Still in Franconia, we have a second tasting, themeless, this one, but ambitious nonetheless. MV, AV, JS, OHH, MHH, Port Ardbeg and I are still there, but MBbn had to leave early yesterday, replaced by none other than our cavalier66.
We open all the bottles to let them breathe. The first one's cork breaks off at the wooden base, and the remaining bit has shrunk so much that it risks falling into the neck. Not even tOMoH's Magic Technique™ (a vacuum cleaner) does the trick. It causes hilarity, though -- and embarrassment, as I initially fail to operate the sucking device. In the end Port Ardbeg gives up and pushes the cork into the bottle. Splash.
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| At least, we know the bottle is genuine |
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| A modest line-up indeed |
Banff 33yo 1975/2009 (44.2%, Gentle Noses, Bourbon Cask, C#1490, 120b) (Port Ardbeg): Jack Wieber is not explicitly mentioned anywhere; the stopper seal states "Bisk Lee", and it seems other bottlings in the same range have "Jack Lee," "Jumping Foo," "Po Foo," or "Mao Lee." Go figure. I am convinced it is a collaboration between Wieber and the other bloke on the label, and that is why I state Gentle Noses as the bottler, rather than the collection. Live with it. Nose: quintessential Banff, with woody tones (galangal shavings) and mustard powder. There is also some custard and a little fruit (tropical, say the others). Dunnage warehouse, dried lemongrass, white-wood sawdust. Ten or fifteen minutes in, we see white orchard fruit enter the scene (quince, crumbly pear), as do berries and propolis. Time pushes this nose closer to banana, which I like. Mouth: mellow at first, it mixes pepper and berries so dark they may as well by liquorice boot laces. The texture is creamy, not unlike a thinned-out horseradish sauce. There are some herbs too, here. The second sip is squashed banana, sprinkled with dried oregano. Finish: balanced, creamy, fruity, here is smashed apricot. Further sips present the same banana as on the nose -- Banffana, obviously. The initial woody notes are reduced to a discreet dusting of sawdust. 9/10
vs.
Banff 39yo 1975/2015 (46.8%, Malts of Scotland Angel's Choice, Bourbon Hogshead, C#MoS 15024, 89b, b#47) (MV): nose: this smells more austere, with limescale on a stainless-steel sink. Breathing allows esters to come out, as well as desert dirt. It walks towards a spicier edge, before spouting fruits (dried apricots, mixed peel), yet also frankly-woody things (namely balsawood and sawdust). Mouth: birch sawdust on marmalade. It is mellow to start with, but it grows in intensity, with nutmeg and white pepper. The next sip has pollen on top of the sawdust. There is something bitterer too that I cannot put my finger on. Finish: the woodiness is a lot to take in, now -- almost too much. It is not so much mustard as it is sawdust and nutmeg, easily smothering any fruit. In fact, it is borderline tannic. Long, drying, it flirts with crushed bay leaves. I may go up to 9 in different circumstances, but for tonight... 8/10
Balblair 1966/2007 (43%, Gordon & MacPhail, JF/FJC) (OHH): nose: metal, herbs, flint, and fruit. Bracken, juniper, hay bales, cut apart and strewn on pebbles in a courtyard. There is a splintery woodiness, and mayonnaise about to turn. Finally, it settles for wooden shelves. Mouth: creamy and toffee-like, here are caramel and warm fudge, still liquid, before it sets. We have a very faint impression of bay leaves too (again!?) that leaves lichen on the teeth, but mostly it is caramel. It is fruitier in further sips, displaying oranges and marmalade. Finish: a good serving of caramel-coated toffee, augmented with crushed bay leaves and menthol. Next sips unleash more bitter marmalade than one can shake a stick at -- lemon marmalade too. 9/10
vs.
Tomatin 1966/2011 (46.9%, Malts of Scotland Angel's Choice, Sherry Butt, C#MoS 11021, 122b) (MV): nose: wood stain, menthol, cold cola (cavalier66), candied apples, caramelised orchard fruits, cassis liqueur, dunnage warehouse. Mouth: wonderful, rich, it has berry juice and pressed cherries -- not maraschino, but not far off. Finish: simple, a little one-note, but it is elegant without a doubt. Booze-soaked cherries, mostly, with vague remnants of varnish thinner. 8/10
Glenallachie 39yo 1973/2013 (48.9%, Maltbarn #13, Bourbon Cask, 51b) (cavalier66): nose: intense, it has wood dust and white fruit -- white peach and crunchy pear. There seems to be a thin veil of smoke that supplements nail lacquer. In the long run, it goes darker and earthier, with pressed elderberry and cured apricot. Mouth: velvety, full and rounded, it has chestnut purée and cherry preserve, riding on a thick texture. This is dense alright! Finish: elegant, but powerful, with more cherries and raspberries, cured peaches, cherry compote -- that sort of things. It may not be overly complex, but it is excellent. Scratch that! The second sip has a more explosive fruitiness propelled by a kick of rubber that really elevates this. I like it as much as the first time. 9/10
vs.
