31/12/2019 NYE drams at Dornoch Castle Hotel

After a great road trip and before we enter the madness that is a New Year's Eve in the north of Scotland, a few drams. The last few drams of 2019, in fact.

This very cute gold crest watches over our selection

Glen Moray 28yo 1974/2002 (53.4%, OB Distillery Manager's Choice, ex-Oloroso Sherry Butt, 676b, b#617): I had completely overlooked that unassuming bottle, hidden behind others, too busy scouting a bottle for the king of kings. JS is clearly more observant and less pretentious than I am. Nose: old, fruity shoe polish, with toffee, caramel and orange sponge cake (PiM's). The fruit keeps growing too, with pink grapefruit and satsuma kept in a leather pouch. There is even a whisper of soft tobacco, in the back. In the long run, the nose turns proper tropical, with all sorts of fruits. Mouth: marvellously fruity on the palate too, on top of the soft leather that we expected to be the continuation of the nose. Pink-grapefruit segments and satsumas, very fresh and juicy. Finish: it is in line with the nose and palate, with pink grapefruit, blood orange, satsuma, kumquat -- rhaaa! This is comparable to 35.59, perhaps better. What a belter! 10/10

Glen Grant 8yo (70° Proof, Robert Watson imported by Terni Import, b.1971--1976): nose: caramelised biscuits, hints of coffee grounds, overripe, almost-rotten blood orange and cork (adc). Mouth: fresh, it is not powerful, or course. It does have diluted orange juice and sweet pulp. Finish: similarly fresh in the aftertaste, with orange boiled sweets (Sugus), orange pulp and very little coffee grounds, now. It is softly bitter, though that is almost not worth mentioning, so subtle it is. An unchallenging, but excellent drop. 8/10

Glen Moray 38yo 1971/2010 (48.7%, Duncan Taylor, C#7032, 256b, b#155): nose: fruity, it has cherries and blood oranges, yet also a leafier touch, with flowers (jasmine, roses, carnations) and lychee peels. Mouth: what a fantastic balance of blood-orange juice, lychee peels and juicy cherries here too. It is a little lively, or at least, more so than the age might suggest, with a serving of ginger shavings. Finish: take the same and start again (blood orange and cherry), but here, it also has wood, varnished, precious wood. Long, coating and soooo good. 9/10

Emerald Isle 26yo d.1989 (59.2%, Speciality Drinks, C#16244): nose: the expected avalanche of tropical fruit happens, starting with mango, then papaya, jackfruit and something a bit earthier too. Lychee peels, lime leaves, satsuma leaves and a hint of milk chocolate. Mouth: pungent, but balanced, with chocolate-y mango, fresh papaya and buttery jackfruit. Finish: a roundhouse kick of tropical fruit. To be honest, I cannot be bothered listing them. It is buttery, fruity and juicy. Joy. 9/10

Those Irish beauties are a bit predictable and, dare I say, monotonous. There have been so many, over the past five-to-eight years, that one is almost bound to grow a bit immune to them. It is important not to forget that, between 2002 and 2007, Duncan Taylor alone released around forty Bowmore distilled in 1966, 1968 and 1969. There was a sort of good-whisky fatigue then too, I am sure, and the sense that every bottling tasted like the last one and was therefore less and less interesting. Fast-forward to 2020 and those are all highly sought after and highly regarded, but completely out of reach.
I think one should ignore these Irish whiskies at their own peril. One day, they will dry up and become out of reach. I prefer trying them whilst I can. That will not last forever.

CT: "We are  really happy with the way The Vault
was done up. It is a bit quaint, seeing as it is a vault.
It is for little people."
tOMoH: "N, would you like to call HR?"

Ben Nevis 23yo 1996/2019 (52.2%, Thompson Bros. selected by Dave Broom for Amber Light and exclusive to Royal Mile Whiskies, Refill Sherry Butt, 497b): funnily enough, this was rated 92/100 by whiskyfun.com yesterday. Soon at an auction near you... Nose: typical Ben Nevis, with shoe polish, cured red meat on the bone, earth and lots of dirt, as well as some fruit. Overripe dark grapes, overripe plums, soaked plums, sangria, bloody steak (which is not a fruit, let us be clear: you are not a vegetarian if you eat bloody steak; you might be, if you eat fucking potatoes, though). Mouth: more traditionally fruity, on the palate, with red berries, cherries, soaked apples, oranges macerated in wine, lingonberry compote with a game dish (pheasant? We saw lots, during our excursion, earlier). Finish: wine-y, full of sangria and macerated fruits, blended with dark chocolate. Yes: dark chocolate and dried raspberry chips thrown in. We are in complete disbelief, with regards to the 92/100. Which is not to say it is a bad whisky. For me, it is 7/10

Glen Grant 38yo (70° Proof, Gordon & MacPhail, SC295, b.1970s): pre-war Glen Grant, then. Nose: woah! This is an old Cognac, grape-y as fook, but also noble and elegant, with freshly-polished, leather-bound books, truffle oil, maraschino cherries and some old bottle effect. Mouth: the same harmonious balance hinted at by the nose. Old Cognac from before the Napoleonic wars and elegant leather, as well as excellent, truffle-oil-speckled maraschino cherries. Finish: long and unbelievably balanced, with similar notes of noble leather and fruit. Amazeboulanger. 10/10

Time to dress up and upload some food. Lots of food.

