21/10/2017 Dead or Alive

This was going to be a low-attendance shindig, and I struggled to define a theme. JS, OB and MS, who confirmed their attendance, were not completely enthused by my ideas, and were not helping me with their own ideas. "Bring whatever you want," I said, "we will shoehorn into some kind of theme." The same day, I had a eureka moment: we will do that, but pour everything blind, and try to guess whether it comes from a dead distillery, or a live one. Since few people confirmed, I also take the opportunity to pull out samples and miniatures.

We have not even started and the room is
already spinning!

Dram #1 (me): nose: unripe hazelut, sugary wood (MS), almost cough syrup, corn syrup, then straw, hay bales. This smells strongly of corn syrup. It also has a touch of cardboard. Mouth: the corn syrup persists, old paper, perhaps old ink. This is subtle and pleasant. Finish: soft and sweet, with a gentle note of wood glue, and, of course, more corn syrup. 7/10

MS says alive, OB says dead, JS is not here yet. This was a trap: the distillery (Loch Lomond) is alive, but it has stopped making this particular style.


Old Rhosdhu (40%, OB, L5/L6 1602)

That is better than its reputation, even if it is not the best dram in the world.

Dram #2 (MS): nose: dry mud, dried manure, discreet rubber and perhaps a timid vanilla aroma. Nothing screams. Sandalwood (MS), incense (MS), the glue one uses to stick balsa wood planes together, as well as candy floss. Mouth: it is spicier than expected, with cassia bark, ground cardamom, drying cumin and wood splinters. Finish: hugely long, unbelievably so, for a 46% whisky; it has peppery custard, crushed cardamom, fruity sweets. This is great. I hesitate between 8 and 9. OB teases me that it should be 8.5, the fool. Thinking back to it at the end of the tasting, I mentally decide it will be 8/10

OB says alive, I say dead. Another trick question: it is likely a blended malt that might contain whisky from a dead distillery (Hanyu), along with some from a live one (Chichibu). The label is fashionably vague about the whole thing.


Ichiro's Malt Mizunara Wood Reserve (46%, OB Ichiro's Malt, 47), which makes sense, considering MS's recent fixation with mizunara. Incidentally, I was just telling him about the tasting JS and I went to a few weeks ago, and how he should look into Chichibu and Dave Broom's book. MS was convinced as a result that I knew what he had poured.

JS joins us.

JS: "I'm trying to think what that taste is, in the finish."
OB: "It's the rotting decomposition of a dead distillery."

JS: "Did you buy this at the Show?"
MS: "No, I got it from an auction site."
tOMoH: "You buy from auction sites, now?"
OB, JS, tOMoH: "Slippery slope!"

Dram #3 (OB): I immediately guess that this is not whisky. Ahem. Nose: shoe polish and leather. This is refined, as in: men in smoking jackets. Polished dashboards, unripe oranges, spiked with cloves (MS). Rosehip, rose perfume (OB), then a touch of light wood or incense. Mouth: soft and velvety, it has rose-petal jam, orange blossom and very subtle fruit (apricot and quince). Finish: wood dust, spent incense on rose-petal jam, a hint of leather, more orange blossom and polished or exotic wood. Again, I hesitate between 8 and 9. At the end of the tasting, I decide it must have been 8/10 but I hope to have a chance to try it again.

tOMoH says alive, MS says alive. JS is still catching up. It is indeed alive.

Glen Grant-Glenlivet 31yo 1985/2017 (44.8%, Cadenhead Authentic Collection 175th Anniversary, Sherry Butt, 312b). It is even more to my taste than the first time we tried it.

Lomar's dry sausage and chorizo enter, souvenir from a trip to the south-west of Europe.

Dram #4 (JS): nose: dusty fruit (melon, carambola, blue orange), then much warmer notes -- quiche crust, shepherd's pie. Much later on, pine needles appear, bold and pleasant, Suc des Vosges sweets. Mouth: the gentle bitterness of almond milk, augmented with peach nectar. This is silky and fruity, with a tiny bit of bitterness. Unbelievable in balance and complexity. Finish: "Amaretto," says MS, and he is dead on! Silky, syrupy, with crushed almonds, crushed apricots (stones included). Absolutely wonderful. 9/10

OB says it is dead, MS says alive, I hope it is alive. It is dead with a twist: it was built as Glen Grant 2 (observe the sequence), and Glen Grant is still alive. Glen Grant 2, however, later renamed Caperdonich, is dead.

Caperdonich 11yo d.1968 (70° Proof, Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseur's Choice)

Dram #5 (tOMoH): nose: smoke!? OB finds soap. He has obviously not tried the Edradouche! It becomes increasingly smoky and metallic. Soap appears indeed, and violet sweets. Mouth: this packs some unsuspected horsepower and displays violet boiled sweets -- those boiled sweets that are so popular on the Continent. The smoke is subtle, the violet, less so. It works, though, in a Highland Park-12 sort of way. Horse's hair, lemon juice... no! pomelo juice. This is really nice. 8/10

MS says dead, OB says alive, JS says alive. Another booby trap: this distillery was closed twice since this was distilled, but revived both times and is now active. A zombie distillery, then.

