29/01/2025 Industry Giants: Dave Broom at the SMWS

A series of events centered around a personality of the mad world of whisky. Tonight, the SMWS welcomes Dave Broom. Except it does not, really. Due to a collision between a train and a person, Dave's train was sent back to its starting point, and he will never make it to the capital. SMWS ambassador John McCheyne stands in for him. Also a whisky enthusiast, also Glaswegian, and even a supporter of the same football team, he tells us.

cavalier66 and PS are here, as are a few other familiar faces. JS joins us late, also delayed by the train incident.

38.43 32yo d.1992 Bar room buzz (49.6%, SMWS The Creators Collection, 1st Fill ex-PX Barrique, 213b): nose: precious woods, melted chocolate, a dollop of toothpaste. cavalier66 finds "lovely" xylene too. It has a beautiful Sherry influence that goes from a nutty paste to pressed prunes, with an added whiff of smoke in the second sniff. Mouth: Sherry poured on gravel, and prunes that become juicier and juicier. cavalier66 spots ozone -- and he is right. Finish: black-pepper-covered prunes. It is a very, very long finish, ripe with cured peaches, and squashed apricots splashed with sweet Sherry. 8/10

JMcC: "He said my accent sounded like a Lamborghini fuelled with Irn Bru."

10.272 10yo d.2013 Jeretzering home (61%, SMWS Society Cask, 1st Fill ex-Oloroso Hogshead, 210b): nose: oil paint -- a full palette of it, -- lichen on stave, but also toffee. Sticky toffee pudding, in fact, and pebbles. Suddenly, fresh red chill pepper appears, crushed. It almost makes me close my eyes, so clear and fierce that chilli is. A few drops of water makes this more metallic, with hot cast iron. Mouth: well, it is a souped-up Sherry on the tongue, dry, mineral, as well as wine-y and sweet. Sugar turned green and quarry dust guarantee an abrasive texture. It is very, very hot. Fruity, but hot. Surprisingly, water makes this even more desiccating. It is not quite chalky, yet it does suck all the moisture from the mouth. Finish: long, fiery, feisty, it rolls out boiling toffee and caramel coulis poured on piping-hot prunes. Water adds a drop of ink to those prunes. 7/10

JP: "This one is called Gorgonzolas burning! 241 bottles. We can send this anywhere in the world. But, if we choose to send it to America, the FDA has to test it, because it mentions food. Which increases prices."
tOMoH: "Just keep them here. PS will buy them."

94.50 12yo d.2012 Hodgepodge (60.2%, SMWS Society Cask, ex-Bourbon Barrel + HTMC New Oak Barrel Finish, 195b): nose: artificial (cavalier66). Indeed, it is plastic-y. Plastic pipes, then burnt hay and old paper. A little mint shows up too. Mouth: mellow to a point, it grows in power. We have some kind of nut paste, and a spray of WD-40, and crystallised strawberries, after a while. Another Sherry cask, though this one turns remarkably fruity. Finish: long and fruity, with strawberries again, and raspberries, served in a plastic half-pipe. Later on, we have maple-syrup-coated tree bark. Fettercairn. What a quirky distillery! 7/10

93.219 25yo 1999/2024 A silver darling (58.6%, SMWS Society Cask In celebration of Greville Street's 25th Birthday, Oloroso Butt + 1st Fill ex-PX Hogshead, 219b): nose: another Sherry number, a nutty one, this time. Chestnut, water chestnut, charred marzipan topped with a spoonful of black shoe polish. We also have cough drops. Time and insistence help detect tropical fruits in a rubber pouch. Water pushes gingerbread forward. Mouth: here, it is a fairly-indistinct Sherry cask, if a good one. Minty tar, roasted chestnuts, a lick of drying rubber. The second sip has talcum-powder-coated bicycle inner tubes, chalky-and-a-half. With water, it remains the same, albeit wetter. Over time, drying avocado skins come into focus. Finish: long and pleasantly refreshing, it has cinnamon paste and boozy prunes, dried figs and dates, which add an earthy touch. 

JP: "Every bottle tonight is 10% off. I only tell you this because my boss is not here."

138.28 5yo d.2018 Thrills, gills and skills with grills (57.6%, SMWS Society Cask, 1st Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 180b): nose: woah! this is extremely plastic-y, offensively so. Bin bags, rubbish. Brash (cavalier66), young (cavalier66). Incredibly, the whole nose ignites: burning hay, burning bags of rubbish, burning nappies. Just... why? Later on, we have a note of red fruits and smoked tree bark. Mouth: plastic-pipe shavings, melted and blended with milk chocolate. Perhaps it has a drop of citrus juice, or even lemon curd. Then, some smoke rises. Finish: Remarkably short and characterless, which is quite a feat for something this fierce. Mud comes up, in the long run, not much more, and I do not have the inclination or disposition to investigate any further. Too meh. And that nose! Pfff! 5/10

cavalier66 wants to try another new bottling.

