26/04/2025 The Whisky Fair (Day 1 -- Part 2: Maltbarn)

Last year, JS and I spent the whole Saturday socialising aimlessly. Only the following day did we discover some stands and their excellent bottlings. Some of which were sold out, by then. This year, our plan was to do the opposite: start with the things for sale, then socialise. Well, the whole morning has gone already, and we have been to two stands. Ahem.

MD, JS and I finally climb the stairs and head to Maltbarn. We can still get back on track.

Braes of Glenlivet 30yo 1994/2024 #15 (48.9%, Maltbarn The 26, Bourbon Cask, 51b)

Nose: light and ethereal, powdery.
Mouth: it stays fresh, flowery now, with lilies-of-the-valley, jasmine and honeysuckle. Lovely.
Finish: soft, sweet and flowery, it has confectionary sugar and cosmetic powder.
Comment: excellent. This is very much in line with the Càrn Mòr bottling I know rather well. 8/10

Ben Nevis 28yo 1996/2024 #18 (48.6%, Maltbarn The 26, Bourbon Cask, 39b)

Nose: wide, it has blush-orange peels, a touch of earth, and raspberry chocolate.
Mouth: strangely dry, it has a mere dollop of white-chocolate cream. Chewing releases the fruits.
Finish: plainly fruity, here, although it is decaying fruits, now.
Comment: very good too. The price tag, however, is somewhat prohibitive for tOMoH. 8/10

Glenlossie 29yo 1995/2025 Whisky's Calling (49.2%, Maltbarn, B#250, Bourbon Cask, 156b)

Nose: butterscotch. I spectacularly fail to take more notes.
Mouth: a little more punchy and acidic than foreseen, but mostly light and biscuit-y.
Finish: soaked biscuits, Custard Creams or Petits Beurres dunked in milk.
Comment: another good 'lossie. 8/10

[The initials of the head honcho are also MD, so he will be known as MM, the second M being for Maltbarn.]
MD: "You bottled shit again!"
MM: "I know."
MD: "I find you an importer and that is what you do."
MM: "Yeah, I know."
MD: "Always the same, with you. You always disappoint me."

Glen Moray 21yo 2003/2025 (53%, Maltbarn, B#249, Bourbon Cask)

Nose: oily white-wood shavings, then butterscotch and biscuits, then cured quince.
Mouth: citrus-y porridge, oily, a little neutral, yet it turns drying upon chewing.
Finish: classic Glen Moray citrus peels -- dried at first, then juicier. It has some spices too, ginger powder or such.
Comment: Nice. It leaves a pleasant mouthfeel. 8/10

Benromach 11yo 2013/2025 Glen Mosset (54.6%, Maltbarn, B#254, Bourbon Cask)

Nose: bandages (JS). I find it peaty, displaying very-dry sausage, perhaps smoked, or a worn-out game bag.
Mouth: light, bright, fruity, then suddenly very drying, with quarry dust and ground dried orange peels.
Finish: long and citrus-y, it is juicier than the mouth suggested.
Comment: not sure why they call it Glen Mosset, since Benromach is clearly written on the label. 7/10

Bruichladdich 21yo 2003/2024 (50.5%, Maltbarn, B#243, Bourbon Cask)

Nose: meringue, beaten egg white, a whiff of farmyard and some baby sick.
Mouth: fresh, light, a tad acidic. It may have some lactic acid, actually.
Finish: fresh again, perhaps cereal-y with a touch of fruit.
Comment: honest. 7/10

Strathmill 32yo 1992/2024 #17 (48.8%, Maltbarn The 26, Sherry Cask, 41b)

Nose: oranges or tangerines stored in a Tupperware.
Mouth: all sorts of citrus jams and marmalades -- tangerine, clementine, mandarine.
Finish: warming and marmalade-y again, with a lick of oily wood to boot.
Comment: competent, though it does not wow me. 8/10

MD [nosing his glass]: "What's that smell?"
tOMoH: "Is it arse?"

NH joins us.

Glen Spey 29yo 1995/2024 #16 (54.1%, Maltbarn The 26, Sherry Cask, 42b)

Nose: fresh, light, and probably a little indistinct.
Mouth: vaguely woody (white wood), it dishes out cinnamon and ginger shavings.
Finish: narrow, precise, it remains rather indistinct.
Comment: a fair drop that lacks personality. It is too middle-of-the road to make us enthusiastic. 7/10

MD [whose wife and daughters are dress-shopping for a wedding]: "My credit-card-bill notifications are coming in fast!"
NH: "Your net worth is falling faster than Elon Musk's!"