Cragganmore 29yo 1973/2003 (52.5%, OB Special Edition, 6000b, b#2877) (OHH): nose: excessively savoury, it showcases beef stew, Bovril, brine, and pickled onions. It is a really hard nose, closer to the Macallan Full Proof from the other day than to any Cragganmore I have had. It mellows out a bit, given lots of time. Thankfully. Mouth: blueberries and nectarines. The texture is waxy and chewy, while at the same time gently acidic. The second sip has honey with a drop of lemon juice. What a departure from that nose! Finish: big and warming, it clings to the tonsils, with melted honey and honeyed chestnuts. Good, after a worrying start. The nose is nose my thing, but it shines after that. 8/10
Dessert is served: vanilla ice cream with a dash of Eierlikör made by AV's hairdresser. Delicious, and spot on at this point in the line-up, on this hot, muggy June night.
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| Vanilla ice cream with a dash of homemade Eierlikör |
Brora 1972/1997 (40%, Gordon & MacPhail, IG/ABC) (Port Ardbeg): nose: boom! Ashy farmyard, dried manure, cow stables, and cow dung so dried it could self-combust at any moment. Cigarette ash, scorched earth, spent wick, and extinguished candles join the dance. Several hours later, coming back to it as a final dram, it still explodes with farm-y and ashy scents. Mouth: the reduction can be felt, a little, like OHH suggested a minute ago, yet it packs a punch. It retains some candle wax to supplement a huge farmyard influence, though this time, there is also a clear hessian-sack note. Later on, it feels more mellow, with honey, tangerines, yellow kiwis, buddha's hands, and steamed potatoes with unsalted butter. Finish: long, ashy, farm-y and earthy. Later sipping brings an almost-inky note, as well as yellow fruits aplenty (mirabelle plum, peach, nectarine), as if they had fallen onto a muddy farm path. This is incredible. As good as the 1992 bottling, and it will remain the dram of the day, for me. 10/10
vs.
Brora 30yo b.2002 (52.4%, OB Natural Cask Strength, 3000b, b#2361) (Port Ardbeg): nose: others do not find this farm-y at all, but I disagree. Perhaps not cow stables per se, yet, for me, it has burnt hessian sacks and hot tractor tyres, both of which I associate with the farm. Beside that, spent wick, torched nail lacquer, and crushed rocks. Yup! Although it is not what initially dominates, it develops a right minerality. Port Ardbeg can detect no smoke at all, and I disagree again, as illustrated by the spent wick. Extended breathing allows more smoke to come out. Hours later, lemon and limescale also appear. Mouth: big and drying, it confirms the mineral side with quarry chippings, before unveiling the ashes of burnt cow dung. The second sip has ginger, cinnamon, and smoked red cherries. Finish: huge, drying, it exhibits a strong minerality again -- more rocks and quarry chippings. The second sip, on the other hand, is full of thick, tarry smoke, tractor diesel and burnt tyres. 9/10
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| It reads 'Brora', but it is pronounced 'Win' |
Glen Grant 1972/2019 (50.9%, Malts of Scotland Angel's Choice, Sherry Hogshead, C#MoS19024, 21b, b#18) (MV): he is in full MoS mode, our MV, is he not? Nose: incredibly present, after the two immense Broras. It has chestnut shells, pencil erasers, crusty bread (!), and acerbic citrus. The second nose has cut peach, and it becomes fruitier and fruitier with each subsequent nosing. Mouth: red-cherry compote, and rooibos tea. It turns bitter and drying like an over-infused tea. Finish: a lick of chocolate coats a boiled-berries compote. Very nice, this, despite the irrefutable bitterness on the palate. 8/10
vs.
Glen Grant 39yo 1972/2011 (51.2%, Jack Wiebers Whisky World, Refill Sherry Cask, C#38202, 256b, b#201) (Port Ardbeg): nose: fermented clementines left on the coal stove. Maybe it is accompanied by a dollop of milk chocolate, but it is subdued. Truth be told, overall, the nose is discreet. Mouth: a rather sharp attack gives way to ashy cherry compote. The stones were removed, burnt, and their ashes strewn over the crushed fruit. Finish: big, it brings back the fermented fruit (nectarines, this time), oddly enough. We also have distant coffee beans to impart an earthy bitterness. 8/10
More dessert. The tub of ice cream is in another wing of the building, so we get chocolate-coated cones with Eierlikör. Not as successful a combination as with the ice cream, but beggars etc.
