25/04/2018 May outturn at Cadenhead's

The usual ceremony, with proper glasses, but limited quantities and time. This is a preview, not a literary exercise.
Small attendance, today, and club members are annoyed to hear that BC and DW had a pre-preview this afternoon. [DW since objected in private that he was bed-ridden and went exactly nowhere this afternoon. I stand corrected]
We try all blind, with the big reveal at the end.

Dram #1
Nose: plum eau-de-vie, soft cork and ripe apricot. This feels young. Mouth: soft, fruity and meadow-like, it has lemon pie. Finish: warming, yellow and buttery. Somehow, most drams today feel like colours to me, tonight. This is yellow. I guess it is a 10yo at 46%, probably Teaninich or Auchroisk. It is in fact Knockdhu 11yo 2006/2018 (54.7%, Cadenhead Small Batch, 3 x Bourbon Hogsheads, 792b) 6/10

Dram #2
Nose: this is wider, and it oddly reminds me of the smell of detergent in my grandmother's bathroom. Custard later emerges. Mouth: lively, with blackberry jam and a touch of paprika. Finish: fruity as a nigella-seed-sprinkled jam -- strawberry jam. Cough lozenges (French cachous). I venture a young Macduff at 46%, and claim this to be lavender in colour. It is Tomintoul-Glenlivet 11yo 2006/2018 (55.4%, Cadenhead Small Batch, 3 x Bourbon Barrels, 666b) 7/10

Dram #3
Nose: pink and purple flowers, lilac, violets, saxifraga. Mouth: soft and marshmallow-like. Finish: gentle, short and relatively discreet, it has violet- or lilac-flavoured bubble gum. This is purple and, obviously, a 10yo Tomintoul. Except it is Bunnahabhain 28yo 1989/2018 (43.8%, Cadenhead Small Batch, 2 x Bourbon Hogsheads, 432b) 7/10

Dram #4
Nose: lichen, soaked moss, shampoo foam. Mouth: super soft, honey-like, sweet and velvety. Finish: very fruity, but so shy! A greyish-green dram that I am convinced is the 44yo Creations blend. Wrong again. Ord 12yo 2006/2018 (46%, Cadenhead Small Batch, 2 x Bourbon Hogsheads, 606b) 7/10

Dram #5
Nose: raspberry pie, shortcrust, crème brûlée, banane flambée, even maracuja. The second glass I have, after the whole session is over, is closer to pickled vinegar. Much less convincing. Mouth: soft and velvety, it becomes überfruity through retronasal olfaction. Finish: milk chocolate and lovely tropical fruit. This is subtle, yet excellent. I had it at 9/10 the first time, but had to bring it down when trying it again. It is yellow-y pink to me. Ben Nevis 21yo 1996/2018 (52.9%, Cadenhead Single Cask, Bourbon Hogshead, 210b) 8/10

Dram #6
Nose: perfume, marzipan, white chocolate and a hint of chalk (Aultmore?) Mouth: soft, sweet, and almost weak. Finish: light, with a dropkick of boiled sweets, as well as a touch of hand wash. I have stopped guessing, by now, though this is magenta to me. Macduff 11yo 2006/2018 (46%, Cadenhead Small Batch, 1 x Bourbon Hogshead, 228b) 8/10

Dram #7
Nose: glue, industrial glue. Mouth: more industrial glue. Finish: long, with extremely-dark blackcurrant... and glue. This is rusty brown to me, and reminds me of R5.2. We all guess it is the North British. Yep. North British 32yo 1985/2018 (55.2%, Cadenhead Small Batch, 1 x Butt, 582b) 6/10

Dram #8
Nose: grass, warm sand, coastal air and bubble gum. Mouth: putty and plasticine. Finish: Parma violet, violets (the flowers), plasticine. Is this sandy-coloured dram the Glentauchers? Glenrothes-Glenlivet 21yo 1996/2018 (50.9%, Cadenhead Small Batch, 3 x Bourbon Hogsheads, 990b) 7/10

Dram #9
Nose: lots of warm plasticine, crayons, pencil eraser. Mouth: slightly bitter, rubbery, with plasticine again. Finish: bitter and rubbery -- as in pencil-eraser rubber. Purple. Glen Spey-Glenlivet 16yo 2001/2018 (54%, Cadenhead Small Batch, 3 x Bourbon Hogsheads, 858b) 5/10

Dram #10
Nose: warm hay in the summer sun, a camp fire in the distance, warm custard. This is a deep yellow. Mouth: warm, it has French toast. Finish: warm bread crust, shortcrust pastry. Glentauchers-Glenlivet 27yo 1990/2018 (54.4%, Cadenhead Single Cask, Bourbon Barrel, 168b) 7/10

Dram #11
Nose: wax, hand wash, candle wax, candle wick, even. Mouth: soft, with toffee and Scottish tablet. Finish: Turkish delights and dust. This leaves me lukewarm. Linkwood 22yo 1995/2018 (48.8%, Cadenhead Small Batch, 2  Bourbon Hogsheads, 456b) 6/10

