01/03/2020 Whisky Show Old & Rare (Day 2 -- Part 2)

The restaurant today is a nightmare of discipline and tight-arsedness (limited items, restricted items, ... I leave with TWO rigatoni). I am the proud owner of multiple food coupons, however, and my second serve is much better. I even have a smile from the staff (I think). Completely different experiences, even though the same people are serving.

One quiche, two rigatoni, a couple of salad leaves...
"I'll try not to choke on that!"

The bread in round two is less good, though

Of course, there are people who still do not finish their plate. Humankind is doomed.
Back to the main floor.

Port Ellen 27yo 1982/2010 (62.6%, The Whisky Agency, ex-Bourbon Hogshead, 168b): ashy, sweet. I guess a 1983 Port Ellen: close enough. :-) 9/10

Laphroaig 40yo 1960/2000 (42.4%, OB Vintage Reserve for Oddbins, 300b, b#138): first time I have the vintage version, which, let us be clear, is the same juice as the 40yo.
Nose: minty, sooty, fruity.
Mouth: jammy, with quince jelly and poached pears. Almost weak.
Finish: a little tired, with diluted orange juice. 8/10
Comment: another Gooding bottle? Twice that this particular stand offers expensive bottles at seemingly friendly prices, and the juice turns out to be shot. Once may be an accident. Twice seems borderline dishonest.

To make up for it, dom666 has this

Another reference with no notes:

North Port 30yo d.1974 (49.2%, Private Bottling, Bourbon Cask) 8/10

Glenrothes-Glenlivet 28yo 1947/1975 (75° Proof, OB imported by G.F. Ferraretto)
Nose: dusty pears and apple slices.
Mouth: slightly drying, fruity, ashy and cork-y.
Finish: lovely, super fruity, with an old-school, dirty character. 9/10

At last, I choose a dram from my initial shortlist.

Brora 1972/1993 (40%, Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice, IC/IF)
Nose: hot radiators, faint smoke, a pinch of soot, then loads of fruit -- roasted satsuma, smoked peach. Peat reek grows to become quite intense. The mix of smoke and fruit is crazy!
Mouth: juicy, very juicy, it has litres of peach nectar, apricot juice, yet also scorched earth, dry hay and a pinch of chives.
Finish: huge. Whorls of smoke, diesel, tractor exhaust fumes, and juicy fruit aplenty.
Comment: I love this. Same level as the 1972/1992 we had in May. 10/10

JS using a d!ckh3ad glass

Coleburn 21yo 1979/2000 (59.4%, OB Rare Malts Selection): sweet and fruity, with undeniable heat (a RMS, innit!) Industrial revolution stuff with a butyric note. 8/10

Mortlach 21yo 1970/1991 (56.7%, Gordon & MacPhail distributed by Turatello, IA/AGC) 8/10 (Thanks for the dram, EG)

Glen Grant 45yo (40%, Gordon & MacPhail, b. ca 1981): one of the many that got away, during the recent Gooding auction.
Nose: soaked sultanas, prunes, figs, dark cherries and smoky stoves.
Mouth: soft, almost too soft, mellow, with soaked sultana juice, prune juice, a notch of rancio and a lick of teak.
Finish: contrary to what the palate made me fear, it is massively assertive, with lots of soaked, dried fruit (sultanas and prunes, mostly).
Comment: it tapers down rather quickly and it is a little too drying to score higher, but it falls just short of fabulous. 8/10

Port Ellen 20yo 1982/2003 (61.2%, Scottish Single Malt Circle, Sherry Cask): farm-y, with a burnt-hay note. It is also very powerful. 8/10

Glenmorangie 23yo d.1963 (43%, OB Oloroso Sherry Casks Finish)
Nose: old-school, ethereal jam and jelly, teeming with elderflower and honeysuckle.
Mouth: soft and quaffable, stuffed with rosehip and rose-petal jelly, augmenting cut peach.
Finish: ooft! Juicy, fruity, with more rosehip, honeysuckle, and, this time, physalis. 10/10

Lochside 37yo d.1981 (48.6%, The Auld Alliance)
Nose: acidic, the nose provides passion fruit and some funk.
Mouth: creamy, jammy, fruity (satsuma), it has crystallised mandarins and a gently drying texture.
Finish: amazingly timid. Once I can focus on it, I detect maracuja paste and mango purée, as well as some pepper.
Comment: excellent. 9/10

Cavalier66 comes back from the other stand where they offer Black Bowmore (for a higher price) and comes back rather annoyed.
Cavalier66: "I was told a Chinese guy brought a lot of money and bought the rest of the bottle."

