15/10/2023 Oktoberfest

JS, PS, and cavalier66 join me to celebrate the arrival of autumn, at last: temperatures plummeted to 4°C overnight, when they were in the mid-twenties not a week ago. Sadly, BA calls off: he has work to do.

PS and the cav brought nibbles: two kinds of biltong (beef and honey-cured bacon, courtesy of PS), bread, salmon and Comté cheese (cavalier66).

While they set the table and we build the line-up, I pour them Scapa 25yo 1975/2001 (50%, Douglas Laing The Old Malt Cask 50°, Sherry Cask, 540b), which they like much more than OB and SOB, a few weeks ago. They will be invited again.

The line-up is ready

The soundtrack: A Cryo Chamber Collaboration - Azatoth

Bunnahabhain 43yo 1968/2012 (47%, The Whisky Agency, Refill Sherry Butt, 498b) (cavalier66): because Oktoberfest is a German celebration, and TWA is a German bottler, simply. This collection is colloquially known as Sea Life, though that name appears nowhere. Nose: artificial pineapple (PS), flour and artificial fruit salad (cavalier66), banana (cavalier66). There is some chalk, amongst the fruit, talcum powder, dusted onto fresh and chewy fruit sweets. Suddenly, it takes an unexpected turn and unveils muscle tape, the associated glue, especially, and car-door rubber joints. cavalier66 claims it is the inside of an anorak. It is he who is an anorak. The second nose brings baked plantain with a serving of warm custard. Mouth: bold, bitter, and quite acidic too (citric-powder capsules). |boiled ink, caster sugar with algae growing on it. The second sip has much more pronounced plastic: warm and faded Bakelite, bitter, though not too bitter. Finish: assertive and a half, we have more caster sugar and plastic-y notes -- Bakelite and rubber. It has memories of a certain sweetness, with stale Fruitella and Starburst/Sugus. I remember trying this around the time it came out, and liking it, but thinking it was not as impressive as its pedigree suggested. I still feel the same. 8/10

Fettercairn 28yo 1988/2017 (48.9%, The Nectar of the Daily Drams special edition for TastToe, 16/06009) (tOMoH): for Oktoberfesttercairn, natürlich. Nose: funky apricot, pickled onions (cavalier66 and PS), with vinegar becoming more and more obvious. Mouth: a sigh of relief is heard, as PS and cavalier66 realise just what a departure from the nose this is. Both find a subtle note of (good) baby sick, and a more-subdued drop of vinegar and pickled fruits. For me, it is preserved fruits instead, more acidic than sweet, mind. Finish: immensely sweet, now, though it retains some brine and pickled preserve. An unusual dram in pure Fettercairn tradition. It puzzles, but does not disappoint. Full notes here. 8/10

PS [about some factory]: "It smelled like leaving London."
tOMoH: "Worst smell in the world."

SC 73 10yo b.2023 (58.2%, SMWS The Society Cask, 1st Fill ex-Wasted Degrees Table Beer Quarter Cask Finish) (tOMoH): Oktoberfest is a festival for drinking beer. This was aged in a table-beer cask. In fact, it is like drinking an IPA, and it turns out an early IPA was named October beer. Double whammy. Nose: a lot of hoppiness (PS), acidic greenness from a hoppy beer (PS). It develops a slight chalkiness, which could confirm the distillery. Mouth: acidic tropicality, IPA (cavalier66), sweet, softly chalky, it has crumbly mint sweets, or chalky fruit tablets. Finish: so beer-y! (PS) It has the bitterness of ale, after a while. PS and cavalier66 reckon it is worse with water -- unfocused flat beer. Full notes here. 8/10

Braes of Glenlivet 22yo 1989/2011 (60.2%, The Scottish Liqueur Centre for Càrn Mòr Celebration of the Cask, Bourbon Hogshead, C#1051, 267b) (JS): because Oktoberfest is a celebration. Nose: green apple and kiwi fruit (PS), stewed kiwis, compote of all fruits (cavalier66), who adds: apple, plum, apricot. Over time, a huge whiff of dunnage warehouse and clay floors invades the nostrils. Mouth: big and spicy, but also hugely fruity. It has a vague flintiness, perhaps, and a mixture of hazelnut paste and nail varnish. Finish: big, wide, softly bitter, with almond-and-hazelnut paste, and a drop of nut liqueur. Lovely Braes. We lament not having more opportunities to try the output of this overlooked distillery. Full notes here. 8/10

tOMoH: "Kiwi fruit? As opposed to kiwi bird?"

The soundtrack:

63.75 8yo d.2012 Ett Tropiskt Party I Svenskt Norrsken (61.3%, SMWS Society Cask, 2nd Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 238b) (PS): Oktoberfest is a party, a word which is in the name of this bottling. Also, it was bottled for the Global Gathering, some festival of sorts, just like Oktoberfest. Nose: lozenges, vanilla pods, some hay. If I did not know better (I do not), I would say gauze and mint muscle tape, or powerful cough lozenges, minty, fresh, and clearing. Green mango (cavalier66), and a gentle mint or crisp-apple paste. Mouth: big, it has smoked apple, soured apple, lots and lots of pepper (green and black), sprinkled on top of black- and blueberries. Finish: lovely chocolate paste-covered berries. 8/10

cavalier66 [about one of his forthcoming samples]: "It says: home of the finest samples..."
PS: "...and this!"

