11/11/2022 Private tasting with Colin Dunn

After a couple of hours machetting our way to an unknown destination, JS and I arrive in the far reaches of North London. The temperature and remoteness are closer to Svalbard, though.

We locate the venue, are led in, and that is when I spot MSo, and put two and two together to make twenty-two. The next person I see is Colin Dunn, proving that if one wants friends to flock out of town for a dram or two, one has to hire a celebrity. And who is complaining? Not me. I am not complaining.

The gig is an interesting concept: Colin brought eight tipples from his collection to share with us.

While MSo made sure we would not be hungry
(cheese, crackers, cold cuts, and, later, biryani)

On site are PP, BB, PS, AN, DW, Cavalier66, CC, and of course, MSo (who is hosting), JS, tOMoH, and Dunn's acolyte TH on guitar duties.

In other words: a jolly bunch

We are outside the whole time, in the middle of November. It is fairly mild, for the season, but cold for a tasting. The liquid is not always as expressive as it would otherwise be, and we are often standing, hovering between the patio heater and the (capricious and very smoky) campfire. That results in short notes, which are compatible with the very social nature of this shindig.

76.114 26yo d.1987 Grand gardens in Goa (58%, SMWS Society Single Cask, Refill ex-Bourbon Hogshead, 218b): Colin tells how he did a Mortlach tasting with MR at the SMWS, and she gave him this bottle to thank him. Turns out several of us were there, but we have not tried this since then... and it was seven years ago.
Nose: dry white wine, fruity and gravel-like. Outside, in the cold, it is a bit mute. Upon insisting, we find apple slices.
Mouth: bigger and bolder (and rougher and tougher, in other words, sucker: there is no other), pepper in a cracked-black-pepper-on-peach-slices way. It is fresh as a rocket salad with a good, pepper vinaigrette. The second sip has fruit stones too.
Finish: ashy fruits. Here are apples, crushed pine cones, soft menthol, crushed black cardamom and cloves.
Comment: nice. 8/10

CD: "I had the managing director of Shirakawa [at my stand]. He said: 'Are you Colin Dunn?'"
PP: "I've been asked that too."

Colin Dunn: "There are only 218 bottles. This is bottle number 1."
tOMoH: "Really?"
Colin Dunn: "There is always a collector in the house to believe it."
tOMoH: "And I walked straight into it, like an idiot."
Colin Dunn: "But this one is signed by Adolf Hitler!"

Inchgower 15yo 1993/2009 (61.9%, OB The Managers' Choice, Bodega Sherry European Oak Cask, C#7917, 564b, b#009):
Nose: caramel and dark-fruit jam, tree bark, mulch, and soft, rubbery cassia bark. Later on, we have lukewarm, flat cola.
Mouth: obviously an Oloroso maturation, with damp mulch, cinnamon shards, and crushed cloves, as well as coffee grounds.
Finish: spicy, it is not too earthy, but still has some coffee and root-y tones.

Comment: always curious about those Managers' Choice (note the plural possessive). It is not bad, but it is hard not to find it overpriced (it was pushing £300 upon release), and lacking in personality a bit, smothered by the sherry. Love the oystercatcher on the label, though.. 7/10

AN: "It's like a punk song: it's got a few notes, but it's not a symphony."

TH tells how he met Dunn twelve years ago, and it led to this here tasting.
tOMoH: "Are you saying tonight was twelve years in the making?"
Colin Dunn: "Twelve years a stave."

Lagavulin New Make (63.5%, cask sample):
Nose: well, it has smoke, cream, and hints of peach. A few minutes in, it is stagnant water and spongy peat bogs.
Mouth: rough, raw, dirty, full of dirty rags at a mechanic's. Unexpectedly, considering the nose, it also has super-dry earth.
Finish: stagnant water, peat bogs, and a pinch of ash.
Comment: interesting enough, but not particularly pleasant, and it does not stand repeated sipping very well either. 6/10

vs.

Lagavulin b.2017 (57.6%, OB bottled especially to celebrate Islay Jazz Festival 2017, Refill American Hogsheads + Refill European Butts, 6000b, b#4546):
Nose: old cheese rind, butyric, and a touch of faint smoke. Smoked baby vomit? Hm.
Mouth: hot tinned orange segments, ashes, smoked earth, and white pepper.
Finish: rope-y as fuck. Rough. Roughael (the classic Italian painter). Ropes and a spray of stagnant water.
Comment:  Not my thing at all. 5/10

vs.

Lagavulin 7yo b.2022 (59.5%, OB Festival Exclusive bottled especially to commemorate Islay Jazz Festival 2022, Refill + ex-Bourbon Hogsheads, 2490b, b#2140): DW brought a Lagavulin too. It would be rude not to have it now.
Nose: it is a very similar DNA, though it is perhaps more subdued. It smells young, but offers a little fruitiness.
Mouth: plums, rolled in dust, and fierce ginger.
Finish: wet clay, earth, bathing in stagnant water, silt.
Comment: this is clearly not a Lagavulin night for me. 6/10 (Thanks for the dram, DW)

CC: "If you pull a can of Stella on a train, you're an alcoholic. If you pull one of these bottles, you're a connoisseur."
Cavalier66: "In Essex, ..."

