Our general manager and I were driving up the west coast of Scotland when we passed Ben Nevis, the mountain, and Ben Nevis, the distillery. "Jon! Pull in here, quick," I asked, as we approached the distillery. I have a weakness, you see, for the special flavors in Ben Nevis, and the stuff is bloody hard to find in America. So as we got out of the car, a bloke came out of the gift shop at the front of the distillery, waving his arms. They were closing soon, he said, and could not accomodate us. "That's fine," I said, "but perhaps you could tell us just one thing. We're from a large liquor store in America, and we'd like to sell Ben Nevis. Can you tell me who your American importer is?" And the guy replied, "Uh, right, we're quite happy with our American agent." "No, you don't understand," I say, "we're a store, not an importer. Who brings your whisky to the States?" And the Ben Nevis gift shop guy refused to tell me how to find his whisky in the U.S. Amazing! And very disappointing.

Price: $43.99

Good thing Billy Walker purchased BenRiach, since not too many distilleries will bottle a private cask of peaty Scotch for you. BenRiach has been experimenting with peated whisky for a couple decades, but the previous owner (Seagram) had no intention of ever releasing it to the public. So when Mr. Walker bought the place in 2003, he found a treasure trove of way-peaty Scotch. Here's one of them. Possibly the most impressive thing about cask 313—besides the body-slam of peat smoke it whams you with—is the amazing drinkability and openness it displays at full cask strength. It is tons of fun to taste this straight, even if it is a little better and certainly more complex with a splash of H²O. The other thing drinkers of South Shore Islay malts will notice is the lack of maritime salty seaweed medicinal notes; it's almost as if there is nothing standing between you and the freight train of peat barreling out of the bottle. I've provided two tasting notes. Take your pick...it's been nice knowing you.

Price: $65.99

I admire the thoughtful job Bruichladdich and Master Distiller Jim McEwan do with wine casks, always sourcing from top, top wineries and clearly stating the provenance of the used barrel. Going into this project with them, I was certain we'd wind up with a very nice whisky, but honestly, I hadn't counted on it being quite so gorgeous. Bruichladdich is the very model of a modern distiller—restlessly and brilliantly creative, while safeguarding tradition from the vanguard of the industry.

Price: $79.99

This Speyside sherry cask is the sort of bottling that Gordon & MacPhail really does right. Perfectly balancing a sherry cask on a relatively light whisky is no small feat, but man-oh-man, did G&M ever nail it with this one. Have you ever been haunted by a whisky? I was walking to a Reds game, minding my own business, when all of a sudden the taste-memory of this malt popped into my head and wouldn't leave. That's when I knew I had to bottle this cask, and so I did, and so it's here, and so it is good. I should pipe it to my pillow. Craigellachie, ya got me.

Price: $44.99

Our third cask of Glenburgie continues in the fine tradition of the first two. Frankly, I can't imagine how this distillery stays so under the radar. For me, it's always a big-boned, creamy-oily-smooth Speysider with a lot of character. Drinkers of such full-bodied drams as Glenfarclas and Macallan would do well to spend a few evenings with the fat and full 1994 Glenburgie. As usual, Gordon & MacPhail's sherry cask complements rather than dominates the potstill character, which comes through loud and clear with a mouth-coating balance of fruits, gentle smoke, and big chewy malt.

Price: $52.99

Our Secret Stills Highland 15 year came about rather in reverse fashion than most of my private casks. Rather than start with a distillery and select a flavor, I started with a flavor and found a distillery. I wanted to find a rare style of single malt: old fashioned Highland, the way Highland whiskies tasted 100 years ago, smokier, bolder, bigger. I assigned the mission to Gordon & MacPhail, telling them I didn't care which distillery it came from, as long as it met those terms and nailed that flavor. They took me at my word—and sent a smashing dram from a secret distillery! (a hint on the back label gives it away, if you do your homework.) Sure enough, the robust smokiness (though it is not particularly peaty) takes you back to 1910. If a space alien came to Earth and asked for a dram, this would be my introduction to Scotch whisky.

Price: $57.99