This is the list before the "big list" in November - which will have around 30 whiskies. Accordingly, this is a 13 dram tease arriving just at the very end of October, when nobody expected it.

Two of the drams (72.28 and 9.95) are online only. There's still some 72.28 at the London Rooms bar, but I skip it as it's a repeat. I'd also like to note that owing to some family matters, I have to do all of these in one mammoth 13 dram session, during which two kind souls buy me further whiskies. It was a long day and hard work to keep a fresh palate. You'd cry to see the drams I had to have poured down the sink half finished - I know I almost did!

There are no sherry casks, but there are some good first-fill bourbon casks to make up for it. The list also has a fairly high level of alcohol, so some caution is advised.

My favourite was, by a clear margin, the Tullibardine. It's a real whisky enthusiast's dram, that's a joy to explore as it gives up its flavours. I was also fond of the Benrinnes, the Glenfarclas and the Bowmore.

If this is the warm up act, then the main event should be superb!

Another month, another outturn. This one came out over the same weekend as The Whisky Show, which made things tricky. In the end, I booked Friday off work and attacked ten of the drams then, mopping up the last four on Monday evening.

There's a sherry cask on this list, and it was one of my favourites. There's one first fill barrel, and everything else is refill bourbon barrels or hogsheads. That's not a complaint - I think a good refill cask gives a whisky a nice round flavour, and that's definitely what you get in this outturn. (When you're doing ten drams in a day, it would be nice to have a few other cask types to break things up - but I appreciate that this is a problem most people won't have!)

My favourites of the list were the Glenlivet (fruity and light), the Highland Park (shoreline bonfires and toffee), the Bowmore (lavender and bacon), the Bladnoch (toffee, fruit and hay) and the Glenfarclas (fruit, pastries and ginger).

Honourable mentions should go to the Mannochmore, the Aberlour and the Laphroaig (smoke!). In particular I enjoyed writing the notes for that Laphroaig, as I felt it was important to get across the exceptional and remarkable delivery that its body has.

In an unusual move, I'll go so far as to say that my absolute pick of the list is the Bowmore. It combined flavours in an interesting, unexpected way - but held it together superbly. I think I'll be coming back to it frequently, for the short while that it will remain on the bar...