Cavalier66 [about AN]: "Ah! The tea cozy has come out!"

tOMoH and Colin Dunn [cannot remember the context]: "Sukhinder Bell's, Sukhinder Bell's, Sukhinder all the way!"

Dram #5 (blind)

Nose: very Bourbon-y, with root-y plants, gentian, ginseng.
Mouth: odd. It is apple-y, full of plasticine, wax (the taste, not the texture), herbs liqueur and angelica.
Finish: strange. Calvados fighting whisky.
Comment: it kind of works, but it feels like a novelty more than something I would want to drink again. Contains Clynelish and Dailuaine, amongst other whiskies, and a Calvados from Christian Drouin, we are told. Short notes; I cannot be bothered.
Affinity b.2019 (46%, Compass Box, 6028b) 6/10

Colin Dunn [about the next dram]: "This is all I managed to ferret away."
DW: "Colin, did you have to body-filter it?"

Talisker 44yo b.2022 Forests of the Deep (49.1%, OB in support of Parley, Marine Charred Casks, 1997b, b#1787): this tasting is suddenly taking a turn for the better! For the more upscale, at the very least.
Nose: nothing else smells like this. Ethereal orchard fruits and cracked black pepper; a lot of it -- more than in the 40yo. But we mostly see pressed currants, marzipan, and an extreme depth.
Mouth: amazing. Balanced, fruity (currants again), still displaying lots of pepper (too much for PS). This is clearly not the right setting for this kind of elegant whisky (what with our being outdoor), yet it still shines brightly.
Finish: refined smoke, gentle sherry.
Comment: amazeballs. It warms up one's soul like a 44yo single malt from the isle of Skye. All the same, my memory of the 40yo is better. This has more sherry, and that is simply less my thing, these days. 9/10

Tam's Dram (unknown ABV, cask sample): this comes from the living cask of (one of) the founder(s) of Scotch Whisky Auction. Nothing is known about it: it comes in a plain sample bottle.
Nose: nutty marzipan and wax.
Mouth: teeming with cinnamon, it is rather desiccating and earthy.
Finish: long, ends in a show of herbs and liqueur.
Comment: am I beyond notes, or am I simply not very enthused by this? 6/10

Next is one from this year's Special Releases.

Cameron Bridge 26yo b.2022 (56.2%, OB Special Releases 2022, Refill American Oak Casks): datz ryte: Cameron Bridge, not the bastardised Cameronbridge. It is the name of the distillery, after all.
Nose: custard, vanilla, coconut yoghurt. Is this a grain? One would be forgiven for thinking so.
Mouth: there is a gentle herbaceousness to complement more custard. Imagine mint thrown into a bowl of vanilla custard.
Finish: gentian and mentholated coconut cream. 7/10

Colin Dunn {in answer to PS's pulling a bottle from a bag]: "I can resist anything, except Brora."
tOMoH: "Is that an Oscar Wilde quote?"
Colin Dunn: "No, it's his brother Jimmy. He used to clean my car."

Cavalier66: "I'm getting a lot of dung in this."
tOMoH: "Coling Dung. Perfect for Chinese speakers."

Brora 23yo 1981/2005 (48%, William Maxwell Dun Bheagan, Refill Sherry Butt, C#1512, 648b):
Nose: inky at first, it soon offers currants. It is not really smoky, rather closer to Demerara-sugar caramel. An hour in, it comes across as vaguely meaty.
Mouth: Oloroso, with some earth and chewy rubber.
Finish: big, long, full of prunes, currants, and a dollop of mud.
Comment: JS does not care for this. It is not the most impressive Brora there is, but it has its strengths -- chiefly that it is a decent Oloroso-matured whisky. 8/10 (Thanks for the dram, PS)

More bottles materialise, among which an unmarked Springbank from cask #444. Thanks, BB; unfortunately, I will never get to try it.

tOMoH [to Colin Dunn]: "I hate Cambus. I love the taste, but it gives me a headache -- inevitably. The only three exceptions are a 31yo by Cadenhead, a 35yo by Hunter Laing for Park Avenue Liquor Shop, and the 40yo official bottling."
Cavalier66: "Funny, considering the old Cambus ad: 'Not a headache in a gallon.'"
Colin Dunn: "You should attend my Cambus tasting: two Panadol with each dram!"

PS: "Cambus did not use maize, except for the years they used maize."
Colin Dunn: "It's a-maize-ing."
Colin Dunn: "It's a bit corn-y, I hear."

Yup. That kind of nights.

There are more to try, but I have hit my limit, and want to go home before I make bad decisions. For the last half hour or so, I hear Dunn tell TH that they need to go, that someone is waiting for them elsewhere, and that MSo will sort out transport. All the same, they are still there when tOMoH leaves the building. Half a dozen of those good folks are plotting to meet at the SMWS tomorrow; only one will show up, various excuses rolling in as the day grows older. :)

Someone steals my notebook, while I am not paying attention:
the end of my notes read the above
in someone else's handwriting (the only bit you can read)

PS shows the world he has more than one t-shirt
by lending one to DW