50.119 34yo d.1990 Gallovidian rhapsody (53.6%, SMWS The Vault Collection, ex-Bourbon Barrels + Refill ex-Bourbon Barrel Finish, 235b): nose: we are in a different dimension, full of ripe citrus -- Sicilian lemon, calamansi, Kaffir lime, phwoar! Mouth: ooft! This is so citrus-y, with Ugli fruit, calamansi, and lime segments kept in cellophane. Finish: lemon-flavoured custard cream. Best dram tonight. That batch of casks distilled on the 26th January 1990 never disappoints! 9/10 (Thanks, cavalier66)

The staff takes individual orders. PS jumps on the opportunity -- of course he does.

tOMoH: "What did you order?"
PS: "A random Glentauchers."

Where else does one hear that!?

26.213 10yo d.2012 Carnations on the coast (61.5%, SMWS Society Cask, 1st Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 204b): no notes. 8/10 (Thanks, cavalier66)

A good night out, as always. Since it was a surprise to me and I did not know what to expect, Broom's absence did not bother me. Also, McCheyne is a good host anyway. I was less convinced by the drams (aside the vile Nantou, everything seemed a little too sherried for me), but it is always interesting to try new things. The pours are still (too) generous, though. Bang for one's buck, sure, but that is a lot of alcohol to absorb in a relatively-short time. Especially when one's companion does not finish their own drams.

Tomorrow will see a dangerous start, even if it will all clear up seamlessly before school begins.

31/01/2025 St. George

We started the month with an American whiskey and we finish it with an American whiskey. In rhetoric, that is called an epanadiplosis.

Noun

epanadiplosis (uncountable)

(rhetoric) A figure of speech by which an American whiskey is tasted both at the beginning and at the end of a month.

(The above may be made up)

St. George 3yo The Baller (47%, OB, Ex-Bourbon, French Wine Casks + Umeshu Finish): we had this less than a week ago. Let us give it proper time and attention. Nose: just as it did last week, this Baller punches one in the face with all things citrus! Lemon zest, lemon-scented detergent, lemon cream cleaner, lemon curd... No! Scratch that last one; it is lemon sorbet. Those who a regulars at public toilets may decide that it has lemon-scented urinal cookies. Whether that is a good or a bad thing is entirely down to personal preference. One may spot lemon cake too, yet it is merely the lemon glazing on said cake, rather than anything involving flour. This is too ethereal to promise anything solid. The more one sniffs this, the more cleaning products come out, which revolve around cream cleaner and urinal cookies. It does not take much effort to imagine the gunk dissolving under that detergent's action... or, indeed, urine. The second nose has Cologne spilled on a magazine, and a pouch of pot-pourri that contains lime leaves and dried citrus segments. It is now reminiscent of some Christmas-market stalls with their heady scented tat. Mouth: acidic, citrus-y, it develops a mineral touch that provides a certain bitterness, while carried by a fruity undercurrent. Kaffir lime leaves, lime and pomelo foliage, jellied lime zest. Someone wearing green rubber gloves is furiously cleaning one's mouth with a green-citrus-scented cleaner cream. The second sip jacks up the green acidity, which means more citrus foliage and jellied zest. We have old lime drops kept in a tin, and newly-minted coins. What a surprise that is! Finish: with an exquisitely-balanced alcohol, this presents more green citrus of several kinds (lime, Kaffir lime, pomelo, bergamot, kabosu), as well as unripe pineapple and Chinese gooseberry. It is leafy to a point, i.e. a tad bitter, but mostly fruity, or acidic and sweet. Retro-nasal olfaction catches more detergent, yet it is not soapy, here; it Is but the scent of what was cleaned, no longer the cleaning agent itself. Repeated quaffing confirms that it is fruitier and fruitier, and the green bitterness of cleaning agent dwindles away. This feels close to a limoncello (lime-on-cello) than a whiskey, but it is pleasantly refreshing. Hard to overlook the knowledge that it was made to be drunk in a highball, though. It seems to call for adding water. 7/10 (Thanks for the dram, JS)

Dryanuary ends tonight. We can finally resume our Single Malt Scotch Whisky adventures.

25/01/2025 Burns Night 2025 -- Exit the Dragon (Part 2)

The story started here.

Arrrrrrr!

JS presents a bottle with a dragon on the label.

