09/11/2024 Dystopia

A recycled theme that has never been done with this group. cavalier66, OB, JS and I meet up to celebrate visions of a bleak, distorted future. After saying he would not attend, PS actually does. "For one or two drams," he says, then stays for most of the afternoon, unable and unwilling to walk away from our wonderful company. :-)

The soundtrack: Black Lung - The Great Architect

PS explains that most dystopias have a role that one is supposed to call 'Excellency'. Also, allowing a cask to hit such a low ABV is dystopian.

Spirit of North of Scotland 48yo 1973/2021 (25%, Bartels Whisky His Excellency): nose: soft and mellow, fairly neutral, even, without that being a negative trait. With a little breathing, it gives a touch of honeysuckle and light custard. Mouth: this screams Fino sherry, dry, fruity, and a little nutty. OB finds Comté, and that is fair enough, seeing as "nutty" is a word that recurrently comes up in descriptions of that cheese. Finish: this is stunningly close to a Sherry, down to the strength. Palomino grapes, flor, rehydrated sultanas. It has an almost-vinegary aspect, and is at once dry and rather sweet. 7/10

cavalier66: "I have an important announcement to make."
tOMoH: "You're getting married!"
cavalier66: "No."
PS: "You're getting divorced!"
cavalier66: "No. I have had lunch."
tOMoH: "JS! Stop cutting bread!"

Biltong and artisan bread

Morbier, Lancashire and Bergkäse

PS: "If you had a 50yo Glen Grant, the taste would be about how good it is. If you had a 50yo Macallan, the taste would be all about how lucky you are to have it."

OB presents a whisky as black as dystopian polluted skies, as the intention of our leaders, and as the state of the world.

PS: "I'm pretty sure the first time I had Loch Dhu was in a Weatherspoon..."

Loch Dhu 10yo The Black Whisky (40%, OB, Charred Oak Casks): ahhhh! The famous bottle of caramel that happens to have some Mannochmore in it. Nose: Covonia cough syrup (JS), liquorice and ebony splinters. It stabilises over time, and settles for wood patina. Mouth: paxarette, cream sherry blended with cold coffee and Salmiakki. Finish: cavalier66 finds it a "disgusting" bitterness, while I have ground nigella seeds and charred ginger powder. As JS points out, it is reminiscent of Beluga Vodka. This is not good, but I expected a lot worse. 5/10

PS [about Loch Dhu]:
"I should have brought some cola
to lighten up the colour!"

tOMoH [upon nosing]: "Holy shit! this is bad."
cavalier66: "Believe me, it is worse in the mouth."
PS: "Something you don't normally hear him say."
cavalier66: "Two drams down and you're already at that stage?"
tOMoH: "He's leaving early. He's got to get [the jokes] in presto."

Since we are having bad whisky, OB adds one to the line-up.

Highland Region 21yo 2000/2021 (54.7%, Thompson Bros., 2 x Refill Hogsheads, 589b): nose: rotten wood (OB), greengage and pear (PS), those fruits stuck under cling film (PS), woodworm-ridden wardrobes. Mouth: "an acrid note I am not happy with" (PS). Wow! This is so weird. Predigested nuts, Kluwak nuts, nuts eaten and defecated by a monkey of some kind -- civet coffee comes into the conversation, which, amusingly is also known as kopi luwak, that I will abbreviate as k. luwak. Ha! Finish: lingering dusty bitterness (cavalier66), civet coffee, digested coffee beans, macerated Kluwak nuts. An earthy, bitter number indeed! Also the worse thing I have had since the Glen Scotia that smelled like dead rat and tasted like monkey's arse. The Tintin-related items on the label suggest a Loch Lomond, but we find it closer to a Ben Nevis gone wrong. 4/10

cavalier66 recreates that
Black Bowmore pose
with Loch Dhu

OB: "When your palate is saturated with bitterness..."
tOMoH: "Welcome to my world!"

PS: "The palate is like someone built a pinball machine with all the wrong flavours in it."

JS [to cavalier66 grimacing]: "Your face, This whole tasting, has been..."
tOMoH: "Have you had another bicycle accident, or what?"

