18/06/2022 Everybody knows the answer, but what is the question?

Following on from Active distilleries, and delayed for two years by the COVID-19 pandemic, friends from various parts of the world have gathered to tOMoH's neck of the woods to sample good things.

The theme, of course, relates to a series of books by Douglas Adams, a trilogy in five parts, to be accurate, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It was adapted to the cinema in 2005. Neither the film nor the books rank very highly in tOMoH's list of things to read/watch, but popular culture makes many references to it, so they are useful to know.

Before setting up the venue, JS, adc, sonicvince and I have breakfast at Ozone.

French toast with peach cobbler
for JS

Sides of potato rösti for everyone

Eggs benedict on bubble ‘n’ squeak cakes with Hollandaise
for adc

Roasted mushrooms on toast with pickled onion, fermented chilli,
house cultured cream for sonicvince

Jerky mushrooms with Essex grains, sumac mayo & lamb’s lettuce
for tOMoH

sonicvince has an almond croissant for dessert

I have the Lamington cake

We finish with tons of time to spare, and I am confident we will be done with the preparations early. So confident in fact, that what I am most anxious about is that I do not have an apéritif for guests to wait for stragglers. As it turns out, preparations take forever, and I am the straggler who makes everyone wait without a dram. Ah, well.

adc, sonicvince, ruckus, Gaija, WhiskyLovingPianist, BA, Cavalier66, JH, JK, JS, MV, AV, SW and PS join me for this.

Clues and teasers were shared over the months, but everything is poured blind.

Disclaimer: my notes are not very good. JS and I spend a lot of time entertaining and enjoying the company, instead of focusing on detailed analysis. Live with it.

Unique artwork by Ronnie C. (I cannot read his last name).
Each bottle label is different

Dram #1

Nose: marzipan (PS), shoe polish, a bit of waxy cork, cinnamon powder, and strawberry bubble gum. JS finds raisins, while I have a hint of tarmac. adc finds it extraordinary, with perfume and spices (cardamom and cumin, most prominent).

Mouth: a minor rubbery note of the tyre sort. That is mostly covered by elegant chewy prunes, until juices rise. Old school, dry (Cavalier66), it is also herbal (JH) and has Swiss pines (JH again). ruckus finds it too aggressive at first, yet breathing time turns this into his favourite nose of the line-up.

Finish: long, comforting to the point of being reassuring, it has mulch, sponge-y cork and roasted citrus peel.

Comment: I love how it left many indifferent in the beginning, only to slap them in the face a couple of minutes in, then never stopped amazing. I completely (and willingly) missed the boat on those Glenfarc- undisclosed Speyside bottlings. This is a telling illustration that I was wrong (for the tasting experience), and right (according to my financial adviser) at the same time. Gaija guesses the bottler.

Speyside Region 42yo 1976/2018 (45.2%, Sansibar Whisky / Acla da Fans Acla Selection, 386b) 9/10

These are the stills of Loch Lomond, as precisely no-one guesses

Dram #2

Nose: light fruits, but also dusty toffee (Cavalier66), banana (sonicvince), and metal (SW). There is a discreet note of buttermilk -- in the heat, therefore not very fresh. A market stall full of sweets in the summer. Peaty toffee alright. Decaying banana. This is lovely!

Mouth: it has the taste of mango flesh and the texture of curd -- or is it squashed peach? Cavalier66 finds it close to confectionery, Mars bar or Milky Way. Almond cream, almond paste, the kind one finds in an almond croissant. adc even detects mashed papaya.

Finish: exuberantly fruity, with lots of juicy tropical-ish yellow fruit (peach, apricot, mango, tangerine), and melting pralines. It is a long finish with a lovely acidity, a touch o ginger and a lick of peach stone.

Comment: hard to believe how good this is. Such an unassuming presentation, yet such a high quality! SW and Cavalier66 end up guessing it may be the Authentic Collection release that is likely from the same cask. Close enough.

Inchmurrin 42yo 1974/2016 (45.2%, Cadenhead Cask Ends, Bourbon Barrel) 10/10

Essy also enjoys the Inchmurrin

According to JH, this looks uncomfortably like a concentration camp

Dram #3

Nose: "it is like smelling vitamin C" (Cavalier66), ashes (sonicvince), ashtray and spent cigarettes (sonicvince). That disappears quickly to leave cosmetic powder, gradually replaced by talcum powder, Aspirin (SW), wood polish and old fruit. Suddenly, the cosmetics come back. There is a whiff of tobacco as well. Mango skins grow in intensity, though they remain rather tame. MV notes a Chinese sweet-and-sour sauce, though he cannot remember the name of it (we quickly establish it is sweet-and-sour sauce). The consensus is that water makes it citrus-y (MV), with baked pineapple (PS). Gaija, on his end, finds sour cream and tzatziki.

Mouth: "really sour, not extremely sour (WhiskyLovingPianist). it soon turns milky (Cavalier66) and woodier (AV). adc, clearly influenced by the image on display, finds it an air of steam engine or locomotive, as well as raw metal. BA reckons it is orange oils, or a Cognac-based Triple Sec. It certainly turns juicier with each sip, in any case. Water gives it an Earl-Grey profile. With water, the soft tea bitterness turns into super-mild smoke.

