23/04/2024 Clydeside

Clydeside d.2018 (61.6%, Cask Sample, 1st Fill Oloroso Cask): nose: mute. Maybe everything is smothered by the significant ABV, but it is not saying much. Distant mint sauce, at a push, though that may be my brain playing tricks, after last night's curry. Five minutes' breathing, and, descending from on high, we have coffee grounds, dry and drying, mocha powder, and white-hot metal, which is a regular note of higher-strength whiskies, I find. Slowly, veeeeeery slowly, something sweet stretches its wings; Turkish delights, fruit jellies, Gummibärchen. Yes, that sweet note confidently unfolds, supported by limestone. More precisely, it is citrus-flavoured fruit jellies, now, orange and lemon. Yet further on, this lovely sweetness takes the form of fudge and Scottish tablet, then burnt cake crust. Wow! To think this was mute, a moment ago... Now, someone paying close attention may detect a vegetative note too, cabbage-cooking water, marsh gas, old downpipes, or even boiled eggs (do I hear the chemists say: "hydrogen sulfide"?) Those are extremely fleeting, and not a flaw, in tOMoH's opinion -- just a reminder that even fruit jellies end in the same place (the one that is celebrated in a Bigod20 song). Tilting the glass increases the sulphur-y notes, which now become more mineral than gaseous: cordite, matchbox striker, lighter flint. What a welcome surprise! Welcome? Yes: it adds another layer, and it is tame enough to not risk bothering anyone. The second nose is more-immediately talkative, but still surprisingly discreet. Sweet, with fruit cordial, jellies, made in the workshop of a smoker (Virginia tobacco), and a pinch of grated black cardamom. Oh! and faint flowers too, likely jasmine but so faint, it is hard to tell. Phwoar! Water dials up the hot-metal note, a hot Moka pot, deglazed with grenadine or sweetened orange juice. Against all odds, it works. Mouth: holy smoke! This is sweet and fruity. Turkish delights, and tons of (red) fruit jellies, soon submerged by a pronounced heat. This is pretty strong, after all. Rum-soaked membrillo, potent punch, in which someone dropped a few flintstones, candied berries on a hot slate. One gets accustomed to the heat relatively easily, which allows fruit jellies to really shine. The second sip is syrupy, just on the right side of sickly sweet. It has fruit jams on steroid, membrillo and fig pastes, strawberry jelly, and a dash of grenadine (the good stuff; not that industrial shite). A soft nuttiness seems to ease in, after a minute, a gentle bitterness to counterbalance the otherwise-overwhelming sweet notes. Candied pistachios, jellied walnuts, and, well, fruit jellies, still. The mouth is initially softer with water, though soon becomes more acidic (oranges gone wild), before calming down and offering more fruit jellies, alongside mixed peel. Finish: this is an Oloroso cask? It could easily pass for a Ruby Port -- or even a fruit-jelly cask. The whisky is clearly sweet and fruity, which is not what many would recognise as a typical ex-Oloroso-cask profile. Zero complaint here, mind! Membrillo, rose-petal jelly, rosehip, grenadine, Turkish delights, and, of course at that strength, a lick of hot metal. The second gulp introduces milk chocolate, perhaps mocha-augmented, which goes well with those jellies. With water, it remains sweet, yet les so. Again, we see more citrus jellies than red-fruit ones, now, candied citrus segments and slices, mixed peel, and marmalade, if less bitter. Let us call it jam, then. Another excellent Clydeside. 8/10 (Thanks for the sample, DH)