Chichibu London Edition b.2023 (51.5%, OB Ichiro's Malt imported by Speciality Drinks, 1949b, b#1843) (JS): nose: floral (Psycho). It is rather drier than expected, mostly displaying hay. With time, tropical fruits appear, chiefly timid papaya. Mouth: a little earthy, root-y, actually, with beets, celeriac, sweet potato skins, and chilli flakes on pineapple rings. Finish: long, dry, it has more sweet-potato peels, and a vague hue of tropical fruits in the background. Baked pineapple rings. JS feels it is less impressive than the 2022 edition. I think it is just as good. 8/10

Bishlouk wakes up only to leave. He tells me the link between his bottles (which he leaves behind) and the theme, then blags a sample of one of the bottles.

Bishlouk: "Is it ok if I leave you a sample for the Talisker?"
dom666: "I'll fill it now."
tOMoH: "Psss. Psss. Do you want a funnel, dom666? Oh! no, you don't need it."

Bishlouk, sonicvince and Mrs. sonic disappear in the night. ydc goes to bed.

Psycho tells us that Bruce Lee is now another name for kung-fu, but he also practised karate. He adds that the founder of modern karate is Gichin Funakoshi -- or Fixin Gunakoshi, as he will be known tonight. Boom.

Arran d.1996 (55.6%, La Maison du Whisky Belgique M & H Cask Selection, Domaine Olivier Guyot Fixin Wood Finish, C#96/1372, 144b, b#13) (Psycho): nose: faint shoe polish applied on new leather, cured peach and apricot. Mouth: a bit wine-y, tannic. It has crushed cereals, hay, and baked citrus segments. Finish: hot custard with a splash of vin jaune. This is still not my thing, yet it is not as vile as I remembered it. 5/10

tOMoH: "Le Fixin me déplaît moins que l'autre fois. Le nez est pas mal. La bouche est plus difficile."
Gaija: "Il a une belle touche de soufre."
dom666: "Il y a surtout une grosse dose de souffrance."

Bishlouk: Exit the Dragon coincides with Enter the Serpent. The unlucky number of the serpent is 6; the lucky number 9. Both are divisible by 3, so Bishlouk brought three bottles.

Ord 15yo 2008/2023 (53.4%, Cadenhead Club Part of a 10th Anniversary Sherry Series, Pedro Ximénez since Sep. 2020, 1125b) (Bishlouk): nose: very earthy, it has grated chocolate, soft coffee grounds, wet mud, then flat cola and carbonyl. Later on, chocolate grows to become the dominant force. Mouth: lively, acidic, it has lots of carbonyl, but also coffee and Dr. Pepper. Earthy and root-y. Finish: sweet and earthy here too, root-y, it showcases a copious dose of root beer and Dr. Pepper. Pretty good. 7/10

Psycho reminds us that Bruce Lee debuted as a character in Kato (The Green Hornet). To celebrate that, he brought a Kato-nhead bottling. Groans.

Loch Lomond 21yo 1997/2018 (52.5%, Cadenhead Small Batch, 2 x Bourbon Barrels, 378b) (Psycho): nose: fruits cut on cardboard, followed by custard and fruit yoghurt. It is that kind of days, innit. Mouth: chalky, it combines buttery mango with a milk-chocolate twang. The tropical fruits that appear are staggering: mango and papaya louder than all. Finish: big and explosive with lots of tropical fruits again. Amazing dram. How it manages to shine after so many others is a mystery. 9/10

The soundtrack: The Old Man of Huy - Exit The Dragon

red71 will provide the explanation for his contribution in a couple of days, since he has left: "We exit the dragon to move towards another Chinese animal -- next is the serpent, but who cares? The one we are interested in is the rooster. Je ne veux pas passer du coq a l'âne, mais du coq a l'oie." [untranslatable expression -- suffice to say 'oie' means 'goose'] "And," he adds, "the valley of the wild geese is the translation of Glengoyne."

Glengoyne b.2012 (58.7%, OB Cask Strength, Oak Casks, B#001, 39583) (red71): nose: hot gunmetal, ground coffee (or mocha), and a spray of furniture polish. Mouth: this is strongly drying, mineral, and also pretty hot, even following the high-ABV drams that preceded it. Finish: balanced, juicier than it was on the tongue, it has plums and prune syrup. This fares really well, so late in the line-up. 8/10

ruckus: "Imminent is playing in Aachen in May."

krruk2: "We'll go to Aachen in May."
tOMoH: "To see Barbie? A Ken..."
kruuk2: "Hazewee..."

Dessert #4 enters, courtesy of JS, with a little help from Mrs. sonic, who made the shirt, earlier.

JS presents a bottling that has the word 'dragon' in the title. Surely, that is self explanatory.