Speaking of blends... PS blends
Loch Dhu with that undisclosed
Highlander

JS: "I wonder how many whiskies taste like this, but we don't know realise, because they're blended."
PS: "We call them Bell's."

The soundtrack: Phil Thornton - Alien Encounter

tOMoH introduces a whisky bottled by Kirk Douglas Laing, who starred in Planet of the Apes.

cavalier66: "Burt Lancaster was in that too, wasn't he?"
tOMoH: "If he was wearing an ape mask, I did not recognise him."
PS: "If Burt Lancaster had been in it, it would have bombed."
tOMoH: "All jokes aside, it was Charlton Heston, not Kirk Douglas. Woops! Ah! well, too late to change, now."
OB: "Even better! It is dystopian."

Tamdhu 14yo 2007/2021 (67%, Douglas Laing Old Particular Exclusive Bottling especially for Dram 242, Walter Bellis, Windels, Sherry Butt, C#DL14835, 391b): nose: some caramel and fruit (OB). Caramel indeed, coffee and cola (cavalier66). Mouth: warm cola alright. It has an undeniable sweetness, yet also a fierce heat. Finish: without defect (OB). A lot of cask going on (cavalier66). Liquorice (OB), a very-faint violet note (cavalier66), Demerara sugar, and molasses. It is unbelievable how easy to drink this is. When asked, everyone reckons it weighs 55-60% ABV. Ha! Ha! Full notes here. 7/10

cavalier66: "This is strong. We seem to be sans pipette."
tOMoH: "I'll give you one."
PS: "What about a pipette?"

cavalier66: "This tasting, so far, has been the most dystopian I've ever been to."

cavalier66: "Is it because Trump won that we're having a dystopia tasting?"
OB: "Did he?"

PS [about JMcC drinking gin at a tasting]: "He looked like a bulldog licking piss off a nettle."

JS presents a dram distilled in 1985, bottled in 2015. Back to the Future's present is 1985. In Back to the Future Part Deux, they travel to 2015. In 2015, Biff Tannen finds the time machine, and goes back to 1955 to give his younger self a sports almanach. When Marty goes back to 1985 from 2015, Biff has become very rich and powerful, thanks to said almanach, and the world that Marty comes back to is a dystopia -- inspired by Trump, according to this article. We already had this for a similar reason not long ago.

Glen Keith 30yo 1985/2015 (41.9%, Lombard Jewels of Scotland, C#12299-12302, 389b, b#170): nose fruity and floral (OB). With breathing, it becomes an explosion of buttercups, yellow tulips and honeysuckle. It also has cut nectarines sprinkled with confectionary sugar. Mouth: silky and mellow, unctuous, it has lovely yellow fruits (including the stones). There is a gentle lick of oilskin that gives it a soft bitterness too. Finish: incredibly present, considering the 25% climbdown in ABV from the Tamdhu. Love it. Full notes here. 9/10

OB: "PS is really insistent on us putting our noses in his glass!"
PS: "Two letters too many."

The soundtrack: Geinoh Yamashirogumi - Akira - Original Soundtrack

cavalier66 presents two bottlings: one that has a fairly-dystopian picture on the label, the other that is linked to Fahrenheit 451 -- its ABV is 45.1%.

cavalier66: "I might decant this in a sample."
tOMoH: "You can leave it here. I'll review it."
OB: "Decant it in tOMoH's mouth."
tOMoH: "Did you say: 'dick-ant it in tOMoH's mouth?'"

Ireland 27yo 1988/2015 (49.5%, The Nectar of the Daily Drams joint bottling with La Maison du Whisky): nose: yellow passion fruit, peach, nectarine, scented lipstick, berries... In few words: this is excellent! The second nose is more metallic, in the way pastry sticks to the tin mould. Mouth: the bitter bite of maracuja, then the ridiculously-fruity wave one would expect, simply obscene. A pinch of chalk, rubber so dry it crumbles apart. The second sip is a little drying, as well as sweet, in pure rum style (this is allegedly a rum cask). It is not quite Demerara, but blond caster sugar, certainly. Finish: it has changed dramatically, since last time, now much bitterer and chalkier than it used to be, I dare say rubberier. It remains very fruity, yet that fruit is no longer the unchallenged dominant note. But with time and repeated sipping, I end up upgrading it back to where I had it last time. cavalier66: "You can relax with your dram, rather than having to fight it." 10/10

vs.

