29 October 2018

26/10/2018 One lonely Balvenie

This bottle is on its last leg, after barely surviving the Campbeltown festival, earlier this year. Let us have it a final time for proper notes.

Balvenie-Glenlivet 12yo 1979/1992 (59.5%, Cadenhead Authentic Collection 150th Anniversary Bottling): nose: an odd combination of burning alcohol and gentle flowers. It has turpentine, ashes and embers, fierce vinegar, yet also dandelions and forsythia. Breathing for the past year or so has done it a lot of good, and it is now more explosive, in terms of aromas. Putty and plasticine, disgorged white-wine casks, oilskins, and even a hospital smell -- not disinfectant, rather a cleaning agent used to clean hospital floors. It also has new rubber, warm bakelite, walnut stain and flesh and bung cloth. Letting is sit in the glass for a while allows more solvents to come through (mostly turpentine), and also diesel fumes. Even thirty minutes in, the alcohol remains very bold. Burnt paper, butter, slowly melting in its paper wrapping on the warm kitchen top. With water, the white-wine-cask impression becomes even more prominent, then it is the floral side that emerges and shines. Later yet, the nose gives ink-gorged blotting paper. Mouth: biting, acidic, it soon settles and becomes very flowery; buttercups, daisies, dandelions, pollen, ozone, maybe a drop of honey, gorse, thistles... quintessentially Scottish, eh? :-) Ginger (also Scottish). With water, it is destroyed. Sunk. Drowned. It is now merely watery and has lost all its charm. Finish: well, the heat is there, but is comforting, rather than aggressive, with flowers again (buttercups and daisies) and a certain sweetness (sugar-powdered doughnuts and white chocolate). It still has that odd note of dandelion-stem sap, which I am not too fond of, but the whole is pleasant indeed. The ginger has pretty much disappeared, replaced with ivy leaves (do not try them at home, kids! Poisonous!) The finish leaves the mouth anaesthetised. With water, the heat is but a memory, now. The flowers are there, more discreet, the mouth is less numb, but the flavours are toned down beyond recognition. Not a good swimmer, this one! 7/10

So long!

22 October 2018

20/10/2018 A few drams at the SMWS

Before anything, we try these three, that a customer left for us to try in a shop we stop by...



JL joins JS, Psycho and me for a few drams. The place is a construction site, with the main room ripped apart for refurbishment, and the temporary bar on the top deck. Ah, well.

50.83 25yo d.1990 Stimulating and uplifting (61%, SMWS Society Single Cask for Japan, Refill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 144b): I wanted 50.104, but there is none left. Nose: soft, floral and pastry-laden, it has marzipan, éclairs, forsythia and ginger buns, Cherry Coke (Psycho) and perfume (JL). Mouth: hot and comforting, it unleashes ginger biscuits and cinnamon buns, as well as hot custard with a dollop of melted chocolate. Finish: long, spicy, but soft (as in: it does not bit the tongue off with chilli), it has lots of pastry, cinnamon and a little incense, but also roasted mangoes. Beautiful. 9/10

JL: "That thing has balls, too!"
tOMoH: "Yeah, they teabag the casks."

38.22 25yo 1992/2018 Love letter on linen paper (51%, SMWS Society Cask, Refill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 270b): nose: very fruity, with added honeysuckle, tinned pineapple and juicy grapes. Mouth: super soft, juicy, buttery in texture, with mango purée and apple compote, peach pulp and a pinch of chilli. Finish: extremely fruity, with melted milk chocolate and fruity yoghurt. This one was allocated via a draw, and it is a pity none of us was picked, because it is a beauty. Dram of the night, except for JL, who hates it. The fool. 9/10

96.16 11yo d.2006 The merchant of Alsace (55.2%, SMWS Society Cask, 2nd Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 198b): Psycho was looking for the latest 1.xxx, but it is finished too. Nose: more traditional, it has barley, golden fields, faded leather and hints of earth. Mouth: soft, quaffable, custard- and apple-driven with a yoghurt-y texture. French apple tart it is, then, even though it is hilariously called an English tart, in French. Finish: full of pastry, with lots of custard and melted milk chocolate -- lots of that, in fact! A recurring note, tonight, eh? 7/10

We are pressed to order before last pour. We all try something dear.

