy drinking..which is a good thing or a bad thing depending on how long you want to keep it!

Thanks for this one. And for giving it time

Good Evening 😊 Awesome Review👌🏽Thanks For Sharing 👏🏼Have a Fantastic Day 👍🏼 Greetings From South Africa 🇿🇦

Never seen this signatory to pick up, I did find an Adelphi one though that was a 17yr Mortlach. I'm always on the lookout for some new signatories.

Lots of folk below saying it's sold out ... To be fair, it was released well before Xmas ...

Got the 11 yr GlenAllachie in May and that was top notch too. Hope you enjoyed the TT season 🙂

By golly - already sold out everywhere! The Ralfy effect is real.

I've never been disappointed by anything from Signatory Vintage. Andrew Symington really knows his stuff. Unfortunately the Edradour distillery has been closed to visitors for the last few years with no indication of when they will open. Sadly we have very little access to Signatory in the States (as far as I've found, if anyone knows where to get them I'd love to know). Great review, as always, Ralfy. Cheers!

I managed to find one here in Hungary at a reasonable price. Cant wait for it to arrive and pour out a dram :)

Beautiful whisky 😜🥃

Hopefully I can get a bottle of this it sounds wonderful!!

Nothing lacking in this Mortlach review.

Great review !

They do make a good dram. But they also start with a good base

Some mainstream whiskys only appeal to pallets.

Today is too hot here for Scotch. I make a little Rum tasting to keeps things interesting and keep me invested. Starting out with Cachaça, moving on to Rhum Agricole and then Jamaican white Rum.

Just checking online, and the closest I may be able to get to this (in the US) is a first fill oloroso single cask Mortlach 10 at 118.2 proof. Who knows though? Maybe if I'll run into the 11 if I actually go to the store. Either way, that 10 year sounds delicious as well.

Big fan of Mortlach and have a couple of these in the stash. By comparison, I just opened the OB 16: nice, easy drinking malt but it feels tame and a bit thin. Way overpriced, in my opinion 😉 This is a good bottling and Signatory have been, generally, bottling good stuff,of late. The Macallan (M) from this series is also excellent, if quite 'fire and brimstone ' if you get me? 😉

One of the best wisky's I ever consumed Mortach 17 yo from the Duncan & Taylor Dimensions series.

I can’t get many independents here, but I can get the 11 year Signatory Mortlach. I will pick that one up!

The Beast of Dufftown

I am going to look for that bottle 😊😊

Hi Ralfy, with all the weather modifications going across the Uk in the past few years, do you think the overall quality of whisky will deteriorate. Especially with the added metals being sprayed in our skies?

Sorry, third comment here! A note on the sherry casks: I find 'weighty ' or 'beefy ' malts, like Mortlach, stand up very well to modern sherry casks. Certainly when compared to many others. It's as if they can 'soak up' the syrupy notes and integrate them much better.

sold out already. are the other releases from this series as good as this one? particularly bunnahabhain 2012 11 yo?

If you have any guilty pleasure living in Canada you can be expected to pay a hefty price.taxation is rampant here it stands at 15 percent on alcohol purchases in bc.they don't have that bottle here I would have to order it online from Alberta and its priced at $144.99 devalued Canadian dollars.the federal incompetents in out government have no mercy.Ralfy thank you for a wonderful review on a quality spirit.

ralfy ordered a new tourbillon bugatti, and i googled dunnage warehouse 🤫

The Mortlach 2012 Aged 11 Years Signatory Small Batch is sold out @ Royal Mile Whiskies😡

Mortlach Aged 12 Years Sherry Cask @ 43.4% abv for £60 and Macallan Aged 12 Years Sherry Cask @ 40% abv for £85🍎🍒🍓🍅

out of stock.. great review though

Hi Ralfy. Could there be a difference between “natural color” and “no added color” on the bottle?

A delicious dram!

Mortlach Aged 12 Years over Macallan Aged 12 Years and very good value for your money⛳⚽️🎱🏉

nice one 😎

That's fine Ralfy that independent is a step up from official but we all know you lean toward independent bottling do maybe there's a bit of a bias tone to your review. I disagree with your take on the 16 or the 20 year for that matter,the 12 year is questionable I agree. The 16 especially has so much going on in regards to layers of flavour and the nose is impressive but I'm sure the 11 independent is a stunner as well.

I don't think it's accurate to say that IBs are "marketing free". They're not marketing the distilleries brands, but they're absolutely marketing their own. Look at Murray & McDavid's shiny foil boxes and labels. Look at Single Cask Nation's cute/primitive labels. Some do more than others, but there's most definitely positioning of these IB brands as premium products.

Does scotch mist add flavor or just release aroma?

i said 86 then 87 , close as i can get ;;

Deadlake?

I soak my fruit for fruitcake in no less then 7 different whiskeys and rums it’s fantastic (but no single malts that’d just be a waste 😅)

😁🙌🏻🥃

Don't forget the thieving governments around the world that tax alcoholic beverages due to their ABV, and the subsequent tariffs imposed upon the seller. We here in Australia are getting ABV shrinkage. 40 __> 38 __> 37 and it will continue to my dismay, disgust and dislike. CASK STRENGTH OR NOTHING should be the rule.

Looking forward to a review of 4 months vs. 5 months old fruitcake.

Your bias is showing. In this case, it's "honorable" to lower the abv. When it's not a favored independent bottler, it's shameful and insulting to the consumer. If the bottler is reducing the abv, for whatever reason, yet labeling it as "cask strength", they are lying to us. You should be all over this, but aren't. You are playing favorites.