Ireland 28yo 1989/2018 (54.1%, The Whisky Agency Ten Years TWA, Barrel): nose: much darker in all respects. Here are prune juice and cured-apple wedges. A few minutes later, fruits become relentlessly tropical: jackfruit, papaya, Java plum. It turns headier and more ester-y with time. The second nose is full-on mango beauty, but also has a dollop of pineapple purée. There are pink pencil erasers too. Mouth: juicy as fook, with plum, of course, but also kaki, longan, pomelo, Shaddock, pink-grapefruit peel, and mango peel growing into mango flesh. It is so soft and mellow, juicy and nectar-like. Finish: lots of pastry, turnovers dribbling melted sugars and fruit juices, all licked off the warm metal tray on which they were baked. It has a slight chalkiness towards the death. This is an amazing drop, only in the shadow of the previous one, which was even more to my taste. 9/10

PS: "The Daily Dram is a much-better dram."
OB [pointing at the almost-empty bottle]: "Not for long."
cavalier66: "I have another bottle of it."
JS [hinting at cavalier66's legendary filing system]: "Can you find it, though?"

tOMoH: "We started with the worst whiskies we ever had with this group, and now we're... back to our regular level."
JS: "Yeah, we're now at..."
OB: "Boring!"

[tOMoH takes his hoodie off; JS brings attention to his t-shirt.]
PS: "You wore that t-shirt two weeks ago."
JS: "He's worn it ever since."
tOMoH [to PS]: "Yup. And to be transparent, I've not washed it since. [To JS] But I have not worn it since either."
PS: "If anyone had to point that out, I thought it should be me!"

Y'know, the bloke who has worn the same t-shirt
every time we have seen him for the past decade

The soundtrack: Various - The Rough With The Smooth (Crépuscule Collection 3)

OB explains that, in a dystopian world, all distilleries would be closed -- like Littlemill. Also, in a dystopia, we would have little mills, so we would have a shortage of flowers.

Littlemill 26yo 1991/2017 (52.6%, Cadenhead 175th Anniversary, Bourbon Barrel, 180b): painful to think we last had this seven-and-a-half years ago. Nose: incredibly mellow, it is a pillow stuffed with confectionary sugar. Mouth: thick, nectar-like, this has peach, plum, nectarine, all plump, juicy, and exuberant. We even find a smidgen of blackberry or ripe blackcurrant. Finish: long, fruity, pillowy, it exhibits the trademark crushed Aspirin, then loads of (bitter-less-ripe) fruits. 9/10

cavalier66: "Adding water..."
tOMoH: "...makes it stronger."
cavalier66: "?"
tOMoH: "Because it doesn't kill it..."
cavalier66: "And what doesn't kill you... makes you stronger."

PS leaves us.

tOMoH [about cavalier66's daughter]: "What is she studying?"
cavalier66: "Classics. Lots of Greek, lots of Latin..."
tOMoH: "Well, she's half Greek, so that should be a breeze."
cavalier66: "She's modern Greek. That's ancient Greek."
tOMoH: "What's the difference? Shorter outfits?"

tOMoH presents Battle Royale Lochnagar.

Royal Lochnagar 10yo b.2006 (57.2%, OB The Manager’s Dram, European Oak Cask, b#1189): I skip this one, because I am falling behind. Full notes here.

The soundtrack: Various - The Indestructible Beat Of Soweto

JS and cavalier66 present a duo from 1984 -- the novel by George Orwell, of course.

Durant to the rescue. We had to use
the vacuum cleaner too, and we were
as surprised as we were relieved to
manage to extract the cork.

Caol Ila 35yo 1984/2020 (47.5%, The House of Macduff The Golden Cask Reserve, C#CM260, 204b, b#128) (JS): nose: fishing nets, ashes (cavalier66). Mouth: oily and woody, we detect smoked cockles too. Finish: long, sweet, it has caster sugar and salty things. I do not give this nearly enough attention. Full notes here. 9/10

vs.