Braised pork jowl

Gin-cured salmon

Three-way beef

Chocolate parfait

Lemon sorbet, meringue, cheese cake and macaroon

Christmas pudding and what seemed like a Comté

The food is even better than the previous years and I feel less bloated, despite eating three of those lemon cheese cakes (I cannot stand waste). Well done!

We have time for one more round before the street party starts. Let us make it count.

adc has a gin-based cocktail from the courtyard.
They have braseros there, one of which smells
of burnt rubber

Glen Scotia 30yo 1975/2006 (47.5%, The Whisky Fair, Rum Barrel, 96b): nose: diesel and engine oil, hard plastic, plastic buckets, boiled swede and oilskins. Later on, rye bread appears. What the deuce? Cold barbecue grille and burnt pencil shavings -- this is all over the place. Mouth: oily, silky, apricot-juice-like in texture, but metallic and powerful in taste, bringing clean machinery to the fore. Hairballs and steel, hemp sealant for pipes (that thing that looks like hair) and salt. Finish: a bizarre-but-supremely-interesting mix of freshly-cut fruit, knives of all sorts, diesel and plastic. The finish is the clear strong point, here. What a funny old Glen Scotia. Believe! 8/10

Ardmore 21yo 1998/2019 (51.5%, Thompson Bros., Refill Hogshead, 256b): nose: strawberry and cheese (Reblochon, Comté) -- again: WTF? Cut peach in rose water, rose petals, plasticine, marshmallows, soft and fluffy. Mouth: soft, gentle, with canary melon, especially the skins, unripe quince and growing white pepper. The second sip sees marshmallow come back, accompanied by strawberry pralines. Finish: amazingly fruit, with distant strawberry and lots of citrus (grapefruit and dried lemon peel). No peat whatsoever (an Ardlair, perhaps?) Liqueur praline, on the other hand, is very present. Mon Chéri and Edle Tropfen. Excellent. A good dram to finish the year with. 8/10

Boom.

Now to start the year... Oh! One of our table mates insists on offering me a dram. That is very kind, of course, yet it limits what I start the year with -- it would be rude to order something that costs £100, would it not?

66.143 20yo d.1998 Steam trains and puffers (55.8%, SMWS Society Cask, Refill ex-Bourbon Hogshead, 237b): here is another similarly-aged Ardmore we want to try. How topical, then, to order it now, so we can side-by-side it with the above? Nose: dirtier than the Thompson Bros.', it has burning alcohol, burnt caramel, burnt wood and turpentine. Mouth: thin and strong in alcohol, it has surgical spirit, medicinal alcohol and squashed apple pips. It is very drying and rather unpleasant. Finish: long, thin, full of ethanol and surgical spirit. Not a patch on the other. It feels like a new make, surprisingly, with burnt wood and drying ash. Not my thing at all. 5/10 (Thanks for the dram, DMcL, I chose poorly)

Annoyingly, DMcL and JMcL leave us, making it impossible to return the favour tonight. Ah well, tomorrow.

Now, to start as we mean to go on, the real first dram of 2020.

Caol Ila 17yo d.1969 (40%, Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseur's Choice): nose: meaty and charcoal-y, it has burnt rubber (adc), burning leaves, forest floor and wild mushrooms, scorched earth, charred pineapple, bicycle inner tubes, roasted lychee. It does display a microscopic touch of sulphur, but it is not loud at all. Mentholated talcum powder on bicycle inner tubes. Mouth: soft and silky, surprisingly so, it has cold custard, cold, flat cola, pineapple juice from a char-grilled fruit, tinned-lychee syrup, old, tarry, mouldy rope. The fruit shines stronger than the undeniably-present diesel on the palate. Old fishing nets, oil spills reaching the sandy beach. Finish: oh! my god. The power of this thing!! It is so assertive, at 40%! Coal, straight out of the industrial revolution, a camp fire in a bothy, a leaking diesel engine, burnt wood, steam-train tenders and boilers, full of coal, coke near the factory's furnace, oil spill again... we have a winner! The finish goes on forever too, evolving to unveil gunpowder, in the long run. It would be a top score, save for the meaty note, which I find out of place. 9/10

They do not kick us out to close the bar early, this year, but it feels enough. Happy new year! Let 2020 be better than 2019!

Zzz.