9.150 30yo 1988/2018 Thyme well spent (54.7%, SMWS Society Cask, ex-Oloroso Sherry/1st Fill PX Sherry Butt, 370b): impossible not to try something with that untastic name! Nose: hints of rancio and lots of dark fruits (elderberry, blackcurrant, bramble). Mouth: soft and fruity, with more dark berries (blackberry, blackcurrant, elderberry again) and a pinch of spices. Finish: squashed fruit, crushed berries -- lots of them; a proper dark-fruit jam, with bees on the jar and all. The wood influence grows, before swiftly coming back to the berries. Excellent. I reckon my favourite SMWS Glen Grant. 9/10

7.200 25yo d.1992 Sassy lassie in a leather skirt (54.8%, SMWS Society Cask, Refill ex-Bourbon Hogshead, 222b): nose: sappy, green plants and aloe vera, dried oranges. Mouth: pear shavings and peach skins. Finish: fruity, green and fairly underwhelming. I do not get to spend much time with this one, but I find it the weakest SMWS Longmorn in a long while. 7/10

29.254 9yo d.2008 A match made in heaven (60.3%, SMWS Society Cask, Refill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 234b): nose: muddy farm paths, tractor tyres and drying mud. This one does not smell medicinal, but farm-y. Mouth: soft and farm-y, with muddy tracks aplenty. Finish: farmyards with a coastal touch. Psycho says it makes him fall in love with that distillery again. We are now being kicked out, hence the poor notes. 7/10

We overstay our welcome by a few minutes. Time for food; we are starving. Kolossi it is, and the spot it hits.

JS's moussaka

Psycho's chicken kebab

JL's salmon fillet

tOMoH's mixed grill

Good times.

18/10/2018 Whisky Squad -- The High-end Returns

The weird capitalisation is theirs.

It was a lot of fun last year, so when BA announced this theme coming back, JS and I jumped in. Psycho is in town and that seems the perfect way to entertain him. Once there, it turns out DW is attending too. The one person who is running half an hour late will turn out to be N from Brighton, blighted by train cancellations. We get acquainted with our tablemates.

Our tablemates

BA tells us immediately that we are about to taste six whiskies priced between £150 and £500 -- blind, of course.

Dram #1: nose: precious wood from a carpenter's workshop. It is very noble, with soaked cork, mayonnaise (a first, I think) and hazelnut shells. This is really nice! Overripe apple (Psycho reckons unripe apple, but he is clearly wrong) and beeswax appear, before citrus abounds -- grapefruit skins, orange skins. Lychee joins the party shortly thereafter. Mouth: drying, it has ginger grissini (Psycho, showing the extent of his breadstick knowledge), sawdust and shaved ginger. It later turns lighter and more ethereal, with lychee again. Finish: gingery cinnamon buns and other pastry shenanigans. I reckon it is a grain whisky and am not the only one to think that. It is indeed. Custard soon flows through, beautiful and comforting. BA bought this at auction for around £300. It will remain my favourite and Psycho's. I guess it is Caledonian 30yo 1987/2018 (48.5%, Cadenhead, 216b). Wrong, though geographically close. North British 49yo 1962/2011 (46%, Moon Import The Last Fetish, Hogshead, C#62, 336b, b#0181, LOT. 11/08016) 8/10

Dram #2: nose: mint, all sorts of herbs, liquorice roots, liquorice allsorts, Mentos ("still wrapped," says Psycho), mint tea, Fruit Loops (JS), candied angelica, incense, in the back and dried juniper berries. Mouth: mint again, turning to peppermint, gunpowder tea, dry orange peels and ground white pepper (under control). It takes on a vaguely fruity character, which is very nice, yet keeps the spice level going with cloves (Psycho). Finish: soft, fruity, but powerful, with lots of citrus and warm spices, mint again, but liquorice, not so much any longer. The wood spices (pepper, ginger powder) dominate, without squashing the other flavours. I venture it is Mannochmore 25yo (53.4%, OB, 3954b), though the price (£500) does not match. Wrong again. Mortlach 1976/2014 (43%, Gordon & MacPhail, AD/JJDI) 7/10


Dram #3: nose: this smells more traditional, with width, leather, chestnut oil and oranges, raspberry-filled PiM's (or raspberry jam and milk chocolate). Once we are told what it is, it becomes obvious to me: it reminds me of the First Cask bottling that OB brought to a tasting a while ago: very fresh, in a fruit-and-pine-forest style. Mouth: yep, more traditional indeed, with leather again, and oranges. It feels watery at first sip, before the mouth becomes an orange-and-liquorice juice. Finish: raspberry PiM's, orange peel, chocolate thins, frangipane and freshly-polished cabinets. Very nice. "Too nice," says Psycho. It does not stick out, which makes me reckon it is an official bottling, whatever the distillery. I am convinced it is the recent GlenAllachie 25yo (48%, OB, b.2018) at £228. Wrong again, and it is £122 (BA gave an incorrect and misleading lower threshold). Balblair 1991/2018 (46%, OB, L18/044 R1850541B) 7/10

