19/10/2026 Mystery sample #10

Nose: very timid. It presents a vague freshness and a drop of white spirit. Let us give it a minute to wake up... White spirit indeed, green-grape vine, honeysuckle essence spilled on a wooden case full of silver jewels. Crunchy apple slices end up in the frame, just as timid as the rest. This is not a loquacious nose! The second pass has ash and metal. Neither is loud, yet they make me think of a rotating ashtray. Metal and ashes it is. Behind that are citrus and a mineral tone. A flintknapper eating an orange. How unexpected! Mouth: discreet too, the palate has unripe apple, almond and a droplet of defroster. Chewing changes it dramatically: it reveals mint crumbles, soft plasticine and some kind of cinnamon paste. It reminds me of The Pogues. It tickles the gums with a paste made of crushed pine cones. There is virtually no bitterness attached to this; just a chewy freshness. Sweets galore at second sip, chewy, peppered with sherbet. Fruit jellies (yellow, orange, green), a minuscule pinch of ground pepper and crushed bergamot leaves. Finish: more chewy goodness, vaguely pine-y, vaguely spicy, rather fresh. Cinnamon-coated dried mango slices, dried pineapple cubes, bergamots and their foliage. Yes, a softly-bitter note develops that merely adds to this finish to make it a tad bolder. A chewy citrus paste lands on the late tip. The second gulp comes across as a little more herbal: candied angelica and honey-glazed citrus leaves. It is not particularly long, certainly not loud, but makes for a pleasant everyday dram. What is it? A Pot Still?

Sailor's Home The Horizon 10yo (43%, The Sailor's Home The Islands Series, Barbados Rum Cask, b. ca. 2025) 7/10 (Thanks for the sample, Whisky-Online)

Happy birthday sonicvince and JMcD!

16/10/2026 Mystery sample #9

Nose: gorgeous earthy peat, charcoal, crispy dried leaves. That moves towards more-maritime notes of fishing nets and dried seaweed. In fact, it becomes a stay in a shed on the shore of a sea loch on a drizzly day. The drizzle and the humid salty air blend to stick to one's stubbles and provide a perma-salty tang. In that shed, we find a case of old copper coins and a derelict deep-sea-diving suit. The second nose goes to the boiler room -- not that of an old ship, but that of a house, warm, comforting, with a thin humidity over enamelled metal. Mouth: surprisingly mellow, creamy and honey-like in texture, and on the sweet side. Chewing brings back a soft maritime touch, and it is even more surprising to find ourselves tasting a spoonful of custard augmented with a drop of sea water. More chewing adds cigar smoke and ashes. The second sip has noticeable sea water warmed on the fire and embellished with a dollop of minty toothpaste. That is hardly detectable, yet it adds an air of freshness. Finish: rich and peaty without being boisterous. Cake crust, baked pottery clay, cigar leaves, and, still, that custard-y sweetness. Warming, not burning, it appears to have dried off most sea water and lost its salt, somehow. A smoky sweetness lingers, borderline acrid. Only several minutes later do we unearth a pinch of fine salt. The second gulp brings forth a certain freshness reminiscent of distant mint. Perhaps it is long-expired mint crumbles that have lost their potency. Retro-nasal olfaction revives the cigar smoke and cigar leaves, dry at first, then increasingly moist. Nice.

Caol Ila 13yo (43%, Gordon & MacPhail Discovery, Bourbon Cask) 7/10 (Thanks for the sample, Whisky-Online)

12/10/2026 Mystery sample #8

Testing my eyesight too!
Look at that faded label!

Nose: a naked one! Here are straw and crispy dried apple peels. That becomes a little more moist, but it is not a juicy affair, at least initially. Eau-de-vie, apple brandy and a Verdigris-infested copper kettle. Maybe it has a splash of lemon juice, in the long run, though nothing to be overly excited about. The second nose feels drier, if anything, and brings forth hazelnuts that were stored in an oiled mahogany case since last year's season. It turns oilier in a wood-stain fashion. Mouth: mellow and velvety, it is a blend of crème caramel and melted toffee. Were it a trifle dustier, one could say it tastes like an old blend. Chewing crystallises the caramel and we have caramel boiled sweets, Mokatine without mocha (which is like nicotine without Nico, really, or the same without Newcastle-upon-). It grows a gentle heat, gentle enough for the mainstream, just about hot enough for a seasoned taster to notice. A faint sherbet and something earthier take over, after a while. The second sip may well have more bite, with tart apple and roasted hazelnuts dripping their oil. How seasonal! Finish: yes, blend-y, it offers caramel, toffee, a pinch of dust and stewed plums. It lingers like a gulp of spearmint, yet the caramel rules, without being too sweet. The second pass has banane flambée in which the banana is virtually unrecognisable behind the flamed rum. A hazelnut coulis or liqueur slowly gives way to gritty, chalky ground hazelnut, dry, dry, dry. No oil left, here. Unpretentious, unchallenging. What is it? A blended world whisky?

