31/03/2025 Longrow

Longrow 16yo 2001/2018 (56%, Cadenhead Warehouse Tasting, Chardonnay Cask Finish): souvenir from a couple of months ago. Nose: at once sweet and smoky, it brings one back to a 1980s arcade, with a mix of lingering tobacco smoke and cotton candy. If I remember well, some of those arcade machines had an ashtray built into the control panel. It seems like a wildly-mad idea, in hindsight. Anyway, that morphs into breezy margaritas and smoked jelly beans, candy necklaces and scorched earth, crusted mud and sherbet. It has something of a seaside kitchen too, if that makes sense: I am made to think of uncut sponges, fluffy and soft, then ink and crayon shavings. Lastly, dried strawberry slices rise, gently smoked, and introduce ancient smoke-dried pine cones. The second nose feels softer and fruitier, ripe with Fruit-tella or Tubblegum, with the smoke clearly taking a back seat, now. Yes, the sweets become chewier (not quite Gummibärchen) and closer to plasticine, yet they are not too-obviously chemical. In fact, we spot a nice clafoutis, a some stage -- a clafoutis with a caramelised crusty top. Mouth: big, fruity and smoky, the palate has a hodge-podge of sea water, dried banana slices, smashed plantain, smoky custard, cassia bark, limestone, and eucalyptus or laurel leaves. It is a tad bitter indeed, with a mineral side that competes with the smoke. At the same time, it remains fruity and, actually, gains in fruitiness upon chewing: green grapes, calamansi. The second sip is surprisingly sweet, full-on caramel and smoked-apple compote. It is chewy in a caramelised-pastry way. Smoked blueberries emerge, as does weathered chicken wire mesh. Finish: without surprise, it is a bold finish too, with some cinnamon, lemon bark, preserved lemons cut on a limestone plate, and a generous whiff of smoke via retro-nasal olfaction. It is a scorched-earth type of smoke. The whole mouth if left as if one had just swallowed smoke-dried grapefruit peels coated in quarry dust. Without turning chalky, it certainly is bitter and gritty. The second gulp welcomes orange juice spilled on scorched earth, and it is only careful analysis of the retro-nasal olfaction that reveals quarry chippings and smoke from an industrial fire, acrid -- so acrid, in fact, that it may be a burning heap of citrus peels that creates that smoke. At the same time, it manages to hold a creamy mouthfeel. This is good. 8/10 (Thanks for the sample, BA)

28/03/2025 Mystery sample #7

Last in the series, although one more is coming soon.

Nose: this must be a wine cask! It smells of red wine, cork, and a wooden winepress. It is fairly elegant, a lightish Bordelais Claret, but wine all the same. Deeper nosing brings forth some manner of vegetable -- steam-baked red onions and stewed red kidney beans, -- before fleeting crayons and empty saffron capsules enter the scene. A little later on, dried, crackled oilcloth comes under the spotlight to introduce earthier notes of potting soil and tagetes or gerania in a planter. The second nose welcomes citrus, orange in colour (oranges, clementines, tangerines), many of them soaked in red wine. Some pastry is also at play, here, hard to identify. Blueberry muffins dipped in red wine? Let us go with that. Mouth: very wine-y in texture, this is a tannic number, fruity, but drying. Chewing unleashes a bucket of plums intertwined with dark earth. One could call it rancio, probably, and marvel at the dunnage-warehouse quality of it. Tannic and spicy, it is, though, with sumac, ground cloves, and just a pinch of ground cinnamon. The second sip is juicier, more focussed on (blush-)orange segments, Shaddock pomelo, and hardly-ripe mandarines, bitter and acidic in equal measures. When chewing, one notices the wine influence again, almost minty, so woody and tannic it is. Finish: big and wine-y in the finish too, it has plenty of fruits in various forms (lingonberry compote leads the dance, dark grapes in its wake), counteracted by at least as much tannin. It is as if someone had rolled all the fruits in ground sumac. Fortunately, the lingering note is one of bitter-blush-orange marmalade augmented with a more-approachable pinch of ground cloves. Towards the death, we perceive a kick of wine-cured cantaloupe skin. Unusual. The wine influence is a bit much for me, in this one.

Old Perth 12yo (46%, Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers Aged Collection, Sherry Casks, b. ca. 2025) 6/10 (Thanks for the sample, Whisky-Online)

24/03/2025 Mystery sample #6

Nose: subtle and discreet, this has candlewax and pouches full of faded dried herbs (distant thyme and oregano), though not pot-pourri. Deeper nosing doubles down on those herbs, and adds a spoonful of vanilla custard. It veers towards metal, with empty tin cans and old cheap cutlery to supplement the (lemon) thyme and dried hawthorn. The second nose is as subtle; a whiff of flowers in a greenhouse, cactuses on a window sill, faded leaves in a planter, and an old sheet of cardboard. Mouth: lukewarm and bitter, this is a herbal infusion drunk from a tin can. Pencil-sharpener blades follow, new razor blades, moving to quarry chippings and street pebbles. It is rather desiccating, and, well, not the most-approachable whisky there is. Chewing reveals its warmth, yet it does not become more welcoming. Warm metal is all. The second sip has grist so dry it may as well be medieval dust, and the bitterness of green hazel leaves. That is somewhat balanced by a minty nut paste that does not fully convince. Finish: the same herbs and metal crash the gob for a second, and, fortunately, open the door to a much more pleasant minty custard, and even some fruits. That turns out to be fleeting, however: soon, bitter tin is all that stays on the tongue, with quarry chippings filling the gaps between the teeth. Gritty. The second gulp is bolder with the minty custard. It is trying to offer a pine-tree freshness, but never gets there. The death sees glossy paper, which anyone who has tried to chew it will know is not exactly delicious. Original, though! This is interesting alright, if not too pleasant. Could it be a Fettercairn?

M & H 4yo 2019/2023 Series 023 (64.2%, North Star, Refill Hogshead, 198b) 6/10 (Thanks for the sample, Whisky-Online