This one was featured at the after-party of Silence is Golden. I never got to try it then, busy as I was tidying up. WhiskyLovingPianist later gave me a sample to right that wrong. How kind is that?
Cameronbridge 40yo 1982/2022 (50.1%, Whiskybroker.co.uk, Bourbon Barrel, C#8277, 215b, b#137): nose: it shows some obvious signs of being a grain, such as wood varnish and distant turpentine, yet also another facet, somewhere between toasted oats and chicory granules in their plastic jar. Scratching the surface, we find mugs of cooling chicory infusion, pouring honey on lukewarm porridge, and tote bags of large homegrown onions, brown and rustic, the kind that would last the whole winter, stored in the cellar. Here is a blast from the past! This is no lively grain at all; it is all about the slow, inexorable passing of time, and it is rather calming for it. Brown toasts and onion relish on the kitchen table, still with that chicory haze floating about. The second nose has some kind of spread -- neither chocolate, nor Marmite, but something in between; some nut, maybe? Walnut spread? Chestnut purée? I reckon roasted-chestnut purée alright, doused with Brazil-nut oil. Mouth: at once sugary sweet, chock-full of pouring honey and Golden Syrup, and acidic to the point of polishing the enamel of one's teeth. Swirling it around the palate gives it a more-traditional grain profile, with encaustic, patina-covered armchairs, and thick beeswax, yet also a more-flowery touch: chamomile and forsythia to paint it yellow, and dandelion stems to supply some bitterness. We still have lukewarm chicory too, and that is also rather bitter. Finally, a touch of middle-aged wood adds some depth. The second sip is in line, with maybe more emphasis on the wood: one might picture the freshly-restored wooden hull of an antique ship, which is to say: old wood bitten by sea water, wood varnish, and bitterness. It is pleasant and reassuring, at any rate. Finish: warming and comforting, it glows like liquid gold. Warm honey from forest trees of a dark kind, dark furniture polish, and metal tools, warmed by the fireplace, and left on the wooden mantlepiece. The second gulp dials up the sweetness of dark honey, now adding a clearer pine-tree provenance to the sap harvested by the bees who made the honey. That means it is fresh and nose-cleansing, as well as sweet and acidic. This is no Gocce Pino -- no! It is more subtle than that, but it is related alright, a distant cousin. A thick, honeyed, sweet dram that will effortlessly warm up one's soul on a gloomy winter's day. 8/10 (Thanks for the sample, WhiskyLovingPianist)
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