Jim Murray Called Our Cask Strength a Masterpiece. Here's What He Said About the Other Four.

Jim Murray's Whisky Bible reviewed roughly 4,200 whiskies for this edition. Five of them came from a working distillery on the most northerly stretch of the Scottish mainland. All five earned five-star recognition.

One of them, our Lightly Peated Cask Strength Aged 7 Years, scored 95/100. Murray opened his tasting day with it, called it "a masterpiece from the far north," and told the readers of his guide that it was "far too complex to decide over from a single tasting alone."

We are, predictably, rather pleased

The five scores, in full:

• Lightly Peated Cask Strength 7yr · 58.2% ABV · 95 / 100
• Langskip · 58% ABV · 94 / 100
• Morven Lightly Peated · 46% ABV · 92 / 100
• Northland · 46% ABV · 89.5 / 100
• Aurora Sherry Oak · 46% ABV · 86 / 100

Murray's five-star tier starts at 86. Anything 95-plus sits in roughly the top 1% of every whisky he reviews in a year.

What Jim Murray actually said

We are going to do something slightly unusual and share the full tasting notes, because they are genuinely worth reading. Not because they are flattering, although they are, but because they capture what each of these whiskies is actually doing.

Lightly Peated Cask Strength 7yr · 95 / 100

"Well, I wanted to get my tasting day off with a bang. And a positive. So couldn't have chosen better than this. Must say, I don't often comment about labels. But just love this one: so striking! As for the whisky, well, far too complex to decide over from a single tasting alone."

Murray's full note describes a nose more striking on the phenol front "than the label might suggest," with "light crushed sultana as modest as the barley." The palate he calls "an essay in understatement," beautifully oiled, peat that gives "earthiness but no Islayness," fruit "encased in milk chocolate." The finish brings "light molasses which cling to the delicate smoke." He recommends the Murray Method, warming the glass in your hands, to fully unlock the complexity. We agree. There are 1,840 bottles. If it is on your list, this is the moment.

Langskip · 94 / 100

"Gorgeous lucidity on that barley. The clarity allowing the firmer tones to be as keenly felt as the softer, gristier sweeter ones. I have a big weakness for beautifully distilled malts which are confident enough to display their maltiness, especially when they up their gristy game. And this is certainly one."

Langskip is the whisky we make for people who want to know what malt actually tastes like, with no sherry and no peat in the way. 58% ABV, full-proof, non-chill filtered, no colouring. Murray's balance score of 24 out of 25, and the words "textbook slow-motion build-up of firmer, spicier tannin," tell you most of what you need to know.

Morven Lightly Peated · 92 / 100

"Youthful malt but with now an almost erotic caress of peat and grapefruit juice: this is a real tease of an aroma. The sublimely delicate nose is to die for while at times the smoke goes into hiding and then creeps up on you when you are not looking."

Murray's nose score of 24/25 is the second-highest he gave us. The closing image of smoke that "creeps up on you when you are not looking" is precisely the effect Morven was designed to deliver. The peat is there. It is being patient.

Northland · 89.5 / 100

"I still haven't got up to Thurso yet to visit this excellent distillery. Not enough time in the UK to achieve that goal this year. But when I finally do get there, I really must find out how each year they manage to get this whisky to be a carbon copy of their last bottling, complete with big malt flourish and late bitterness. It is a very rare skill."

Two things worth saying about this. First, vintage-to-vintage consistency is genuinely difficult, and almost no one writes about it because it is not glamorous. Second, Jim Murray has now reviewed every Northland we have ever sent him, has called us "excellent" in print, and has still not visited the distillery. We are taking this personally. Door remains open, Jim.

Aurora Sherry Oak · 86 / 100

"For me, this is all about the rich malty, spotted dog pudding and custard delivery. I'll blot out the sulphur on both nose and finish and just enjoy those moments of charming vanillas and light acacia honey."

Aurora is the gentlest expression in the range and the one we hand to people who say they are not sure they like whisky. A five-star score for a sherry-oak whisky that prefers to suggest rather than shout, and the only press release we will ever write that contains the phrase "spotted dog pudding."

What these scores actually mean

There is a particular person in every whisky shop. Tweed waistcoat. Pocket watch. Ten very firm opinions about which distilleries are "serious" and which ones are "marketing."

This person has reasons to be sceptical of awards. Most awards are paid-entry, marketing-led, and reliably handed out to the same dozen distilleries every year. Jim Murray's Whisky Bible is none of those things. Murray buys most of his samples, takes no payment from distilleries, and has been comparing whiskies side by side for more than thirty years. When he gives 95/100, that is a professional evaluation backed by tens of thousands of comparative tastings.

What he gave Wolfburn this year is a clean sweep across a current range of five expressions that span a sherry-finished gentle dram, a full-proof unpeated single malt, a delicately peated flagship, a quietly consistent core release, and a limited cask-strength one-off. That is not a lucky bottling. That is a distillery that knows what it is doing, doing it across five very different briefs.

How to buy

All five expressions are available to buy at wolfburn.com. The Lightly Peated Cask Strength is a limited release and will not be repeated. Langskip, Morven, Northland and Aurora are part of the core and premium range and ship worldwide.

If you want a stockist near you, contact us directly. We are in Thurso. The postcode is reachable.

Wolfburn. Five whiskies. Five stars. Made in Caithness, judged on the page.