Caol Ila 30yo 1984/2014 (52.8%, The Ultimate Whisky Company The Ultimate Rare Reserve, Hogshead, C#6261, 228b, b#42) (cavalier66): strictly speaking, it may not be a thirty year-old, since it was bottled on the same date as it was distilled. It needs to be three years and a day to be called whisky, so n years and a day to be called n years, surely? Nose: wider than the Golden Cask, broader (cavalier66), it is closer to a fireplace insert than to a campfire. Over time, smoke becomes more and more present, and there is a note of mercurochrome too. In a way, I find it reminiscent of a wine-cask maturation. Mouth: sweeter and fruitier (OB and JS), it is also clearly stronger, in terms of alcohol, more peppery, but also coated in blush-orange juice. It has the same oranges' peels too. Finish: very long, gum-tingling, it is ashier here, all burnt peach stones and charred fruit. 9/10

What a roller-coaster of a tasting! The highs were very high, the lows very low, and we had some in between too. It certainly gives perspective!

05/11/2024 Banffire Night 2024

No Banff, this year. Instead, we celebrate an anniversary. Indeed, all those extraordinary 1964 Bowmore were all distilled sixty years ago to the day.

• Black Bowmore 29yo 1964/1993 (50%, OB, Oloroso Sherry Butts, 2000b)
• Black Bowmore 30yo 1964/1994 (50%, OB, Oloroso Sherry Butts, 2000b)
• Black Bowmore 31yo 1964/1995 Final Edition (49%, OB, Oloroso Sherry Butts, 1812b)
• Bowmore 35yo 1964/2000 (42.1%, OB for Oddbins, Oloroso Sherry Hogshead, C#3708, 99b)
• Bowmore 37yo 1964/2002 Fino Cask (49.6%, OB, Fino Sherry Cask, 300b)
• Bowmore 38yo 1964/2003 Oloroso Cask (42.9%, OB, Oloroso Sherry Cask, 300b)
• Bowmore 38yo 1964/2003 Bourbon Cask (43.2%, OB, Bourbon Cask, 300b)
• Black Bowmore 42yo 1964/2007 (40.5%, OB The Trilogy, 5 x Oloroso Sherry Casks, 827b)
• White Bowmore 43yo 1964/2008 (42.8%, OB The Trilogy, 6 x Bourbon Casks, 732b)
• Gold Bowmore 44yo 1964/2009 (42.4%, OB The Trilogy, 3 x Bourbon Casks + 1 x Oloroso Sherry Cask, 701b)
• Bowmore 46yo 1964/2011 (42.9%, OB, Fino Sherry Cask Finish, 72b)
• Bowmore 48yo 1964 (41.2%, OB for Auction of The Worshipful Company of Distillers, 1b)
• Black Bowmore 50yo 1964/2016 The Last Cask (40.9%, OB, 1st Fill Oloroso Sherry Butts, C#3708+3714, 159b)
• Black Bowmore 31yo d.1964 (49.6%, OB Aston Martin DB5, Williams & Humbert Oloroso Sherry Butt, 27b)

All distilled on the same day: the 5th of November 1964. Remember that, when you hear about the famous year or years. (Actually, the 38yo Bourbon Cask was distilled on the 11th November.)

When better to have a couple of them? Exactly!

