Here's What Lum Reek 10-Year-Old Cask Strength Batch 2 Actually Tastes Like

With Master Blender Billy Walker at its helm, MacNair's Boutique House of Spirits has made caramel-colored waves with its Scotch whisky blends. In November 2018, The GlenAllachie Distillery released the Lum Reek blend line, which combined matured GlenAllachie's with peated Islay and Speyside malts. MacNair's Lum Reek line originally only included 12 and 21-year aged whiskies. Lum Reek was a charming debut into Walker's blends under the MacNair's label, with its name coming from the Scottish well-wish "Lang may yer lum reek," which roughly translates to "long may your chimney smoke." Both blends did well, with the 21-year earning the 2020 World Whiskies Award for World's Best Blended Malt. 

However, the Lum Reek 10-Year is MacNair's only whisky at cask strength that is released in small batches, beginning with its premiere batch in 2022. "There's something wondrous about bottling a whisky at cask strength... the experience is incredibly special," said Walker (via MacNair's). In February of 2023, MacNair's announced the release of Lum Reek 10-Year Cask Strength Batch 2, which promises to be a balanced, comforting blended Scotch that contains both peated and unpeated spirits. Expect aromas of wood-burning fires, cinnamon, vanilla, and grilled honeycomb, and tasting notes of dark chocolate, orange peel, coffee beans, smoked spices, and butterscotch.

MacNair's Lum Reek 10 Year Old Cask Strength Batch 1 was very well received, earning Best in Show at the Las Vegas Spirits Awards in 2022. One 5-star review on Master of Malt called it "An amazing whisky, pure and simple. Amazing, this is not hyperbole." Another reviewer wrote, "Each flavor is distinct and harmonious." It's still in the early days for Batch 2, but here's what you can expect in comparison to Batch 1. 

Batch 2 still uses Islay, Speyside, and aged GlenAllachie malts that are left to marinade in Spanish sherry casks, similarly to Batch 1. Over time, the whisky takes on the woody notes of the cask, then is sent for a final round of blending by Billy Walker himself. So, how does Batch 2 differ from Batch 1? It really all comes down to the flavor tweaking that occurs during the final blending. Batch 2 offers more charred, caramel notes than the fruitier, nuttier Batch 1, for instance, but their distilling and fermenting process are overwhelmingly similar. So, if you found a lot to love in Batch 1, Batch 2 should offer comparable but subtly different flavors.