02/09/2024 Littlemill

97.9 17yo 1990/2007 Clean spirit in a quality cask (56%, SMWS Society Cask): leftover from ten days ago. Nose: a potent blend of daffodil, confectionary sugar, and Tête de Moine. The latter is more about the elevated fragrance imparted by the shredded texture than it is about dairy of any kind, let alone smelly cheese (not that Tête de Moine is particularly smelly). Nah! This is flowery and fruity. Sweet? Undoubtedly. Not cheesy. This has flower-scented crepe paper (in a similar idea as that Tête de Moine), persimmon, cider or perry, and tonic water. We are not in quinine territory, yet it does promise a slight bitterness. Perhaps, if Alka Seltzer made a citrus-flavoured effervescent tablet, this could be close. Next are peaches, smashed on a mahogany plank. And we move to pastries -- pear tartlets dusted with confectionary sugar. The second nose has an apricot-and-mud smoothie, blue plasticine, modelling clay, and citrus foliage (bergamot or kumquat). Candy necklaces take to the stage, crumbly, chalky, yet sweet too. Mouth: it is at once bitter, fruity and hot. What is the ABV on this? It feels higher. Nae bother, though, as that is adequately balanced by cut peach slices, juicy apricots, perhaps even (fairly-unripe) mangoes, and a pinch of Aspirin-tablet gratings. Chewing increases that Aspirin bitterness, and tickles ink. With (not too much) imagination, one may picture petrol-stained cockles, which is unexpected and amusing at the same time, a bit like being in the room when the Queen farts. More chewing piles up mangoes, always a pleasure. The second sip feels much more acidic and sweeter: orange slices, candied kumquats, dried apricots, chewy, sweet, and pickled with a drop of pomelo juice. Or it could be pomelo soda instead. Crushed Aspirin comes back, tamer than before. Finish: warm and fruity, it is also surprisingly chalky. Probably, that is the Aspirin taking on a new facet, more desiccating and less bitter. We have the dried residue in an empty glass of tonic lemonade, pink chalk on a blackboard, and dried lemon peels via retro-nasal olfaction. Remarkably long and warming, this finish feels almost medicinal. Not in the way one usually understands a medicinal whisky mind; it is closer to something one would drink to avoid scurvy and malaria. In other words, it is tropical-not-tropical fruit juice dressed in tonic water. The second gulp is sweeter, with honey-glazed kumquat easily overpowering the quinine bitterness, which takes the appearance of a candy necklace. Excellent! 9/10 (Thanks for the sample, PS)