15/07/2020 red71's e-tasting

red71's turn to host Bishlouk, SLT, JS and me, then. You know the score: a videoconference with samples from the organiser's collection, all blind.

Dram A
Nose: dry white wine, very dry, with Sauvignon blanc, mostly. Then it is incense, mukhwas, almond shells, rapeseed oil, but also water colour, a touch of clay, plum juice and plum skins. Warm hay and delicate shoe polish round off the nose. The second deep nosing has fruity yoghurt or papaya custard. Yum! Mouth: crisp, grape-y and a little waxy, it has plums, almond milk and white wine of a dry variety. Soon, dried apricots and incense ash appear too, and, perhaps, a minute quantity of fried egg white. Finish: wide, waxy, hay-like and drying (to an acceptable level), with pears coming out most. The finish is almost rum-like, with sugar, oozing through staves, lichen, verbena and incense ashes... Oh! A dropkick of mango/papaya catches me off guard. Lovely! The others debate whether it is as good as they remembered it and tend to think it is not. Phillistines. I find it smashing. Teeling 13yo 2002/2016 (51%, Teeling, Bourbon Cask, C#2111) 8/10

Dram B
Nose: salt water and glossy magazines, loud and clear, then pot-pourri, hay, cut grass, dried flowers; it becomes really flowery, actually, with a discreet note of custard -- minty custard. Forsythia, kerria japonica, faded leather. Mouth: yellow, it has pollen, beeswax in the making and a broth of macerating daffodils. It cranks up the flowers via retro-nasal olfaction. I find a more-than-tolerable vegetal bitterness, too. In the long run, gravel appears, which makes the palate rather drying. Finish: very salty, here (red71 is ecstatic about that), which complements the daffodils rather well. Bitter like aromatic herbs, borderline metallic, even if hay and Sauvignon blanc rock up here too. The salty bitterness is a bit much for me, I have to say. It is good, though. Clynelish 19yo 1996/2016 (50.9%, Signatory Vintage The Un-Chillfiltered Collection Cask Strength secially selected for The Bonding Dram Single Malt Whisky Shop & Prima Vinum, Hogshead, C#6406, 269b) 7/10

Dram C
Nose: gravel, pebbles, shingles, bone-dry wine, algae on rocks, pressed apricot, a hint of bathtub funk, macadamia-nut oil and mancadamia-nut milk. Breathing time increases the fruitiness, with apricot and peach, soft water colour, a tad drying and plasticine-like. Mouth: waxy apricot, plasticine, Turkish delights, chewy and fruity. Oilskins, a gentle maritime side, as well as drying staves and some spices (cumin, ground coriander seeds) and tannins. Finish: long, chewy, it leaves a pasty mouth. Chives, tulip stems and an undecipherable mix of animal skin and juicy grass. The finish is the weakest part of this otherwise fine drop. It takes us half a dozen attempts to pinpoint the distillery, despite clues. Bruichladdich 20yo 1993/2013 (51.6%, Cadenhead Small Batch, Bourbon Hogsheads, 738b) 8/10

Dram D
Nose: farm-y peat. Very farm-y. I guess Longrow immediately. And I am shot down. Hay bales, drying fishing nets, burning hazel wood, beach sands, cigar smoke all abound, next to the obvious farmland paths and farmyards. Mouth: dry and full of drying fishing nets, but remarkably little peat (it does come, boldly, through retro-nasal olfaction, however). Clay, bog water, moss, bothies, wet-camp-fire smoke... It has this strange and strong humidity, next to the earthy peat, in the back of the throat. Finish: big, boggy, it unveils notes of berries (bog myrtle, wild strawberries), mud, clay, silt, rancio and lots of smoke in a bothy on a foggy day. Nice. Sneaky red71 blended this himself, as he found the first component too soft, at 43%. Caol Ila 25yo b.2018 (43%, OB, L8269CM003) + Cl10 (58.2%, Elixir Distillers Elements of Islay, 3 x American Oak Hogsheads) 7/10

Dram E
Nose: orchard fruits, a faded-leather game bag, a spoonful of mud or wet clay before being made into pottery, and a pleasant mix of mulch and petrichor. Gardeners of the world rejoice! Later, it has a medicinal note too: bandages, old gauze, sports tape (adhesive muscle straps) and traces of strawberry. Mouth: dry, it has similar notes of strawberry and orchard fruits (cider apple, conference pear), as well as that mud, though it is dryer than the nose suggested, perhaps. Meringue with a strawberry coulis at a candlelit dinner. Finish: dried strawberry slices, damp mulch, cider apples, the most minute touch of gauze, burning fruit tree, charred toast, scraped onto fruity yoghurt. This is nice! It has smoke, burnt wood and fruit in adequate doses. Laphroaig 16yo b.2019 (48, OB for Amazon, 1st Fill ex-Bourbon Barrels, 11500b) 8/10

Dram F
Nose: cured meat, musk, fox skin, wet cat, pickled red onions and a dry, earthy note that betrays an Oloroso maturation. I find it very wet and animal, which is not my preference. After a while, minty yoghurt appears, fast turning into minty-gel toothpaste (of a certain blue kind), then thuja sap and other resins (cedar and cypress come to mind, and that takes me back to my grandmother's garden). A pinch of ground coffee, perhaps? No matter how much time I spend on this, the nose stays wine-y to me (pickled red onions). Mouth: fresh, minty, it displays a raisin-y side that I like, and a lick of chocolate more than earth, which is good news. The second sip has more-pronounced wine-y notes, but they are controlled. Let us call them chocolate-coated raisins. Dried currants, dried raspberry slices, and a pinch of dark earth for good measure. Finish: long, assertive, it has dried figs, dates, currants, raisins and dark chocolate (65%, which, to a chocolate enthusiast, is borderline milk chocolate, I know). Again, one could call it chocolate-coated raisins. It has some tannins and cherry pralines. This would score better but for the nose, which is not exactly my thing. Glengoyne 12yo 2005/2018 (56%, OB specally selected for The Netherlands bottled for De Monnik Dranken, Oloroso Sherry Hogshead, C#2685, 278b) 7/10

Good sesh again.

red71 chose to sit in a calming poppy field