Review #457 - Wolfburn 10 Year — Me, My Wife & Whisky

As the massive proliferation in Scottish distilleries over the last 20 years continues, we're getting to the point where some of the older examples are bottling whisky with double digit age statements. Once example is Wolfburn - this distillery resides in the far northern part of the Highlands region, and it's named for an old demolished distillery that sat only a few hundred meters from the current site. It was established in 2013, so they've theoretically had 10 year old spirit for nearly 2 years now.

Wolfburn produces both unpeated and lightly peated spirit; this initial 10 year vatting (bottled in 2023, using spirit from the inaugural year of distillation) uses the unpeated style, and it was matured in Oloroso sherry casks. Like most of the new-age distilleries, Wolfburn seems committed to high-quality presentation: the strength sits at 46% ABV, there's no artificial coloring added, and they don't chill filter the whisky before bottling.

Wolfburn 10 Year

Scotland/Highland - Single Malt

Price Paid: USD 109 (2023)

Current Locally Available Price: USD 95 (2025)

Age Statement: 10 Years

Strength: 46% ABV

Cask Makeup: Oloroso sherry hogsheads

Details: Not chill filtered, no color added; bottled 2023

Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 5 times over 11 months; bottles at 100%, 90%, 80% (blind tasting), 70% (blind tasting), and 60% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes

Nose: Unusual - spirity, with an emphasis on tart or sour fruits. Oranges, lemon, grape skins... with time, a very subtle dark fruit like prune. Hay, vanilla, and mild herbs add bright characteristics, and there isn't much of an oak presence. In the background, there's an oily, almost vegetal funk.

Palate: A medium thickness mouthfeel; sour light fruits, sour malt, and a bit of herbal sharpness come first. Orange, apples, watermelon, and grapefruit... vanilla, clove, and white pepper add a baking side. Behind the lighter flavors, we found a soft savory side, but it didn't show up consistently. One-off notes in certain sessions included milk chocolate, hay, honey, and syrupy peach.

Finish: Medium length, and the emphasis is still on light fruit: tart apple, orange, bell pepper, and lime juice. It's a bit spirity and spiky, and cinnamon arrives to add a spice; on the back end, there are just little hints of drying oak. In the aftertaste, we found fizzy grapefruit.

Final Note: This is a decent single malt, but to be honest, we had higher hopes. Maybe that's our fault for setting a certain expectation before tasting a whisky, but this is a high quality craft distillery making interesting whisky; the flavors on their oldest release so far still seemed very light. We would have enjoyed a bit more of an oak presence, as well as more dark fruit to match that Oloroso maturation.

One interesting note about this whisky's flavors - to us, there seemed to be a huge focus on sour flavors, especially sour light fruit. The sour flavor profile doesn't seem to be a very common emphasis in Scotch, so tasting a whisky that prominently displayed that characteristic was definitely interesting - it could make this a bit of a 'hit or miss' whisky depending on a person's specific palate preferences.

We also liked the oily note that carried through the nose and palate - the mouthfeel has 'just' a medium thickness, but there was this mildly savory oil that was hidden in the background.

Value on this bottle here in the US isn't great - a lot of 'new distillery' releases come with a bit of a price tag for younger whisky. Now that these distilleries are starting to graduate to age statements with double digits, some of them are increasing their prices to match - at least, that's the case after importation, distribution, and retail markups. While this 10 year old whisky costs $90 to $100, there are plenty of other Scotch single malts with that age statement in the $45 to $70 range.

Our Average Rating: 6.0 / 10

In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.

Value Rating: 5.16

About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.