You can breath, now. Diageo has finally officially announced their 2025 Special Releases, dubbed “Horizons Unbound,” and for those of you itching to get your hands on them, the usual suspects in UK specialty retail have them for sale. I know we’ve all been losing sleep over this!

Let’s face it, the Special Releases have felt less and less special in recent years, and even among malt enthusiasts, they’re increasingly met with a shrug, or perhaps consternation. Although the Special Releases tend to be bottled at cask strength, Diageo is steadfast in avoiding clarity around coloring and chillfiltration, and many malt enthusiasts care about whether or not their whisky has been adulterated with spirit caramel and chillfiltering. More than that, the prices keep going up even as age statements remain constant or even tick downward. A number of commentators have enjoyed pointing out, with more than a hint of schadenfreude, that previous years’ Special Releases are still sitting on retail shelves, often at quite a discount (gentle reader, this is true!).

In short, the Special Releases haven’t been generating a lot of positive buzz in recent years.

Having thrown cold water and a wet blanket on the whole business, let’s take a peek at this year’s offerings:

First off, we have the obligatory 12 year old Lagavulin, matured in refill casks along with Pedro Ximenez and Oloroso sherry seasoned casks. Bottled at a healthy 56.5% abv, the recommended retail price (RRP), per Spirits Business, is a whopping $180, although The Whisky Exchange is selling it for a slightly more modest $160. Pretty hard to justify either price point, although in theory, PX could be an enjoyable counterpoint to the smokiness of the core spirit.

These days, we always get a Talisker in the mix, too, this time at 14 years old and 53.9% abv. Supposedly, it’s matured in “volcanic rock toasted American oak casks” although your guess is as good as mine on what, precisely, that might mean (beyond marketing hype bordering on drivel). Per Spirits Business, Diageo would like to unburden us of $185 for this one, but once again, actual retailers have other ideas (you can get it from Master of Malt for a mere $156). The RRP is outrageous, but somewhere in the $150 range is at least borderline reasonable, today’s prices.

Increasingly, the Special Releases steer toward the tried-and-true, so it’s no surprise that perennial American favorite Oban gets a spot, too–a 12 year old matured in ex-bourbon casks at 54.7% abv, retailing (for now!) at $150. We’re getting into highway robbery territory, here, especially considering the core expression, which is two years older, retails for less than half that price most of the time. Cask strength bottling doesn’t even come close to justifying that kind of price hike.

Roseisle has been getting a lot of love in the Special Releases lately, too, and this year, we have 14 year old expression matured in refill and rejuvenated casks (whoo, boy) and weighing in at 55.9% abv. The actual retail price seems to be hovering right around $160, which we can at least pretend to justify by noting that Roseisle doesn’t have any standard bottling.

Propping up one of the various Singletons has been a key feature of recent Special Releases, and this year, we get another one from Glen Ord (I think I have a Special Release Glen Ord from last year or the year before). This time, it has been aged in…what the actual fuck…mezcal and second fill sherry casks, for 17 years. Weird, but imaginative. It’s a nice even 55.5% abv, and at around $180 it’s…well, not as overpriced as some of it’s better known peers, I guess.

A 21 year old Dailuaine is both the oldest, and (unsurprisingly) also the most expensive whisky in the range–sherry matured and bottled at 54.8% abv, the RRP is $500, although online retailers seem to be sitting closer to $380 or so. Today’s prices, a 21 year old, cask-strength, sherry matured single malt for around $380 doesn’t strike me as completely egregious, especially since official bottlings of Dailuaine are rather scarce. Still, I can think of many better ways to spend ~$400 on single malts, and I’m guessing most of you can, as well.

The bargain of the range (if you can call it that) is an 18 year old Clynelish at a relatively gentle 51.6% abv. Matured in refill casks, some of the spirit comes from batches distilled using unusual cut points in the run, apparently designed to further highlight the distillery’s beloved “waxiness”. Despite an RRP of north of $200, most outlets seem to be selling it for around $180, which is getting close to being an acceptable price for an 18 year old whisky from a cult distillery.

Rounding out the range is a real wild card, an 8 year old grain whisky (in this case, rye) from Diageo’s recently mothballed Highland workhorse Teaninich. Bottled at a hefty 59.3% abv, it can be found at retail for a relatively modest $85 or so. Teaninich is mainly known as a malt distillery, so it’s interesting to hear of a rye being made there. It’s an unusual enough proposition that the price point doesn’t feel completely exorbitant, even if it’s not exactly what you’d call a good deal.

What’s my verdict on this year’s offerings?

When I first glanced at this collection, I was excited, both by the offerings and what, for a moment, felt like semi-reasonable pricing. I didn’t realize the Teaninich was a grain whisky, at first, and once I did, I was disappointed, although now I’m starting to warm to the idea of a rye. Letting the prices sink in, I’ve realized we’re still getting bent over a barrel on that front; arguably, it’s getting worse. I kind of go back and forth on using weird casks (e.g. mezcal), but I’m feeling at least semi-laudatory when it comes to this year’s range on the “experimental” front: the rye from Teaninich is certainly interesting, and the Clynelish distilled around unusual cut points sounds like the kind of experiment I’d really like to see more of. Like most serious malt whisky enthusiasts these days, I’d really like to see a big boost in transparency–as I’ve said elsewhere, reading between the lines I take “Natural Cask Strength” to be Diageo-speak for “cask strength, unchillfiltered, and natural color” but it would be nice if they would spell that out in non-coded terms. And as someone who enjoys seeing lesser-known distilleries get a chance at the limelight, I’m losing patience with the Special Releases endlessly celebrating the same 4-5 distilleries in the vast company portfolio.

Overall, I’d say a resounding 2 or 2 and a quarter cheers for Diageo on these Special Releases. There are some interesting ideas, special bottlings are always at least a little bit fun, and a couple of the expressions sit right on the borderline of a reasonable price point. Still, most of these bottlings are still overpriced (some, like the Oban, are almost insultingly so) and raise familiar hackles with the lack of transparency around presentation and the increasingly rote selection of represented distilleries. Hip hip h-……!