Dram #4: nose: orange slices, freshly-harvested fields (Psycho), some dried-ginger shavings, orange rinds, ginger-and-cinnamon buns and an ever-growing note of cake icing. Water makes it bizarrely more stripping on the nose. Mouth: wood spices (galangal, dried ginger). This is much more powerful, almost numbing. Behind that power, it has more cinnamon buns and ginger. Water makes it softer and better, but also more streamlined, less wild, less interesting. Finish: gingerbread and pastry of all kinds, with white glazing. Another grain, I believe. With water, it loses all its appeal. My neighbour finds it very average, when diluted. Of course, I guess wrong again. It is worth 200 and is only available at the distillery-come-visitor-centre (big clue, there). Jameson 18yo Bow Street (55.3%, OB, B#1/2018, L804431050) 7/10

Dram #5: nose: leather (with meat tatters still on), meat, then smoke and acidic citrus. It reminds me of the atmosphere in a bothy. Cherry tree, wet ashes (Psycho), farm paths. The first nosing was quite awful, I thought, but then it gets better and better. Mouth: so-so, not very interesting. Pepper, ground orange peels. When we are told what it is, it becomes obvious to me that the Talisker is the loudest on the palate. Finish: long, but monochord, overpowered by the Islay components. Hints of wax and fruit, presumably from Clynelish. The big reveal comes before I can cover myself with ridicule, this time. It is the £155 blended malt from Diageo's latest special releases. It contains the products of all of Diageo's (active) coastal distilleries (Clynelish, Inchgower, Oban, Talisker, Lagavulin, Caol Ila). Cladach (57.1%, Diageo Limited Release, b.2018) 6/10 (pushing it)

N from Brighton: "What's the age?"
tOMoH: "19. Everybody knows the average age was 19."

Dram #6: nose: ink and smoke, gentle smoke, mind, fruits, rolled in mud, leather, belts in mud and, far in the back, promising fruit, never too obvious, but definitely there -- cut papaya and jack fruit. That should give it away, but I fail to make the connection. Mouth: ink, farm paths, dried mud. This is comforting and oh! so my thing. Finish: peat smoke, ginger buns, hot custard and hot chocolate coulis. Excellent. The ink makes me confident it is an ancient Ardbeg, perhaps a 10yo, bottled in the 1970s. How many times can you go wrong, eh? It is £300 and I like it as much as the North British. Bowmore 19yo 1988/2018 (48.8%, The Whisky Agency for The Whisky Exchange, Butt, 187b) 8/10

We finish our drams, then escape for a bite at Mac & Wild, where the food is as good as filling.

JS's burger

Psycho's amazing chateaubriand

My chowder

Psycho's chips

Good little tasting, with all sorts of things out of the (my) beaten path and a good crowd. I do find the portions too generous, though, at 2.5cl per dram; great from a ROI perspective, of course, but it is a lot to drink in that short a time.

4 October 2018

30/09/2018 Whisky Show 2018 (Day 2 -- Part 3) Signatory Vintage: 30th Anniversary

We go back to the same room and it is a full house again. Sukhinder says a few words of introduction and passes the microphone to our host, today, Andrew Symington (AS), whom I have not seen in fourteen years. Not that we are best buddies or anything. He simply does not appear at theses events very often any longer. "The Hermit from Pittlochry, they call me," he says.


Two minutes in, I am thankful he does not do this often, as he is exhausting, peppering his talk with side-splitting anecdotes and comments that have the room in stitches every ten seconds. DW says he is looking forward to my notes and hopes I am capturing all that, but I simply cannot keep up. Sometimes I also do not want to, to avoid fueling potential feuds. Selected pieces intertwined with the drams.