128.18 9yo d.2012 Dragon's lipstick (59%, SMWS Society Cask, ex-Bourbon Hogshead + 1st Fill Ex-Ruby Port Barrique Finish, 271b) (JS): nose: host metal, a medicinal haze, paint (Gaija), and then that flips to give fruit turnovers on a hot tin tray. The (acrylic) paint is increasingly laced with tropical fruits. Surely, breathing will turn this into another Welsh fruit bomb (as oppose to a Welsh-fruit bomb, for those who are precise with language). Mouth: mango slices on hot metal trays, and half-baked fruit turnovers, which spells chewy dough and setting custard. Finish: long, full of hot turnovers on worn-out metallic baking trays. This is excellent as is, and will certainly improve yet. 8/10

dom666: "The bloke who played [character's name] in l'Île Aux Enfants just died."
tOMoH: "No, I didn't."
dom666: "Did you play in l'Île Aux Enfants?"
tOMoH: "I played in a porno, and, being Belgian, it probably had children in it, but I'm not sure."

Ben Nevis 10yo 2010/2023 (53.7%, Cadenhead Club Part of a 10th Anniversary Sherry Series, Oloroso Hogshead since Nov. 2020, 1138b) (Bishlouk): the second of Bishlouk's three-pack (see above). Nose: a lot of black shoe polish. That later opens up to give plum jam. Mouth: yeah, shoe-polish-coated apricot stones, ground black pepper, charred pineapple, mocha cake. Further sips have more prunes. Finish: long, sherried, and pineapple-y -- charred pineapple, see? Mocha-chocolate-glazed pudding. Juicy prunes in syrup settle for good, in the end. This is good, if, again, a better Sherry-matured whisky than a Ben Nevis from a Sherry cask. 7/10

tOMoH: "Il est cracra, mais pas trop."
We talk about the meaning of 'cracra', 'crado', 'crade' and 'crasse' (dirty, filthy).
dom666: "À Liège, on était tous BCBG: bien crados pour bien guindailler."

dom666's turn: "I wanted to bring a Talisker. For the link, I searched and searched, and found nothing..."
Psycho: "You could have..."
dom666: "I'm not finished!"
dom666 [pulls out a Talisker 8yo from his bag, and reads the description]: "No luck, I ordered the wrong one. So [pulls out another bottle from his bag], here is another one with a dragon on it."
Psycho: "How do you fit any Talisker into the theme? A dragon flies in the Skye."

Talisker 8yo b.2021 The Rogue Seafury (59.7%, OB Special Release 2021 imported by DBBV, Refill Casks) (dom666): nose: farm-y (Psycho), farmyard (Psycho). It is indeed earthy, peaty, with old ropes in addition, tarry fishing nets, and ancient ink, as well as seashells. Mouth: salt water, preserved lemons, brine, crushed oysters shells... This has so much brine it hurts. Finish: it is rather violent, at this stage, full of hot salt water, sea salt, calamansi bathing in rockpools, and smoked mussels. It somehow makes me think of a tequila slammer. On another day, it may score less well for me, but tonight... 8/10

vs.

Talisker 8yo b.2020 (57.9%, OB Special Release 2020 imported by DBBV, Caribbean Rum Cask Finish) (dom666): nose: a lot softer and woodier than its sibling. It is more subtle on all accounts. Mouth: we have oysters and mussels splashed with rum, which is quite surprising, if one does not expect it, i.e. if tasted blind. Finish: long, salty and briny. My notes do not do it justice, but I prefer the 2021 version, in any case. 6/10

Can you believe we skip the mighty Talisker 20yo 1981/2002 (62%, OB Limited Edition, Sherry Casks, 9000b, b#5117)? Not enough energy or time to shoehorn it into the theme.

Caol Ila 11yo 2012/2023 (52.7%, Cadenhead Club Part of a 10th Anniversary Sherry Series, Palo Cortado Hogshead since Apr. 2022, 1059b) (Bishlouk): last of the triptych that Bishlouk left us. Nose: shoe polish, just-polished knee-high hunting boots, with mud from the latest hunt stuck to the sole. It has fishing nets too. At this stage, not much else comes out, but it is well honest. Perhaps some ink. Mouth: super inky -- maybe too much so. It is very drying, desiccating, almost difficult. Challenging, in any case. It walks a tight rope -- a marine rope. Finish: long and inky, coastal (Gaija), and somewhat akin to chewing on an old, inky, tarry rope. It is okay, a little unsubtle. 6/10

dom666 [about the Caol Ila]: "It has peat. Way too much peat."
Gaija: "You don't understand anything about poetry."

JS goes to bed.