Caol Ila 30yo 1974/2005 (46%, Signatory Vintage Unfiltered Hand Bottled selected by La Maison du Whisky, Hogshead, C#12623, 419b) (Signatory Vintage) (cavalier66): this one is only here because the next one, another Caol, is in theme, and cavalier66 thought it was a good idea to try them side by side. Nose: farm-y, earthy, smoky, it reeks of ploughed fields. Over the space of minutes, fruits come out -- roasted apples, roasted pears. Coming back to it after nosing the following two, it has distinct cheese rind (Chaumes, camembert)... or bad breath. And some ash. Mouth: fresh, fruity, here are smoked pineapple and roasted citrus. Phwoar! This is good. The back of the palate picks up a pinch of bitter ash. Finish: big, long, citrus-y, and ashy. There is certainly some smoke, but it plays in the background. This is perfectly balanced. 9/10

vs.

Caol Ila 1976/2014 (55.2%, Malts of Scotland Angel's Choice, Bourbon Hogshead, C#MoS14020, 125b) (cavalier66): our one-trick-pony-rider brought another offering from another German bottler. Given the desirability of the content, he is forgiven. Nose: putrefied fruits (PS), Bakelite, "like when you eat an old telephone" (cavalier66), empty jelly capsules for medicine, telephone cables, plastic-doll heads. Mouth: vase water, stagnant water. It does have ash too, but it is at the bottom of a pond invaded by algae. If it has any fruit, it is mouldy blue-green. Finish: more plastic, melted phone cables, melted plastic-doll heads, and a drop of lemon juice on top. Strange. It is interesting more than good, yet very interesting indeed to discover another facet of this usually-reliable distillery. cavalier66 wonders if the sample has gone off; it is a possibility, of course. 6/10

vs.

Port Ellen 32yo 1982/2014 (57.9%, Malts of Scotland, Bourbon Hogshead, C#MoS14021, 145b) (cavalier66): a side by side by side, then, and another bottling from the same German bottler -- this time from the colloquially-known-though-unnamed Diamond collection, because the full bottle has a diamond on the label. Who is complaining about the repeat theme connection? Nose: lemon sponge cake (PS), lemon curd (PS), coal (cavalier66), lemon doughnut, lemon drizzle cake. It smells fluffy, then softly smoky, with citrus-infused mud. Further on, burnt wood appears (hazel twigs), and suede pouches. The second nose is barbecued to bits. Mouth: sweet for a PE (cavalier66). It has some stagnant water too (we are trying it in a different glass, so it is not cross-contamination), amidst an avalanche of citrus-laced mud. It is also fairly hot, with cracked green pepper. Finish: vase water, citrus-laced mud, barbecued bacon, mud patties, and age-old hemp fabric. Nice. It is remarkably closer to the second Caol Ila than to anything else, today, prompting cavalier66 to wonder if they have both gone off in the sample containers. 7/10

PS [looks at his phone]: "Fuckin' hell!"
all: "?"
PS: "Sorry. A friend of mine just sent me something."
tOMoH: "Is it a dick pic? It's a dick pic, isn't it?"
PS: "What?"
tOMoH: "It is a dick pic!"

PS: "I'm gonna smell this Port Ellen. It falls between two stools. There you go. You're welcome."

The soundtrack:

3.261 14yo d.2001 Record shop at the races (55.7%, SMWS Society Single Cask, Refill ex-Bourbon Hogshead, 234b) (PS): PS tells us that, for a century-and-a-half, Oktoberfest included a horse race. This bottling refers to races. Educational, and a good excuse to have a Bowmore, if we needed one. Nose: wonderfully tropical, teeming with maracuja, smoky peach slices, muddy jackfruit, or fruity mud, depending on how one looks at it. It has a faint herbaceousness, almost tarragon-y. cavalier66 finds cat's urine ("that is good," he says -- you are on your own, mate!) It turns muddier and earthier with time and breathing. Mouth: surprisingly inky, it is also powerful and fruitier as time goes by. Hot maracuja, gochujang, smoked paprika. Finish: tar, fruit, and mud. Said mud is roasted and smoked, but the whole is tarry above all. PS finds Parma Violet and flowers; I do not. It is apple compote, according to cavalier66. The interplay of fruit and mud is very satisfying in any case. In other circumstances, I could go higher. For today... 8/10

Port Charlotte 6yo 2001/2007 PC6 Cuairt-Beatha (61.6%, OB, Bourbon/Madeira Oak Casks, 18,000b, b#10999, 07/0188) (PS): because of Pork Charlotte (those Oktoberfest sausages are Schweinfleisch), or Port Charloktoberfest. cavalier66 thought PS was going to tell us that the last time he went to Oktoberfest, it was with a lass called Charlotte. PS replies that it is PC6 for the six beers of Oktoberfest, known as the Big Six. Nose: super farm-y, with loads of mud in farm paths, caked on tractor-tyre treads, and manure-sprayed hay bales. It has a whisper of ethylene too. We then find strawberries, entirely coated in mud, then pak choy and ink, before moving back to muddy bacon. Later on, pork roast rocks up, with a mild horseradish sauce on the side. Mouth: huge, of course. Spicy, it has a generous sprinkle of red-chilli powder, and much mud, vaguely vegetal. Cured apricot appears in the distance. Finish: this is like drinking liquid mud. Ink comes into play as well. It hits a good balance; much better that some of the fierce SMWS ones of yore. In any case, even at over 60%, I could see myself sip this for a while. In the long run, we see cream sherry coat the tongue. Lovely. 7/10

Good times, as usual. I am exhausted, though.