27/04/2025 The Whisky Fair (Day 2 -- Part 2)

Across the hall we go, to TM's stand. JS pours her Glenlivet 26yo 1968/1995 (52.1%, Signatory Vintage selected by, bottled for and imported by Whyte & Whyte for The Spirits Library, Barrel, 95/137)

TM: "Tasty!"

Classic TM. Cracks me up.

Ichiro's Malt & Grain 20th Anniversary (48%, Venture Whisky distributed by Japan Import System, B#8)

Nose: custard, shortbread, pineapple.
Mouth: stroopwafel, pouring honey, cured-peach juice. It is also fairly hot.
Finish: long, bright, it dies in a puff of dried pineapple slices.
Comment: very good. 8/10

Oishii Wisukii 43yo 1980/2024 (46.9%, The Highlander Inn)

Nose: oily nuts and roasted bananas.
Mouth: oily and fruity, we have fruit jellies, a little ground almond shells.
Finish: long and bold, it is at once fruity and drying.
Comment: yup, another good one. 8/10

Glen Garioch 22yo 2003/2025 (57.8%, Highlander Inn Maggie's Collection bottled for 9th Anniversary of The Whisky List, C#165, 219b)

Nose: this bursts with pineapple and dried mango.
Mouth: bright and yellow, grapefruit segments and the bitter dryness of its peels.
Finish: this is terribly fruity, mostly grapefruit and pineapple, with a sprinkle of ginger powder.
Comment: excellent. 8/10

Chichibu 2016/2023 (63%, Highlander Inn, Mizunara Heads Hogshead, C#5824, 191b, b#130)

Nose: creamy, custard-y, it has confectionary sugar.
Mouth: apricot through and through, but also Mirabelle plums.
Finish: what!? It is a fruit explosion, with grapefruit, pineapple, Mirabelle plum and apricot.
Comment: just how good is this? 9/10

Auchentoshan 26yo 1997/2023 (49.2%, Highlander Inn, C#101747, 187b, b#45)

Nose: fresh, fruity, it has minty custard and squashed peach.
Mouth: fruity and a tad earthy.
Finish: delicate, fruity.
Comment: terrible notes. I love this. 8/10

TM: "I am not sexist, but the flavours appeal to ladies."
tOMoH: "TM got a lot of action since he bottled this."

On my way to "say goodbye" to EG, I bump into pat gva. Like last year, it is a chance encounter late in the day.

Glen Grant-Glenlivet 23yo 1964/1988 (46%, Cadenhead)

Nose: fuckin' ay! pat gva done it again. Lychee, fresh peach slices, milk chocolate and coffee beans, then mocha chocolate.
Mouth: phwoar! Milk chocolate filled with a lychee paste. This is incredibly balanced too.
Finish: lychee shavings (!) stuffed into a slice of tiramisù.
Comment: a work of art. 10/10 (Thanks for the dram, pat gva)

Chichibu 2012/2025 (65%, Venture Whisky Ichiro's Malt cask sample for Germany distributed by Japan Import System, 1st Fill ex-Bourbon American Oak Barrel, C#2264)

Nose: grapefruit yoghurt with a dollop of butterscotch.
Mouth: a tad metallic, it is also powerful.
Finish: floral (meaning a smidge bitter), hot, marked by heated metal, that yoghurt, and baked grapefruit segments.
Comment: this is amazing. It also drinks very well at that monstrous ABV. 9/10

There is one more person I have not yet spent time with: OC. Upon seeing me, he tells his interlocutor he now wants to talk to me instead. The bloke takes it in good spirits, turns around and greets me, after OC tells him he has known me for twenty years, long before the other became an influencer -- or discovered whisky, probably. Ha! Ha!

Tormore 10yo (48%, OB Blueprint Cask Program Official Pre-Release, Bourbon Barrels, 1500b)

Nose: lemon-y, custard-y, and a little minty.
Mouth: it feels very mellow (but, of course, we have been ingesting cask-strength whisky for a long while, now), milky, with just a smidge of vanilla.
Finish: more vanilla-ed custard, pandoro, βανίλια.
Comment: perfect sipper. 7/10 (Thanks for the dram, OC)

Final sprint. A mad dash to The Whisky Jury to try their rums. We promised them to, yesterday.

TDL 21yo 2002/2024 (55.7%, The Whisky Jury The Many Faces Of Rum bottled for The Antelope Macau, Refill Barrel, C#10, 238b, b#236)

Nose: fruity glue.
Mouth: strong, glue-y and ridiculously fruity, without reaching 1964 Bowmore territory.
Finish: sweet, sugary, it peddles Lyle's Golden Syrup and honey-glazed banana slices in a plastic tub.
Comment: pretty good. 7/10

The Ester Hunter Catch 2 (52%, The Whisky Jury)

Nose: metal glue.
Mouth: grapefruit juice poured on earth. Chewing releases drying glue and plastic.
Finish: roasted pineapple starting to caramelise, melded plastic pipes.
Comment: another good one. 7/10

It is over. Exhibitors are packing up, and crowds are pouring out of the venue. There is no security service to round us up and push us out, but it is clear there is little left to do indoors.

MD somehow finds us: we are dining together, along with the Swissky Mafia bosses and their henchmen. One of them harvested all the bottles of Daftmill for the Nectar that were available. JS is subjected to fomo, who did not even know there was a Daftmill on offer, this weekend. The story has a happy ending, mind: the owner will let her have one bottle for what he paid for it, provided we help him carry his bottles to his car. It being Limburg, nothing is ever far away. Soon, his bottles are in his boot.