Gaija tells us that Exit the Dragon is the title of an album by Urge Overkill, recorded in 1995, the same vintage as this Lagavulin (and its owner).

Lagavulin 19yo 1995/2014 (54.7%, OB bottled especially to celebrate Fèis Ìle 2014, European Oak Sherry Butts, 3500b, b#0837) (Gaija): nose: initially very mineral, it becomes fairly vegetal, with all sorts of moist mosses, lichens, and other vegetation. Lots of leather too, suede and leatherette, as well as old cigar, swamp (Gaija), and, after a while, chlorine. Mouth: it is super concentrated, hot, ashy as an ashtray. It is big and bold, overflowing with cigarette ash. Finish: lots of cigarette ash here too, and stagnant water. On the late tip, it shows sugar and strawberry jam in an ashtray. This may not be my favourite profile, but it is well made, hard to argue with that. 8/10

Gaija: "When I brought it, I thought it would be in the second half of the line-up, but I didn't think it would be 16:13 in the morning."

tOMoH presents Hergé's masterpiece: Port Charlotus Bleu

Port Charlotte 14yo 2002/2017 (60.1%, The Creative Whisky Company The Exclusive Malts, Sherry Hogshead, C#1140, 228b) (group): I take no notes, at this late hour. Gaija finds purple fruits and raisins, whereas GD has dried sausage. As for me, I am simply astounded that, at stupid o'clock in the morning, after what has been the most-ambitious Burns' Night to-date, this wee fifteen-year-old bulldozes everything that came prior, and takes over like the victor it is, without being brash or obnoxious; just dominating with its mere presence. One day, we will review this one adequately. 9/10

The soundtrack: The Old Man of Huy - Another Brick In The Wall

tOMoH [to the survivors]: "One last one?"
GD: "No, thanks. On est bien, Tintin."

The others (ruckus, Psycho, dom666, kruuk2, Gaija) have kruuk2's Laphroaig.

Psycho departs around 6:00. Gaija goes to bed around the same time. kruuk2, dom666 and ruckus decamp a couple of hours later, quickly followed by GD and ydc, who just got up. It is 8:00. New record.

Tomorrow, dom666 will say: "[...] I can see we are getting older, because we have never had so short an after-party, with only one dram... Of course, we finished the line-up after six..."

We have Dessert #5 the following morning, courtesy of Mrs. sonic

Broken corks -- almost all Psycho's

25/01/2025 Burns Night 2025 -- Exit the Dragon (Part 1)

2024 was the year of the Dragon -- and that year is ending in a few days. Too late for Enter the Dragon, just in time for Exit the Dragon.

Decoration courtesy of ruckus

JS, adc, Gaija, kruuk2, ruckus, dom666, Psycho, sonicvince, Mrs. sonic, STL, red71, Bishlouk, ydc, GD, and I meet up for the yearly celebration, loosely connected with the Bard.

Record number of guests, this year

The line-up...
...before any guest arrives

adc stuck a note on the door asking not to talk about politics to avoid getting worked up.

STL [when the front door opens on him]: "May we talk about arse?"

We have an early theoretical start (17:30), but one does not see fifteen people turn up on time, do they? Arrivals are scattered between 17:09 and 18:30. Fortunately, JS brought an aperitif.

...and red71 and STL brought appetizers

St. George Single Malt Whiskey Lot 17 (43%, OB, B#SM017, b.2017) (JS): I do not try it; it is appreciated by all who do. My notes are here.

Psycho: "One can tell it is Californian: it is smoky."

With that questionable joke out of the way, we are ready to start for realz. The menu is (very) ambitious, so my notes are sometimes scant.

Full line-up, with lots of undisclosed bottles

sonicvince presents Green Douglas. 'Douglas' contains 'glas', which is made with heat: one blows fire on sand to "do glass". Groans.

Green Douglas 5yo (40%, OB The Douglas Fir for Aldi) (sonicvince): nose: light and surprisingly herbal, it has verbena and dried sage. Mouth: dried sage sprinkled on custard cream. Chewing injects crème anglaise. red71 and Gaija astutely call out violet and pékèt au cuberdon. Doubtful at first, I becomes convinced they are right with a little careful analysis. Finish: soft and dry, shortly submerged by violet-flavoured pékèt (gin, to keep it simple). Unpretentious first dram. It does the trick. 6/10

dom666: "Look! I've been playing Dungeons & Dragons since 1984."
ruckus: Those are fantasy dragons, not real ones."

Psycho: "Nice, that little grain."
tOMoH: "And to think you used to not like grains!"
Psycho: "Only idiots never change their minds"
ruckus: "Only idiots don't like grains."

