17/08/2019 2 x 5 != 10

5.31 11yo 2000/2011 Morning has Broken (57.7%, SMWS Society Single Cask): this was released in 2011, and the SMWS has had several #5 distilled in 2000. There is no reason to believe this is not part of that parcel of casks distilled in 2000. Nose: baking bread, croissant dough (buttery, neither salty, nor sweet), dried pineapple shavings, a broth of cut forsythia flowers, fresh leather inner soles, balsa wood, satsuma leaves and birch sawdust. This embodies the breakfast dram rather well! Lukewarm butterscotch and cream soda complete the picture. Mouth: quite pungent, the palate has a greener approach, with unripe fruit, the bitterness of young wood, balsa sawdust, ginger powder... It is surprisingly woody! Corn dust, but also sunflower and kyria Japonica (both the flower and the leaves). Spices start to dominate a bit, barely letting any fruit through. Finish: long, slightly drying, it has the wood of the mouth and reminders of the bouquet's flowers. The second sip is a little more open, with hints of vanilla pudding, toffee and cocoa cream. Nice enough dram, with the nose being the highlight, for me. 7/10 (Thanks for the dram, JS)

5.60 16yo d.2000 Sweet surrender (56.5%, SMWS Society Cask, 1st Fill ex-Oloroso Hogshead, 220b): talking of sister casks... Nose: it could hardly be more different. This one smells of pickled onions and hair lacquer. Oloroso alright! It opens up to reveal dried dates, black marker pens (I would say dry-wipe, but any kind will do) and old-fashioned pencil erasers. The sherry influence is obvious. It even has a minuscule whiff of gunpowder. Time breathing does it a lot of good, in any case: the pickled notes are attenuated, whilst dried fruit turns more pronounced. There are tones of cherry clafoutis and hot bakewell tart. Mouth: soft and populated with dark fruit, it reveals more pickled vinegar, varnish and a noticeable strength -- this is rather numbing, in fact. Wood lacquer, freshly-varnished window frames, polished shoes, glossy, dried dates, patina-rich furniture. It is dry, but, of course, it is an ex-Oloroso cask. Finish: more berries, here, with glazed dark cherries, tinned-prune juice, wood lacquer again, varnish... This is well woody too! The finish is very long, bordering on sickly. Water does not change it much. I could probably not drink buckets of this. A dram for smokers. I like the mouth and finish better than the nose, on this one. 7/10 (Thanks for the dram, adc)