09/04/2025 A few drams at the SMWS

I am meeting JS for a Chichibu tasting... two weeks early. Ahem.

PS, YM and Dr. CD are here (to mark the anniversary of Whisky Cyclist's leaving this mortal coil), so we might as well have a few drinks.

...and laugh at this customised bank note.
Whoever thought pasting YM's head onto a Korean note
was adequate probably does not understand sensitivities
in that part of the world.

Shimmering Silk 11yo 2011/2024 (50%, SMWS, ex-Bourbon Barrels + 1st Fill Pedro Ximénez Hogsheads, B#23, MB16/01/24): nose: it is heavily sherried, but pleasant. It has marzipan and chocolate paste. It gains warm oilcloth on the second nose. Mouth: mellow, fruity in a baked-banana way, juices and all. We get more fruit juice at second sip, augmented with bitter orange zest. Finish: hot banana turnovers and their juice, licked off the warm baking tray. It has a notch of cinnamon powder too, and repeated quaffing reveals hot tinned pineapple. 7/10 (Thanks for the dram, PS)

PS: "DR. CD's beans on toast are epic. Soggy, but epic."

5.140 11yo 2014/2025 Fluffylump (58%, SMWS Society Cask, 2nd Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 206b): similar impressions to what we thought the other day. 7/10 (Thanks for the dram, Dr. CD)

PS comments about my suit.

tOMoH: "It's not a suit, it is a blazer. I am wearing jeans."
PS: "Okay, Mr. [Jeremy] Clarkson!"
tOMoH: "I'd have to untuck my shirt to be called Mr. Clarkson. And be more... chauvinistic?"
PS: "I don't think you can be more chauvinistic."

Spot the red t-shirt -- and the beards on display!

Next round. I ask the staff if they have anything bottled for other markets. After a bit of rummaging, the answer is no. I enquire about a Tomatin: there is only one bottle left, for sale, not available by the dram. Glen Ord? Nothing outside the current outturn. The recent Glenlossie? (46.130 Petrichordial (59.6%, SMWS Society Cask, 1st Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 214b)) JS and I try it and decide against it for this exercise. The staff recommends the following:

121.105 8yo 2014/2023 Feliz Navidad (61.9%, SMWS Winter Selection Season's Greetings 2023, 1st Fill ex-Sherry Butt, 522b, MB11/10/23): nose: dark fruits (prunes) and lots of greasy, oily earth. This smells intense and concentrated. Mouth: dried mushrooms, earth, and, well, all sorts of savoury things. Chewing gives a big lick of prune, as well as damp dead oak leaves. This is one for late October. Finish: dead leaves alright, cured-fruit stones, prunes, oily chestnut shells. It is very long and bold, earthy, and somewhat woody. No-one finishes their dram quickly. Considering scoring it lower, but for today, it is... 7/10 (Thanks for the dram, JS)

JS: "Wasn't there a bottling called 'I like big butts'?"
all: "Yes, there must have been."
PS: "I don't remember which distillery it was..."
tOMoH: "Hanyu! Definitely a Hanyu."
[all laugh]
tOMoH: "Thank you. I recognise the geeks around the table."

Geeks.

Time to go, before it turns dangerous.