There are approximately two hours to go. Selling ends of bottles after a festival is one thing; doing so in the middle of the day is frustrating for others.
As a side note, said Chinese guy has been doing the rounds for two hours, buying up all the big-ticket bottles from all the stands. Sure, I am jealous not to have that kind of cash, but that is not the point. Buying and bidding with thirty minutes to go: why not? A good way to make people happy (one party leaves with a new bottle, the other does not have to carry an almost-empty bottle home). The same move two hours before the end, I find it hard to agree with the exhibitors doing. Next year, I plan to buy all the bottles ten minutes into the festival and force it to an early end!

Let us try to find a final dram. I am hitting a wall anyway. Ahem.

Glen Mhor 20yo 1965/1986 (92° US Proof, Cadenhead, Sherry Wood): dust, cork, fruit. I love. 9/10

Springbank 25yo d.1993 (47.3%, Creative Whisky Company The Exclusive Malts, 1b, b#1): fruit, the mildest smoke and hints of rubber, in the back. 8/10

DS, previously from Creative Whisky has a bottle of Coleburn 1983. I ask if it is the same juice as last year's decanter. DS answers it is: he grew tired of pouring from that very heavy decanter. :-)

Glen Keith 30yo 1971/2001 (51.6%, Private Bottling, Bourbon Cask)
Nose: herbaceous and a bit shy, with flowering currant.
Mouth: mellow, milky, it has fruity yoghurt and a non-negligible acidity.
Finish: peachy, nutty, fruity, lively and a bit bitter. Limescale, maybe? 8/10

Littlemill 25yo d.1988 (51.9%, Creative Whisky Company The Exclusive Malts, 1b, b#1)
Nose: pine-y, chock-full of pine needles, then juicy fruit.
Mouth: gravel and fruit juice, quite simply. The fruit turns tropical on the palate, with hot mango and hot metal.
Finish: more mango, hints of metal, dirty metal, juicy and mineral.
Comment: this is good, but not the best alcohol integration I have experienced. 9/10

And, finally:

Glenlochy 27yo 1980/2008 (53.9%, Signatory Vintage Cask Strength Collection, Hogshead, C#2823, 231b, b#165, 08/411): quite fruity and juicy, with an austere aspect -- it is a Glenlochy, after all. 9/10 (Thanks for the dram, EG)

Time to wrap up. The long good-bye round starts, I make a couple of bids for bottles (with limited success), then it is time to go home, where dom666 and I have another Caperdonich 16yo 1977/1994 (58.9%, Cadenhead Authentic Collection, Sherry Cask) for which I take no note.

A few words about this festival in its new location.

In terms of good drams, well, no complaint. Plenty of 8, many 9, a few 10. There were more lower score than in the previous years, or so it seems, but that is what one gets for trying things off the beaten path. Plus, those were often offset by the emotional value of trying something from a century ago or more. On the other hand, the two legendary-but-dead drams were a very, very nasty surprise. I will make sure not to go to that stand in the future (I did not go myself, this year, and avoided it the previous years too). I know I am not the only one who will.

On the practical side, thirty-six pages of notes, seventy-two drams (sixty-six as part of the show itself), a great afterparty and a general good time. The one masterclass I attended was also thoroughly enjoyable.

On the low side, the whole undertaking has now become too big for my liking (read: overwhelming). Too many exhibitors, too many drams, too many people. I spent two days in constant fear of missing out, not knowing where to go next and counting my beans. And that is not really down to lack of preparation. If I am correct, I stopped at thirteen stands out of twenty-two. That is a lot of stands I did not even visit (some out of choice, as said previously). There are dozens of whiskies I wanted to try that I did not have a chance to (Skinner's comments this morning suggest I was not the only one in that case).

Moreover, that enormous offer of good whiskies leads to whisky fatigue, wherein everything becomes blurry and all those fantastic drams are reduced to "just whisky". A pity, considering the quality on display.

On a more egotistical level, and despite my "complaining" on the first year that it was in Glasgow, the fact it is now in London makes it more accessible to many. I like being ahead of the game, so I am irritated that others are now competing with me. Irrational, but that is how childish I can be.

As a side note and considering the apparent success this year, one wonders why it was ever in Glasgow in the first place. In fact, I wondered that from the first year.
Now, I have heard rumours of it becoming even bigger next year, which worries me, as that would amplify the negative sides, in my opinion.

All in all, I spent two days in a sort of nightmarish dream, where the best rubbed feathers with the worst, where my enthusiasm was only matched by my stress levels. I do not know how I feel about that.