19/04/2020 Three seasonal twenty-somethings

Glen Keith 20yo 1993/2013 (46%, The Glenaden Distilling Co. The Classic Cask imported by Spirits Imports, C#136, 270b): nose: initially, it is new-world white wine, young, crisp, fresh and rather dry. A few seconds later, it is floral and fragrant, with lilac, jasmine and apple mint, geranium, yellow primrose yellow, unripe plum, freshly-pressed linen, but also ink and newspapers, ground ginger, maybe even rosemary. The least one can say is that this nose is delicate. It is not the debauchery of fruit that Glen Keith from that era can be, but we have only started... After the first sip, a mocha note appears to stick around the nostrils and to not let go. Mouth: white wine on the tongue too, fresh, crisp, dry... and then it is sweet, all of a sudden, with caster sugar, pineapple drops, candied apple, dried banana slices, nectarine peels (the flesh, not so much). A faint wood bitterness grows and becomes not quite so faint, though nowhere near splinter-y either. Sandalwood, broken cigar boxes, tannic and, well, splinter-y, I suppose (woops). Custard powder and glycerine. Mocha custard, caramel coulis, poured on hot flan. The texture is surprisingly creamy, for something that seemed so crisp and fresh a minute ago. Finish: mocha custard, caramel flan, a pinch of coffee grounds, tablet, mocha ice cream, milk chocolate (just about good enough for the Swiss), chocolate  pudding. The more one sips it, the more the mocha makes room for milk chocolate -- which spells good news, as far as I am concerned. Soggy, milk-chocolate-coated digestive biscuits, mushy peas (!) It is probably gingery too, with wood spice lingering on the tongue and gums for an eternity. Very good, this. It makes for an ideal starter, too. 7/10 (Thanks for the sample, TC)

Bladnoch 22yo 1991/2014 (45.7%, Iain Mackillop Mackillop's Choice, C#4603, 102b): nose: very floral and perfume-y -- imagine entering a florist shop, with roses, tulips, lilac, rosehip, magnolia. Then, it turns proper sweet, like (just watched Riddick, you understand ;) ), with icing sugar thrown onto pumpkin-and-thyme pasties, heather in bloom, roasted yellow pepper, peeled, flowering vine, unripe grapes, flowering raspberry bushes, flowering currants, gorse, then the fruit turns more ripe, with pressed blackcurrant, elderberry cordial and clover honey. This nose is the bollox's donkey -- no! wait... Mouth: the gentle bitterness of nigella seeds hardly conceals an assertive fruitiness; this is juicy and three quarters. It has grape juice, blackcurrant juice, plum juice, nectarine juice, berry smoothie and prunes in syrup, though it is completely unlike a similar note in a sherry-matured whisky. Lilac in a vase, spearmint, yellow tomatoes, yellow peppers, roasted and peeled, oozing sweet juice from every pore, ripe tangerine. The third sip sees a little chocolate touch, and rather dark too, as it has a certain bitterness. Finish: long, creamy, juicy, it has peach, all sorts of berries, a drop of milk chocolate, chocolate custard, gooey sticky toffee pudding, juicy peach slices, overripe tangerines, raspberry jam, poached pear and Turkish delights. Woah! Fantastic expression! 9/10

Imperial 23yo 1990/2014 (51.8%, Iain Mackillop Mackillop's Choice, C#12314, 240b): nose: another fragrant one! Good choice, on this warm spring day. It is buttery fruit, this time, with apricot flesh, peeled plum, satsuma pulp, perhaps a spoonful of dairy butter, Glenrothes-style. Banana rum, rum-toft, physalis, but also a floral side; is it honeysuckle? Forsythia? Kerria Japonica? Bulrush? No! it is rose-petal jelly and prickle-pear jelly. The nose presents a few drops of furniture polish and beeswax, but make no mistake: it is mostly yellof fruit, waxy and juicy. Coming back to the nose after sipping, it has a fudge/toffee touch that is most pleasant. Treacle in vanilla pudding. Mouth: cut peach slices, fresh and juicy, a little acidic, which makes me think there is citrus as well (calamansi), pineapple cubes, a pinch of salt, pear drops, peeled cucumber, glycerine. The second sip is centered around toffee, caramel, treacle, still with the soft acidity of calamansi, glycerine again and a fudge-y texture -- I suppose it is the butter from the nose. Finish: long, creamy, it is much more custard-driven than the initial nose suggested, with crushed peach in vanilla/mocha custard, fudge, cocoa powder, hot cocoa, almond oil, almond milk, hazelnut paste and orange pulp. That is right: it has now turned a lot nuttier, and that is just as successful. It tickles the palate (and the gums) with oaky tannins, but to call this woody or spicy would be a mistake. Very good too. 8/10

Good session, today!