18/02/2020 Love x Notz

Another member's takeover, which is really a members' takeover. The SMWS was very secretive about who was doing this one, and started selling tickets without announcing the host. And then, as sales were stagnating and attention was drifting, GL spilled the beans: he had been approached a few days earlier (after ticket sales started) to do it with RN. Tickets this way, please. Boom.

For the record, GL and RN are the masterminds behind this.

I am a little early at the venue. PS refuses a dram that GK offers him. GK hands it to me instead. Who am I to say no?

Yet another new livery

39.191 13yo d.2006 The lightness of being (58.4%, SMWS Society Cask, Refill ex-Bourbon Hogshead, 219b): nose: some vanilla custard, sweet green grapes, soft and fluffy, then a stream of melted sweets, peppered with crushed eggshells. Finish: sweet, syrupy, grenadine-like. Further, it unveils a broth of honeysuckle, confirming the impression of sugary nectar. The palate becomes a little acidic, after a bit -- plant-stem sap. Finish: warming, with honey-coated plant stems and green freshness. 7/10 (Thanks for the dram, GK)

We are ushered upstairs, where MSo and I secure a table. JS and MJ join us shortly afterwards.
CD gives a brief introduction, then joins the tasting -- a rare thing.

CD: "Everyone expected grain whiskies for Phil Storry's. What should we expect from GL tonight?"
tOMoH: "Glenflagler!"

SE the wombat is also there

RN: "The Society was kind enough to let us raid their special shelf..."
CD: "Yeah, a couple of words on that!..."

CD and GL explain the running order: from bottom left to top right. RN points out that glass #5 is empty. The guidelines from SMWS were: six drams. GL and RN, being the way they are, could not quite decide which six. So they brought another dozen bottles, and everyone will get to choose which one of those bottles they want to try.

tOMoH: "117.3, thank you very much!"

We try everything blind.

Dram #1
Nose: floral and full of pollen, it has honeysuckle pistils, orchids... It is extremely floral, flowery, not unlike walking into a florist's or a botanical garden. Mouth: mellow and floral on the tongue too, it has the freshness of mint sauce, blended with sweet mango chutney, soft and velvety. Meow! Finish: mild, soft, bursting with confectionery sugar, cut mangoes (timid, but present) and custard. This is sweet bakery galore, sprinkled with yellow-flower petals. I love it. I am tempted to score it higher, but I decide to remain calm. Lots of guesses, none of them right. 95.3 20yo 1977/1998 (53.5%, SMWS Society Cask) 8/10

Dram #2
Nose: super sweet from the start, with melted sugar (not quite caramel; it is still sugar white), icing sugar and shredded dried apples. It is slightly acidic, rather fruity, and packs quite a dose of wax too. Mouth: mellow, soft, silky and a tad thin. Red chilli grows in intensity, but it remains a hint, hidden behind buttery fruit. Finish: lovely cut fruit, almost mango, definitely papaya, and a touch of fruit-stone bitterness. It even has whispers of lemon in the very end. 50.96 27yo d.1990 A day trip to heaven (53.7%, SMWS Society Cask, Refill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 95b) 8/10

RN: "GL has a huge collection of Bladnochs."
tOMoH: "GL cannot afford Rosebank anymore!"

Dram #3
Nose: earthy, ashy -- it grows very ashy, in fact. Varnish, wax, even new wick, surrounded by lots and lots of earth, sprinkled with lychee. Mouth: more dried earth, tractor-tyre mud cakes, but it is also well behaved. Sure, it has lots of ash, yet it never becomes drying. On the contrary, it remains remarkably juicy, in a way. Finish: bone-dry peat and ash, spent wick, which makes no sense at all, seeing as the finish is also juicy as fook. The balance is outstanding. Long, the finish oscillates between ashes and lovely fruit. Wow. SL guesses a Clynelish. 26.38 21yo 1983/2005 High Church Jerusalem artichokes (59.1%, SMWS Society Cask) 9/10

MSo: "I'm not going to Campbeltown, this year. It's at least two grand, if I do."
JS: "The school-bus fare is a killer!"