Mosstowie 45yo 1973/2018 (51.6%, Signatory Vintage 30th Anniversary, Refill Amontillado Sherry Butt, C#7622, 410b, b#409): Symington explains he bought those casks from Pernod Ricard along with the Edradour distillery in 2002. He was always on the lookout for weird names on casks when inventorying stock, much to the disbelief of others, who did not see what to make of things such as Glencraig, Craigduff, Glenisla and in this case, Mosstowie. Nose: lemon drizzle, custard and omnipresent lemon curd. Rarely have I smelled something as lemon-y. Mouth: very acidic, it has more lemon, lime juice, lemonade (RG) and lemon curd. Finish: softer and sweeter, still acidic, but more mellow than the nose and palate suggested, it has custard and curd. Not the most complex, really -- you can tell from the notes it plays mainly one note. However, that note, it plays extremely well. 9/10

AS: "'We carefully hand-selected the most outstanding cask from the best warehouse to give you...' The idea that distillers would give a pair of nuggets unrestricted access to their warehouses... That hasn't happened for at least twenty years! I hope no-one in this room writes that kind of stuff. It is a nice story, but it just doesn't happen that way." [paraphrasing parts, which I failed to write down in full]

AS: "The older you get, the less you hold back. I hope you are free until midnight, because I have a lot of things to get off my chest."

AS: "There is obviously no sulphur in this, unless you're Jim Murray. Who sadly just texted me that he couldn't be here today."

Glenlossie 33yo 1984/2018 (56.7%, Signatory Vintage 30th Anniversary, Refill Oloroso Sherry Butt, C#2533, 530b, b#529): nose: rancio and lovely, old, musty warehouse, old, musty cork, blood oranges. Mouth: fantastic dunnage-warehouse feel across the palate and rancio. It is simply a perfectly-balanced, sherry-matured whisky on the palate, with a bit of galangal heat. Finish: dark fruit, very noble, with damp staves, dunnage warehouse. Cracking dram. I find it quite close in style and quality to the Sherry Cask from 1957 that Cadenhead bottled in 1979. 9/10

AS: "It is not cheap. We leave that to the others. Such as the ones downstairs, who are 'carefully hand-selecting their casks'."

AS (about the times he was looking to buy a distillery): "Glencadam distillery, in Brechin. Brechin wasn't on the tourist route. In fact, they built a bypass around Brechin. And when I went, I understood why they did."


Symington spills the beans and tells us this next one is the last cask of Craigduff he had. He also confirms he bottled his last cask of Glenisla in 2017, for the wedding of a friend's daughter, who was born in 1977; the only 1977 cask he had was that Glenisla, and he was persuaded to bottle it for the occasion. On the other hand, the last cask of Glenisla went to Llammerlaw, in New Zealand, which Pernod owned -- they also own Chivas Brothers, who own Glen Keith, where Glenisla was made. We are told once and for all that both Craigduff and Glenisla were made at Glen Keith, not Strathisla, despite earlier claims, based on incorrect paperwork. For the forgetful reader, both are experimental, peated malts made for a very, very short time, possibly just a year or less each. Only Signatory has ever bottled Craigduff 1973 and Glenisla 1977. Craigduff malt was 30ppm, while Glenisla was 15ppm. Andrew also tells us neither was cut with peated water, despite earlier claims. Both were distilled out of peated malt. Anyway, the whisky.

Craigduff 45yo 1973/2018 (45.4%, Signatory Vintage 30th Anniversary, Refill Sherry Butt, C#2518, 575b, b#574): nose: deep chocolate, toasted bread, toasted barley and lichen on stave. Mouth: chocolate and cherry liqueur. The fruit is really beautiful. Finish: big and chocolate-y, with much dark-cherry coulis on top of Black Forest gâteau (not yesterday's subterfuge from the Brasserie). I absolutely love this. 9/10


AS (about his co-worker on the SV stall): "Des worked for Diageo, closing distilleries. He was responsible for closing Rosebank... There are guns by the door, if you want to track him down and have a word with him."

North Port 36yo 1981/2018 (57.2%, Signatory Vintage 30th Anniversary, Refill Sherry Butt, C#1708, 537b, b#536): nose: very dry leather, hay, straw, horse gear, dried moss and hay-based sludge. Mouth: dry, bone dry, almost ashy, immensely lichen-y and not easy at all. My kind of whisky; one needs to tame it. Finish: heat and dryness, it has hay, dust, warm hearths and a touch of soft fruit in the distance. Beautiful. 9/10

AS: "These deals are not done yearly. Last time we did a deal with Diageo was two years ago. They don't need any money, now. But I've got some! Take it!"
AMcR: "See if they'll take [dream-dram] tokens!"

AS: "Glenlivet. We have eighteen more butts of the stuff. They have made it clear they would like it back. We made it clear we don't need the money. They thought we were some kind of charity and would give the casks away for free."

