2024/12/24 The Arngibbon

The Arngibbon 10yo 2013/2024 Speyside Release 5 (50%, Stirling Distillery Sons of Scotland, Bourbon Barrel, C#1793, 222b, b#171): another while-we-wait bottling from Stirling Distillery. The Cashly was a Highlander, this is a Speysider. Nose: surprisingly grassy, which is not in line with my recollection of it, but closer to The Cashly, Fresh sage, lemon thyme, some kind of conifer, juniper, and tiled-floor detergent. Behind that is a pasty or another, butternut squash topped with lemon thyme, perhaps rosemary, and rolled in a flaky puff pastry. All in all, it is light and bright, but that grassiness is hard to miss. The second nose has hardened crayons, dried-out marker pens, and old colour-pencil leads. Those are still punctuated by lemon-y herbs: thyme, chamomile, not really mint, but fresh Kaffir lime leaves, maybe even lemongrass. Mouth: hm. There is a soft-but-clear bitterness at play, and the inside of a new sports shoe (synthetic foam, glue, processed leather). or the synthetic carpet/fur inside a case of Douglas Laing Old & Rare A Platinum Selection from 2011. Chewing reveals a soapier side, albeit an ashy soap, rather than a horribly-shampoo-y one. Time adds burnt lichens and Verdigris. The second sip is more palatable, less synthetic. Instead, we have sage stems, crushed pine cones, minty biltong (a matter of texture, not meatiness), and mentholated custard. It tastes as odd as it reads. In the long run, one may detect citrus peels too, mandarine, to be precise, juicy, chewy, and bitter. Finish: still grassy, but not only. We see dried sage sprinkled on vanilla custard. A long, warming finish it is, that ends up rolling out liquorice wheels. The second gulp is strongly custardy, with enough herbs to compete with the vanilla. Those herbs morph into mandarine foliage, over time, with the fruity bitterness that implies. This is not terrible, though not a resounding success either. 6/10 (Thanks for the samples, PSc)