Real Diver's Whisky 12yo (unknown ABV, unknown bottler with the compliments of Sub Sea Services & Divex)

Nose: effervescent, bubbling with fruity Alka Seltzer and some baby sick kept in a plastic bottle, and cold cuts.
Mouth: strangely watery with a little hay infusion. I would say porridge, but it is much thinner.
Finish: indistinguishable orchard fruits and a pinch of dust.
Comment: NH reckons Glen Garioch. tOMoH is not so sure. Great opportunity to try something this exclusive. Love the shameless Cadenhead look. 7/10 (Thanks for the dram, NH)

Longmorn 16yo 2008/2025 (53.4%, Maltbarn, B#253, Sherry Cask, 177b)

Nose: this smells buttery, with ripe apricots and peaches, as well as, well, butter. Avocado, maybe? It has something almost metallic to it too. Softer and more fragrant with water -- "it presents itself with spread legs," says MD.
Mouth: a lot more acidic, here, it offers orange juice augmented with pressed maracuja.
Finish: wow! Some wood under control, and a lot of fruits, 1992 style.
Comment: cracking dram. 8/10

MD [about backpacks]: "That's why I wear a man bag. It's slim. Like everything else on me."
tOMoH: "I hear your credit card bill isn't."

NH, MD and tOMoH debate the chocolate of their respective Heimats. tOMoH argues that chocolate-making is a legacy of empire, and becoming the best chocolate-maker required having colonies that produce cocoa.

NH: "Well, we grow all our cocoa beans in the Alps, so..."
tOMoH: "...grazed by purple cows."

Caol Ila 17yo 2007/2024 (54.2%, Maltbarn, B#245, Sherry Cask)

Nose: pitch-black ink, torched fishing nets and dried lichens.
Mouth: smoked-ham-infused sea water, cockles, ink and sand. Smoke rises boldly in the long run.
Finish: more of the same -- ink, tarry sands, burnt fishing nets.
Comment: this is really good, if perhaps not overly interesting. 7/10

An Islay Distillery 24yo 2000/2024 (51.8%, Maltbarn, B#251, Sherry Cask, 175b)

Nose: super earthy, if not one bit medicinal. It turns almost bret-y with time.
Mouth: dark, inky, earthy, and drying when chewing.
Finish: huge, inky, sandy (hot sands), it has dark chocolate emerging over time.
Comment: reliable 'froyg. 7/10

MD [to JS]: "I just looked at [my] picture of your Glenlivet. I'm stunned that, even back when this was bottled, they were already warning people about the [American] government!"

JS: "That's close to... Why is my memory so bad?"
NH [looking at the whisky]: "I wonder why..."
tOMoH: "It's the same when she's sober."
JS: "You're mean."
tOMoH: "That's okay. You won't remember tomorrow."

Port Charlotte 22yo 2002/2025 (55.2%, Maltbarn No. 252, Bourbon Cask, 186b)

Nose: ooft! cigarette smoke and ash.
Mouth: this is desiccating, exuding scorched earth bathing in sea water. Phwoar! I need a litre of fresh water!
Finish: huge, inky, ashy and chocolate-y. In fact, it is cocoa powder through and through.
Comment: impressive. 7/10

Time to close this Maltbarnathon and grab a bite to eat. It is only a biscuit (Mulino Bianco's Macine), but it feels good to sit down for a second. Short respite, however: NH's sour beers are in need of a refrigerator. A trip to the accommodation awaits me.

Continue reading here.

01/02/2025 Artificial Intelligence

BA, OB, PS, JS, JMcD and cavalier66 join me for an oh!-so-timely tasting on the theme of what seems to be consuming everyone's thoughts, these days: Artificial Intelligence (AI).

cavalier66 brought food, as usual. In theme.

