Another month and another large get together, featuring some very interesting and different whiskies which stirred up a good bit of discussion.

SMWS 76.81 – An 8 year old first-fill bourbon cask Mortlach! 60.1%

Freddie: Ooft! Very bourbon-y on the nose!

Aussie: State the obvious, Freddie!

Topper: Ridiculously smooth.

Crusty: And fresh.

Leggy: It’s very creamy.

Freddie: Yes, like vanilla cream soda – there’s a whiff of banana in there.

Crusty: I’m getting fresh pine resin…

Aussie: Delicate heather honey.

A pause as everyone has a sip…

Leggy: it’s quite tongue coating.

Spanners: Delicious.

Porky: Fantastic.

Freddie: The taste carries on everything from the nose, with the addition of stewed pears in custard. Faint spicy cardamom in the finish – perhaps a miniscule amount of pepper?

Aussie: Mmm! I like that! White grape in there too. Very light, then spicy in the finish, a tiny bit of pepper!

Freddie: Wow! The spiciness disappears when you add the tiniest drop of water – it’s almost like a whisky ice cream now, if such a thing existed!

Spanners: Without water it’s almost like ginger beer, no?

Neeps: This is very nice actually…

Aussie: So nice that I’ve tanned it! I think I’ll have another one!

Leggy: So it’s drinkable then?

All: Certainly drinkable!

Topper: I rate it quite highly…

Aussie: Danger territory… I think I could unknowingly drink my way through an entire bottle of this… Then drunkenly run through the streets in a bathrobe and pirate hat shouting that the revolution has come!

Leggy: Now you’re just being silly…

Freddie notices Aussie eyeing up the other bottles

Freddie: Check out that predatory look in Aussie’s eyes!

Leggy: [Sings] Are you really Freddie in disguise?

Duncan Taylor Aberlour 1993 (17 year old) – cask no 2838 ‘matured in an oak cask’ 55.2%

Porky: Roast coffee.

Spanners: But sweet…

Freddie: Burnt apple? Roasted apples even?

Aussie: [Sniffing at glass in disbelief] That can’t be cask strength!

A pause as everyone has a taste

Crusty: It’s like a chocolate or coffee.

Spanners: Ooh that’s smooth! I’m getting boiled sweeties!

Crusty: Buttery

Porky: Sweet cherries maybe?

Freddie: I’m tasting custard cream biscuits initially – Very sweet at first.

Neeps: It’s really nice!

Crusty: It’s a bit carob-y.

Editorial Note: Carob (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carob) is a legume native to the Mediterranean region. It is used as a chocolate substitute by very middle class parents. Crusty, Freddie and Leggy were all subjected to it in their respective childhoods. It is a double whammy of no fun – not only does it not taste like chocolate, it also marks one out to one’s peers as being different.

Aussie: It’s appley and drinkable with some bitter notes. Some spice in the finish.

Neeps: It reminds me of Greek sweets..

Leggy: Loukoumi?

Neeps: Yeah, that’s the one.

Freddie: You mean Lokum? Turkish delight?

Leggy: GREEK DELIGHT!!!

Leggy spent some time in Greece a few years back and knows there are strong feelings on this subject!

Freddie: There’s some cereal there, again that slightly roasted note comes up in the finish…

Leggy: It tastes like Special K should taste if the picture on the box lived up to it’s promise.

Topper: Apparently Tommy Cooper used to have gin and tonic on his breakfast cereal.

Spanners: Extra special K!

Freddie: I’ve got it! Tahini!

Leggy: Yes!

Aussie: [Still intent on the dram] Honey, coffee and burnt orange peel.

Topper goes to get some Irn Bru…

Neeps: Are you not going to try it with water first?

Porky: It’s a bit like an old fireplace.

Leggy: Galaxy milk chocolate. And some green apples.

Aussie: It turns really acrid if you add water. Ack!

Spanners: Why would you add water to this?

Leggy: SCIENCE!

Freddie: You’re right Aussie. It’s almost taken on a hint of gammeldansk now – It really knots the stomach. I wish I hadn’t added water.

Spanners: Told you Freddie!

Porky: A very unusual whisky. I often think that coffee flavour is distracting or unpleasant, but not in this instance.

All: Unless you add water!

Leggy: Or Irn Bru. [Turns to stare accusingly at Topper]

Topper shifts guiltily in his chair…

Blair Athol 12 – Flora and Fauna, 43%

Porky: Smells of citrus fruits.