Highland Park 27yo 1991/2018 (52%, Signatory Vintage 30th Anniversary, Oloroso Sherry Butt, C#15086, 545b, b#544): Signatory bought this cask from Nikka. Nose: thick nose, with heavy leather, horse saddles, belts, shoe polish and coffee beans. Mouth: again, very thick, coating, full of shoe polish and leather. It is a little drying, with coffee grounds. Finish: huge, it has cola, leather, coffee, cocoa beans, scorched earth. This is nice in a way (provided one likes heavy sherry maturation), but it does not allow much distillery character to come out. 7/10

AS: "Very few people have ever seen my office, because there's stuff everywhere and you can't get in."

AS: "Jim [Murray] and I go back a long way. We decided twenty years ago not to like each other."

Port Ellen 35yo 1982/2018 (55.1%, Signatory Vintage 30th Anniversary, Refill Sherry Butt, C#2040, 567b, b#567): nose: much less sweet than the other two we had today, this one is very ashy, with also roasted barley, burnt hay, scorched earth, engine rooms and diesel fumes. Mouth: milky, hay-like, with heat, embers, scorched earth and diesel fumes. Finish: hot, it has embers and burnt hay again. It lacks the 1983s' sweetness for me, and there is not much of the coastal character. It remains a good whisky, simply not my favourite. I quote the Swissky, even: "jape." Just another Port Ellen. 8/10

AMcR: "There's a lot of Port Ellen from those years that are still at a high strength. Has anyone thought of keeping it to forty or fifty? I imagine it could be highly valuable."
AS: "Angus, that's a great idea, thank you."

AMcR: "You bottled the first thirty-year-old Port Ellen. You had three 1974 casks. Where did those casks come from? Because they were actually quite special."

People at my table are starting to be annoyed by AMcR's questions. So am I.

I ask AS my questions in private: he has no more Dunglass and he has a few favourite, iconic whiskies from his career as a bottler, but he never really pinpoints them. Ah, well. Great fun, this masterclass. And top whiskies too.

30/09/2018 Whisky Show 2018 (Day 2 -- Part 2) Six Whiskies of the Decade

Oliver Chilton (OC) and Sukhinder Singh (SSS) co-present this masterclass. The theme is simple: it is the Show's tenth anniversary; the sponsor (SSS) and the organiser-come-bottler (OC) chose their favourite whiskies bottled exclusively for The Whisky Show over the past ten years.

This is what they look like

Chilton opens the proceedings by underlining all the whiskies today, "were found in boxes marked: 'SSS drink'. So, you're basically drinking Sukhinder's stock." Ha!

Lochside 46yo d.1964 (42.1%, TWE, C#8970, 139b): need I say more? This is one of my favourite whiskies ever. I am a bit sceptical regarding its position in the line-up, but am delighted to try it again. I monitor Cavalier66 from the corner of my eye: he has never had it. Naturally, his reaction is positive. Nose: exuberantly fruity, with a touch of dignified wood. Yellow passion fruit, says cavalier. It has had an hour or so to breathe and it is a delight. Mouth: dunnage warehouse, magnificent. Finish: perfection in a glass. That drop of tropical fruit in the finish just slays you every time. 10/10

Sukhinder explains that the paperwork promised a single malt, but he was puzzled when he tried the first sample. Scratching the paint on the cask, they found out it was in fact a single blend. Only Lochside and Ben Nevis did this, blending malt and grain produced at the same plant before putting it into casks. The result after a long ageing period is something that is more than the sum of its parts, as illustrated on 31/12/2014 and 29/10/2017, amongst others.

SSS: "Only three of those were released, I think, and I believe this was the first."
tOMoH: "Four, and Scott's predates yours by a little [five years, in fact]. Though in fairness, yours is better."

Everyone needs a smartarse. The room is full of them, today.

Emerald Isle 24yo d.1991 (52.6%, Speciality Drinks, C#8507): we had this one for St Patrick's day, this year. It was lovely, but because of that, I cannot say it is the one that excites me most, today. Nose: mango and guava, exuberant, but also less elegant than the fruit in the Lochside, really. Satsuma, tangerine and cantaloupe melon. Mouth: extraordinary balance, with a pinch of white pepper, sawdust, and lot of fruit. Finish: a fruity explosion, tropical, lush, with mango, guaa, persimmon and also rhubarb. Despite the nose being more vulgar than the Lochside's, it is still worth top score. 10/10

Sukhinder explains they very often add water to the whisky before bottling, so as to obtain the optimal ABV. Sometimes even in the cask.

