24/02/2019 Whisky Show Old & Rare 2019 (Day 2 -- Part 2)

We go for lunch. Again, the main dishes are pretty much gone.

More mushrooms in the sauce, though

Cavalier66: "CD is Swiss? I thought he was German..."
JS: "Yes, he's German."
me: "...but lives in Switzerland."
Cavalier66: "Ah! A tax-evading German, then."

Back to the room.

Tomintoul 50yo 1967/2018 (45.2%, Masam from Private Stock of Silvano Samaroli, C#4688 & 5425, 180b, b#002): ED, from the Auld Alliance, explains that this cask (there are two, so I must have misheard) was nurtured by Sylvano Samaroli, who wanted to bottle it for the fiftieth anniversary of his company. He died shortly before, but his wife went through with the intention. This could be looked as the last-ever Samaroli bottling. The ultimate one, in any case. Nose: pollen, honeysuckle, custard, and all sorts of high-end honeys. This is perfume-y and lively, but also soft and delicate. Mouth: more peppery than expected, it retains the flowery character and the associated bitterness on the nose. Soft doughnut -- honey-glazed, peach-cream-filled doughnut, to be precise. Finish: a little herbaceous, it has a note of sage and lots of pollen, as well as sappy forsythia and honeysuckle. This is bootiful. Only a remote bitterness on the sides of the tongue prevents it from reaching the top score. 9/10

26.125 25yo d.1993 Valentin's moustache wax (47.7%, SMWS Society Cask, Refill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 175b): gotta love how Angus MacRaild namechecks his mates even on SMWS bottlings, these days. Nose: all sorts of waxes and oils, engine grease, moustache wax, all carried by yellow flowers. Mouth: big, but elegant, it has the drying nature of flower-stem sap, as well as warm wax and oily rags. Finish: similar notes as on the nose and mouth, but the volume is turned up to eleven. Wax, engine grease, plum, sap greenness and flowers. Another excellent Clynelish. 8/10

JS and Cavalier66 have three Malts of Scotland Banffs. I try them all briefly and prefer the middle one (Diamond). All high quality, though.

Boomff!

Oban 21yo 1963/1984 (46%, Cadenhead): nose: unmistakably old school, it has dusty old books from the get-go (only the rarest prints known to man), old tools, old copper coins, horse's hair, followed by crystallised mandarines and nectarines. Mouth: dusty, gravel-y orchard-fruit compote. The palate has elegance and ancient aristocracy written all over it, with also crushed seashells, beach sands and peach stones. Finish: phwoar! The balance is perfect, with lichen, dusty papers and lots of delicate orchard fruit (pears and apples, grown on a lime-scale-rich soil). Top marks and most impressive dram today... so far! 10/10

Cavalier66 is in ecstasy. I ask him what he is having.
Cavalier66: "I've followed your recommendation. I hate you."

Meanwhile, CD proposes to CB

Talisker 40yo 1978/2018 (50%, OB The Bodega Series Delgado Zuleta, Amontillado Casks, 2000b): nose: leather belts, suede and seashells. Mouth: super-fresh, minty and suede-like, with beach pebbles and cut watermelon. Finish: wonderful balance of salty peat, cut fruit and horse's hair. Amazingly elegant. 10/10

Longmorn 22yo 1969/1991 (61%, Gordon & MacPhail imported by Turatello): leathery nose with soaked fruit, spicy palate and a ridiculously-fruity finish. Between 9 and 10. Let me be generous. 10/10

I walk to the stall to take a picture of the bottle. I am told there were two (a dark and a pale) and the picture I took is the dark one. The one I tried is the light one. Back to the stall: "Yeah, there were two. I just sold the rest of the pale one. Asian guy, with long hair and lots of cash. Well, a lot less cash, now." :-)
I manage to find the bloke who is happy to let me take a picture.

Glen Elgin d.1971 (50%, R.W. Duthie & Co selected and imported by S. Samaroli, 1200b): nose: earth and honey, typical Glen Elgin style, though this one is on steroids. Very good nose, with a whiff of musk. Mouth: mellow and sweet, it has a pinch of bitter earth and green-grapefruit juice. Finish: violently good, lime-y custard, pomelo juice and unripe bergamot. 9/10

Islay Mist 8yo (43 Gr., D. Johnston & Co. (Laphroaig) imported by Mario Rossi Jr., b.1970s): this is from a masterclass. One of the Swissky salvaged a hefty pour and is passing it around. Nose: rubber, fruit, earth and strong alcohol (at 43%!!) Mouth: mellow, here, it has melon, citrus-y custard, soft lemon juice and mandarine. Finish: wood and fruit. Crazy-good, under-aged blend. 9/10

Hayner WMH (unknown ABV, OB, b. ca 1878): JS is now spending time at Skinner's, mopping up the stuff that we have so far overlooked. What kind of a place is this, where a Rye whisky from 1878 is overlooked, I ask thee! Nose: a weird mix of orgeat syrup, boiled sweets and pine-forest shenanigans. It is also kind of medicinal and citrus-y, with satsuma the most recognisable. Mouth: velvety, silky, rather, with a tangerine-like fruitiness. Finish: not too long, but it has the same tangerine/bergamot/satsuma quality to it. This is amazeballs. 9/10

Littlemill 16yo 1988/2014 Lamborghini Miura (54.1%, The Daily Dram Classic Cars Series for Bresser & Timmer): nose: hay and straw (lots of straw) under the sun. Cracked earth and a touch of distant yellow fruit. Mouth: more appealing on the palate, it has more cut yellow fruit and silky papaya. Finish: here too, a mix of fruit and straw, competing for attention. Lovely if challenging drop. Funky, grassy, whacky with a kick. 8/10

