09-apr-07
it's not all about whisky... we just happened to be in the neighbourhood.
a sample of today's selection, from left to right (description from the Society website):
Fisherman’s Friends in a bakery
Cask No. 39.69
£71
The nose was deep and heady; pineapple and other exotic fruits balanced by oak, aniseed and menthol. One Panellist, eyes closed, imagined a bakery (shortbread, meringues, vanilla and cakes). The natural strength flavour was full, lively and warm, waxy and mouth-coating, with maple syrup and butterscotch developing into the numbing effect of Fisherman’s Friends. The reduced nose seemed more complex; leafy and floral, like forests and blossoms, with dark grapes, liquorice and candy floss.We found the reduced palate wonderfully balanced – barley sugar sweetness with a dry tannic finish. Enormously complex. The distillery is on the eastern edge of Elgin.
Drinking tip: A gorgeous sippin’ whisky – probably best suited to social situations
Colour: Shimmering, sexy, stolen gold
Date distilled: October 1982
Cask: Refill hogshead
Alcohol: 55.8%
Age: 26 years
Outturn: 210 bottles
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Dignified and gentlemanly
Cask No. 64.18
£59
A gloriously enticing nose had the Panel oozing delight. This full-bodied dram had burnt toast with honey, spiced pear with cinnamon and caramelised almonds at the German market with subtle Christmas spices in the air. Unreduced, it tasted wonderfully smooth, woody and dry with a long, long finish and complex aftertaste. ‘Smooth, creamy, smoky – all there’ said the Geordie blender. Clearly his sort of dram. Water brought nothing new to the party, neither on the nose nor the taste, although it was still well-integrated, dignified, gentlemanly. From an unsung distillery, home of the (in)famous Loch Dhu.
Drinking tip: For a moment of quiet contemplation
Colour: Winter sun
Date distilled: December 1984
Cask: Refill butt
Alcohol: 56.3%
Age: 24 years
Outturn: 481 bottles
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Black bullets in a posh library
Cask No. 26.61
£80
We found this softly fragrant and not very typical of the make. The nose suggested boiled sweets in a posh library, with sweet fruitiness, beeswax polish, leather and vellum-bound old books. The palate was beautifully sweet and mellow but with some gravitas; lavender, heather, dry smoke, mint and treacle – “Jesmona Black Bullets!” our Geordie blender insisted. The reduced nose had delicate hints of rock samphire and lovage, with wax candles and watchmaker’s oil. The taste, beautifully complex, had sea-salt, crisp freshness and cinnamon spice, with wood and treacle in the finish. The distillery was built in Brora in 1967.
Drinking tip: For laid back, leisurely Sunday afternoons
Colour: Gold leaf
Date distilled: May 1983
Cask: Refill hogshead
Alcohol: 55.0%
Age: 25 years
Outturn: 101 bottles
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A jewellery box on the Titanic
Cask No. 27.73
£49
The nose sent us scurrying off in different directions – a female Panellist declared an old jewellery box, while some others found harbours and docksides (with seaweed and crabs) “Like driving onto a ferry” said one. The unreduced palate was fundamentally sweet with prunes and fruity jam, some wax and a salty finish. Adding water divided us again – one nosed sultanas and paint, another vanilla custard powder, while one Panellist got nostalgic about a rabbit cage! The reduced palate had gentle sweetness (puff candy and cocoa) and quality all the way through. It is the best known of the Campbeltown malts.
Colour: Misty Campbeltown sunrise
Date distilled: May 1996
Cask: Refill hogshead
Alcohol: 55.5%
Age: 12 years
Outturn: 297 bottles