Finish: long, a little bitter, but then creamy too. Maybe almond paste? Crushed apricot stones? Nutty and orange-y (JH). "Très élégant" (Cavalier66). Water adds peach milk to the profile.

Benriach 42yo 1966/2008 (43.9%, Signatory Vintage Cask Strength Collection, American Oak Hogshead, C#1019, 175b, b#12, 8/706) 9/10

MV: "When you go to a Chinese restaurant, there is a sauce..."
tOMoH: "Hoisin sauce?"
MV: "No, it is a little sweet and a little sour..."
BA: "Sweet-and-sour sauce."
MV: "Yes, sweet and sour. It is a sauce."
tOMoH: "Yes, it is called sweet-and-sour sauce."

Cavalier66 recognised Joseph Hobbs immediately

Dram #4

Nose: "it smells like Uitvlugt" (SW). Rye (JK), stewed prunes, overripe fruits (sonicvince), decaying blueberries, slightly-burnt brioche, strawberries, spices and polish (SW), "close to an old Caperdonich" (SW). Sweet popcorn (Gaija), white Burgundy (Gaija), caramel (JK), persimmon or kaki (JS). sonicvince finds it morphs from syrupy to citrus-y. It does develop citrus indeed, after a while, and also leather, funnily enough.

Mouth: berries (Cavalier66), currants covered in chocolate (WhiskyLovingPianist), shoe protector (WhiskyLovingPianist) and warm panettone. It has got fruity wine, and slightly tannic fruit juice.

Finish: hazelnuts (WhiskyLovingPianist and JH), tannins (WhiskyLovingPianist). It is long, sweet, fruity, teeming with prune syrup. Time makes it so fruity! Pineapple and papaya cubes come to the fore.

Comment: the only one today that I had already had, and even in this esteemed company, it is sooooo amazing. Full notes here.

Lochside 42yo d.1963 (44.2%, Hunter Hamilton The Clan Denny, C#HH2243) 9/10

tOMoH: "What do you think?"
PS: "Sufficient."

WhiskyLovingPianist: "I am here 100%, tonight."
tOMoH: "I can see from your outfit that you're not playing, tonight. Unless you've swapped the piano for steel drums..."
JH: "...or pan flute!"

[I sing something -- cannot remember what.]
Cavalier6: "The voice of a nightingale!"
tOMoH: "The voice of a night-een-year-old-gal!"

JH: "What are these things, there?"
WhiskyLovingPianist: "That's when you need the safe word."

Cavalier66: "We had another grain Lochside, a bit like this."
JS: "Unfair advantage: it was this bottle."
tOMoH: "Do you want your money back?"

It took a little bit of guiding the audience to have them
realise this is Peter's head, for the one distillery in Peterhead.
SW does not even know whom this is, much to JS's disbelief

Dram #5

Nose: miso soup (WhiskyLovingPianist). Miso having a similar effect to Marmite, SW hates it, at first, but finds it lovely just thirty seconds later. It does tread between leather and toothpaste, yet is soon overrun with crayon shavings. SW finds waffles and syrup, but for me, it is mint, shoe polish, then ink. adc, on the other hand, finds it farm-y at first, with fresh grass, Camembert or Maroille. "Macdonald's scented candles," BA shouts. Putty and Tubble Gum, after a while. Bread and rye hint at a fruity Speyside, according to JK and Cavalier66.

Mouth: a touch savoury (JK), with roast beef (Cavalier66), salted beef and a softly-drying, bitter note. The second sip is a little fruitier, closer to marmalade -- caramelised marmalade. Fruitier, then chalky, desiccating indeed. We have bone-dry orange peel, ground into a dust.

Finish: really bitter Seville orange, fruity, but not very sweet at all. There is a soft charred-wood note (SW), "perhaps a heavily-charred barrel," he ventures. It feels a bit like a Cognac, according to MV, though sonicvince detects meat that has fallen into embers. Certainly desiccating on the finish too. All agree it is very, very long. It is mildly citrus-y (dry orange), with also brine, tapenade and ocean (JK).

Comment: a somewhat divisive dram. It demands one's attention, and what it says is not to everyone's liking. I love it, but then of course, I am a fanboi of the distillery and the style. Uncompromising Highlander.

Glenugie 1970/2012 (46%, Gordon & MacPhail Rare Old, Remade American Hogshead, B#RO/12/03) 9/10

It perplexed many, but Cavalier66 and JH recognised
the features of Hugh Grant on Glenn Close's face

Dram #6

Nose: tropical fruits and ash (PS), coal (SW). This is old-school-and-a-half, and it brings tears of contemplation to this Old Man's eyes. Blackcurrant jam and black pepper (SW), a pinch of soot, banana, chewing gum, a barbecue grille (Gaija), smoked-peach jelly, charcoal (SW), butter taken out of the refrigerator and left in the kitchen for an hour. Hours later, it has become über-flowery, an avalanche of fragrant magnolia.