Bishlouk and Psycho talk about work.
red71: "Can we keep those discussions for ten drams from now?"

Soup is served.

Sweet potato and carrot soup.
I almost forget to take a picture, hence the nearly-empty plate.

Psycho explains that "the Dragon" is a nickname for Bruce Lee who went to secondary school to E-Deanston Technical School. Wow.

Deanston 17yo (40%, OB, Oak Casks, 7156 97/0331 L16, b. 1997) (Psycho): nose: apple juice (sonicvince), acidic (Gaija), Turkish delights, OBE and beeswax (Gaija), greengages, marzipan and ground almonds (ruckus). Mouth: funnily enough (because it is not in line with the nose), this has toffee and dusty furniture, as well as lovely wax. Finish: toffee, dusty wax, thickening beeswax... This is delicious! Better than I remembered it (from another bottle). A generous 8/10

Also, the cork breaks -- one of many tonight

tOMoH: "There's greengage, here."
sonicvince [who half-committed to bringing a greengage tart]: "You're really stuck on that greengage."
tOMoH: "I'm going to make you feel it all night."
all: "!?!??!?!"

We talk about Houte-Si-Plou [pronounce: hoot-see-ploo, Walloon for Listen-if-it's-raining, and also the name of a village].
dom666: "There is a Houte-Si-Plou in Savoie [a region of Southern France]."
tOMoH: "Isn't there one in Burundi? Or Rwanda? Ah! no, that's Tutsi-Plou."
dom666: "Ain't that a film with Dustin Hoffman?"

Dinner is served.

Haggis Parmentier

Vegetarian haggis

Roasted seasonal vegetables

Potato purée

ruckus presents two Scapas, each with a longship on the label. In French, a longship is called 'drakkar', clearly related to 'drakar', Swedish for 'dragons'. A certain type of longship is known as 'dreki'. Wikipedia tells us: "The word dreki for a ship derives from this practice of placing carved dragonheads on ships."

Anyway, this Scapa longship is small, but it has a dragon figurehead.
Bizarrely, it sems to be on the back of the ship.

Also, one of the two bottlings was distilled in 1988, which was a year of the Dragon.

Scapa 2005/2017 (43%, Gordon & MacPhail, 161983) (ruckus): nose: custard cream and crème anglaise come out at first, then it develops a little herbaceous quality. Gaija talks about Parmesan cheese, though I cannot see that. Mouth: a little mineral, with some bitterness and a lot of pepper (or is it the haggis we just had?) It has a delicious milky-creamy texture. Finish: beautiful, loaded with oat milk and cinnamon powder. 8/10

vs.

Scapa 1988/1999 (40%, Gordon & MacPhail, II/BGE) (ruckus): nose: custard cream and custard powder, cocoa powder and coconut milk, a hint of mint too. It mellows out in the long run, with carrot soup or sweet potato (or is there some soup stuck in our teeth? Because it is not just me) Mouth: βανίλια, vanilla custard, just a pinch of quarry dust... In fact, it becomes rather dusty over time, and adds tar to that. JS finds it well fruity. Finish: wonderful custard pudding, with a sprinkle of cocoa powder or powdered cinnamon. 9/10

red71 struggles with the notion that these were distilled seventeen years apart. "Ah! You add the ages of both and you divide by two," he exclaims. We tease him about his miscomprehension mercilessly.

red71: "Is there any more haggis? The more haggis [ruckus, Gaija and tOMoH] eat, the less cake they'll eat!"
ruckus: "That's what you think!"

nth serving

The soundtrack: _Ruckus_ - Exit The Dragon

We all marvel at ruckus's shirt.

ruckus: "Wait! [unbuttons his shirt to reveal a green/yellow dragon t-shirt] See?"
tOMoH: "Wait! If you remove the t-shirt, do you have a dragon tattoo underneath?"
ruckus: "Yeah! On the prick!"
Bishlouk: "Ah! A dragonet, then."

sonicvince's effort

tOMoH's effort -- it has a larger dragon in the back
and both glow in the dark. Of course, it will never
be dark enough for others to see that

GD's effort

sonicvince says that, if Enter the Dragon was a film with Bruce Lee, Enter the Tiger was a film with Bruce Li. In other words: a knock-off of a Bruce Lee film. Or a Knock-and-off.

