12/12/2018 Warehouse on the Road tasting at Cadenhead's

Jenna McIntosh is on the road, bringing Cadenhead's warehouse tastings from Campbeltown to the world -- well, to the Cadenhead shops, which are all in Europe. Thirteen of us are gathered to sample warehouse juice and exchange general banter. Jenna pours everything blind, which makes for amusing guesses, none correct.

Dram #1
Nose: white wine at first, then white-chocolate-coated sultanas and diluted peach nectar. The next whiff brings in new carpet -- woah! Pressed green grapes and lozenges follow (the wedding kind of lozenges). Mouth: mild and juicy, with a mixture of grape and peach juices, as well as gentle wood spices and pepper. Finish: milk chocolate and a pinch of soft spices. This is good, not exceptional, we all agree. I guess Linkwood 15-18yo and am, of course, wrong. Strathmill 25yo d.1993 (52.9%, Cadenhead Warehouse Tasting, Bourbon Hogshead) 7/10

Explaining how one cask in the warehouse still ages between two tastings...
JMcI: "This whisky has aged a year, since..."
PP: "Since twelve months ago."

Dram #2
Nose: a weird mix of overripe orchard fruit, mud and dunnage warehouse. The second nosing brings forth chocolate pudding, rubber, then furniture polish. It even has an animalistiches touch. Much funnier to write than 'animal.' Complex, but odd. Mouth: similar pudding notes, with a gingery chilli undercurrent. Finish: it seems very short, though it is pleasant. The chilli disappears quickly, leaving under-ripe hazelnut as a lasting note (not soooo short, then). Hazelnut-and-chocolate paste, with a drop of orchard-fruit juice. Several guesses, none right. Tomintoul-Glenlivet 12yo d.2006 (57.9%, Cadenhead Warehouse Tasting, Bourbon Barrel) 7/10

Dram #3
Nose: instant chicory coffee, then chalk, which prompts me to guess Aultmore (wrong, of course), bland salty biscuits, pretzel style. Later, a note of bubble gum appears, and some unidentified herb. Mouth: milk chocolate, forsythia, kerria japonica, then red chilli. It feels rather powerful. Finish: very coffee-like, here, with crushed green pepper and ginger shavings. This was Jenna's pick for the fight vs. Cameron McGeachy, during the Campbeltown festival this year. Before she spills the beans, I rate it the same now as then. Aberfeldy 22yo d.1996 (52.2%, Cadenhead Warehouse Tasting, Bourbon Hogshead) 6/10

WK: "There was a time when I didn't have enough whisky... But I didn't know it, at the time!"

Dram #4
Nose: fruity bubble gum, very fruity, with strawberry and perhaps a little salt. Mouth: soft and bubble gum-y, strawberry again, with also spices and a whisper of smoke. Finish: hints of smoke and lots of strawberry, fresh and chemical, in a way (as in: strawberry sweets, rather than the fresh fruit). I venture a sherry-matured Bowmore. And fail. Bunnahabhain 18yo d.1999 (49.8%, Cadenhead Warehouse Tasting, Bourbon Hogshead) 8/10

TE: "There was an Authentic Bunnahabhain, recently..."
MSo: "They're all fake."

Dram #5
Nose: ginger, cinnamon, some fruit (tamarind?), apricot and hazel tree. Mouth: wood wax, furniture polish, diluted apricot juice and a pinch of sawdust. Finish: lots of apricot, here, dried apricot, to be precise, and a hint of coconut. We stop guessing. Dufftown-Glenlivet 11yo d.2007 (51.6%, Cadenhead Warehouse Tasting, Sherry Hogshead) 7/10

JMcI: "Mark [Watt, who does the cask selection] has his own office, so he can have all his samples around him."
tOMoH: "Seems perfectly safe."

JMcI reminisces a time she was stuck in Dufftown at night.
JMcI: "Dead. Ghost town. There's no 24/7 shop or anything."
WK: "It's not Campbeltown, after all!"

Dram #6
Nose: "smells froggy," says JS. Shoe polish, peat smoke. The peat grows bolder, overshadowing the sherry influence. Nonetheless, it remains very sherried, with lots of shoe polish. Mouth: soft, mild, though spices come up too, with cloves and black cardamom, as well as machine oil (JMcI). Finish: very long, peaty and smoky, with coal and burnt tractor tyres. Clearly a Sherry-matured Islay peater. Nope. It is not even peated, according to the host (I blame another Campbeltown label mix-up). Paul John 6yo d.2011 (56.7%, Cadenhead Warehouse Tasting, Refill Bourbon Hogshead) 8/10

DW: "Is this the cask from the festival? Has it been around?"
JMcI: "Probably."
TE: "You dirty cask, you!"

Because we have been nice, we get to try a seventh dram.

Dram #7
Nose: leather, very dry hay, dried mud, banana -- no! plantain and cured meat. Mouth: simple and deadly efficient, with plantain and peat smoke. Lots of that. Finish: big, leathery, smoky and efficient. This is a bit of a crowd-pleaser. Of course, that means I refuse to like it much. B-) An Islay 9yo d.2008 (59%, Cadenhead Warehouse Tasting, Sherry Butt) 7/10

JMcI: "I've taken Longrow from the cask. Really good for the cold."
WK: "Whereas Caol Ila is good for cuts and bruises."



Good little tasting. Not necessarily the whiskies I would normally go for, but it is nice to try different things.
Pourers would be good, though, since Jenna is not pouring from a valinch. The pours were hefty; that eroded the senses quite quickly. One centilitre of each would have been enough.
As a nightcap, I pour everyone Cooley 11yo 2001/2012 (55.9%, A.D. Rattray Cask Collection imported by Pacific Edge Imports, Barrel, C#3443, 210b), but do not try it myself as a result of the previous, hefty pours.