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.
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| 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.
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| Record number of guests, this year |
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| 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.
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.
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| ...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.
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| 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
ruckus: Those are fantasy dragons, not real ones."
tOMoH: "And to think you used to not like grains!"
Psycho: "Only idiots never change their minds"
ruckus: "Only idiots don't like grains."
red71: "Can we keep those discussions for ten drams from now?"
Soup is served.
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| 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
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| Also, the cork breaks -- one of many tonight |
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: "!?!??!?!"
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.
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| Haggis Parmentier |
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| Vegetarian haggis |
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| Roasted seasonal vegetables |
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| 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."
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| 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.
ruckus: "That's what you think!"
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| nth serving |
The soundtrack: _Ruckus_ - Exit The Dragon
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| We all marvel at ruckus's shirt. |
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."
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| sonicvince's effort |
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| 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 |
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| 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
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
dom666: "I'm here."
tOMoH: "It's the Balblair [that suppresses him]."
red71: "Give me a case of six!"
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
ruckus: "A label in full colours!"
STL: "You still manage a hard-on?"
Gaija: "I'm listening to your references."
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| 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
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.
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| 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.
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| If we chant the right incantations, a dragon should appear |
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