adc, JS, dom666, ruckus, kruuk2, Psycho, sonicvince, Mrs. sonic, Bishlouk, STL, red71, Gaija and newcomer CG join tOMoH for this yearly feast. Guests arrive from 16:15 or so, a few at a time until 19:30ish.
Since we need a critical mass before we start pouring drams, and since that takes a while, I start composing the line-up. To help wait, Bishlouk pours a gentle gob-wetter: George T. Stagg 17yo 1993/2010 (69.05%, OB Barrel Proof). You read the ABV correctly. Eager to not burn my throat before the party even starts, I skip it; my notes are here.
As for nibbles, red71 brought his traditional canelés.
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| They do not last long |
The soundtrack: the Old Man of Huy - Nautical but Nice
It is a long line-up, for a change. Notes will be scant, busy as I am enjoying the company.
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| Three bottles are missing from this first half, believe it or not |
Now that the line-up is built (pending the contributions of sonicvince, Gaija and CG, who have not yet arrived), JS pulls out a rabbit from her hat as an apéritif. Well, it is a marlin, really, even if many will insist on calling it a swordfish ('espadon', in French).
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| Or 'espadom', as it will forever be remembered |
Suntory Blue Marlin Decanter (43%, Suntory The Suntory Marine Collection) (JS)
Mouth: more toffee, accompanied by more and more lime zest as time goes by. It gives crusty-cake vibes, eventually.
Finish: lime zest and toffee.
Comment: nothing extraordinary (the attraction is clearly the decanter more than the liquid), but it is a pleasant starter, we all agree. 7/10
About the marlin, the fact it is ceramic (it is actually porcelain, ruckus tells us) and the pristine state of the cork.
Psycho: "It's a bamboo cork."
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| Mrs. sonic is treated to an Irn Bru |
tOMoH: "Thereabout. We started in 2004, did not have it in 2005 or 2021. Most of the other years, if not all, yes." [That makes this the twenty-first edition]
kruuk2: "Google Photos pings the memories each year; you can see the early ones; you can see our faces. And..."
ruckus: "What!? What!?"
[Yes, we look younger in the pictures.]
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| kruuk2's watch |
Starter enters
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| Courgette, leek and chickpea soup |
Speaking of kruuk2, he is on next. He has a whole presentation with music and all. Instead of trying to paraphrase it, here it is:
Bishlouk: "adc, finish your plate: you may go to bed!"
Glengoyne 12yo (43%, OB imported by Ian McLeod European Office, 100/0000273/16) (kruuk2)
Mouth: butterscotch, a lick of caramel and lemon curd in a cake -- or buttery cherimoya.
Finish: lovely butterscotch, lemon drizzle, warm flan.
Comment: again, nothing legendary, but it does the job perfectly. 7/10
tOMoH: "Three of us are still eating. STL is enjoying it, dom666 is too busy talking about his Talisker mug to eat faster and I..."
adc [to dom666]: "You have a Talisker mug?"
Gaija arrives with a cardboard crate.
Bishlouk:"Il vaut mieux prendre une caisse qu'en larguer une!"
Bishlouk has us picture a beautiful ship with a wooden hull and its three masts, here represented by a wooden plinth and three bottles. He tells us they belonged to a restaurant in the 1990s and were forgotten in a cellar for a long period.
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| Classy, eh? |
The Balvenie 10yo (40%, OB imported by C.V. SCS S.C., LF7032 2901 CSC6, b.1990s) (Bishlouk)
Mouth: soft, it has flan and caramel, vanilla extract.
Finish: this still has bite for a whisky that has sat thirty years in an almost-empty bottle. A summer's afternoon, says ruckus.
Comment: we continue with the unchallenging-yet-very-pleasant drams. 7/10
dom666: "You always have the last word with the ladies, don't you? 'Yes, darling.'"
The Balvenie 12yo DoubleWood (40%, OB impored by C.V. MCS S.C., Sherry Cask Finish, LF7104 1303 CSC6, b.1990s) (Bishlouk)
Mouth: yes, this is clearly full of prunes and cured apricots.
Finish: raisins, prunes, blackcurrants. It has a jammy sweetness to it that is well satisfying.
Comment: Bishlouk points out that this has Whiskybase ID 1. A well-known gateway drug that seems a tad less approachable tonight than in the past, or than other incarnations, perhaps. Several find the Sherry influence too great. 7/10
All: "Have you heard of [Lakshmi] Mittal?"
tOMoH: "So rich he has his own song: 'Je suis Mittal et je le reste...'"
dom666: "And then there is his nemesis: Tata."
Psycho: "Yoyo?"
The Balvenie 15yo 1980/1996 (50.4%, OB Single Barrel importedby CV. MCS S.V., C#13570, L41476070544) (Bishlouk)
Mouth: woof! Another one that has lost none of its bite over the past decades. Toffee emerges from the depths with a bit of chalk. It is warming and comforting, with a glazing of hot marmalade.
Finish: very long, full of warm toffee and butterscotch, hot custard and caramel.
Comment: love it. 8/10
The main course is served.
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| Haggis with a mustard sauce (not pictured) and roasted vegetables |
The menu has never been this simple; it lets the ingredients speak, and they do that really well. Everyone is enthusiastic.
CG joins us.
red71: "And the cork does not break."
STL: "Never, with me."