Comté: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, it is what computers do
Quince paste: because it tastes a little artificial
Lancashire: where Alan Turing was from, who led development of the Enigma machine
Malden Deep smoked salmon: for deep learning, or DeepSeek

The soundtrack: The Old Man of Huy - Exit the Dragon

Another brief line-up

BA also brought nibbles

PS presents Largedaig Language Model

Ledaig 20yo (43%, OB, 03/312 L16 3174 15.38) (PS): nose: spirit-y apple juice, suede moccasins, leatherette, and even a touch of urine. A couple of sniffs in, that turns into evaporated Indian tonic, chalky and bitter. JMcD finds citrus and pear. Mouth: waxy lemons (PS) for what cavalier66 calls a clean version of Ledaig. It has some musk (which suits the AI theme to a T) and scorched earth -- or is that baked rubber? cavalier66 then discovers really soft mandarine water. Finish: dark tar (BA), the beginning of soapiness (BA), and a rubbery bitterness, as well as a dose of plastic (cavalier66). 7/10

BA [about London water]: "It fights back a little when you drink it, and I like that."

As PS feared, the cork disintegrates

tOMoH presents pittyvAIch. In the chieftAIn's range.

Pittyvaich 14yo 1986/2001 (43%, Ian McLeod Chieftain's, Hogsheads, C#9519-22, 1074b, L1212BB 3 11 58) (tOMoH): "classic Pittyvaich," cavalier66 exclaims, which is a sentence not many people have ever heard. Nose: gooseberry and tins of raspberry (PS), hoppy fruitiness (BA). Next to that fruit, I find horse's hair, dusty wicker, hay bales, and fermented custard (cavalier66). Over time, the nose goes quieter. Mouth: chocolate-covered weed (OB), easter eggs and lots of chocolate indeed. Further sips have damson plums at various stages of unripeness, or a little bitter, in other words. Parmesan cheese rises, drying and butyric. Finish: milk and white chocolates in the style of those eggs (the ones with the toy inside, remember?) I will spend more time with this soon. In the meantime, I am enthusiastic about it. 8/10

tOMoH presents here come the rAIn agAIn.

Strathisla 1999/2010 Here Come The Rain Again (46%, La Maison du Whisky Belgique, C#45530, 247b) (tOMoH): we had this one not a year ago, but OB, JMcD and BA were not there. Nose: fresh (cavalier66), apples and lemons (PS), strychnine (cavalier66), a little herbaceous. Mouth: calm, mellow and still (JMcD), dark herbs (cavalier66). Finish: lively and fruity, it has plums and apricots, with just a very-small pinch of dried herbs. Full notes here. 8/10

BA: "What distillery is this?"
tOMoH: "Strathisla."
cavalier66: "strathAIsla."
tOMoH: "I thought of it, but it is a bit far fetched, even for me."
all: "Who are you? What have you done to tOMoH?"
tOMoH: "I've been abducted by AI."

PS [about Bell's decanters]: "They're made by a company called Wade..."
tOMoH: "Wade a minute!"
PS: "...and they..."
BA: "No. Stop. Give [the pun] a little space to breathe. There. Carry on."

PS presents a whisky matured in a sassicAIa cask.

Benromach 5yo b.2006  Sassicaia Wood Finish (45%, OB, 27mo Sassicaia Wine Casks Finish, 3000b) (PS): nose: shards of cedar wood and unlit incense. cavalier66 finds it more vulgar than the preceding dram, brash (PS). It does become a bit wine-y, with added crushed pine cones, roasted chicken breasts, and oily mahogany. Next is a wicker-clad open bottle of Valpolicella. Mouth: tannic, young, fruity, but not in a very-convincing way. It is also drying as a wine whose grapes have seen too much sun. Finish: long, grape-y, it has elderberry, decaying berries, and rancio as well. 6/10

JMcD presents Artificial Intelligens.

Mackmyra Intelligens (46.1%, OB, ex-Bourbon + ex-Oloroso + American Oak + Swedish Oak Casks, B#AI02, b.2021) (JMcD): a recipe allegedly created by an AI. Nose: Gummibärchen, poached pear and baked persimmon. Jellied melon cubes too, and raspberry jellies. Mouth: There is a veneer of tropical fruits that is soon overtaken by pitch-black liquorice, then that morphs into juicy mango sprinkled with paprika. Finish: clean (JS), the whisky speaks for itself (JS, channelling her inner Quaker), long and fruity, Turkish delights, fruit jellies, candied papaya cubes, and a pinch of liquorice shavings. 8/10

cavalier66: "Can I share something interesting?"
PS: "That seems hugely unlikely, but go on."

The soundtrack: The Old Man of Huy - Man To Men

tOMoH presents AIlsa bay.

