Laphroaig 14yo 2004/2019 (56.5%, Adelphi Selection, Refill Bourbon Cask, C#700170, 322b): remnant from a tour at Ardnamurchan, last year. Again, I was driving, so could not try much. Nose: ha! ha! What is not to like? Dry earth, mud, dried to a crust, desert dirt, the end of an evaporated cup of vase water bog myrtle and, of course, the trademark TCP. This has quite the dose of iodine, does it not? Surgical spirits, stencil machine, purple xylene and an oilskin, so dried up it is scaling, peeling and crumbling. There is a certain fruitiness behind the peat, yet it is subtle; squashed blackberries, fermenting pear and elderberry juices... and a bit of soft leather. Super-dry cow dung, crumbling to dust. Mouth: well, the fruit is much bolder here, with, indeed, blackberries, elderberries and pears, all carried by an alcohol-fuelled juggernaut. Yes! It is powerful and a half. Fresh peat and boggy water are next on the list, shortly joined by an onslaught of dry smoke. Burning Christmas trees at the end of the season, burning hay, burning incense and fragrant dry things, like pot-pourri chucked onto the fire and aromatic tobacco. That will be exotic smoke, I guess. It anaesthetises the tip of the tongue. Honeyed- hibiscus infusion shows up at third sip as a welcome refreshment. Finish: huge, with similar fruit, though covered in ashes, this time. Spent fruity incense, fruit-tree embers, surgical spirits and more spicy notes, such as lemongrass. This finish is dry, dry, dry, absorbing all the moisture in my mouth, as if all the bones in the Paris catacombs had been ground to a powder, burnt to ashes, then funnelled into my gob. Further sips bring back some of the fruit (and a bit of thin juice) and the medicinal notes, mainly disinfectant. Very good drop. 8/10
29.83 20yo d.1989 Kissing a Balrog's bum (52.3%, SMWS Society Single Cask, Refill ex-Sherry Butt, 561b): nose: amazing the difference a cask can make. At first sniff, this is all ester-y, fruity, with grapefruit and lime juices, and ripe strawberries, wrapped in cellophane. It has some dryer fruits too, dried dates leading the march, sweet and chewy, dried apricots and smoke dried mango slices, then smoky redcurrant jelly, raspberries on the barbecue grille, roasted quince, smoked-quince paste, smoked kumquats and cherry liqueur. I had a fleeting note of Ferrero Rocher filling (that would be Nutella, I guess), but it only lasted for half a second; just as well too: palm-oiled-stuffed shite. After the first sip, the smoky side seems more present on the nose, yet it remains refined. Mouth: the hazelnut paste is less fleeting on the palate than in the nose, and it is accompanied by smoked citrus (grapefruit and lime, now in a marmalade form) and berries, stewed into compotes. The alcohol bite is certainly present, if not unpleasant, and I am sure it is smoky, but compared to its younger compadre from Adelphi, it is very mellow. This one feels woodier and fatter, though; teak and teak embers, mahogany oil and exotic smoke, as well as treacle. The more one sips it, the fruitier it becomes, with lots of unsweetened jams and jellies. The smoke is reduced to a wood stove at the neighbours'. Finish: velvety at first, it evolves to unveil fruits (currants, elderberries) and smoke at last. Oh! still faint, but smoke nonetheless. Smoked-quince paste, smoked-prickled-pear jelly, smoked dulce de membrillo, dried dates, sultanas, soaked in hot water. The stove from the mouth is now firmly at home, and it is a tad sooty. Perhaps it is time to call the chimney sweep. :-) I like this one even more. 8/10 (Thanks for the sample, PS)
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