Review #951 - Thompson Bros SRV5 Blended Malt
The Thompson Brothers, Phil and Simon, are known for running the acclaimed Dornoch Castle whisky bar. They moved into independent bottling with the Thompson Bros brand (sometimes seen as 'Redacted Bros' here in the USA), and then they established Dornoch distillery, with the first spirit running from the stills in 2017. More recently, they've continued expansion: they're building a larger carbon-neutral distillery called Struie after successful planning permission and funding rounds.
Today, we're looking at one of the independent bottler's core products: a blended malt called SRV5, which stands for Station Road Vat 5. This vat is where the blend is married before final bottling: it's a 1,200 liter European oak vat which has been both toasted and charred. It acts as almost a sort of 'Solera' vat where spirit of different ages combines and is drawn off bit by bit; the youngest spirit in this blend is 8 years old, and during the bottling process, at least 1/3 of the volume of the vat is left inside to combine with future batches.
Thompson Bros uses a slow dilution process to bring the whisky down to its final bottling strength of 48.5% ABV; adding the water slowly ensures that the spirit is not shocked by a quick chemical reaction from adding lots of water at once, which helps the flavors to stay in the original form as opposed to shifting from the shock of quick dilution.
The Thompson Bros bottle everything without the use of artificial color or chill filtration - this is an enthusiast-focused whisky, then. Let's see how it stacks up.
Thompson Bros SRV5 Blended Malt
Scotland - Blend
Price: USD 50 (2026)
Age Statement: 8 Years
Strength: 48.5% ABV
Details: Not chill filtered, no color added; batch 014, bottled 2024
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 3 times over 2 months; bottles at 80%, 70%, and 60% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a nosing glass each time, rested 15+ minutes
Nose: Light orchard fruits and strong malty notes - apples, hay, French bread, a bit of heather. We also get sour pear and hints of honeydew melon; time brings vanilla, more bready notes, dry starchy oak, and a hint of youth.
Palate: The mouthfeel has a medium thickness. It's softer to start, with pears, light oak, and a decent amount of vanilla - classic ex-bourbon malt notes. There are nice spirity distillate notes, and we get both sweet and sour fruits - green apple, lemon candies. Buttery malt builds in intensity, but it's a somewhat simple palate.
Finish: Freshly baked pastries, buttercream icing, hints of lemon and vanilla and maybe a touch of peat? It's bright and clean, and we get soft tannins, honey, pears, and white bread, too. Like the nose and palate, a bit of spirity youth pops up, and it lingers in the aftertaste; it's a medium-short finish.
Final Note: There's no word on the cask types used to mature this whisky, but based on the tasting notes, we feel confident that at least the majority of the blend was aged in bourbon casks. It has a lot of that classic ex-bourbon profile of light fruits, soft light oak, and malty notes; overall, we think it's a serviceable blended malt, but it comes across as a bit young and simple at times, a bit understated.
If you enjoy the spirity ex-bourbon malt profile, this could be a good one to seek out, as the price is very fair. It's hard to find here in the US, but the price seems to be the equivalent of $45 to $55, which is on the cheap end for Scotch whisky these days - we think it's worth that.
Our Rating: 5.8 / 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: 6.28
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.