Ailsa Bay 7yo (unknown ABV, Cask Sample, ex-French Red Wine Cask) (tOMoH): nose: buttery nut paste. Mouth: chewy (cavalier66), thick (OB), this is almond paste dampened with syrupy red wine. Finish: vulgar (cavalier66), all cask and no spirit (cavalier66). My notes are here. 7/10

JS presents the Baller, which has a samurAI on the label.

St. George 3yo The Baller (47%, OB, Ex-Bourbon, French Wine Casks + Umeshu Finish) (JS): nose: orange fruit gum (PS), sage and thyme (PS). Mouth: Swiss herbal sweets (cavalier66), but also a lot of (artificial) fruits (plum, ripe apricot, citrus). Finish: hoppy (OB), génépi (cavalier66). My notes are here. 7/10

BA: "What's the stuff you put in beer?"
OB: "Hops?"
BA: "No, the orange stuff..."
tOMoH: "Irn Bru?"

SW cannot be with us, today, but he did manage to send a bottle our way for the occasion. An unmarked duty pAId sample.

Midleton d.2014 (unknown ABV, Duty Paid Samples, Double Charred Bourbon Cask) (SW): nose: "instantly recognisable as a pot still" (cavalier66), grapefruit (BA) and other fruits. I find it pink and yellow, with peach and ripe apricot. A little breathing time makes it woodier and drier. Mouth: cream (cavalier66), pink passion fruits coated in nail varnish. It has the texture of peach and mango melting on the tongue. Finish: long, powerful, a little spicy, while remaining very fruity. Persimmon, peach, nectarine, kumquat. Lovely. I hope to spend more time with this too. 8/10

Next up is OB. I ask the gang if they prefer a trou normand, or a trou-du-cul normand. Emphasis on the pun, here, since OB is obviously not a trou-du-cul (arsehole). BA, OB and JMcD opt for the trou normand. The fools. JS pours them a shot of bAIju, and they immediately regret it. Although BA lectures us all on baiju (starting with the pronunciation), so go figure.

With that prank behind, we move on to the trou-du-cul normand.

OB explains how the next whisky is made in a Coffey still with a rectifier. In neural networks, the rectifier, or ReLU… Bah! Who am I kidding? Check the Wikipedia page, if you need to know more.

Cambus 40yo 1975/2016 (52.7%, OB, Hogsheads, 1812b, b#0442) (OB): nose: ethereal, yet it seems a little less tropical than four years ago. Still: pineapple, buttery peach and creamy coconut. Mouth: incredibly creamy on the palate, and pumped with maracuja, sprinkled with cumin seeds. Finish: so creamy again, with mango and peaches drowning in coconut cream. It does sustain a clear bitterness too, yet that Is never a worry. I am perhaps a tad less impressed than the previous times, but yeah... 10/10

PS [paraphrasing]: "Grain is vile. Grain is disgusting and no-one should buy it."
tOMoH: "Quite right. This should never have been bottled."
PS: "Indeed. Don't push the prices."
JMcD [after trying it]: "This is amazing. I'd like to understand why tOMoH thinks it should not have been bottled."
tOMoH: "tOMoH is winding you up. This is tOMoH's favourite grain."

cavalier66 explains that the next dram was rated A⊕⊕ by BC, when he had a blog. That is as close to AI's perfection as is achievable for a human-made product. He adds that this is from ChatGPTeaninich.

59.54 32yo 1984/2016 Elegant, classy and simply beautiful (50.5%, SMWS Society Single Cask, Refill ex-Bourbon Hogshead, 186) (cavalier66): nose: elegant, classy, rather good (OB), greener [than the previous drams] (cavalier66), and, indeed, pomelo, Ugli fruit and Kaffir lime are front and centre. BA finds it orange-y. He is wrong, but citrus foliage is a given. Mouth: very citrus-y again, with tangerine peels starting to turn blue with mould, and a drying chalkiness splashed with Indian tonic. Finish: a note of hay, fruit, and a lot of quinine-y Indian tonic. With water, corn flakes turn up (BA). It is a long, sparkling finish, citrus-y and a little bitter, borderline leafy. Excellent. 9/10

OB: "It becomes elegant with water."
cavalier66: "Maybe our definition of 'elegant' is different."
OB: "No. My definition is correct and yours is wrong."

cavalier66: "I was pulling on the wrong bit."
PS: "Erm..."
cavalier66: "No!"

