Decadent Drinks has dropped seven new bottles in one batch, and the spread is deliberately all over the map. It runs from a 31-year-old Tomatin matured in a plain refill hogshead to a 120-bottle Calvados built with the Roger Groult estate in Normandy, with waxy Clynelish, coastal young Glenglassaugh, richly sherried Glen Grant, an undisclosed 30-year-old Highland malt and a hipflask-friendly Ben Nevis in between.
If you already follow the Perth bottler, you know the drill: small outturns, honest cask information, and a house style that puts the spirit ahead of heavy wood. Here is the full lineup, what each one is, and which ones are actually worth chasing.
What is the Magnificent Seven and who is Decadent Drinks?
Decadent Drinks is a Perth-based independent bottler founded in 2018 by whisky writer Angus MacRaild and Iain McClune. It began as the satirical Whisky Sponge series and grew into a wider stable of ranges after that series closed at 100 editions. Today the flagship is Whiskyland for rare, older single casks, alongside Decadent Drams for characterful malts, The Teuchter for everyday cask-strength drinking, and occasional collaborations outside whisky.
The “Magnificent Seven” is simply how the bottler is framing this particular batch: seven simultaneous releases across those ranges, plus one Calvados. Six are Scotch single malts. The seventh is a Pays d’Auge Calvados, the apple brandy of Normandy, made in collaboration with a long-established French estate.
All seven are limited, cask-strength or near it, and non-chill-filtered in keeping with the bottler’s usual approach. Bottle counts run from just 120 up to 309, so the smaller runs will move quickly.
The full lineup, bottle by bottle
Tomatin 31 Years Old (Whiskyland Chapter Thirty Four)
The headline act. A single refill hogshead of 1994 Tomatin, bottled at 31 years old under the Whiskyland range that Decadent Drinks reserves for its oldest and rarest single casks. Tomatin sits south of Inverness and built its reputation on a soft, honeyed Highland style, which is exactly what three decades in unassuming refill wood tends to reward. The cask has added colour and structure without smothering the distillate.
Distillery / bottler: Tomatin / Decadent Drinks (Whiskyland Chapter Thirty Four)
Age & vintage: 31 years old | 1994
Cask: Refill hogshead ABV: 57.9% | Outturn: 216 bottles | Price: £435
Character (per Decadent Drinks): honeyed, powerfully fruity, almost syrupy in texture, with an old-fashioned maturity
Glenglassaugh 8 Years Old (Decadent Drams)
Proof that youth is not the same as simplicity. This is post-reopening Glenglassaugh, the coastal Highland distillery near Portsoy that came back to life in 2008 after two decades of silence. At eight years old and bottled at natural cask strength, it leans hard into the distillery’s oily, coastal signature rather than hiding behind wood.
Distillery / bottler: Glenglassaugh / Decadent Drinks (Decadent Drams)
Age & vintage: 8 years old | 2018 Cask: Refill hogshead ABV: 57.1% | Outturn: 242 bottles
Price: £85
Character (per Decadent Drinks): oily, coastal and powerfully textured, with wax, mineral notes and peppery spice
Glen Grant 22 Years Old (Decadent Drams)
The indulgent one. Glen Grant is a Speyside distillery in Rothes long associated with a light, clean, orchard-fruit distillate, so a sherry finish here is a calculated contrast. After 19 years in refill wood it spent more than three further years in a first-fill sherry hogshead, which adds the dark fruit and spice without erasing the elegance underneath.
Distillery / bottler: Glen Grant (Speyside) / Decadent Drinks (Decadent Drams)
Age & vintage: 22 years old | 2003 Cask: 19 years refill wood, then 3+ years first-fill sherry hogshead finish ABV: 52.0% | Outturn: 193 bottles | Price:£175
Character (per Decadent Drinks): dark fruits, old wood and soft spices over an elegant, poised distillate
Highland Single Malt 30 Years Old (Decadent Drams)
The mystery bottle. This is an undisclosed Highland single malt, multi-vintage, drawn from refill hogsheads and bottled at 30 years old. Decadent Drinks is not naming the distillery, which is a habit the bottler has turned into a mild running protest against Scotch labelling rules. The profile, all wax, citrus and fragrant spice, points squarely at the classic old-school Highland style rather than anything heavily wood-driven.
Distillery / bottler: Undisclosed Highland single malt / Decadent Drinks (Decadent Drams)
Age & vintage: 30 years old | multi-vintage Cask: Refill hogsheads ABV: 47.1% | Outturn: 250 bottles | Price: £195
Character (per Decadent Drinks): wax, citrus fruit, exotic notes and fragrant wood spice, elegant and effortlessly drinkable
Clynelish 15 Years Old (Decadent Drams)
For many drinkers this will be the one to circle. Clynelish, on the Sutherland coast, is famous for a waxy, faintly briny distillate that inspires genuine obsession. This 2010 was matured in a refill barrel that, by the bottler’s own account, stayed out of the way and let the distillery character do the talking.
Distillery / bottler: Clynelish / Decadent Drinks (Decadent Drams)
Age & vintage: 15 years old | 2010 Cask: Refill barrel ABV: 51.5% | Outturn: 235 bottles Price: £159
Character (per Decadent Drinks): lemon, green fruit, gorse flowers, oils and eccentric coastal character
Ben Nevis 10 Years Old, Batch 4 (The Teuchter)
The everyday hero. Ben Nevis, at the foot of Britain’s highest mountain in Fort William and owned by Nikka, has a cult following for its waxy, fruity, occasionally funky character. This is the fourth batch under The Teuchter, Decadent Drinks’ range built for actual drinking rather than shelf display, married for around a year in an old refill butt and bottled at a sensible strength.
