14/11/2023 Lochside

Lochside 30yo 1981/2011 (54.9%, Cadenhead's, Bourbon Hogshead, 246b, 11/396): need to check the quality before tomorrow's shindig. It has been a while. Nose: well, after fourteen years in glass (in an open bottle, too), it seems to have lost nothing. Here are musty-dusty dunnage warehouses and wave after wave of fruits. Plump cherries (Chelan, Lambert) as well as vibrant maracuja and nectarine slices. A couple of minutes in, we find dusty staves from a barrel disgorged ages ago and fruity yoghurt topped with desiccated coconut gratings. Then come persimmon and fresh coriander, served in that musty warehouse we discovered at the start. It has berries too, mulberry and bilberry, so tart one would hesitate to eat them, but they do a good job of balancing the undeniable woodiness on display. The second nose has more musty stacks of staves in a fusty warehouse, dusty, stale, yet full of fruits, in a bizarre way. At once musty and incredibly fresh, perhaps reminiscent of toothpaste in an outdated bathroom in which the plumbing is decades (if not centuries) old and needs maintenance. Mouth: ooft! Creamy as a liqueur-infused smoothie, it quickly throws acidic darts in all directions. That causes a bit of a ruckus on the palate, as if under attack from red chilli peppers. The most subtle chewing stirs a pot of lukewarm fruits (in terms of temperature; they are otherwise bold as fook), namely pink maracuja, nectarine, peach, honey-glazed canary melon, carambola, and a bitter touch of blanched hazelnut. We also find apples (Ruby Frost, Brock), barely-ripe berries and currants or gooseberries. The second sip is just as gorgeous: powerful, sparkly and very fruity. Those fruits may be a little greener, at this point -- not unripe, but putting more emphasis on carambola, white guava or golden kiwi, crisp, acidic and entrancing. Chewing revives others too, such as blackberries and currants fighting for attention on a playground of dusty clay in a warehouse. Finish: phwoar! Here is a wonderful fruity paste, with the texture of a coarse blackberry jam and the explosiveness of ripe peach. It does not stop there, naturally: currants, papayas, poached apples, nectarines, purple maracujas, as well as a pinch of fresh herbs (coriander and/or mint). An earthier bitterness lingers gently, initially rancio-y as a warehouse's clay floor, then fresher and fresher tickling liquorice allsorts, in the long run. The second gulp seems bolder and stronger yet. It adds ginger shavings to the fruit paste, and peach slices and golden kiwi blended to a pulp. It is now frankly acidic and coats the tonsils with a delicious fruity-minty freshness. Lastly, it offers peeled orange segments at the death. Not peeled-orange segments: the segments are peeled. Intense, acidic, yet cushion-y at the same time, with zero bitterness from pith, peel, or, indeed, segment skin, since none of those is there. This is an undebatable masterpiece that probably became even better with time. 10/10