Knockando 18yo d.1994 (43%, OB, Sherry Casks) (sonicvince): nose: caramel and coffee (sonicvince), black tea (Gaija). It will be cappuccino for me, then it turns to porridge, thick, creamy, but drier than the real thing. Mouth: thick, coating at first, then a tad metallic, like a warm chocolate milk drunk from a tin mug. Finish: big, full of cinnamon, augmented with a pinch of ginger powder, and it settles on chocolate and millionaire shortbread (adc). Another generous note: it works so well, tonight! 8/10

dom666: "We have been cracking the same jokes for twenty years. I know: I do it too."
red71: "No, not twenty years."
dom666: "Yes, since 2003. That is more than twenty."
red71: "I have only known you for four years, and I have already heard the same jokes. Not twenty years."

kruuk2 reminds everyone of a 1980s arcade game he used to go watch people play at the fair. It was named the most-difficult video game ever, in which necessary moves were hard to predict and execute. He is, of course, talking about Dragon's Balb-lair.

Balblair 15yo (46%, OB, ex-Bourbon American Oak Casks + First Fill Spanish Oak Butts) (kruuk2): nose: smoked citrus rinds, blood orange, then tawed leather and some hay. Mouth: toffee and a pinch of dust make way for spices, with lots of pepper and crushed red chilli. The following sips are full of cocoa powder. Finish: long, full, chocolate-y again, and it has a dash of rich fruit eau-de-vie. 7/10

red71: "I cannot hear dom666 anymore..."
dom666: "I'm here."
tOMoH: "It's the Balblair [that suppresses him]."
red71: "Give me a case of six!"

tOMoH [talking about Cthulhu]: "It's impossible for a human mouth to pronounce it well."
red71: "A human mouth! As if there was anything else [that could speak]."
tOMoH: "There are other dimensions, folks."
Psycho: "A chihuahua sphincter does not sound the same as a rottweiler sphincter."

tOMoH unveils the first group bottle of the evening, for which the link is obvious. We have it alongside STL's contribution, who says: "I tend to drink great things with good people, here (except Bishlouk), so I thought I'd bring something nice." It was distilled in 1973, the year of Bruce Lee's death.

Highland Park 1961/1997 (48.1%, S & JD Robertson Group The Dragon, Hogshead, C#4493, 216b) (group): nose: incense (Gaija), gunpowder, mustard (Gaija), ground stone, dried oregano, dried marjoram, ashes, burnt tea leaves, wax seal, spent matches... The second nose mellows that out with some custard cream. Mouth: how does it manage to be at once juicy and ashy like this? It is distinctly ashy, with hot embers and hot seal wax -- rhaaaa! Finish: wow! A humbling mix of damp, riparian vegetation and extremely-fine white ashes, bananas and ganja (JS). Juicy plums make a late appearance too. I do not spend nearly-enough time with this tonight. It already is obvious that it is a killery. Incredible drop. 10/10

vs.

Tomintoul 39yo 1973/2003 The Day of Pearly Spencer (46.6%, La Maison du Whisky Belgique, C#1486) (STL): another missing 's' in the title, just as the Strathisla in the same series. Nose: leather toffee (sonicvince), smashed speculoos (sonicvince). Then, it turns very juicy, with peaches and nectarines on rye crackers. Mouth: considerably stronger than expected, almost drying, before the fruity character comes out with plums and greengages (again). Quite the exploit! Finish: long, explosive, it has spearmint and fruits (greengages, Mirabelle plums, honey-glazed plums) to precede salted-butter caramel (Psycho). Phwoar! 9/10

Bishlouk [about The Dragon]: "I expected more."
ruckus: "A label in full colours!"

Bishlouk: "The Highland Park is good, but it doesn't transport me. It does not give me a hard-on. I'm still half soft."
STL: "You still manage a hard-on?"

Bishlouk: "It's good. I have had younger and more-recent Highland Parks that impressed me more."
Gaija: "I'm listening to your references."

Dessert #1 enters, courtesy of STL's daughter

tOMoH and friends present a series. The longest series we have had, in fact, equalling the mighty MiMi-CraCra-Lo-Ellen-Sca from, ahem, a decade ago.

Anyway, this year, we are having seven bottlings for the seven crystal balls of Dragon Ball. Or Dragon Bal, as it will be known tonight.

Balblair d.1989 (46%, OB) (kruuk2): "another Balblair!" some marvel. We rarely have any, let alone more than one, in any given tasting. Nose: caramel and honey, oilcloth, and dried apple skins. That apple turns juicier with subsequent sniffs. Mouth: walnut kernels (Psycho), a soft nutty bitterness, peanut or so. The second sip sees some quarry dust and crushed peanut shells. Finish: dry, astringent (Bishlouk), acrid (Psycho). With its roasted walnuts, it is a very-long finish, warming, remarkable for this ABV. 7/10

The second bottling was supposed to be sonicvince's own Balblair 1989, which we have been meaning to try alongside its more-ancient sibling for many years. Sadly, he did not bring it, and kruuk2's bottle is now empty. It will never happen. Bah.