Freddie: Grapefruit and raisins. Tangerine peel, sweet chilli peppers

Crusty: Aye, it is like grilled red peppers – Mmmm, there’s a slight sweetness!

Neeps: Mandarins?

Aussie: It’s nutty on the nose. Tastes of grapefruit and liquorice.

Freddie: Interesting finish – Like hazelnuts and red wine.

Aussie: Quite short and dry. A little acrid?

Neeps: I agree.

Leggy: There’s a kind of woody, wood polish note.

Topper: French polish?

Spanners: Pledge®?

Crusty: Fresh lacquer, or pine resin?

Leggy: Haven’t you used that note before?

Aussie: Freshly cut hay?

All: Oh shut up Aussie!

Neeps: To be honest, I’m a bit disappointed. It’s not a patch on the distillery only that we had.

Freddie: This is a bit cheaper though, and you don’t have to go to Pitlochry to buy it. It’s not really to my taste either, but that certainly doesn’t mean it’s bad.

Topper: I like it.

Aussie: It’s alright…

Porky: I’d probably buy this.

Oban Distillery Only - 55.2% Fino Sherry Finish

 

By this time only some of us were still making an effort to keep reviewing. The rest had started on a crate of beer, the uncouth beasts!

Freddie: Wow! Great nose! Some red fruits in there, but overwhelmingly smells like a heavily played rosewood fretboard!

Leggy: A little strawberry jam?

Neeps: I have a memory I attach to this – Being in a sauna back in Sweden with a bunch of Finnish chicks!

Leggy: With strawberry jam?

Aussie: Very sweet… Honey, roses. Some tannin smells, almost like a red wine.

Freddie: Nicely delicate flavours – Very smooth, with hints of the usual bourbon and sherry notes appearing. A good bit of cherry bakewell and yes Leggy, a good hit of strawberry jam! Faintly chewy maltiness also.

Neeps: A bit of oak?

Aussie: I’m getting that maltiness too. Figs and some lemon.

Leggy: Forest fruit tea?

Freddie: A medium length finish. Light raisins – typical of sherry maturation, I know, but not at all treacly, which is much less usual.

Leggy: Very interesting to have a sherry finish rather than maturation.

Aussie: Really shows just how much flavour you can get out of a sherry cask.

Freddie: A good whack of sea salt at the end?

Aussie: And pepper.

Freddie: Yes!

Leggy: It’s the peppery finish you get in the Oban 14 as well. I wonder if it’s in the Distiller’s Edition too…

Aussie: [Gesticulating wildly] This is very, very, very drinkable!

 Neeps: This is a lovely dram.

Freddie: Yes, I really like it. It’s velvet smooth. The Oban 14 is quite nice, but this is very impressive. I’m of a mind to seek out more bottlings of Oban now…

Leggy: Best of luck with that! We can probably get the Distiller’s Edition but that’s about it. Most of it goes into blends.

Aussie: A real shame when they can turn out stuff as good as this.

Highland Park Single Cask 19 Year old 1986 – (2005) 55.3%

Hats off to Aussie for parting with a fair bit of dosh for this bottle – Only to realise after bidding that it was just 35cl!

Freddie: [Sounding very much like Leslie Phillips] Hellloooo! It smells like a dark chocolate and cherry fudge!

Spanners: Amazing colour!

Freddie: It’s ruby red!

Aussie: Fruity, what a fruity smell!

A very solemn silence as it is tasted.

Freddie: The palate is like Seville orange marmalade, with a little salt, just the tiniest bit! And that finish is incredible. Blueberry and blackcurrant muffins spread with a gooseberry and elderflower conserve.

Aussie: Either gooseberry or sour plum. Honeyed notes, definitely blackberry.

Spanners: Mmm! [We really couldn't coax much else out of him by this point]

Aussie: A slightly sour dram but I just love it. This might be one of the best drams I’ve ever had… It’s just… Perfect.

Freddie: This is an outstanding whisky, even by Highland Park standards.

Aussie: My estimation of Highland Park has leapt threefold!

Spanners: And it was high already!

Freddie: I don’t want to finish it. In fact, we might have to delay posting this review until we’ve managed to secure some more bottles for ourselves!

Aussie: I agree, but I’m not sure this will be available at all. The bottle was a very special release that you couldn’t buy in the shops.

Spanners: Maybe there’s still some at the distillery?

Aussie: Orkney isn’t that easy to get to. If I knew for certain that there were bottles of this up there in Kirkwall, I’d bloody swim there!

All: Here, here!

Sadly a dram each was all we could get, but it was well worth every single one of Aussie’s pennies!