It was fifteen years ago to the day that I bought a bottle of Laphroaig 40yo. I have had it on this day almost every year since. Today, I am somehow not in the mood. It would be a shame to squander it, so I will have something less glorious (on paper, at least).
Glen Spey-Glenlivet 16yo 2001/2018 (54%, Cadenhead Small Batch, 3 x Bourbon Hogsheads, 858b): nose: cereal-y, it has malted milk, cooked swedes, baked-potato skins and mash, before taking on a more wine-y character; red-wine vinegar, shallots, marinated green onions. Later still, watercolour and crushed gherkins, rapeseed oil and peanut shells, as well as chervil. With water, the watercolour is still there, timid, but now, it is joined by orchard fruits, chiefly apples and pears, though plums soon enter the dance too. Mouth: astringent, it has shallots here too, soon matched by watercolour, then crystallised oranges. The alcohol grows bolder, with candied elderberry and tangerines, accompanied by gorse and flowering currants. This palate has quite a bite to it, at 54%, though I struggle to recognise what it is -- not chilli, in any case; raw onion slices, maybe? With water, it feels softer, with plum juice, green-grape juice, augmented with a spoonful of honey thrown in. The texture is now soft and fluffy, beautiful. Finish: it has an initial wood kick that quickly dissipates to leave green leaves, flower-stem sap, sherbet and a gentle lick of sweet fruit (crystallised orange again). It is slightly bitter, in other words. Water helps tame the alcohol and the bitterness in the finish as well, leaving but honey, fruits, mead with only the tiniest amount of plant sap. The watercolour note in the nose grows on me, but it is a rather simple, unpretentious dram, as expected. It improves with water, however. 6/10 (7 with water) (Thanks for the sample, SW)
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