Dram #4
Nose: precious and tropical wood oils; teak oil, mahogany oil, but also cotton candy, raspberry jam on scones, roasted pineapple, caramelised on the grill. Mouth: über-syrupy, with elderberry, strawberry, blackberry jam. I find it a bit astringent and hot, though nothing over the top. Finish: oh! Dark fruit, sweet and lush. Mellow, it has berry-flavoured Gummibärchen. This is very fruity and the jamometer is turned to 11. I am gutted to discover it is a Glendronach, as it is a distillery I am usually not so fond of. 96.30 10yo d.2008 Thor's slippers (59.5%, SMWS Society Cask, 1st Fill ex-Bourbon Hogshead + PX Finish, 265b) 8/10

RN: "When it doesn't quite make sense, it's a finish."
CD: "We like to say: additional maturation!"

Geekiest bottle of Monkey Shoulder ever

The moment arrives when everyone has to choose what they want as dram #5. RN comes up to me and pours me... 117.3. I said that as a joke, but am delighted that they did indeed bring it. :-)
PP and MJ split the remaining three drams between them (RN's pours are huge), and I pour some to MSo, as well as share my glass with JS.

RN [paraphrasing]: "This was the first bottle I bought at the Society. I stared at a wall full of bottles for a long time and picked it up. I liked the name; that was the one coming with me. Then, at the checkout, they said: '£350,' I thought: 'alriiiiiiight!'"

Dram #5
117.3 25yo 1988/2013 Hubba-bubba, mango and monstera (58.5%, SMWS Society Single Cask, 2nd Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 199b)
Nose: mango. Even after six or eight drams, it is amazing. Mango, a drop of chocolate, and little of the metal that we sometimes found in the past. Mouth: fruit juice through and through, this time with a touch of metal alright. Finish: milk chocolate and lots of fruits again -- mango and mangosteen. Short notes, as I have had this many times. 10/10

Plaid-shirt face-off between MJ and PP

Dram #6
Nose: this one exudes a colossal earthiness and lots of barbecue sauce. Later, it is full-on watercolour, pencils, dried muck. Oh! boy, is this dry. Plasticine, fox skin (the literal one, not the vomit puddle, for which that can be a metaphor), maybe chocolate. Mouth: spicy, with lots of wood varnish, it has crayons and dried mud. This is big, wide and full of watercolour -- and perhaps a tad bitter. Finish: it starts off varnish-y, before turning into a proper farmyard, with mud, dried mud, as well as dry staves -- and I mean Arizona dry. Unsurprisingly, it is a Laphroaig. "The only Laphroaig I have ever bought," says GL, to which CD replies with the exact reference. 29.260 19yo 1999/2019 A visceral, elemental experience (56.9%, SMWS Society Cask in celebration of Islay Festival 2019, First Fill Spanish Oak Oloroso Cask, 507b) 8/10

MJ [uttering my favourite quote of his about the Laphie]: "If you're gonna smoke, smoke."
MSo: "In Hindi, the say is: Punishment for a murder is death by hanging. Punishment for one hundred murders is death by hanging."

JS kindly lets me try her own take on dram #5.

3.312 19yo d.1998 Takes you back in time (54.5%, SMWS Society Cask, 2nd Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 65b)
Nose: lots of mud in this one too, alongside smoked mussels and fruit, peat bogs, wet and spongy, fresh papaya slices, mango peels -- ooft! Mouth: more muddy, boggy action, with lemon rinds and papaya cubes. Maybe even pineapple cubes, Finish: wow! That mix of peat and tropical fruits that made the distillery so famous is back -- mango, carambola, dragon fruit... This is excellent. 9/10

CD: "If you look under your mat, there is something special."
tOMoH: "Nothing."
JS: "I've got it!"
tOMoH [hums the Top Gun theme]

MSo lets me try this. No notes. I like .312 better

Oscar Wilde or solid white shirt, we said!

What a night!