20/02/2020 March outturn at Cadenhead's

A packed affair, this month: standing room only, despite multiple people cancelling their attendance at the last minute, I am told.
Small portions, blitz-like cadence, good mood.

Macduff 13yo 2006/2020 (46.2%, Cadenhead Authentic Collection, Bourbon Barrel, 222b, 20/19)
Nose: vanilla custard, crushed shortbread, whilst also a bit green.
Mouth: soft, fresh and shortbread-y, creamy -- no! milky.
Finish: in line with the nose and palate, it has lots of the same custard and shortbread.
Comment: an easy sipper. 7/10

Benriach 11yo 2008/2020 (55.9%, Cadenhead Sherry Cask, Finished in a Sherry Hogshead, 270b, 20/22)
Nose: toffee, treacle -- this is almost meaty.
Mouth: spicy, with cloves, chilli chocolate and toffee again.
Finish: fruitier in the finish, but the chocolate and toffee are still there, augmented with a lick of rubber. Or is it liquorice laces?
Comment: the colour (espresso) hinted at a polarising dram, and indeed, it is. It is just OK for me. 7/10

Royal Brackla 11yo 2008/2020 (56.3%, Cadenhead Authentic Collection, Bourbon Hogshead, 324b, 20/21)
Nose: floral and grassy, it reminds me of daisy broth and buttercup petals. It feels (too) young to me.
Mouth: sweet, soft, it is more approachable than the nose made me fear, with cane-sugar juice.
Finish: soft, flowery and uneventful.
Comment: will not change one's life. 6/10

Port Dundas 31yo (51.3%, Cadenhead, Bourbon Hogshead, 216b, 20/23)
Nose: verdigris, sugar clogs in an old tin; yes: has a slight metallic touch too, perhaps verbena.
Mouth: sweet and sharp, with some lichen on stave.
Finish: sweet again, the metal comes back, alluding to the soft bitterness of verbena or dried sage.
Comment: I like this. 8/10

Heaven Hill 23yo b.2020 (54.5%, Cadenhead World Whiskies, Barrel, 132b, 20/17)
Nose: window-cleaning agent, lacquered wood, strong glue.
Mouth: it is too oaky for me, but it is still acceptable. Bourbon-y (no shit, Sherlock!)
Finish: sharp, fusty and properly influenced by that cleaning agent -- others call it soapy, even.
Comment: over the (heaven) hill. I cannot imagine too many of these being opened. 4/10

Pulteney 14yo 2006/2020 (55.4%, Cadenhead Authentic Collection, Bourbon Hogshead, 294b, 20/18)
Nose: raw grain, macerating in vinegar, brine and whiffs of smoked hay. Is this an Ardbeg?
Mouth: it is acidic, brine-y, with vaguely-smoky grain.
Finish: pretty smoky, here, with smoked, brine-y capers.
Comment: a gently peaty number. 7/10

Kilkerran 12yo 2007/2020 (57.8%, Cadenhead Authentic Collection, Refill Sherry Hogshead, 330b, 20/25)
Nose: very dry earth, a farmyard under the sun, mud, caked on tractor tyres and left to dry in the sun, crusted earth.
Mouth: cut conference pears, sugar and farm action.
Finish: very, very earthy, with dried peat, drying hay.
Comment: pretty good. 8/10

Another person brought a just-released, rare bottle and shares it with all.

Aberlour-Glenlivet 8yo (55.1%, Cadenhead Single Cask exclusively for Taiwan, Oloroso Sherry Hogshead, 282b)
Nose: super sweet, cola-like, with wheelbarrows of Demerara sugar and Dr. Pepper.
Mouth: powerful and spicy (cinnamon), with the same oaky tannins and lots of thick cola.
Finish: similarly sweet and spicy.
Comment: nice enough, but a bit over the top for my personal taste. 7/10 (Thanks K)

Ardbeg 26yo 1993/2020 (53.7%, Cadenhead Authentic Collection, Bourbon Hogshead, 240b, 20/16)
Nose: mud and peat, barley, ink -- very inky, in fact!
Mouth: inky, blackcurrant jam and very thin smoke.
Finish: muddy, inky, covered in dark-berry jam.
Comment: this one takes me back to freshly-opened bottles of officially-bottled single casks from 1972--1976, bottled in the early noughties... and that is not a good thing to me. However, I bet it will be great after ten or twenty years in an open bottle, as those single casks now are. 8/10

Another few things are passed around. I manage a relatively early escape, for once.