Springbank 24yo b.2017 (51.7%, Elixir Distillers Art of Whisky, 191b): nose: sooty as an old chimney, old stoves, coal buckets. This is Victorian working class personified. Mouth: unexpectedly full of fruits. Fruit with a pinch of soot, coal dust and white pepper. Finish: warming, very long, never-ending and distinctly elegant. That mix of fruit and coal/soot is terribly efficient. 9/10

OC: "I'm not a chemist. I have a degree in philosophy. It drives you to drink, but it doesn't help."

SSS (upon meeting Chivas Bros representatives in Whisky Live Tokyo): "You're so lucky. You have the best distillery in the world."
Reps: "Yeah, Glenlivet."
SSS: "!?!?!? No."
Reps: "Glen Grant? Scapa? Lochside? Aberlour? Not Caperdonich?"
SSS: "Longmorn!"

The following time they met, the representatives told him he was right, that the staff now was raving about Longmorn and that they would do more with it soon. Ten years have passed and not much has happened, SSS says.

Longmorn 31yo 1978/2010 (58%, Speciality Drinks Masterpieces, Bourbon Cask, 135b): this is probably the one I am most excited to finally try. It was bottled the year before I started coming to this festival. Nose: a hint of liquorice and lots of berries. It also has a buttery touch to it; I first think of avocado, but it is in fact mango. Mango, papaya, blueberry, baked banana and tender wood. Mouth: acidic passion fruit, green grapefruit (Sukhinder says pink, but he is clearly wrong), mandarin and the bite of pepper. This is a heartwarming palate, truth be told. Finish: pink grapefruit, mixed peel, orange drops. Superb balance, with lots of fruit, good alcohol level and a whisper of Virginia tobacco. Wow. 9/10

SSS: "It was wonderful. Peachy, peachy, peachy."
tOMoH: "Ya, ya, ya-ya"

Clynelish 18yo b.2014 (50.6%, The Whisky Exchange): nose: leather, jute sacks, sulphur. This one is dirty and farm-y, with tractor tyres and saddles. The jute/hessian and sulphur grow more intense, which I am not very happy about. Mouth: hot, it has candle wax, spent matchsticks, boiled daffodils and burnt wick. Finish: big, dirty, sooty, with spent wick. Later, the waxy character comes back stronger, with furniture polish. All in all, though, this is my least favourite of the set by a comfortable margin. 7/10

Sukhinder tells the audience that Port Ellen is not his favourite distillery. He started collecting it, because it was closed and he thought there was therefore a remote chance to own all the bottlings. That was of course before the hype made their prices so unreasonable.

SSS: "Some names no-one talks about. You can't buy Ardbeg, but Glenburgie is cheap and it's nice."

I do not have the heart to tell SSS that Glenburgie is cheap because no-one talks about it.

Port Ellen 27yo 1983/2010 (51.3%, The Whisky Exchange for The Whisky Show 2010, Sherry Cask, 60b): nose: tar, petrol, diesel, even, a cockle shed on the pier, a fishing boat in the harbour. Mouth: similar notes, really; sea water, diesel, fishing nets, seafood. Finish: petrolic and salty, with the sweetness that the Dovr-Tvtes-Mares also had. 1983 is clearly my favourite vintage for Port Ellen. It is lovely. I preferred some of the earlier drams in this class, though. 9/10

A lady in the audience asks: "Would you drink a good whisky for the rest of your life, or several less good whiskies?"
SSS: "Hard question. Probably a good one."
Lady: "Which one?"
SSS: "I don't know. There are so many."
Guy in the audience: "You would probably choose a 1964 Bowmore."
SSS: "Five days a week. Not seven."

Talking about the price of similar bottlings:
SSS: "One is £100, another is £150..."
Cavalier66: "The exchange rate, isn't it?"
tOMoH: "The Whisky Exchange rate!"

Time to clap and leave. It is great to see OC more relaxed than he has been (I suppose ten years of Show make one so). I tell the MCs their openness about water addition should lead to their using Chilton-filtration, which makes OC giggle. There will be another masterclass here shortly. As for us, we go for food.

30/09/2018 Whisky Show 2018 (Day 2 -- Part 1)

Another day, another brunch. This time, at Ozone. Sleep-deprived, but otherwise fine.

They were annoyingly out of Red juice
I settled for Green instead
Very poetic names...