Old Fettercairn 34yo 1975/2009 (57.2%, Whisky-Fässle Limited Edition, Bourbon Cask) (Port Ardbeg): nose: melted chocolate, oily roasted rye, sourdough, then, a dollop of minty shoe polish takes off, straight out of a tin. It veers closer and closer to mint. Mouth: woah! An immediate bitterness seizes the taste buds. A little swirling around confirms that bitterness, which seems to come from white-hot metal. Fortunately, nuts come to the rescue to restore some balance -- almonds, macadamia, hazelnut, bitter, yet also creamy. That seems darker upon further sipping, with Brazil and Kluwak nuts. Finish: nut liqueur and crushed oily macadamia. It gets sweeter over time, now teeming with plump grapes, sweet and crunchy. "Lovely Bettercairn," says JS. Likely to fare even better in less-illustrious company. 8/10
vs.
Ardbeg 28yo 1972/2000 (49.2%, Kingsbury Hand Writing) (Port Ardbeg): nose: tarry ropes, ink (JS), but it is not ink-city (cavalier66). Crushed chalk, crushed dolmas, encrusted in tarry ropes. The next nose has stone-baked rye bread, soot, then coffee beans. Mouth: liqueur-infused mocha custard, sprinkled with a pinch of ash. Incredibly, it manages to stay sweet at the same time, a bit like a 1983 Port Ellen (Moon Import, anyone?) Suddenly, and fleetingly, a wave of dark ink crashes on all that, and then disappears. It is really a mad mix of sweetness, soot, coal dust, and ink. Finish: huge. Indian ink, hessian, old rope, old fishing nets, diesel and black rubber. As cavalier66 observes, it may not be as complex or as classy as C#3038 or C#2738, and it is hard to to tell how this one would fare against those without trying them back to back (which we will not do), but boy! does it tick my boxes, tonight? 10/10
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| No-one ever finds out how to switch the lights on |
JS [to cavalier66 who is trying the Karuizawa from Monday and explaining the technical details]: "You know your Noh!"
Port Ellen MoS-PS001 (57.2%, Malts of Scotland Private Stock, Refill Sherry Hogshead, 104b, b#55) (MV): nose: lots of ink and diesel, as well as lovely, smoky wax. With time, it becomes more maritime (as one would expect), with sea air and smoked mussels. Mouth: oh! yes, it is waxy alright. That wax is quickly joined by chewy dried apricots, and ashy mussels. Chewing on it adds crushed mussel shells, then petrol with a pinch of white sugar. Finish: it is hugely petrolic -- mussel shells overcome by a black tide, black sands, burnt wax, and ashes. It is a very long finish if I know one. It is, however, mildly annoying that, as last year, I am not in the best dispositions to make good notes about this cracking dram. You know? After twelve drams? 9/10
vs.
Port Ellen 24yo 1982/2007 (59.6%, Whisky-Fässle Limited Edition for Whiskystammtisch Rebstock Biberach / Riß, Fino Sherry Cask) (Port Ardbeg): nose: extremely fiery at first, all burning wheat fields and empty pastures that have not seen rain for a season (a bit like life outside, in other words). It has ink too, marker pens, and a drop of ultra-dry white wine (grenache blanc, albariño). This is ashy, ashy, ashy. The second nose has forest-y tones and cypress hedges. Mouth: a bit sweeter on the arrival, the mouth has wheat beer crystallising in an ashtray. It is rather fiery too, with barley syrup hardly covering hot embers and cigarette ash, still red in the ashtray. This is fairly anaesthetising, even medicinal: it numbs the palate, even though a certain sweetness survives. The next sip is perhaps sweeter, though still pretty fierce -- maybe minty boiled sweets? It is not quite peppermint, much to my relief. Finish: what a punch in the kisser! The palate is still tickling from that all-powerful mouth when the finish simply smacks you in the face, relentlessly and continuously. It is a fighter alright, which is no major surprise, considering this teases the 60% mark. Blue mentholated gel comes up, after a bit, then frozen tar, old rubber (wet suits left in the garage for over a decade, and crumbling as a result), and hot decrepit boilers. 8/10
Most go to bed -- it is past 3:00, after all. cavalier66, MV and I go outside, but it is chilly and we are a bit loud; I do not want to disturb the neighbour who has shown herself to be difficult already. I am soon back in to finish my drams, then I hit the sack. Phew.
What a night! As often in these tastings, the generosity on display was exemplary. That someone we have never met would happily pour (or let us pour ourselves, in fact) such special bottles is heart-warming and inspiring. Of course, the whisky community has always been welcoming and keen to share (knowledge as well as liquid), but with the explosion in popularity and prices, in recent years, it is something that is observed more rarely or less openly than before. That makes these shindigs all the more special.
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