The SMWS usually has two lists in November, and this year is no exception. And just like the first list, the quality is pretty uniformly high here. Lots of 4/5 and “I’d like a bottle” on display.

These were previewed on the same day as the ones for Outturn 321 at the start of the month. In fact, I split the drams and gave Matt what I thought would be the better of the Ardmore and Glen Scotias we had, but it turns out both of us thought that these were better.

The Ardmore charms with citrus, smoke, leather and chocolate in harmony - it got the only 5/5 technical score, and deserves it. The Glen Scotia is smokey and dirty with a touch of sweetness, and follows shortly behind the Ardmore in my favours.

Then there’s the Penderyn, which is rich and sweet with leather tobacco pouches. And why not move towards sweetness with the Glentauchers which carries pink wafers and fruits alongside foam bananas and marzipan...

There’s bound to be something you’ll like, but those four are the ones I want bottles of.

(Sadly the grains didn’t arrive in Greville Street, so those I’ll just have to buy blind...)

Next month should be the Christmas Parcels, which usually has some slight eccentricities on it, so begin bracing yourselves!

November at the SMWS looks like it'll be split into two lists... I say this because I have preview notes for 15 whiskies, but only five of them are here.

(No point in asking me what the others are. My lips are sealed!)

With just five whiskies, it feels a little odd to be picking out favourites. Luckily, the standard of all drams was fairly high.

My clear favourite was the Inchmurrin, which has floral and fruit notes that are very much my kind of thing.

But if you're not one for sweet delights, then luckily both the peated drams are superb. The Allt-a-Bhainne is the more medicinal of the two, with fruits and smoke in the meix as well. And the Caol Ila? It's a Caol Ila. And I mean that in the most complimentary manner. This is the most Caol Ila of Caol Ila's we've had for a while, and it's very hard to complain about that.

I suspect in a couple of weeks we'll be back here looking at more whiskies. Some of which are nice treats...