Ooops! broken cork. :-(

Gold Bowmore 44yo 1964/2009 (42.4%, OB The Trilogy, 3 x Bourbon Casks + 1 x Oloroso Sherry Cask, 701b, b#620): nose: crikey! Even though I know precisely what to expect, this has the same effect as if I did not: immediate Bowmore eyes. It is going to be a taxing tasting, I tell thee! And an utterly pointless note, without a doubt, in the same way the strongest experiences cannot be faithfully described with words; they have to be lived. Anyway, let us give it a shot. A massive slap of passion fruit, guava, lychee, mango, ripe peach. It also has fruits closer to home (depending on where one's home is, obviously): strawberry, damson, plump raspberry. Tropical fruits are never far, however, and mangosteen, rambutan, snakehead fruit, persimmon are lurking, ready to push one into the corner. We have pineapple and coconut milk too, and, closing one's eyes, one may well imagine oneself sipping a piña colada on a beach somewhere warm. That is to say it has an ethereal salty breeze, though one that is so easy to miss it is almost sad. Shaking the glass to try and obtain some plasticine or nail varnish only achieves more fruits, chiefly peach, mango and persimmon, so rich they cause tears of joy. The second nose is perhaps tamer, yet more elegant, if that were possible. Mango then wakes up properly, and calmly takes over, confident in the knowledge that it rules these parts. Right behind it, hardly hidden, yellow maracuja is chomping at the bits, maniacally hopping around to try and get in front of the tranquil mango. A pinch of damp earth watches from a distance, the only sign that peat was involved in the making of this. Phwoarking hell! Mouth: ah! Today, the one Oloroso cask's influence is rather clear: this has a tame bitterness akin to that felt when biting into a scented pencil eraser. Half a chew is enough to bring us back on to the fruity track to the sunny uplands, however. Mango, of course, yet it no longer leads the pack. In pole position, we have luscious pink grapefruit steamrolling everything in its path. In the wake of that grapefruit, persimmon, guava, (a little) carambola, mangosteen, unripe kiwi (which is to say it is more bitter than acidic), and growing liquorice allsorts. The second sip has a drop of scented blond-hair shampoo, drowned in a loch of tropical-fruit juice. Jackfruit, Chinese gooseberry and lychee, augmented with a drop of green-citrus juice: pomelo, sudachi, white grapefruit, ugli fruit. Only now does tOMoH notice how thick the texture is on this, chewy and coating, almost tarry. A certain acidity emerges over time, likely pink grapefruit, even if, at that strength, it would be inaccurate to describe it as stripping. Finish: the freshness is at its peak in the finish, a blend of liquorice allsorts, pine paste in a Gocce Pino fashion (though less intense), minty toothpaste, and a timid lick of faded rubber. All of the above are well subdued, aptly complemented by lingering fruits. In no particular order, it has citrus peels, apple peels, Chinese-gooseberry skins, carambola chunks, rambutan, lychee, guava, Korean pear. Unexpectedly, the fruits here are less yellow, more white. Will that last? It does: the second gulp remains fresh, if less earthy or minty. The white tropical fruits still dominate -- white grapefruit and pomelo, rambutan, dragon fruit, soon joined by pink grapefruit, tangelo, and clementine. It has a whisper of burnt wood, near the death, though one would be excused for missing it, so discreet it is. Retro-nasal olfaction may pick up embers turning into white ashes, yet it is, once more, a very-diffuse impression, concealed behind tropical fruits -- which, by the way, are now doused in full-fat milk. Humbling drop that should make the most-cynical soul philosophical. As they say in books with big words, this is fucking ridiculous. 16/10

