02/05/2020 Two Scapas

We start with a broken cork!

Scapa 14yo (40%, OB, LF340RGK, b. ca 2006): nose: well, this is delicate as possible; the perfect apéritif, as I remembered it from 2004. I discovered this at Whisky Live! Paris with dom666; it was our first dram of the festival. Golden apples, a little sugar, soon joined by ripe berries (a mix of wild strawberries, gooseberries and raspberries) and softly-salty custard-cream biscuits. The salt hints at a distant coastal touch, though it is closer to a sunny seaside resort on the Italian Riviera than a trawler off St Kilda. It is all gentle and calm, tamed and polished. Sea air, rather than seaspray, and green olives, rather than brine. Maybe a spoonful of honey and blossoming honeysuckle buds. Savon de Marseille makes a late entrance, which does not bother me at all. After the first sip, the nose becomes more and more custard-y. Apple custard and apple pie. Mouth: soft and easy, it has golden apples, glazed in honey and royal jelly. Peach jam, peach jelly... It is fruity and sweet, as you have guessed. Far back, the salty tang persists, even if it takes a bit of focus to notice it. Green olives again -- we stay in the Med, far from the North sea. A large slice of apple pie joins in, baked on a salty shortcrust base. It is creamy and easy on the palate. Finish: caramel, poured on flan. It may feel more corporate in the finish, unfortunately, yet it retains a lot of charm. Hazelnut shavings on custard, apple pie, augmented with a wee dose of green-olive paste for the salty twang again, fudge and Scottish tablet, topped with the gentle bitterness of blanched almonds. This is beautiful. I can see why I liked it so much, when it came out, and why many would have fallen in love with it (hi, adc!) It is of course simple and a little generic (some might say: "bland." Tsk!), but they would be missing the point: that this is an honest and delicious, every-day dram. 7/10 (Thanks for the dram, JS)

Scapa 25yo 1975/2001 (50%, Douglas Laing The Old Malt Cask 50°, Sherry Cask, 540b): from a time when indie-bottled Scapa seemed normal -- indie-bottled Scapa from the 1970s, no less. The river has of course pretty much run dry, since then: only Gordon & MacPhail still release Scapa, and not this old, usually.Nose: it is much less polished than the 14yo, for starter. The sherry is loud, with mahogany and teak oil, almost gravy and game, served with lingonberry compote. Once the taster's nose has adjusted to the whisky's nose, it feels less abrupt and takes on a woodier coat, with pine-tree bark, orange peel, blood-orange peel, wood glue in an antique shop, and a tin of sardines in water. Or in sunflower oil, who knows? Roasted malt, caramel-coated puffed rice (think: Kellogg's Smacks). Mouth: yes, it is definitely wine-y, with Chardonnay, Manzanilla sherry (light and sweet), yellow wine from the Jura region. That all means: fruity (sweet grapes, plump plums, ripe peaches) and sweet (caster sugar, Lyle's Golden Syrup). The second sip is closer to toasted malt and, like the nose, ends up with Kellogg's Smacks, or caramelised puffed rice, in other words. It is not unpleasant, but those have never been my favourite breakfast cereals. The toasted wood grows and grows, to the point where liquorice appears, black and bitter. Burnt cake, too. Finish: very sweet indeed, it feels like having a glass of Manzanilla sherry, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a Mediterranean resort. The caramel-coated puffed rice appears here too, giving a long, sticky and slightly bitter touch to an otherwise mostly-sweet finish. There is sticky toffee pudding, cake that has spent too long in the oven, Madeira and a little liquorice again. It would be earthy, if it were not so sweet. The sherry is loud, here, as is the wood, and they smother the distillate, of course. Still nice to try something less cleanly Scapaesque.7/10 (Thanks for the sample, mars)