Time for OB's exquisite Galette des Rois
I will find the trinket tomorrow in the last piece (and almost break a tooth)

OB tells us the next one was bottled for WhiskyNerds, and reminds us that AI was developed by nerds. In parallel, BA tells us that The Whisky Exchange's code for Loch Lomond is LLM -- which is short for Large Language Model, the basis of current AI.

Inchmurrin 14yo 2003/2017 Law Bottling (56.2%, OB Single Cask specially selected by WhiskyNerds Trias Usquebaugh, Refill Sherry Butt, C#17/169-1, 260b) (OB): very tropical, it has buttery mango, cured peach, cherimoya, persimmon, and pressed dried dates in warm turnovers. On the late tip, we get water-chestnut purée. Mouth: this is mango and lychee in a cup of coffee, served with dried dates on the side. Finish: a lot earthier in the finish, it has black cardamom, liquorice-root shavings, and green-grape juice, as well as smashed lychee. I bet it would gain a point after it has had some time to open up in the open bottle. 8/10

vs.

Loch Lomond 15yo 2009/2024 (55.2%, Decadent Drinks Decadent Drams, 2nd Fill Hogshead of Loch Lomond + 1st Fill Hogshead of Inchmurrin) (BA): a blend of Loch Lomond and Inchmurrin, which is a funny concept. This is the juice before reduction, rather than the one that was commercially available at 53%. Nose: banane flambée (cavalier66), mulled wine, gingerbread (loud and clear), banana bread. We will call it a gingerbread-and-banana sandwich. Mouth: There is a more-mineral touch at play, here, with a mix of quarry dust and lichen on stave, ground peach stone turning green with lichen. Finish: long and fruity, it has a dash of mandarine juice and peaches, greengages, tangerines, and just a shake of Sherry cask (whatever that means). 8/10

cavalier66 stands up to leave (as usual, he is double-booked). He generously offers to change the line-up to have his last contribution now. The cleverer thing to do was to pour and let us have it in the right order, but the attendees are apparently drunk enough to throw cleverness to the wind, and spoil their palates with this.

cavalier66 quotes his mentor, Jim Murray, who said of this very bottling: "I have been tasting Talisker for 28 years, this is the best bottling ever. Miss this and your life will be incomplete." cavalier66 argues that, today, our lives are incomplete without AI. He adds that this is PS's most-hated distillery, and PS is the furthest a man can be from AI. He concludes by saying this Talisker is Chat-G-Peaty. Groan. Laugh.

OB: "That was the best [pun] to-date."
tOMoH: "Not meant as a compliment."

cavalier66: "That's not the original cork. That one went soft. tOMoH gave me one."
PS: "Are you saying tOMoH's cork is soft?"

BA: "Can I say this? It's going to sound bad, but it's not meant in a bad way. It reminds me of the baiju."
Room. Gasping. For. Breath.
cavalier66: "Do you know how much this cost me at auction?"

cavalier66 departs. I have not yet touched my dram of Talisker, because I know better.

BA: "This is Lagavulin 16. You may have heard of it. It's just Lagavulin 16."

BA asked ChatGPT: "I need to bring a bottle of whisky to a tasting on the theme of AI."

ChatGPT said: "Lagavulin 16," amongst other random suggestions.

Lagavulin 16yo (43%, OB, b. ca. 2023) (BA): nose: smoked lemons, preserved lemons, skimmed milk, and, after a while, horses' stables. Mouth: mellow (at 43%, how could it be otherwise?), full of chargrilled sweet yellow citrus, grapefruit and pineapple. Finish: long, big, briny and ashy. It is warm, drying, and gives one the voice of Annie Girardot in a matter of seconds (think early-2000s Marianne Faithfull for an English-speaking comparison). There is little Sherry to find, here, which makes sense once one knows Lagavulin 16 has not been aged in Sherry casks for years, contrary to popular belief. Hard to believe how well this fares, so deep into the line-up. 7/10

BA presents a Longrow from a chardonnAI cask.

