Master of Malt marks 40 years with global retail debut
Online retailer and independent bottler Master of Malt has launched a series of single cask and small-batch spirits, which will be available in global retail for the first time.
Until now, Master of Malt’s bottlings have been available exclusively from the brand’s website.
The new range includes a 40-year-old Girvan grain whisky, which the Master of Malt team described as “absolute nectar”.
Other bottlings include a 29-year-old Tobermory. The single malt was laid down in a single refill hogshead in March 1996 and bottled in April 2025. Priced at £199.95 (US$270), 268 bottles are available. Its notes include ‘sweet citrus’ and ‘tropical guava’, with ‘rich old oak’ at its core.
The range also includes a 16-year-old whisky from Dailuaine Distillery, which was laid down in a refill Sherry hogshead in 2008. It was later transferred to a refill rum cask, adding layers of ‘rich fruit, honeyed sweetness, and subtle tropical funk’. Priced at £69.95 (US$95), 425 bottles are available.
Other expressions originate from ‘secret’ Speyside and Highland single casks. Priced from £34.95 (US$47), these include a ‘bright, fresh, and fruity’ single malt that was distilled in the Highlands in March 2014. The expression spent 10 years maturing in a refill hogshead, offering ‘delightfully creamy’ notes of ‘buttery shortbread, vanilla, bread dough, and pastry’.
Another 10-year-old expression originated in Speyside and was bottled from a marriage of casks, creating a ‘nutty, estery’ whisky.
The new products will be available for sale through distributors across Europe, the Middle East, India, Africa, Asia Pacific and North America.
Future releases
The team also hinted at forthcoming releases, including a 50-year-old Scotch, new world ryes and experimental cask-aged spirits such as a seven-year-old cask-aged gin and cask-aged coffee liqueurs.
“This new range is a love letter to everything Master of Malt has stood for over the past 40 years,” said Sam Simmons, head of whisky.
“This isn’t whisky for vaults or portfolios. It’s whisky for people who actually want to drink it, talk about them, argue over them, research them, and then pour another dram.
“These casks have been sitting quietly at the back of the warehouse for years and now we finally get to share the ‘holy shit!’ moments we’ve had discovering them. We’re just getting started. We’ve been building this inventory for decades. Now we’re bottling it our way and for the first time, we’re sharing these bottles with the wider retail world for grocery and the on-trade.”
Master of Malt will continue its anniversary celebrations with further bottlings, including a new limited edition series called Badly Drawn Dogs.
The range includes a 21-year-old Loch Lomond, 25-year-old Invergordon, 27-year-old Strathclyde and ‘secret’ English and German single malts, packaged in a 350ml format.
Each bottle features a ‘delightfully rough’ dog sketch, with a portion of the profits going to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home or Dogs Trust.
Master of Malt was founded as a mail-order independent bottler in 1985.
In April 2018, ZX Ventures, the growth and innovation unit of AB InBev, purchased Master of Malt’s parent company Atom Group for an undisclosed sum. However, last August, ZX Ventures sold the business back to its founder, Justin Petszaft.
Related news
Inside the ‘spiritual home’ of Scotch
