Glenmorangie Artisan Cask (46%, OB, White Oak First Fill Hogsheads, b.2005, L5 244 15:57 4ML): this one is a matter of pride for adc, who discovered it at Whisky Live! Verviers in 2006, where it was kept under the counter. She persuaded the guy at the stall to let her try it, raved about it and introduced everyone in the group to it. Nose: the cask speaks loudly (it is the point), but it is not all vanilla either. Sure, there are salted shortbread, custard powder, glycerine, fudge, toffee, pâtes de fruits gone slightly stale and ginger biscuits. Next to all that is an almost metallic note, a knife's edge, probably. Then, digestive biscuits, tinned corn, spreading honey, drying out in the cupboard, beeswax-imbibed rags, left in the toolbox for months... Yes, it has a honeyed/waxy side, but that side is not lush, that is certain. The whisky is not austere either, mind! Sweet barley and cooked swedes, maybe even sweet potatoes. Further nosing shows sweet paprika and allspice. Mouth: relatively crisp, it has more-pronounced honey on the tongue than in the nose; mead, pouring honey, yet also milk-soaked white bread, and the expected vanilla-y cavalcade of custard , butterscotch, flan, fudge, toffee, even, with just a pinch of ginger powder. Cinnamon-and-ginger biscuits shape up, adding a welcome dimension. Unsalted butter, frothing in the pan, and a spoonful of dried hops, too. Finish: mellow, yet warming (well done LVMH for bottling this at 46%), it is very much a toffee whisky -- think Quality Street's Toffee Penny. Rich fudge, sumptuous custard and caramel augment a lovely swede mash, topped with a dollop of pouring honey and a pinch of ginger powder. Parts of the finish hint at iron tonic, though it is hard to understand why. A gentle bitterness, maybe? Yes. It comes from buttercups -- the petals and a millimetre of stem. tOMoH has had the pleasure of trying a few things, in the fourteen years since this hit the shelves, yet, despite all the unfair comparisons this could suffer from, it remains a thoroughly enjoyable dram. Well done adc for discovering it and sharing the word. 8/10 (Thanks for the dram, JS)
Macduff 24yo 1984/2008 (46%, Signatory Vintage for Direct Wines First Cask, C#877, b#215, L08/498): nose: this one immediately has an earthy profile, with Virginia tobacco and dry, dusty earth, yet also berries aplenty: lingonberry, blueberry, cloudberry, billberry, cranberry, sweet and tart at the same time. Is that baked banana skins? Pencil eraser? But of course! In fact, I may go as far as inky blotting paper, here, even if it is a little too juicy for that. The nose has this juicy and vaguely smoky combination that works particularly well for me. In the long run, blood orange and squashed raspberry surface, stewing in a pot. Later, marzipan, Brazil-nut paste, roasted-peanut paste, and maybe, far back, a notion of shower gel. One would be silly to call this a soapy whisky, though. Mouth: here, it is all soft apricot flesh and cold lingonberry compote, at first, before some cranberry jam and smoked-billberry curd (a nod to Roland Casper, for those who know) join, followed by melted bitter chocolate and hessian sacks full of fresh Virginia tobacco. The second sip adds mocha to the mix, more of a mocha butter cream than coffee. Piping-hot pouring honey, distant scorched earth, crusty mudflats after a drought, yet also hot fudge, straight off the baking tray, and salted caramel. Finish: it is a little explosion of flavours, here. All coating the mouth are coffee grounds, grated dark chocolate, tobacco, caramelised apricot compote, lingonberry compote, hessian, linseed oil and cod-liver oil. It has the acidity of sour berries, the bitterness of liquorice root (a tiny quantity), the earthiness of a dry field, the richness of mocha-y fudge, and even a chemical touch of hair lacquer. A charred, tarry note grows with each sip too, never becoming a nuisance. This is simply beautiful, to speak plainly. A tight-arsed 8 that could become a 9 in other circumstances. 8/10 (Thanks for the dram, JS)
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