Mouth: peach jelly to the max, with enough soot to paint the room black. Burnt toast, charcoal, dried strawberry, burnt root -- woah! This is ashy and desiccating, while also invigorating; tiger balm comes to mind (Gaija). MV finds it buttery and perfectly integrated.

Finish: grilled mango on the barbecue (Gaija), red chilli pepper (Gaija), szechuan pepper or jalapeño (JH), liquorice.

Comment: after the monstrous 38yo we had in Dornoch, I had high expectations for this one, which, by the way, its reputation precedes. Even though the flavour profile is remarkably different from its less-aged, more-ancient sibling's, it has just the same quality, marrying an old-school sooty profile to a layer of ethereal fruit. Mad perfection.

Glen Grant 42yo ca.1936/ca.1978 (70° Proof, Gordon & MacPhail, SC803) 10/10

The tasting reaches a conclusion. Everyone seems pretty happy with the six drams, and reckons we finished on a high.

...Or did we? I have a trick up my sleeve.

Dram #7

Nose: caramel, crème brûlée (PS), steam trains (adc), oily and full of coal (BA). It is also savoury and meaty (BA), pumped with cola and coal (though it is not Caol) (Cavalier66), date skins (MV). It is very smoky and fruity at the same time, according to sonicvince.

Mouth: dark-chocolate coulis, chilli and pepper (JH). Ahem. I make no further note, embarrassingly enough.

Finish: roasted coffee and ashtray (MV). "Despite being almost a brute, it is harmonious" (JK). "The Gengis Khan of whisky: it burns everything" (sonicvince). It has a soft note of burnt tyre, in a balanced fashion (yay! Finally a note that is my own)

Comment: I cannot take serious notes anymore, too busy soaking up others' impressions and enjoying the reactions. It does not disappoint, though. It feels just as good as it did the first time I had it. More-detailed notes will follow.

Ledaig 42yo 1972/2015 Dùsgadh (46.7%, OB, Oloroso Sherry Casks Finish, 500b, b#202) 9/10

And we come to a close.

...Or do we? I explain I know everyone expected a 42yo official bottling of Bowmore, but that the obvious one with that age statement, the fourth edition of Black Bowmore, is well beyond my budget. At the same time, can a tasting end without a Bowmore? Ich don't think so. Sooooo...

Bowmore 43yo 1973/2016 (43.2%, OB, 6 x Bourbon Hogsheads, C#3883-3888): nose: cosmetic powder, confectionery sugar, perfume-y and flowery, with some fruit too -- peach skins.

Comment: let me leave it there for now and enjoy the day. I cannot say much that will do it justice. I will say that it is an entire bitch to pour, though. The neck is so wide and the lip too thick! Provisional 10/10

sonicvince: "What did you think?"
ruckus: "It was OK."
Gaija: "A good discovery tasting. Not sure I would fight to get in, but it is a good night out."

Hectic. Joy. Looking forward to trying many of these again, when I am not entertaining.

We have an after-party with nice bottles and nibbles. Then, out of nowhere, MV pulls this out.

Port Ellen MoS-PS001 (57.2%, Malts of Scotland Private Stock, Refill Sherry Hogshead, 104b, b#55) (MV):

Nose: ashy marzipan, refined peat smoke, and lots of fishing gear (nuts, rods), and perfectly-toasted bread, pencil-lead dust.

Mouth: roasted duck, rosemary, Peking duck (PS). Again, loads of fishing stuff, nets and boots, hessian (Gaija), old ink.

Finish: super smoky, almost acrid, Lapsang-Souchong, burnt wood, char-grilled fish, long and lovely.

Comment: shit notes, I know. It is anything but JAPE (Just Another Port Ellen). This is allegedly 40yo and it comes with the distinction and complexity one might expect comes with that age statement. 9/10 (Thanks, MV)

Cavalier66: "Woah! This is a real treat. [He looks at me] I mean: another one!"

I try another few things, but I am distracted, Even the Port Ellen, for which I do take notes, I do not spend nearly enough time with. Still, what a treat indeed. And the fact MV brought the bottle from Germany, rather than a sample of it, however big, makes so much bigger an impact.

51.9 15yo d.2002 Sinful indulgence (51.4%, SMWS Society Cask, 1st Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 240b) 8/10 (Thanks, PS)

Girvan 26yo 1988/2016 (57%, Cadenhead Small Batch, Bourbon Hogshead, 246b) 7/10 (Thanks, PS)

137.10 8yo d.2012 Smoky, sweetie, meaty (64.7%, SMWS Society Cask, Refill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 231b) (Thanks, PS)

Gelston's Old Irish Whiskey 26yo b.2017 (54.2%, Halewood, Bourbon Cask, 300b, b#238) (Thanks, Cavalier66)

Orkney 15yo 2006/2022 (57.1%, Thompson Bros. bottled for Milroys of Soho, 280b) (Thanks, SW)

PS [to MV]: "I am not disagreeing with you, but..."
tOMoH: "What that means, in English, is: 'I think you're an idiot.'"
Cavalier66: "Eejit!"

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