Ballantine's 30yo (unknown ABV, George Ballantine + Son, unknown volume, b. late 1970s/early 1980s, SB 161 L5) (group): nose: a little meaty, it presents a wicker basket full of decaying fruits. Old socks at the bottom of the drawer (kruuk2) develop into a sooty number. Mouth: rotten fruits turns juicier and fresher with each second. Soot grows in intensity too, as do meat and charred fruit. Finish: cranberries, lingonberries, and a shovelful of soot. tOMoH thinks of Bowmore Bicentenary, but then it could just be hs305's comment on whiskybase that suggests that. In any case, it is magnificent. 9/10

Talking about jellyfish stings, and how one should pee on the wound to soothe the pain.
dom666: "The best thing to do is pour vinegar on it."
tOMoH: "Yeah, I always have a bottle of vinegar with me, when I go to the beach."
dom666: "Another things that works is lemon juice."
tOMoH: "Yeah, I always have a lemon in my swimsuit."
dom666: "Italians wear cotton pads [in their swimsuit] to boost their masculinity."
tOMoH: "Aren't you Italian?"

Second dessert enters, courtesy of JS. And I do not even take a picture!

Secret Stills 02.02 40yo 1966/2006 (45%, Gordon & MacPhail Secret Stills, Sherry Hogsheads, C#1204+1449+1452, 600b, JF/CHH) (tOMoH): an undisclosed distillery from the Ballindalloch Castle Estate. Nose: unmistakeably an old distillation, a blend of fruits and soot. Mouth: dry as sawdust, yet juicy as marmalade, soft but spicy. Phwoar. Finish: long, assertive... Better notes here. 9/10

vs.

Balmenach-Glenlivet 19yo 1961/1980 (46%, Cadenhead) (JS): nose: initially metallic, it soon turns old-school, with soot, old plastics, and a grandmother's pudding. Mouth: acidic, waxy lemon rinds. Finish: once again: phwoar! Metal and lemon sign a pact and sing in unison. Cannot wait to try this again. 9/10

St. George 3yo The Baller (47%, OB, Ex-Bourbon, French Wine Casks + Umeshu Finish): and there is a dragon on the label -- w00t! Nose: lychee syrup (red71), soap (STL), waxy soap bars, citric powder, sherbet, rose water (ruckus), cola (sonicvince). Because of the label, I want to say açai berries: "Même si la peur m'açai / Je partirai comme un samouraï". Mouth: ridiculously lychee-like, choc-full of citric powder, scented candles and fruit-scented handwash. JS cleverly points out elderberry cordial, which is spot on. Finish: Paic Citron (Bishlouk), limoncello, lychee, rose water. This is original, if divisive. It does a perfect job of resetting the palate after the old glories. 6/10

As a side note, it works fantastically in a highball (hence the name). Interestingly, ruckus prefers it to the first St. George he had earlier.

vs.

140.17 3yo d.2019 Bowled over by cinnamon cola (62.8%, SMWS Society Cask, #3 Char New Oak Barrique, 217b) (tOMoH): this is a Balcones. Nose: big, cola-like, it has coffee too, though that may be the sludge brewing in the kitchen. Mouth: it strips the enamel (Psycho). It is hot and very woody, tonight. Cassia bark coated in red-chilli paste. Finish: sweet Demerara. Do not be fooled, though: it is huge, hairy to a point, with hot boilers. It warms the oesophagus all the way to the tonsils. Brutal. We have clearly moved from the 40s to the 60s without pausing for breath. As a side note, this is known in the States as Bowled over by something beautiful, because any mention of food or drink in the US sets the FDA in action, therefore raises costs and increases timelines. 7/10

adc goes to bed.

Dessert #3 enters, courtesy of Mrs. sonic.

The sountrack: kruuk2's Exit the Dragon playlist.

70.61 10yo d.2013 Honey and dragon fruit sangria (60.8%, SMWS Society Cask, 1st Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 204b) (kruuk2): that is right. kruuk2 brought a third Balblair -- one that has the word 'dragon' in the description. Double w-jambon-my.  Nose: so custardy! It has tons of peach and melting mango flesh. Mouth: an explosion of buttery fruits, with dragon fruit, persimmon, mango, and cherimoya. The second sip has a chalkier feel, perhaps sherbet. Finish: confectionary sugar, sherbet (flying saucers), mango slices, hot plums. This is very good. 8/10

After this wonderful epanadiplosis, red71 and STL take a bow. One of them has a crochet competition in a week and needs his beauty sleep. The other follows. Tsk.

Bishlouk goes for a nap on the sofa.

If we chant the right incantations, a dragon should appear

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