Dram #12
Nose: citric acid and butter, then lots of smoke and struck matches. Mouth: gently smoky, it has grappa and white wine. Pretty acidic, this. Finish: apples, soaked in alcohol, crisp, acidic and warming. A bit heady. I find it light blue. Tomatin 10yo 2008/2018 (54.4%, Cadenhead Small Batch, 2 x Bourbon Hogsheads, 528b) 7/10

Dram #13
Nose: marzipan, gherkin vinegar, Parma violet, warm plasticine. Mouth: drying, off. It has blackcurrant, but also soft cork. Finish: long, fruity and nicely metallic. Excellent nose. The rest is a bit underwhelming. I reckon the high Invergordon content keeps it interesting. Light Fruity Sherry 44yo b.2018 (43.4%, Cadenhead Creations, Sherry Hogshead finished, B#1) 7/10

Good outturn. Top budget drams that many will miss, because the name or the age does not immediately stand out.

08/04/2018 Two Littlemills

Littlemill 33yo 1967/2000 (49.1%, Iain Mackillop Mackillop's Choice, C#668): nose: it is immediately a mix of old jams in a cellar and a walk in a pine forest. Shortly thereafter, wood varnish emerges, cork, bung cloth, diesel fumes, stale tobacco, polished dashboards and even cellophane. This one is feinty and woody -- it did spend a long time in wood, after all! Mouth: peppery wood varnish on the first impression, with walnut vinegar soon to follow, a touch of ink, maybe, peanut oil -- the texture is quite oily, in fact. Plum compote, Madeira, dried figs, dried kiwi cubes. The mouth is woody too, but more fruit comes out that in the nose. Finish: nuttiness abounds, with pistachio shells, pecan nuts, rapeseed oil, plum stones and then warm rhubarb compote, dried Selkirk bannock, rum-infused raisins and spiked sticky toffee pudding. Excellent drop! 9/10

Littlemill 26yo 1988/2015 (52.5%, Hart Brothers Finest Collection Cask Strength, Sherry Butt): nose: very similar to the Mackillop offering, yet perhaps slightly deeper. It has rancio, dunnage warehouse, old books on a shelf, slightly mouldy, a butt, after it has been emptied of its sherry, and after dust has had time to settle in. Bung cloth and blotting paper full of ink soon enter the scene, accompanied by a sweet ouch: Demerara sugar. Mouth: soft and warm, the palate has wood and varnish, caramelised muscovado sugar, butterscotch, fudge, a dash of resin and black tea leaves in a box. Finish: the sherry notes turn drier, here, with cocoa powder, dark-chocolate dust, cake crust. The chocolate clearly dominates, which is good news for tOMoH, but is a little one-dimensional. Scratching the surface, one can also detect ground Brazil nuts, mince pie, Madeira wine (to hear the rollers thunder on a shore that isn't mine -- for those who know), snus and peppermint, or After Eight chocolate thins. Another winner, but I prefer the first one. 8/10 (Thanks for the sample, Arribba)

03/04/2018 One Irish beauty

Gelston's Old Irish Whiskey 26yo b.2018 (54.2%, Halewood, 144b): bottled by the same company that brought Crabbie's back to life, earlier in the year, this is allegedly a Bushmills in disguise, one of the (if not the) last distillation by Frank McHardy, and a cask previously owned by Teeling. Rumour has it that Frank might have used peated barley at the time. There has been a plethora of those old, undisclosed Irish whiskeys, over the last half decade or so, allegedly from the Teeling stocks, which has helped put Ireland back on the whisk(e)y map. This one comes with a hefty price tag, raising expectations. Nose: this has 'old school' written all over it: dunnage warehouse, damp staves and squashed apricots. Further, a whisper of smoke emerges, and tropical fruits grow in intensity. What a tantalising nose! Candied greengages, freshly-cut celery stalks, green hazel, persimmon, tomato stalks and smoky embers, persimmon jam and warm ink. Mouth: soft, yet gently spicy, it has more tomato stalks, squashed persimmon, paprika on creamy custard and roasted mango slices via retronasal olfaction. Oh! my, the mango grows bolder and bolder! Overripe-pineapple juice joins in on the fun, and yet more persimmon, this time under the oven grill. Finish: much bolder than expected, this is a grand mix of refined smoke and lovely tropical fruits -- guava and mango, perhaps pineapple too, all laid out on the barbecue. Remnants of chutneyed, sliced tomatoes, juicy and sun-drenched, and coconut-y, fruity yoghurt. The whole is mildly acidic (fruit) a touch drying (ash) and sweet at the same time (tropical fruits). The incessant ballet of smoke and fruit is quite simply marvellous. Excellence in a glass. 10/10 (Thanks for the sample, SW)