Distillery / bottler: Ben Nevis / Decadent Drinks (The Teuchter, Batch 4)
Age & vintage: 10 years old | 2016 Cask:Refill barrels, married in an old refill butt ABV: 47.0% | Outturn: 309 bottles
Price: £67
Character (per Decadent Drinks): waxy, fruity and rugged, with plenty of Ben Nevis personality
Calvados Groult 20 Years Old Cuvée (Roger Groult collaboration)
The curveball, and the smallest run of the lot. This is not Scotch. Calvados is the AOC apple brandy of Normandy, and Pays d’Auge is its most respected appellation, made by double distillation in pot stills. The Roger Groult estate is a family house with a deep reputation for long-aged Pays d’Auge Calvados, and this cuvée is built around two 20-year-old casks with portions of older, higher-strength spirit blended in.
Expect apple in every register, from bruised to preserved, alongside tobacco, dark honey, farmhouse cider and rancio, that nutty, savoury oxidative note that develops in very old spirit.
Producer / bottler: Roger Groult (Pays d’Auge, Normandy) / Decadent Drinks (Decadent Drams)
Age & vintage: 20 years old | 2003–2006 base Type: Pays d’Auge Calvados, assemblage ABV: 46.2% | Outturn: 120 bottles | Price: £195
Character (per Decadent Drinks): bruised and preserved apple, tobacco, rancio, dark honey, farmhouse cider and fragrant old wood
Which ones are actually worth buying?
Seven releases, seven different budgets and intentions. Here is the honest breakdown.
If you want the best value, the Ben Nevis 10 Years Old at £67 is the easy call. It is the cheapest bottle here, at a strength you can drink without water, from a distillery with a devoted following. This is the sharing bottle.
If you want the most character per pound, look at the Glenglassaugh 8 Years Old at £85. Young cask-strength coastal malt is a genre that rewards drinkers who like texture and salt over polish, and this is a lot of distillery personality for the money.
If you are a distillate purist, the Clynelish 15 Years Old at £159 is the pick. Waxy Clynelish from a quiet refill cask is exactly what its fans chase, and £159 is fair for a single cask of it. The undisclosed Highland 30 Years Old at £195 scratches a similar itch for anyone who prefers old-school elegance to sherry weight.
If you want something rich, the Glen Grant 22 Years Old at £175 delivers a sherried finish on top of a genuinely mature Speyside base.
The Tomatin 31 Years Old at £435 is the splurge. It is a lot of money, and it is aimed at collectors and people who love properly old Highland malt from a single cask. With only 216 bottles, it will not hang around, but nobody should pretend £435 is a casual purchase.
And the Roger Groult 20 Years Old Calvados at £195 is for the curious. If you have never explored long-aged Calvados, a 120-bottle collaboration from a serious estate is a genuinely interesting place to start, and it broadens what “a good dram” can mean.
Price and availability
All seven are available now through the Decadent Drinks online shop at decadent-drinks.com. Prices run from £67 for the Ben Nevis to £435 for the Tomatin.
Decadent Drinks ships across the UK and internationally, and works with specialist retailers and bars beyond the UK, so buyers in Denmark, Germany, the rest of the EU, the US and elsewhere can order directly, though EU buyers should factor in import duty and VAT on arrival. Given outturns as low as 120 bottles, the smaller runs are the ones to move on first.
Frequently asked questions
What is Decadent Drinks’ Magnificent Seven? It is a batch of seven simultaneous releases from Perth independent bottler Decadent Drinks. Six are Scotch single malts, spanning Tomatin, Glenglassaugh, Glen Grant, Clynelish, Ben Nevis and an undisclosed Highland malt, and the seventh is a 20-year-old Pays d’Auge Calvados made with the Roger Groult estate.
How much do the Decadent Drinks releases cost? Prices range from £67 for the Ben Nevis 10 Years Old (The Teuchter) up to £435 for the Tomatin 31 Years Old (Whiskyland). In between sit the Glenglassaugh at £85, the Glen Grant at £175, the Clynelish at £159, the undisclosed Highland 30 Years Old at £195 and the Roger Groult Calvados at £195.
Where can I buy them? All seven are sold through the official Decadent Drinks online shop at decadent-drinks.com, which ships across the UK and internationally. The bottler also supplies specialist retailers and bars, so European and other overseas buyers can order directly, allowing for import duty and VAT.
Which Decadent Drinks release is best value? For everyday drinking, the Ben Nevis 10 Years Old at £67 is the strongest value: cheapest in the batch, a comfortable 47% ABV, and a cult distillery. For raw character, the cask-strength Glenglassaugh 8 Years Old at £85 offers a lot of coastal distillery personality for the money.
What is the Roger Groult Calvados and how is it different from whisky? Calvados is the apple brandy of Normandy, and Pays d’Auge is its top appellation, double-distilled in pot stills. Roger Groult is a family estate known for long-aged Calvados. This 120-bottle cuvée is built around two 20-year-old casks and shows apple, tobacco, honey and rancio rather than the malt and grain notes of whisky.
Are the Decadent Drinks whiskies cask strength? Most are at or near cask strength. The Tomatin is 57.9%, the Glenglassaugh 57.1%, the Glen Grant 52.0% and the Clynelish 51.5%, all bottled without reduction to a standard strength. The 30-year-old Highland (47.1%), Ben Nevis (47.0%) and Calvados (46.2%) sit lower, in the case of the older malts because decades in the cask have brought the strength down naturally.
Leave a Reply