JS's heart-shaped (we hope) latte

Leaves for dom666's latte

My Kedgeree

JS's French Toast

dom666's Big Brekkie

At the venue, the queue is less long, but still very long. There is only one queue too, instead of one for Sunday-ticket holders and another for weekend-ticket holders -- the weekend wristband means they do not need to scan one's ticket again. Staff goes through the queue to scan tickets, which is an improvement on yesterday and speeds up the process, once the doors open.
Cavalier66 parks his bike, walks past us without seeing us and storms in, jumping the whole queue in the process, proving, as if it was needed, that if one does things very resolutely, very few will dare challenge one. He is in ten minutes before we are, despite arriving ten minutes later than we did.

Although I did pour my Inchmurrin 20yo to GM yesterday, I did not stop to try their range. Today, we will do that first, before it becomes too busy. GM reiterates his invitation to Alexandria. If only there were more time in the day, mate! It will happen, though. Simply not sure when, yet.
His colleague, whose name escapes me, explains the set-up at Loch Lomond. I swiftly tell him he has already told us three times, hinting that he needs not spend that energy on us: having told us the story the previous years, he would better save it for others, as the day is long. It comes across as telling him off and JS rightly points it out to me. It really was not my intention to offend him.

Loch Lomond The Open Special Edition (46%, OB, b.2018, L4 183 18): nose: polished dashboard, a bit of wax, though discreet. Mouth: bitter, with cold cocoa and gherkin slices. Finish: bit of toffee, fudge and wood wax. Inoffensive. 6/10

Loch Lomond 1999/2018 Carnoustie 1999 (50.8%, OB The Autograph Edition, 1500b): nose: cereals in milk, vanilla and a drop of coffee. Mouth: fresh, with coconut milk and cereals in milk, as well as a chilli kick. Finish: long, assertive, with wheat, pastry and hay. Lovely. 7/10

At JS's recommendation, I try the new...

Glen Scotia 18yo (46%, OB, American Oak + Finished in Oloroso Casks, 18121F, b.2018): nose: Horlicks, oatcakes. Mouth: cereal-y, with Weetabix and apple shavings. Finish: very cereal-y, it has more Weetabix. 7/10

The announcer calls those for the first two masterclasses. We take place at the meeting point, but the staff is only taking names for the first one -- Better Bourbon. NR is there and manages to enrol for that one, whilst it becomes clear ours is not on for another ten minutes. We cannot be bothered to move. I ask the girl taking names if she is on drugs, as she seems to be running like a headless chicken. JS points out that it comes across as pretty rude. Lots of shit come out of my mouth, today. She seems to take it positively. I decide to stop trying to be funny from here on. Mostly.
It is not long before we are shown upstairs to the masterclass.

On the way to the Brasserie, RG gives me a dram of another Port Ellen 1983, which a friend of his just opened. I will never know which one it is, but it is on the same level as the Show bottling from the masterclass.

Fewer people than yesterday, in the Brasserie, the duck is available (and delicious). I want the vegetable lasagna, though, which was legendary, yesterday. I ask for it.

Staff: "Are you vegetarian?"
tOMoH: "No, but I want the vegetarian lasagna."
Staff: "We only serve it to vegetarians."

Considering there is no-one else in the queue and considering another staff member will later admit there is a chance they put dozens of uneaten duck legs into the rubbish bin after closure, I am tempted to ask her if she will only serve haddock to those born on British soil too, but instead, I simply stay put until she gives me lasagna. Pitiful quip, as the food is, again, excellent.

...and plentiful

No time for dessert. The second masterclass.

When back, we go "for dessert." For me, that means more lasagna, then dessert. :-)

More wild mushroom and truffle lasagna
infused with Jameson Crested

The Black Forest cake is much better, today

Once out, we stop by the charity auction vault, where I give N the rest of my Highland Park and Port Ellen from the second masterclass. We leave him to attend to LMDW's boss and promise we will visit him at his stand, later on.

A rather unique Springbank
Limited to one bottle

A rather unique Glenlivet
Limited to one bottle

Two rather unique Diageo bottles
Limited to one each

A rather unique Bowmore
Limited to one bottle

On the way up, we bump into MJ and CJ, who are slowly fading away. While chatting with them, I recognise and call CG, an old colleague, who walks past us. We catch up briefly; he is surprised never to have seen me in one of these shows. I tell him it is my eighth Show; he tells me it is his first. He meant other shows across the country. :-)

Back upstairs for more drams. I remember I have not yet paid DWo a proper visit.