Longrow 16yo 2001/2018 (56%, Cadenhead Warehouse Tasting, Chardonnay Cask Finish) (BA): very medicinal, with jelly capsules, and... Is it marzipan? Later on, it acquires those chalky candy necklaces. Mouth: oooh! The Chardonnay is more obvious, here, with squashed raspberry, and glimpses of lychee, perhaps. Chewing reveals a firm chalkiness which dehydrates the inside of the lips. It takes even more chewing for strawberry sherbet to rock up. Finish: plums and prunes, peach skins, and wine-cured fruit stones. JMcD calls it juicy and sweet, but also meaty and savoury. This should absolutely not work, but somehow does. 8/10

Talisker 20yo 1981/2002 (62%, OB Limited Edition, Sherry Casks, 9000b, b#5117): and now, the Talisker. Actually, I do not feel like it. BA, OB, PS and JMcD all leave together, and I have had enough. It is hard to believe the hiccoughs around this bottling. dom666 brought it to his birthday tasting in November -- only to realise he took the wrong bottle in the right box. He brought the right bottle to Burns' Night in January, but we had so much else to try we skipped it. cavalier66, who also has a bottle, read that on this little blog and decided we had to try it in February (today). By the time we reach its position in the line-up, I am whiskied out. Bah! I have transferred my dram of it to an airtight container and will have it another day.

Great times.

06/07/2023 Benromach

Benromach d.1969 (40%, Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice, b. ca. 1989): the miniature does not indicate the bottling year, but Gordon & MacPhail did a big bottle with the same livery in 1989, so it is rather safe to assume this is the same. Nose: well, well! Burnt wood, embers in the rain, calcinated twigs, campfire, the morning after. That is soon joined by mellow menthol and growing peppermint, and balanced by walnut oil and polished dashboards. The back of the sinuses pick up something more organic that may be a mix of sink funk, vase water, and silt; it reads horrible, but it is subtle enough to not be a bother. In no time, that fades away, and makes room for some kind of strawberry paste, enhanced with a drop of furniture polish. The second nose sees hay, or straw bales, dry, dusty, and heart warming, used farming tools, not particularly old, stored in the barn, after a sunny day's work. There are also piles of twigs and branches (not logs), drying in preparation for the winter. Further nosing brings varnished wood, and I detect the faintest note of white-fleshed tropical fruit (dragon fruit, mangosteen, cherimoya), in the long run. Mouth: mildly astringent in the attack, the palate delivers a similar cocktail of woods polished and burnt, strawberries, and peppermint. Perhaps it has grated ginger too. The (dried) strawberries are magnified, here, yet they do not come alone: bitter hazel wood supports it adequately, the bitterness never becoming a negative talking point. The second sip is just as impressive, and fruitier, with apricots, macerating in juice in an open-top wooden cask of a certain age. Woodworm-eaten old furniture appears, as does slightly-caramelised jam, stuck to the bottom of the metal pot. Finish: robust, woody, filled with dried berries and wood spices (ginger powder, wasabi, asafoetida). The wood and its spices impart a clear bitterness (think: chipboards) that does not detract from the enjoyment. It is a lasting finish that sparkles on the tongue long after swallowing. The second sip has liqueur-boosted toffee, mocha-and-berries custard, sprinkled with coal dust, sooty wooden buckets, apricot jam turned black on the hob, and charred fruit stones that become progressively fruitier and fruitier. This starts good, if perhaps unassuming, but ends up big and rustic. Duhlishes! 8/10

17/11/2019 Low Filledity

cavalier66 posted pictures on social media of bottles that he noticed had lost a few centilitres, over the years. Funnily enough, the day before, I had looked at some of my bottles and observed that their respective fill levels were not too good either, and I noted that I should probably open them and drink them before the angels do it. JS put the pun together, as the John-Cusack fangirl she is. :)

GL, PS, cavalier66, JS and I will then have bottles with low fill levels. PS and GL end up bringing open bottles with little left in them, while the other three have dodgy-levelled-yet-unopened bottles to share.

The soundtrack: Ruptured World - Exoplanetary

North of Scotland 1964/2007 (45%, Robert Scott Scott's Selection) (PS): nose: barley sugar, sweet corn, brown sugar, teak and caramel. PS reckons this was distilled from 100% malted barley, though it is hard to tell, as it came from a continuous still. There is a sweaty smell to this as well, which is funky. Mouth: thick and coating, it has coffee, toffee, slightly bitter and cloying, invasive, even. Precious woods, wood lacquer -- even hair lacquer, to be honest. Finish: in line with the nose and mouth, with flat cola, Chinotto, ebony, hair lacquer -- yes! it has a mild bitterness. 8/10