Blended Malt 27yo 1994/2021 (47.5%, Le Gus't Selection for Nanyang Whisky, Bourbon Hogshead, C#3525, 240b) (STL)
Comment: big and punchy, it works really well, tonight. My full notes are here. STL brought this a couple of years ago and I liked it as much then as I do tonight, which is more than when I had it on its own from another bottle. Bottle variation? 8/10
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| Message on a bottle |
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| STL added a custom label, kruuk2 style. The AI he used to make it clearly did not know what Charles Montgomery Burns looks like, but -- hey! |
JS presents a bottle with a ship on the label (and on the box).
Caperdonich 16yo 1972/1988 Benan 1875 (40%, Signatory Vintage Sailing Ships Series No 1, Sherry Casks, C#7130-7132, 1200b, b#135) (JS)
Mouth: cough syrup (kruuk2), camphor (Gaija), pressed apricots and tarry hairballs. Despite the low ABV (Bishlouk and red71 note the lack of horsepower), it feels full to me.
Finish: long, it has sticky dark honey and physalis coated in it.
Comment: we have stepped up, all of a sudden. 9/10
red71: The worst note on Whiskybase is 79: a certain Bishlouk."
ruckus: "Ford?"
tOMoH: "Mr. George Harrison Ford T."
kruuk2: "Did he live in Seraing?"
adc introduces a Clydeside only available at the bar of HMS Glasgow, a warship built in Glasgow and with whom the distillery now has a long-term partnership.
Clydeside 6yo 2019/2025 HMS Glasgow (46%, OB, Guyanese Rum Cask) (adc)
Mouth: sweet, it has a dose of cane-sugar juice, honey-glazed caster sugar, pears, nectarines, and even mandarins. Wait! Is this gravel? This is delicious.
Finish: apple, marzipan (kruuk2). The rum influence is clear, but delicate: it is sweet and fruity, not sickly.
Comment: another excellent Clydeside. 8/10
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| Chilling |
sonicvince tells us Bruichladdich Rocks comes from an island, and that island probably has rocks in the sea.
tOMoH: "Non, seuls les Égyptiens viennent du Nil."
Bruichladdich Rocks The Rhinns of Islay: A Land Apart b.2011 (46%, OB, French Syrah Casks, 61810511050) (sonicvince)
Mouth: lots of mushroom cooking juice, then a little burnt-wood gratings. We finish with warm, acidic cranberry juice. Gaija finds it funky -- I agree.
Finish: big, long and sticky, it has a pronounced salinity, with crushed sea sand, still wet from contact with the sea. Mind you, it also has pressed plums and raisins.
Comment: decent, but it is still not my favourite entry in the Bruichladdich range -- not even if we limit that to the discontinued ones. This is predictably divisive amongst our group; STL and Gaija love it, the wine-lovers they are, dom666 and Bishlouk much less. 6/10
Mrs. sonic serves the first cake. She brought a canister of whipped cream, which saves us whisking a shirt.
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| Bishlouk mocks krruk2's technique: "It looks like churros!" |
CG shows us a bottle with a lighthouse on the label.
Scapa 25yo d.1980 (54%, OB, 2000b, b#00496, 05/08032) (CG)
Mouth: quite a bite, followed by confectionary again. We have candied angelica, and jellied leaves and pistachios. Meow! There are some smoked pineapple chunks too at second sip.
Finish: long, leafy, with more candied angelica doused in jelly.
Comment: boss. CG is not taking the piss for his first appearance. What a dram! I may like it even better than upon first encounter. 9/10
Gaija screams and sniggers.
tOMoH: "You okay?"
Gaija: "I just saw the second row of the line-up."
dom666 presents a bottle with a boat on the label, and exactly the one I thought and hoped he would bring.
It matches my polo shirt, although the clouds of my shirt have been replaced by gulls on the (more-recent) bottle, amongst various other minor differences.
Old Pulteney 21yo (46%, OB, American ex-Bourbon and ex-Fino Sherry Casks, L12-044-1B R12/5019, b.2012) (dom666)
Mouth: definitely roasted apples, topped with a heaped spoonful of honey. It is a tad drying, but remains fruity on the tongue.
Finish: melted salted butter blended with custard. The second gulp adds a wonderful toffee.
Comment: the Maritime Malt, they call it. Perhaps not as maritime as the tagline suggests, but pleasant all the same. This is the first incarnation in this livery and sports the Whisky Bible Award sticker. 8/10
The second cake enters, augmented with Irish Mist (65° Proof, The Irish Mist Liqueur Co. imported by Heublein Inc., b.1970s).
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| red71 on cutting duties |
The soundtrack: _Ruckus_ - Nautical but Nice
tOMoH presents another obvious contribution: a Bunnahabhain, with its Captain Bird's Eye-like logo. Not just any Bunna, though: this one also sports an anchor, a sail boat and a shipwreck.
Bunnahabhain 23yo 1998/2022 (49.7%, OB Fèis Ìle 2022, Calvados Cask Finish) (tOMoH)
Mouth: a smidge drying, with bletted fruits. It is not long before it shows its true power -- and it is more powerful than the ones that came before, even than the Scapa, it feels.
Finish: tart apples and a lick of peat smoke.
Comment: love it. Better notes here. 8/10
dom666 blows raspberries.
dom666: "Did you see that? And with the mouth, no less!"
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| adc is sporting a life vest. Talk about taking the theme seriously! |
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