Who said: "Une paire de Couilles-Burnes"?
Coleburn 12yo d.1981 (43%, James Mac Arthur Fine Malt Selection): nose: the most amazing mix of fruity-sweetish white wine (Muscadet, Chablis), or, indeed, Jurançon vin jaune, and hazelnut oil, fruity, nutty, fresh, appealing as a late-summer salad made from scratch. In fact, I swear it has iceberg lettuce too! It turns distinctly greyer (although tOMoH would struggle to explains what that means), and mute, after five or ten minutes. Let us give it some time... Yes, that fruity white wine is back, as is the nut oil. The second nose seems more assertive, especially with the hazelnut oil, to a point it could be seen as farm-y. Oh! it is not a Springbank or a Brora, of course, yet it does carry a pastoral rusticity. Old furniture, the wooden handle of old tools, and old soft-leather gloves, kept in a greenhouse. Mouth: the attack is that of a dry white wine; soft, velvety, fruity, it offers a gentle kick of alcohol, and a subdued bitter bite of vine. Time on the tongue turns it nuttier, with old hazelnut shells and walnut skins. The dominant is green grape, however, ripe and juicy, as well as less ripe and bitter. Vin jaune comes to mind again, this time less for the overt fruitiness, more for the voile-controlled oxidation. The second sip is fruitier still. It adds stewed apples to the mix, which are slowly turning into a blobby pulp. Grapes skins run towards the sides of the palate and the gums, persistently shooting what is now but a shy bitterness. Again, fruity white wine, or vin jaune. Finish: quaffable, silky, it has a fruitiness and a mild bitterness in line with what we saw on the palate. White wine, green grapes, hazelnuts, hazelnut oil, all warming and pleasant. At twelve years of age, it is not particularly complex, of course, yet it would make an excellent daily dram. One dreams of a time when Coleburn classed as a daily dram (full disclosure: never; it was never bottled as anything else than a niche single malt). The second gulp has a fleeting-yet-clear flash of saffron to top the white wine impression. The whole is mellow and plush, which accentuates a feel of having just munched on green grapes. This could very well score one more point in different circumstances. 7/10
Coleburn 13yo d.1981 (43%, James Mac Arthur Fine Malt Selection): nose: dryish and more mineral than its sibling, it has a bucketful of gravel, dusty marble flooring, and a tidy pile of newspapers. There are some ancient (elderberry) gummy cough drops, dusty and hardened, and Formica furniture. It is hard to explain, yet this smells like its era, as if the late-1970s and early-1980s had been distilled whole, and this were their essence. In the long run, timid apples appear, both roasted and as a compote, served with pan-fried hazelnuts. Then, it reverts back to an even-more-pronounced mineral character, now pebbles taken over by mosses, then old colour pencils, warmed by their proximity to a fire. A minute later, a fruity, if bone-dry, white wine emerges at last, borderline ashy. Grenache, no doubt. The second nose stays true to the mineral side: a wooden palette, loaded with pebbles. "Austere" would be too strong a word, but it certainly is not juicy, now. Mouth: it seems a lot mellower at first than one might have expected. The tongue is treated to lush green-grape flesh, topped with grated apple. Do not be fooled, however: the dry white wine lurks in the background, ashier than ever, supplying a minute bitterness. We spot a drop of hazelnut oil, and watered-down apple liqueur. The second sip is in line, though a few seconds in, it lashes out with a mighty dryness. In instances like these, it is difficult not to think of a bone-dry white wine again, ashy despite being fruity too. Grenache, Chablis, Pinot Grigio. As it blends with saliva on the tongue, some tame sweetness is restored. Finish: juicier and fruitier, this now has something chewy too. One may say fruit jellies, or Turkish delights, but it comes without the sugar coating. If it is sugar-coating-free fruit jellies, then it is a mix of yellow and green ones, fruity and subliminally bitter. Repeated sipping tones down the bitter angle even more, and gives a riper fruity side to it that coats the mouth, in the long run (green grapes and apples). If anything else appears, it is a touch of wood -- this time a rustic woodworm-eaten dining table. 7/10
Apart from the nose, I reckon I prefer the second one, yet they are in the same ballpark.
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