Linlithgow 22yo 1975/1998 (51.7%, Signatory Vintage Silent Stills, C#96/3/01, 335b, b#243, 98/0632) (JS): nose: an amazing mixture of citrus (bergamot, smoked lime, tangerine) and tobacco leaves. The nose also has very-shy dunnage warehouse, flint, crushed, dried sage and... cold roast beef. Mouth: the gentle bitterness of fresh tobacco leaves, fresh sage, lichen on staves, and lots and lots of citrus, augmented with a spoonful of honey. Finish: long, citrus-y, it has bergamot foliage and dried lime peels. This is so clean and beautiful! 9/10

The level, for reference

The soundtrack: Creation VI - Beringia

GL: "This is Turkish delights and dark chocolate."
cavalier66: "Is this Rosebank?"
tOMoH: "No, not Scottish delights! Turkish delights! Rosebankoglu."

Benromach 5yo b.2006 (45%, OB, Finished in Hungarian Tokaji Wine Casks, 2000b) (GL): nose: a touch of sulphur, pork sweat, barbecued bacon, then maraschino cherries and lingonberry compote. Have we found a Tokaji finish that works? GL and PS claim so... Mouth: thinner and more mellow than I expected, it seems perfume-y. The wine notes appear, softly-softly, accompanied by a dose of spices (ground ginger). Finish: oooh! That is interesting. The wine influence is there, but it is quickly matched by a soft smoke and a note of burnt cork. A serving of pickled onions and a drop of vinegar also appear. It would seem as though PS and GL are right. This whisky does showcase a Tokaji maturation that works. 7/10

What is potentially the last-ever Italian sausage we will get enters the scene. My source might just have dried up, much to my dismay.

cavalier66: "So, PS is not coming to Old & Rare?"
PS: "Unlikely, no."
cavalier66: "Can I say: 'you're an idiot'?"
PS: "Not sure why you need my permission. You've done it before."

The soundtrack: Neuractive - Morphology

Clynelish 11yo 1994/2006 (53.3%, Creative Whisky Company Exclusive Malts, Sherry Butt, 362b) (GL): nose: bacon-y, with a pinch of leather, horse's hair, smoked cherries, scorched earth and pencil shavings. Mouth: chocolate and liqueur pralines, dark cherries, leather saddles and varnished wood. It is a great sherry maturation, this. Finish: a high-flying kick of alcohol, with a touch of cork, varnished wood and fortified wine. Well, that is all well, though the distillery character struggles to surface. 7/10

vs.

Clynelish 22yo 1972/1995 (58.95%, OB Rare Malts Selection) (tOMoH): I did not know what to choose, when the guests arrived. I thought having a second Clynelish might be fun, though I was worried it would not be a fair match. Nose: mirabelle plum, apricot, marmalade in a cast-iron cauldron, over a wood fire, mist, more than smog (ozone, perhaps?), honey -- phwoar! Diesel engines and soot are also to be found behind the honey-glazed, fruity marmalade. Mouth: mellow and honey-filled, with also yellow flowers and more marmalade, stewed plums and apricots -- this is both fruity and old-school, with a twist of black pepper for good measure. Finish: big and appealing, with a pinch of salt, honey-glazed apple, caramelised over a wood fire. Wow. This is exceptional. I am looking forward to spending more time with it. It was not at all a fair match. I had this one at 9, but coming back to it after everyone has left, it seems to shine even brighter. So... 10/10

Making little wom-bottles

The cork of the next bottle disintegrates. GL, JS and I operate a corkscrew, skewers and a vacuum cleaner to salvage it, rather successfully, I might add. :-)

Pressed-orange-whisky

The soundtrack: Atrium Carceri & Cities Last Broadcast - Black Stage Of Night

Benromach 7yo 2000/2008 Lat 57° (57%, OB to celebrate the Clipper 07--08 Round the World Yacht Race, First Fill Sherry Hogshead, C#580, 330b) (GL): GL is in a Benromach mood, is he not? Nose: very cask-y, almost plank-y, with dry staves, ginger bread, cherry liqueur and dark chocolate, as well as dry sherry, Oloroso style. Mouth: woody, almost splinter-y, it has lots of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, yet also some ginger, dry sherry and Jägermeister. The cask influence is huge. Finish: lots of chocolate, here, with a hint of dry smoke, galangal and cork, dry wood, bung cloth, hessian sacks and very old walnuts. This is huge, coating, drying, yet comforting too, because so warming. Another stonking sherry cask from GL. 8/10

JS: "I really like where it is in the line-up, with the sausage."