Littlemill 21yo d.1991 (48.9%, Creative Whisky Company Exclusive Malts, Refill Hogshead, C#557, 275b): nose: this is creamier and more easily accessible than the previous, with mango and jackfruit, perhaps some sawdust too. Mouth: peppery and powerful, it has truckloads of mango and sticky, juicy jackfruit. Love it. Finish: the fruity charade continues, with mango at full speed. Great one. 9/10

Caperdonich 14yo 1977/1992 (60.5%, Cadenhead Authentic Collection 150th Anniversary Bottling): I cannot not try something from that excellent collection, can I? Nose: super-musky at first, that dissipates to let through a huge, powerful kick of alcohol (see the ABV), then a mellow pine undergrowth and pine sap. It slows down and gives out more and more fruit. Mouth: here, concentrated pine sap, combined with yellow-fruit juice (plum and quince) and drying herbs. Finish: fruity as fook, with apricot, but also herbs and -- wait! Is that a whisper of worn-out flint? 9/10

I explain to CD that I am considering finishing in a bang and probe to see whether he would want to split it. He says it is too expensive for his blood, and he has had the third edition anyway. I tell him it is the first -- I go confirm, as, of course, he does not believe me. I can see his face change as he laughs it off. A minute later, he is rinsing his palate, all deadly serious, before he comes back with it and a somber-concentration looks. He lets me have a drop of it. Blind.

Black Bowmore 29yo 1964/1993 (50%, OB, Oloroso Sherry Casks, 2000b, b#1812): once again, I am reminded that the LA Whisky Society are oblivious to greatness. This is a distinct masterpiece that I recognise immediately, despite having never tried it and despite not knowing what I am given. Everyone who smells it (blindly) agrees with us. No pedestrian whisky has ever been comparable to this. A majestic basket of tropical fruit, sprinkled with dark, tarry earth. The extremely small quantity does not allow me longer notes, but it provokes Bowmore eyes. Shaking whisky, perhaps better than the second release, and just shy of the fourth. Easily the dram of the festival, for me. 15/10 (Thanks for the drop, CD)

I promptly leave my seat: the guy near me is explaining to CD he has had that dram a few times and likes it, then proceeds to give tasting notes. "It's good. What you smell is coriander. Know what coriander is? It's cilaaaaaantro." CD follows me very quickly afterwards, annoyed by someone spoiling his contemplation.
We are in the final sprint. Everyone is scrambling to tick off the boxes that are still open.

The Glenlivet Solera drawn 1994 (48.3%, Thompson Bros, 17b, b#5): yes, again. JS is on a mission to confirm she wants things that she can never buy anyway. :-) Nose: very fruity, it has satsuma, bergamot, roasted lychee (I know) and kumquat. Mouth: superb, citrus-y mouth, with more satsumas and mandarines. Finish: beautiful length and fruitiness. I prefer it today. 10/10

Glen Mhor 1937/1959 (48.6%, Thompson Brothers/MacRaild, 37b, b#24): nose: dusty, soot-y, with coal dust, old stoves in primary-school classrooms. Later, biscuit shows up too. Mouth: marmalade and whiffs of coal dust and effluvia of coal stoves. Finish: another beauty that has flint and cast-iron cauldrons. I like it better than the first time. 10/10

Bruichladdich 20yo (53.6%, Cadenhead): nose: this is a brute, with hot metal, hot radiators, the heated wood of a sauna and hot, baked yellow fruit. Mouth: surprisingly soft, with yellow peach. Soon, the horsepower kicks into high gear. Finish: big-yet-silky, juicy and fruity as fook, sweet, too cocktail glasses, frosted with cane sugar. 9/10

We are expelled. We gather up to go eat. MR, who was not supposed to be here, but is, has disappeared and she cannot find us. It takes ages before she finds us, hidden in plain sight.

MR: "I remember yesterday, when you were cracking all the beautiful offensive jokes."

In the meantime, pat gva pours the last few drops of his 1913 Bourbon. He is definitely coming to the afterparty, but his phone is dead. I give him the details. At some point, he vanishes -- I assume to plug in his phone. We will never see him again.

CD: "What are you doing for dinner, MR?"
MR: "I wish I knew. I'm easy."
CD: "We know that!"

I suggest the Wee Curry Shop, but the Swiss leedle gurlz have sore feet from parading in their Louboutin stilettos. MR asks about the place.

tOMoH: "Let me give you two words. Haggis. Pakoras."
PG: "Yeah, what was that, haggis pakoras?"
tOMoH: "Well, haggis... pakoras..."

We end up at Paesano again.

How was it, then?

What do you say about a show where the worst-scoring dram is an non-peaty Laphroaig from the 1930s? Twenty pages of notes, seventy-seven drams (fifty-three as part of the show itself), two legendary afterparties (you still have one to read about) and a head full of memories. That is why we drink whisky.

On the low side, the venue on Saturday was too crowded for my liking. Also, if the punters are from more varied backgrounds (more females, more ethnicities, both good), that comes at the price of less self-control: I heard of and saw incidents that would have been unthinkable the first couple of years -- someone knocking a whole row of bottles down, someone ostentatiously correcting the presenter in a master class (yes, I know that is my style) and someone being escorted out because too drunk. I also heard of someone showing up at the shop and going, "I have a box of stuff. I'm too drunk to collect them now, but how much is that bottle of [pointing at the shelf] Dun... Dun..."
"Balvenie? £1,800."
"Whatever. Here is my credit card. Put it in my box."
All but one of those incidents were caused by one type of demographics that was much less represented, the previous years. Ahem. If there is one thing Glasgow and the UK do not need, it is more unreasonable/irresponsible drinking.