Woven Superblend (46.1%, Woven Whisky Makers) 7/10 (Thanks for the sample, Whisky-Online)

09/10/2026 Glen Grant

Glen Grant 22yo 2003/2026 (52%, Decadent Drinks Decadent Drams, 19y Refill Barrel & 3y 1st Fill Sherry Hogshead, 193b): nose: phwoar! that is a fruity nose. We have ripe plums and dark grapes leaping out of a lacquered jewel case, and all sorts of dried-fruit pastes -- prune paste, raisin paste, membrillo, apricot paste. How marvellous! It has got a bit of dusty plasticine too, an open bottle of Italian wine (Chianti in a bottle clad with a straw basket) and emerging blackberries. Keep sniffing and it ends up giving hot metal (but no methedrine, ho! ho! ho!) The second nose smashes blackberries and myrtles all the way up the nose, hitting the sinuses. That slows down a bit to dish out a lovely fig spread. It promises sweetness and chewiness. Mouth: a modest kick prefaces a sprinkling of pepper and a spoonful of blackberry jam. It is all rather discreet. Chewing slaps the tongue with melted plastic on oilcloth, plum juice and pressed blackberries. It has a sharp bitterness, which suggests that not all fruits are entirely ripe, but it is not detrimental to the overall enjoyment A stick of cinnamon and a splatter of toothpaste inject some wood spices for good measure. The second sip maintains the bitter lick, but, underneath that, we find the same nice fig spread as on the nose. The bitterness now seems to come from the fig pips in said spread. It has a strong wine presence, yet it is not tannic; it is close to a Mediterranean wine that has seen more sun than many would prefer. Finish: it is pretty earthy, here, which is a surprise. Damp clay floors, moist mulch, cassia bark crumbling into shards and dust. And it is anaesthetising too. Some of the fruits from before do show up, indiscernible. Plum stems and grape vines are louder than the fruits they once bore. The second gulp prolongs the earthy-woody notes, with plenty of spices (ginger shavings, cinnamon, cassia) and the beginning of a sweeter note -- another relish or spread, sultanas, dates or quince and lemon, augmented with ground star anise. A strong nose, while the palate and finish are a little behind. 7/10 (Thanks for the dram, EG)

02/10/2026 An Ardbeg to welcome October

When Francis Cabrel wrote a song about this month, he spoke of dead leaves, mist and scarves, woolly jumpers and an anaemic sun we hardly saw. In 2026, October means 20-25*C, sweaty commutes and watering the plants that have endured the sun all day long -- with rain water, since there is still a hosepipe ban going on. Hard to stay chirpy, innit.

33.52 10yo 1994/2004 Rowan jelly and menthol cigarettes (58.3%, SMWS Society Cask, Refill Hogshead): nose: it is a farm-y one, with ploughed fields, peat bricks and mercurochrome poured onto them. There are hints of vegetation as well, mosses and roots of all kinds, that pave the way for a more-typical Ardbeggian nose: fishnets drying in a field and ink. That (black) ink comes to dominate the picture, given a few minutes, and lets drier notes emerge: charred skewers, spent incense, scorched earth. There is even a whiff of manure desiccated with ashes and chalk for sanitation purposes. The second nose is purely farm-y, with muck, manure and other natural fertilisers (agricultural lime comes to mind). Mouth: fruit, straw and cereal at first. It has unripe white peach, dried Korean pear, straw bales and roasted barley. Chewing shows just how strong it is, but also sets the straw on fire and douses it with black ink to extinguish it. Mussel shells appear, after a while, in parts salty, sandy and petrolic. The second sip has unripe citrus peels, earth, some moist, some dry, unripe berries trampled into the mud, and dried hazelwood consumed by a flame. To a lesser extent, it also has salt and pepper. Finish: it kicks more modestly than expected and it displays heated (not burnt) earth, ink, fishing nets after a day in the sun, a dollop of petrol and a minute quantity of mentholated roasted barley. It gives a strangely-liqueur-like impression in how it sticks to the tonsils. Retro-nasal olfaction detects sphagnum moss and lichen stuck to the side of an empty vase. The second gulp has more dried lichen and residue in an evaporated pool of stagnant water. Scorched earth and a pinch of sugar certainly join smoked plums in the frame, yet, once the sphagnum moss and lichen have shown their faces, it is harder to see past them. 8/10 (Thanks for the sample, PS)