It is another brief walk before we reach the Gasthof Schwarzer Adler, where we meet the rest of the gang.

Tomatin 34yo 1976/2011 (51.2%, Liquid Sun, Sherry Butt, 272b)

Comment: phwoar! 9/10 (Thanks for the dram, MD)

Spargelcreme-Suppe

My Schwarze Tortelloni mit Lachsfüllung in Hummerbutter und frischem Parmesan

JS's Lachs-Filet Spargel dazu Sauce Hollandaise und Salzkartoffeln

CD: "Truffle on my pasta and pork belly..."
PG: "Is that a euphemism?"
CD: "I'm truffling high!"

Caperdonich 32yo 1966/1998 (53.1%, Signatory Vintage selected by Velier, Dark Sherry Hogshead, C#134, 250b)

Comment: jammy, yet more peppery than expected. 9/10 (Thanks for the dram, MD -- I think?)

PG: "Have you seen my Blair Arsehole?"

PG [about EG's shindig in Bologna]: "On the Saturday, if you know Italy and EG, it was okay. Almost on time."

From the restaurant, we head to Villa Konthor. I am whiskied out, but it seems daft to come here and not go to the Villa. Plus, it is a last chance to say goodbye to all our friends who are bound to be there. Case in point, we bump into KCF at last, whom I pour JS's Glenlivet (and nearly get thrown out for doing so inside the pub, the idiot that I am).

I have:

Loch Lomond Single Grain (46%, OB, b, ca. 2025)

Comment: it is delicious, and just what I need tonight: a light, no-frill dram that is not intellectual in the slightest. 7/10

Outside, on our way out, PG ambushes us. Indeed, he has just the perfect thing to bookend the weekender:

Littlemill 33yo d.1990 (53.9%, Brave New Spirits bottled exclusively for Galli Drams, C#65051A)
9/10 (Thanks for the dram, PG)

There. We survived the second day of the second year. What a whirlwind!

27/08/2016 An evening at the Bon Accord

Back here, yay! The place is busy, though it does not deter JS and me.

Scapa 25yo d.1980 (54%, OB, 2000b): the cork is floating inside the bottle. It worries me a little, though it is too late: I did not notice until it was poured already. Nose: a mixture of fresh brioche, red-fruit-soaked boiled sweets, tropical wood (mahogany, teak), raisins. After a while, tree bark comes out, moist after a light drizzle. A soft whiff of varnish ends up teasing the nostril, and even a bit of musk. Much later on, moist cake appears, frangipane, even. Mouth: acidic at first, it has the character of unripe stone fruit (apricot?) It is warming, with plant sap, almost soup-y (carrot, spinach), with a copious dose of chilli powder. Finish: delicate, soft wood abounds, as well as coconut cream, hot custard and a certain vegetal acidity. At the same time, it leaves a velvety impression of chocolate. 8/10

St Magdalene 1982/2013 (46%, Gordon & MacPhail Rare Old, B#RO/13/01): nose: simultaneously generous and austere, if such a combination were possible. The trademark flint is there (austere), lemon-flavoured boiled sweets and a note of sweet pastry (apricot pie or turnover -- generous). JS detects mortar (austere), while tOMoH thinks the pastry becomes more and more prominent (generous). Mouth: it seems soft, almost silky, until one realises that the lemon is pretty piercing. Regardless, it is not aggressive; simply closer to fruit juice than to cream. Finish: the generous austerity continues with ripe citrus (preserved lemons) and ground apricot stones, gentle herbs (chives) and flint. This masterpiece even has a medicinal aspect to it. 9/10

Inverleven 26yo 1978/2004 (50.1%, Duncan Taylor Rarest of the Rare, C#1873, 216b): we had to skip this one on the last couple of visits for lack of time. Time to right that wrong. Nose: pâtes de fruits, lush and chewy, then vanilla-ed rhubarb emerges. Shards of black marble, wet gravel. It retains a fruity note all the same (citrus initially, then berries). Mouth: silky and characterful, if that makes sense; it is soft and delicate, though it also has some imperfections. And by that, I mean asperities that stick out and make it interesting, rather than flaws. It is slightly spicy and stings like a pruned bush of roses, if one is not careful, yet it is very elegant. It becomes woody after a while, with polished-dashboard features. Finish: long and quietly assertive, it carries notes of crushed flowers, dark chocolate, tarragon, gentle milk coffee, bitter. Pâtes de fruits make a comeback (lemon-y ones). Flower petals eventually come to the foreground (roses and cherry blossom). Is this good or what? 9/10

Oishii Wisukii 36yo (46.2%, The Highlander Inn, Sherry Cask): of course, blends are not usually something we go for. But then blends are not usually 36yo small batches exclusively bottled for a highly-respected whisky bar. Nose: perfectly-controlled sherry influence -- coffee and leather kept on a leash, hazelnut, walnut and even a hint of smoke. Brown toast (JS), sizzling portobello mushrooms, roasted chestnuts. Mouth: oh! yes, buttered, brown toast. This is a breakfast whisky if tOMoH knows one! it is rounded and velvety as a smoothie too. Of the coffee and leather, there is not much left; instead, we have gentle marmalade on toasted bread. Finish: it feels too short and sharp, really, yet it retains the softness of the palate and the same general notes -- jam on toast, smoky and sweet. An excellent blend. Water disintegrates it. Careful. 8/10

Good times.