Port Dundas 20yo b.2011 (57.4%, OB Limited Edition, ex-Sherry & First Fill American & Charred European Oak Casks, 1920b, b#1824) (PS): I tried this one at Whisky Live! 2011 and remember liking it, but being puzzled by the price, in a day and age when the same amount bought you a 1960s grain. Nose: ginger bread aplenty, baking croissant dough and caramelising golden syrup. Mouth: soft on the palate, it is rounded, but also full-bodied and complex, with cassia bark, crushed aniseed, chocolate, cinnamon and dead leaves. Finish: wow! Long, cinnamon-laden, with ginger-bread man, speculoos, hazelnut paste and chocolate spread (not the kind that has more palm oil than anything else). This is excellent indeed. What a treat to try it again! 8/10

PS: "I was being far too kind to you."
tOMoH: "The word to remember in that phrasing is: 'fart'."

cavalier66: "I'm oozing. That's what I do. My friends make me ooze."
tOMoH: "That's because you married a Greek. She got you hooked on ooze-o."

PS: "When did you last buy Brora? About £800 ago."

57.4 15yo 1979/1994 Fearsome indeed; smoky, spicy and savoury (63.1%, SMWS Society Cask) (JS): another broken cork. This one becomes a floater, so that will require a more elaborate salvage operation. First, let us try it. Nose: nostril-consuming, this one, clearly from before the SMWS discovered water. It has ethereal orange segments, lemon juice -- no! Pomelo juice, a hint of almond paste and hazelnut paste. The second sniff brings a bit of a leafy touch to the picture -- tobacco leaves, perhaps? PS finds it hay-like, with straw mats. He is not wrong. Mouth: crisp, acidic and lemon-y, with limescale and grapefruit... Wow! This is extremely big, bold, with apple, pear and Chinese gooseberry (PS calls it kiwi fruit, the pleb he is). Dry hay mats here too, though the overall impression is fruity. Finish: muscular, lemon-y and sharp, zesty, with lots of citrus and dry-as-fork hay. This is nice, but fierce. I can feel my head growing and growing! I am oscillating between an 8 and a 9. For tonight, it will be ... 9/10

cavalier66: "Glen Mhor through a strawr."

JS: "We'll need to fish out the cork."
tOMoH: "That's ok. I'm not scared of that any-mhor."
cavalier66: "The ECT. Emergency Cork Team."

The soundtrack: Various - Dark Pleasures

PS: "Do not google Dark Pleasures!"

Talisker 20yo 1981/2002 (62%, OB Limited Edition, Sherry Casks, 9000b, b#5117) (cavalier66): fourteen-and-a-half years later, I get to try this again. It has gained quite a reputation, in the meantime. Justified? Nose: sherry. Very elegant, with wood polish, liquorice, brine, pickled onions, shoe polish -- there is not much Talisker, in this, which is probably a good thing from my perspective. :-) Shiitake-mushroom paste and leather belts. Mouth: big (you don't say!), gently drying, coating, it has all sorts of precious woods, drinks cabinets, crushed Macadamia nuts, almond skins and dried fruits (mostly dates). Finish: it is all leather and smoke and pepper, here. Not the gross pepper from the 10yo, no -- much more refined than that. The finish is really impressive. It also has precious, lacquered wood, all sorts of polishes, burnt caramel, dried figs, dried dates and -- Talisker finally appears, here -- swirls of smoke and smoked pepper. The amazing part is how well-integrated this is. At 62%, one would expect it to chew one's tongue off. Against all odds, it does not burn much. I feel the reputation is a little overdone (there are better drams around, and better Taliskers), but still. Cracking dram, probably closer to Secret Stills 01.01 than any other Tal I know. 9/10

Dram of the day:
JS, GL: Linlithgow
tOMoH, cavalier66: Clynelish RMS
PS: Cannot choose.

This one stood the test, strangely enough

In my tipsy good will, I manage to spill a dram's worth of 57.4 whilst transferring it out of and in to the bottle to remove the broken cork, then draw a forty-centimetre scratch on the wall while turning the sofa cushions. AAAAAARRRRGHRHHHHHHH!!!

Excellent afternoon. Additional credit to cavalier66, who had a serious bike accident a few days ago and made it, despite his injuries (hence the straw), with a promise that we would not make him laugh. We were never going to keep that one, were we? ;-)