Bowmore 46yo 1964/2011 (42.9%, OB, Fino Sherry Cask Finish, 72b, b#45): nose: mamma mia! Even after the stunning Gold Bowmore, this smells incredible. Slap after slap of juicy tropical fruit. Alphonso mango, yellow and purple maracuja, carambola, snakehead fruit, persimmon, peach so ripe it may as well be jam, squashed jackfruit, dragon fruit, lychee, rambutan and mangosteen, perhaps even banana, or those miniature green bananas from Egypt, to be specific. It has a lovely note of blanched hazelnut too, submerged in a huge bowl of mango and maracuja. It does not stop there: longan, kumquat, plump tangerine, and lulo are present too. Deeper nosing reveals distant wort, and a pinch of soot that is even more difficult to discover, both cloaked in fruity scents. At the same time, this never turns into a vulgar fruit squash from a plastic bottle; it is so distinguished and effortlessly elegant! Objectively speaking, it is a well-aged whisky, yet it displays its dignified character with the freshness of a spring flower, with no fuss whatsoever, as if the beauty it offers the taster were the most natural thing. Repeated nosing underlines gorgeous lychee, then it comes back to peach (and apricot) so pumped full of juice it is about to burst. If one looks for it insistently, one may detect a very-subtle whiff of sea breeze too. The second nose is even bolder with the fruits. Purple and green maracuja now above all else. Those are followed by fruit-scented plasticine, a ball of wax marinated in a maracuja-persimmon-mango punch bowl. In the long run, it ends up oscillating between mango and maracuja -- a difficult choice. Mouth: rather more pungent than the meagre ABV suggests, it has a pleasant acidic bite of maracuja, this one. Perhaps Shaddock pomelo too, though it is not that intense. Chewing gives a (very-)vague note of rubber (it was a Sherry cask, after all), and wave after wave after wave (after wave) of fruity pleasures. Citrus seems to have the upper hand, now (tangerine, pink grapefruit, blush orange), followed by pink maracuja, dragon fruit, and ugli fruit. The second sip is clearly acidic, even if it is closer to yuzu or Buddha's hand than lime or lemon. Waxy-green citrus zest is quickly joined by a blend of maracuja, persimmon, pomelo and mango juices. The zesty note shines a light on a certain bitterness that is simply a part of the fruits that one would expect, rather than anything negative. At some point, we have neon-green wellies, drenched in mango juice, drying by a dying campfire. Is anyone complaining? Ich don't think so! Finish: for the first time, the influence of the peat is a little more palpable, at this point: we have the burnt tips of wooden spears, embers cooling down on the camp fire, and charred white-fish skewers. Of course, one could easily overlook that and only see the tropical fruits. White grapefruit, pomelo, dragon fruit, mangosteen, rambutan, roasted pineapple... It is a never-ending finish that leaves the walls of the mouth throbbing, coated in fruit. Retro-nasal olfaction picks up similar whiffs of soot as what we had at first nosing -- albeit a little more pronounced. The second gulp leaves a creamier texture in the mouth, carried by smashed mango and skinless peach. One could write fifty more pages about this, and still come up with new things. The takeaway is that, under the entry "fruity masterpiece" of any good encyclopaedia, one must find: "Bowmore 46yo Fino." I have tried to remain stoic, and to focus on notes, rather than emotions, but, really, this is insahne. Beyond words. Sadly, Man can only grasp those thoughts which language can express. Perhaps, one day, linguists will invent words to do this justice. 18/10

Those are superlative whiskies without the shadow of a doubt -- amongst the best ever bottled by any criterion. I find today that they shine even brighter when in a line-up. On their own like this, one struggles to appreciate just how different a league they occupy, compared to anything else. In a line-up, with a handful of already-excellent whiskies (as we did in June 2022 and June 2024), it becomes more apparent that they are untouchable.

Now, if you will excuse me, tOMoH need a clean pair of trousers.

28/10/2024 Lagg

Lagg 5yo 2019/2024 (60.5%, OB Distillery Exclusive, B#7, C#LG19/0997, 1st Fill ex-Bourbon Cask): nose: a punch of peat. We have hot ink, seal wax, melted over hot embers, fishing nets so dry they turn crusty and crispy, barbecued oysters, and, underneath all that, an earthy lick of forest floor, or petrichor. Deeper nosing gives more barbecued goodies, less discernible, but more earth-crawlers than seafood. The second nose offers a stack of books, kept in a black bin bag in the sun. Lastly, we have grilled skewers of diced white fish, yellow peppers, and chunks of fruits. Mouth: the palate blends ashy barbecue leftovers, lichen-y eau-de-vie, and an almost grain-like green sweetness à la Port Dundas. Young Caol Ila comes to mind, for some reason. The strength is noticeable, not detrimental. We then have quince, lichen, and dried saxifrage, as well as limestone, all ground to a dusty pulp, and mixed together. The second sip has a briny seawater feel to it, yet it is also sweet, in a roasted-calamansi way. Perhaps we find dried rosemary too. Roasted or grilled citrus is more pronounced as time goes on. Finish: not sure it is still quince, but orchard fruit, certainly, and limestone too. It is not far from quarry dust, borderline chalky. It is also warming! Lingering in the aftertaste is smoked-apricot compote. The second gulp gives a clear algae vibe, both fresh- and seawater algae, topped with a sprinkle of lemon juice. It remains fresh and fruity, while pushing barbecued fruits and seaweed. And could that be grilled pineapple rings wrapped in clingfilm? As unusual as it may read, it is! So young, and very good already. How promising! 7/10 (Thanks for the sample, MR)