Another month, another outturn. And it is a huge one, this month, if we count the Creators Collection that is being released mid-month and is available at the bar from today.
50.120 34yo d.1990 Dawn's embrace (53.4%, SMWS The Creators Collection, Refill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 247b): another one of those beauties from the 26th January 1990. Exciting! Nose: the traditional burst of spring flowers (honeysuckle, lily-of-the-valley, daffodil) is augmented with honey and jam, chiefly strawberry and peach. It also has a dose of chocolate paste, much to tOMoH's liking. Honey-glazed yellow fruits inexorably take the lead, Mirabelle plum, peach. It has a soft bitterness of flower stems too, subdued. All of the above drips with Golden Syrup when nosing for the second time. Mouth: the bitterness is a little more pronounced, here -- green-hazelnut paste, crushed flower stems. Then, of course, it is the return of yellow fruits, now devoid of their honey glaze. Almond with skins and cocoa beans rise, both converging towards almond milk. The second sip has green chilli and a pinch of quarry dust enhancing unripe fruits. JS finds it very tart, and likens it to lemon. Finish: big, long and blazing, it has white-hot peach slices, nectarines and even baked lychee, all sprinkled with ground mace, and served with stem ginger. The second gulp remains very warm and erupts with cinnamon, which makes it a little numbing. Over time, the taste buds awaken to dark chocolate studded with crushed dried mint leaves. Water makes it lose its balance somewhat: it turns a bit too spicy. The bitter and spicy sides come out most, and JS talks of mint too. Another very good Bladnoch from that fabled distillation date. Is it worth a price tag four times as high as when that vintage started surfacing in 2014? That is for each individual to decide. 8/10
9.301 21yo d.2003 One to shout from the rooftops (57.2%, SMWS Society Cask, 1st Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 177b): nose: very welcoming a nose, it has the cream of a Bourbon Cream biscuit, meaning a lick of chocolate and triple cream. There is a vague cardboard-y note too. Then, we have banana slices rolled in cinnamon powder. Mouth: mellow and pleasant, full of PiM's (the rich man's Jaffa Cake). In other words, that spells chocolate, orange paste and, well, soft cake. It turns a little mineral and drying, over time. Finish: PiM's again, though, here, the chocolate is much more serious, bitter, close to mocha. 8/10
95.109 14yo d.2010 I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts (62.4%, SMWS Two to One, Refill Trinidadian Rum Barrel + New American Oak HTMC Barrel Finish, 281b): nose: what leaps out initially is hot linen. Then, an old chipboard introduces a punch bowl. It develops burlap, oilskins, and the plastic lid of a jar of chocolate spread, before baked plantains make it to the table, served in the (hot metal) baking tray. The second nose has dusty fruits, which is lovely. Mouth: rich and earthy, it has lots of dark spices (black cumin, nigella seeds), which make it fairly drying. Mocha, liquorice cough drops and a touch of camphor. The second sip is even more drying, with lichens and dusty cast iron. Finish: fresh, yet warming. Roasted pine-tree sap, perhaps some nuts, and sliced dried berries. Repeated quaffing brings a hot caramel coulis so caramelised that the burnt bits put the sweet bits in the shadow. It is not desiccating, but it comes dangerously close. 7/10
The couple at the table next to us are talking the staff into opening venues in different cities, and explain where they will stay over the next few months.
Her: "We have bottles stashed in Dubai, we have bottles stashed in Paris... We have three bottles stashed in Paris. What are we gonna do with them?"
I stop short of answering: "I don't know, love. Open a shop in Paris?"