Bladnoch 11yo d.1984 (43%, James Macarthur Fine Malts Selection)
Bladnoch from the mid-1980s can be hit or miss. This is a hit.


Dram #6 (tOMoH): two of mine in a row, as this is supposedly the last low-strength dram of the day. Nose: oooooh! The depth of this! The noblestest wood for antique furniture, musty cellars, leather desk blotters, blotting paper, old books, old bindings, dunnage warehouses -- this is amazing! Plum tarts, powdered sugar, aged, dried-cured ham and coal smoke. Mouth: a dusty fruitiness shines, with blackberry jam, blueberry pancakes, pressed raisins. OB: "The taste is good; I would like it a bit stronger." :-) Farm-y tones (horse's sweat?), berries liqueur. This is phenomenal. I wish I could spend more time with it to understand all its intricacies. Finish: blackberry jam and smoke. Actually, it is blackberry jam, cooking on a wood-fired stove. This reeks of yesteryear! Old desks, ink, empty flower vases, memories. Wow. Hard for words to do it justice, really. 10/10 (Thanks for the sample, pat gva)

OB, JS and MS all say it is alive. They are right.


Strathisla 35yo (43%, OB for the Bi-centenary of Strathisla Distillery, b.1986)

Dram #7 (MS): nose: a tannery, oats (MS), something cider-y (OB) -- yep: apple mash. Wine notes start competing for attention, with more leather, decayed grapes, a flower broth, earth and peppermint. This is pretty hot. Mouth: it is rather tannic, yet it also has bakery notes, softened leather and syrup, poured on earth -- or earthy syrup. Breathing makes it sweeter. Finish: smoked leather, biltong and, later, a huge sweetness. Not quite maple syrup, but honey-glazed, smoked ribs. Water does not change it. 7/10

I say alive, OB says dead. MS tells us before JS can guess: it is alive.


Dailuaine 9yo 2007/2017 (57.2%, A.D. Rattray Cask Collection, Sherry Butt, c#151, 656b)

Playthatgame the tucan approves

Dram #8 (OB): nose: elegant peat, hot with boiled cabbage, dry straw, tree bark, seafood and sand on the shore. Sea salt, tanned leather, coal dust and soot. Eventually, toasted bread too. My guess is this is a 1980s Caol Ila. Mouth: hot, dry, with hay, smoky peat, but also crushed berries. This is sweet and ashy. Tar (OB), hot sand. Powerful and satisfying, it has tarry ropes and hay bales. Finish: salty seafood (oysters, mussels, clams) and a distinct sweetness. "Clean, chalky, powdery, ashy quality," says MS. It is ashy indeed, very ashy, in fact. Spent incense, the ashtray of an open fireplace, salty oysters, diesel engines. 9/10

JS says dead, MS says alive, tOMoH says alive. And it is another trick question: it is dead, but the proprietor advertised its reopening last week. Another zombie.


Port Ellen 28yo 1983/2011 (58.9%, Malts of Scotland, Bourbon Hogshead, C#MoS11011, 267b, b#60)

OB: "Peat tends to level things like that."
me: "Yes, he's a dick, like that."

I don't mind looking like a dick, when I drink whisky.

JS (with a blender's glass in her hand): "I don't mind looking like a dick, when I drink whisky."
OB: "I don't mind drinking a dick, while looking at whisky."

Dram #9 (JS): nose: an unbelievable richness, with cascades of flowers (yellow and white) and juicy fruit. So much fruity jam! Mouth: fresh and silky, creamy, with more fruit compote and jam. It has a pinch of green chilli, melted caster sugar and a green, mildly bitter note. Finish: all sorts of fruit jams -- baking, on toast, in sauces. Fruity and sweet. The fruit turns gently tropical too -- persimmon. Absolutely beautiful and humblingly perfect. Do not think it is a jammy one-trick pony; it is complex, yet so integrated it is impossible to detect all the flavours... and we are nine drams down. :-) 10/10

OB cannot believe anyone would have closed a distillery that produces something like this, so he says alive, MS goes with dead. I say dead. It is, unfortunately, dead.

99.11 29yo Tickled by 'monstera deliciosa' (43.4%, SMWS Society Single Cask, Refill ex-Bourbon Hogshead, 192b)

We stop there. I had one more foreseen, but it feels superfluous and everyone has to go anyway. Bizarrely, considering the almost modest number of drams, I feel that I have had more than enough to drink. What drams, though! Quality throughout from all the participants!