Springbank 21yo b.2018 (47.5%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company, Madeira Casks, B#8, 911b, b#415): nose: cereal fields, meadows, warm compote and... melting cheese. Mouth: fresh, it has fields of corn and thin apricot juice. Finish: soot and coal dust now augment the apricot juice. There is a drop of lemon juice as well. Nice, but not the best Springbank we have had this weekend. 7/10

Miltonduff 28yo b.2017 (46.1%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company, B#3, 149b, b#2): nose: jammy, with bramble and peach. Mouth: thinner than anticipated, it has citrus (grapefruit, orange) and gingery heat. Finish: some citrus again, a pinch of herbs, slightly metallic, fruity and a bit thin, to be honest. Decent, but it does not break three legs at a duck, as they say. It is only now, typing my notes, that I realise I wanted to try the 40yo, not this 28yo. It is not available at the stand. 7/10

JS takes us to a bottler we know nothing about, save for the name.

Clynelish 20yo (55.9%, Artful Dodger Whisky Collective, ex-Bourbon Hogshead, C#6526): nose: candle wax and fresh wick. Mouth: jammy and softly waxy. Finish: argh! It goes awry, here, with a fleeting, but unpleasant note. So fleeting I do not identify it. Once gone, it is back to hot wax, honey and marmalade. What a pity. 6/10

Strathclyde 27yo (51.8%, Artful Dodger Whisky Collective, ex-Bourbon Barrel, C#110035): nose: fresh, mouthwash-like, with gingerbread. Mouth: soft and pleasant, beautifully velvety and pastry-like. Finish: burnt wood on top of lovely pastry, chou dough. Not life-changing, but decent alright. 7/10

We finally make our way to whisky.auction, where N suggests...

J. & G. Grant's Blend 12yo (unknown ABV, J. & G. Grant, b.1940s): nose: dusty oranges and bookshelves. This reeks old school. Mouth: orange-y, dusty, old-school blend in its full glory. Finish: gingerbread, oranges, dusty bookshelves again. This is lovely. Wish I could spend more time with it. 8/10

JS informs me we still have unspent dream-dram tokens. Time to play them wisely.

Bowmore 1973/2001 (43%, OB for the 50th Anniversary of Morrison Bowmore): one I have been willing to try for a very long time. It was given to guests at a dinner to mark said anniversary and was never meant to be sold. The 1968 in that series is stupendous. What will this 1973 be like? Nose: much more vinegar-y than expected, it has earth, shoe polish and pickled onions. Mouth: lovely balance of earth and lots of jammy fruits. Finish: long, fruity, earthy, it retains the vinegar. Good mouth and finish. The nose, on the other hand, does not do it for me. 8/10

Rumour has it that MR is here. We go upstairs, in a bid to meet up with her and find a last dram. She is indeed upstairs, holding court (she is very popular, our MR). We catch up, after nine or ten months. I go for a last dram and try to make it a worthy one.

Bowmore 22yo 1996/2018 (53.6%, Hidden Spirits and La Maison du Whisky, Bourbon Cask, C#BW9618, 274b): nose: ripe apples and haystacks, a distant peat furnace. Mouth: big, smoky, it has hot hay and drying fishing nets, as well as diesel engines. Finish: long, cereal-laden, with cut fruits, lots of smoke and ripe barley. The fruit grows bold. This is beautiful, and a great dram to end on. 8/10

Conclusion

Less enthusiastic, this year. There was no critical complaint, but a couple of major ones:
  • The queues everywhere: to get in, to buy from the shop, to buy tokens, you name it: one has to queue. Queueing outside for over an hour to get in is annoying; that functions better at the Old & Rare show in Glasgow, where tickets are scanned in the queue. Having two separate queues on the Sunday worked well the other years; no idea why they did away with that
  • The brasserie: aside from the queueing to get in, the shortage of duck on the first day (without being given the option to either go to another one of the three food stalls or wait for more duck to arrive) was a bummer; being told on the second day that the veggie option was only served to vegetarians felt like discrimination
  • The crowd: much too busy at most stands, which made the whole experience sometimes unpleasant, especially upstairs. Also, not to be elitist, but the sort of crowd seems to be shifting. The £95-a-day entry used to discourage chancers looking for a binge, but judging by the number of vomit puddles coming out of the venue, it seems as though that is no longer the case. Not something I enjoy much
That said...
  • The masterclasses were very good
  • The drams were globally of a similar quality to every year's, albeit from different exhibitors, again. One had to be inventive with their navigation to circumvent the mobs
  • The social element is taking an ever-more important place
  • The after-party was probably the most interesting and exciting part of the weekend
I am seriously considering not going any longer. My favourite part of the Cognax Show (which I did not attend) was to host an after-party. I might end up doing only that for the Whisky Show as well.