5.140 11yo 2014/2025 Fluffylump (58%, SMWS Society Cask, 2nd Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 206b): nose: chocolate and hot oilcloth. That makes way for freshly-baked crackers. It has something oddly acrid, borderline butyric, and something leafier, close to tobacco leaves. Mouth: wow! This is bitter. Juicy, but bitter. Chewing tones down the bitterness, which leaves but hot dark-fruit juice (blackcurrant, gooseberry). Finish: long, creamy and a little bitter again. Smashed unripe plantain, maybe wood shavings, in which case it may well be balsa. 7/10
105.55 35yo d.1988 Crepuscular complexity (42%, SMWS The Creators Collection, Refill ex-Bourbon Hogshead, 124b): nose: very original, spicy and fruity at once. We spot black olives, dried cherry stems, as well as sumac, ground cloves and mighty prunes. Then, it is oilcloth sprayed with elderberry juice. At a point, one may detect black-cardamom shavings. And yet, it inevitably converges towards oilcloth again. It gives more and more berries too, in the long run, though not fresh: blackberry or elderberry cough drops, as chewy as a piece of old rubber. Mouth: what the deuce!? This is akin to chewing a plastic pipe or a black bin bag. In a short amount of time, it releases a bold dryness to accompany it. Against all odds, it still sort of works. Chewing lets out some berries (elderberry again), as well as a berry cordial served with fizzy water. The second sip is similar. Maybe the plastic morphs into chewy cough drops, now, which is a relief. Finish: here, it is juicy and fruity, providing more elderberry, (dried) blackcurrant and prunes (without syrup). Repeated quaffing brings back the cordial and the cough drops, still powerful. It is now close to liquorice-y, and it overflows with powerful, dark cough drops. This is an unusual dram. PS asked me earlier to tell him my impressions fifteen minutes after trying it. He said his group tried it on Thursday, liked it enough, but no-one could remember it fifteen minutes later. How a whole group cannot remember a dram that smells like black olives and tastes like bin bags after fifteen minutes is something I cannot answer. At least, not without associated insults. 8/10
163.3 6yo d.2018 Hay-smoked duck breast (58%, SMWS Society Cask, 1st Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 245b): we missed 163.2 last month and have no intention to repeat the same mistake. Nose: hay-smoked indeed! This has a soft smoke, macerated hay and cereals. We also find a pot of hot coffee and horse's hair, unless it is faded suede. After a bit, one does realise how strong this is: all the hairs in my nostrils suddenly fell off! Subsequent sniffs pick up the increasingly-leathery note -- moccasins, suede purses or game bags. Mouth: drying hay bales, Merbromin, tincture of iodine. It is a fairly-drying number, gravel-y, medicinal, yet it never loses its cereal-y, hay-like backbone. The second sip is close to meaty -- cold cuts; nothing bloody. It has some rancio too, the clay floor of a musky warehouse, fairly drying once more, as if fungi were sucking all the moisture. JS calls it punchy and chewy. Finish: hot ink, hot watercolour, or, to be accurate, the water pot in which one washes the brushes when doing watercolour. Is that not original? We find heated wet plasticine (not clay) at second gulp, and lichen starting to grow on it. Here too, it is drying enough, in an elderberry way. Lots of enjoyment to be had, but, let me be honest: were it not a Harris, I would probably not even consider it. 7/10
121.115 9yo d.2015 Highland hopping (62.1%, SMWS Society Cask, 1st Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 217b): nose: thick blackberry jam, heated, but not a compote. It has a whiff of old oak too, wardrobes or other cabinets, well polished. Next comes a note of nut spread, chestnut purée or so. The second nose has preserved lemons and a warm chocolate milkshake. PS detects a whisper of smoke, but I think he is drunk: at most, it has hot boilers. Mouth: apricot nectar of the heated kind. Why one would put apricot nectar in the microwave is a bit of a mystery, but it works. Chewing reveals a certain chalkiness, unless it is dry clay. In any case, it is chewy! Minty fruits slowly rise, white peach or cantaloupe. The second sip is similar. Finish: a(n acceptable) bitterness appears here, bay or vine leaf. It is not detrimental in the slightest. We have stewed and candied fruits too, orange segments, clementines, tangerines. Further sips are as sweet and juicy, as well as a tad bitter. That seems to confirm the citrus segments, candied or otherwise. A strong 7/10
4.357 12yo d.2010 Sphagnum and heather (62.2%, SMWS Society Cask, ex-Bourbon Hogshead + 1st Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel Finish, 245b): a perfectly-decent Highland Park. It just is not particularly noteworthy. Seems to be a 2024 reissue too. As PS puts it: "In 2002-2003, it would have excited me immensely. These days, it's there." 7/10 (Thanks for the sip, PS)
Enough for today!
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