We took detailed notes for this bottling over eleven years ago. We revisited it in 2022, without spending enough time with it. Time to do so before the bottle is empty!
Glenugie 26yo 1982/2008 (50%, Douglas Laing The Old Malt Cask 50º, Bourbon Barrel, C#4703, 310b): nose: phwoar! I poured this a couple of hours prior to tasting it, and after that much time to develop, it has turned into a luxuriant salad bowl of honey-and-marmalade-glazed yellow fruits: apricots, mirabelle plums, nectarines. Scratching the surface, one can find a metallic trace, more old tin or zinc than anything precious. Suddenly, that becomes dusty, covered in dry lichen, before turning into a fertile ground for delicately-fragrant flowers -- jasmine, roses, tulips, narcissuses. We end up back with yellow fruits, much to tOMoH's delight. Unexpectedly, the second nose presents a slightly-austere Highlander, with limescale-rich hot water, a coffee machine being cleaned, and stale milk chocolate for baking that is starting to form lumps. Actually, it is stale strawberry-filled chocolate, in which the strawberry filling is forming lumps. How bizarre! Shaking the glass brings back some of the fruits from earlier, now heated. Mouth: it is a mellow, unctuous attack that barely conceals a sharp metallic second impression, although that latter part lasts only seconds. Soon, a bold acidity rises, carried by pineapple chunks lifted out of a heated tin, warmed pomelo juice, baked greengages, and tinned mirabelle plums garnishing a tart. The second sip helps pinpoint the metal (zinc flashing), and doubles down on hot fruits: hot mirabelle plums and pineapple chunks peacock under our nose, floating on a warm blend, half fruity yoghurt, half pouring custard. It gains a fleeting saltiness just before swallowing, too. Finish: a vibrant freshness occurs, in which mint crumbles rub elbows with skinned greengages and mirabelle plums. We note a dose of old caster sugar, coagulated into a lumpy mess, stored in a metal pot for decades, and tainted by said metal as a consequence. This finish is more bitter-sweet than acidic, and the fruitiness that is still present is a little different, now, as it displays crystallised mandarine segments and preserved kumquats. The second gulp is mellower and sweeter, and, if we still find metal and crystallised fruits, we also have the creaminess of custard -- or, to be precise, of the filling in a custard-cream biscuit. What a dram! How it will be missed when the bottle is empty! 9/10
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