02/04/2026 PP's 70th birthday tasting @ the Melody

My first proper visit to this famous venue (I came once, fleetingly, to collect something). PS, DW, CBn, EC, BB, SOB, cavalier66, MSo, BA, SD, CC, JS, tOMoH and more join PP in this far flung corner of the city to celebrate this milestone. AN will make a grand entrance as we start the final dram, ha! ha!

Others are already at work when we arrive on site; some are eating, some are drinking. PS pours his thing that has a Cadbury's-looking label. I take no notes.

When we are called in the dining room, where the main event takes place, BB picks up his bag of goodies from the chair. The bag falls down, a bottle breaks. The staff help him salvage, oh!, 8cl. Considering the damage, BB seems to take it with commendable stoicism. We do our best to not let that taint the rest of the evening.

Fortunately, our minds are busy

This spring cap
confused our host

PP gives a short introduction and explains there will not be a whole lot of chichi about what we are about to try: they are bottles that are somehow related to 1956 or to PP, and he wanted to share them. Simples.

The first one was bottled in 1959. It is likely three years old (the legal minimum), which would make it a 1956ish distillation.

King George IV (44 Gradi, The Distillers Agency imported by Carlo Salengo, Seasoned Wood)

Nose: lots of OBE, with tin lids, corroded iron, brass buttons, copper coins covered in Verdigris and tainted marmalade. Coffee emerges after a while, delicate and refined, rather than invasive. The second nose offers a pinch of soot.
Mouth: yeah, lovely old-bottle effect. It has loads of oxidised metal and lukewarm marmalade. The second sip sees a ton of dust and more soot.
Finish: bigger than expected, it prolongs the above, with marmalade and the tin lids of marmalade jars. There is a soft bitterness at play (metal), but that is not distracting.
Comment: great start.
Score: 8/10

The second bottle, PP tells us, was bottled in 1956.

White Horse Cellar b.1956 (70° Proof, White Horse Distillers, b#2032171)

Nose: very, very subtle. Perhaps dusty water? Has it lost to evaporation? It acquires torched shoe polish pretty quickly, then purple corduroy slippers. Posh!
Mouth: spent. There is a little bit of old-bottle effect (read: metal and marmalade), but, mostly, it is dusty water.
Finish: a bit more characterful in the finish, it has a tankful of burnt peat, or, in fact, ashes, and dusty water sprinkled with ground dried orange peels.
Comment: it is an emotional experience, since this likely contains Malt Mill, a distillery that was still in production, at the time. Sadly, the whisky is objectively over the hill. Even generously, it will be a meagre score.
Score: 7/10

I become acutely aware that they are making coffee next door. For a place that claims to specialise in whisky, that seems like a faux pas that disrupts an experience. Fortunately, it does not last.

Here is one distilled in 1956.

Linkwood-Glenlivet 21yo 1956/1977 (80° Proof, Cadenhead)

Nose: ooft! This is a tad meaty and furry. It has coffee grounds, musk, mocha, then it turns all jammy, with caramelised marmalade, charred grapefruit, pineapple rings rolled in soot, dried sausages grilled on charcoal. All that in a boiler room covered in dust. There is a bolder whiff of mocha at second nosing, as well as more dirty, soot-y dust.
Mouth: old bottle effect in full display, which means tin lids and jars of marmalade. Chewing unleashes metal that flirts with a pencil-sharpener blade. It is fruity at second sip, with cut peaches and smashed apricots. Beyond that fruit is a metallic funnel.
Finish: big and long, it has more of that metallic edge. The second gulp delivers earthy jams slathered on hot crumpets. No! On scones.
Comment: PP has told me about this bottle and the occasion for which he would open it for nearly a decade. My expectations were therefore high. It does not disappoint. One of the very-first Cadenhead bottlings in this livery, where the dates appear on the main label. Later that year, they would migrate to the neck label.
Score: 9/10

cavalier66: "How can I steal this?"

tOMoH: "This is why I came. And I'm coming again."

cavalier66: "You know what this is? Important whisky."

PP explains the next one has nothing to do with 1956. He tried it at SMWS when it came out and thought it was the best thing he had ever tried. He tells us the price tag was scary, but he ended up taking the plunge, after trying it several times without his enthusiasm shrivelling.

117.3 25yo 1988/2013 Hubba-bubba, mango and monstera (58.5%, SMWS Society Single Cask, 1st Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 199b)

Comment: we know this very well. This is a fresh bottle, which means it is aromatic and metallic before the mango starts talking. That will improve in the open bottle, however impossible it seems -- already, it is top score. That said, even if this is objectively superior (insofar as one can be objective about that), I prefer it the Linkwood, tonight. 10/10

cavalier66 discreetly pulls out his Irish Single Malt 25yo 1988/2013 (51.1%, The Whisky Agency, Barrel, 212b) for comparison with 117.3. It wins, today.

PP [clinks on glass to call attention]: "Thank God I don't do this for a living! *sigh*"
BA: "It's hard work, you know!"

PP brings out the first-ever bottling of Bimber, a distillery he has been following from day 1.

Bimber 3yo 2016/2019 The 1st Release (54.2%, OB, Pedro Ximénez Casks, C#6+19+31+37+38, 1000b, b#0142)

Nose: oiled leather followed by coffee grounds, then metal -- galvanised-iron buckets, to be precise. It has a drop of varnish and oiled metal too.
Mouth: a bit monolithic, this is a bold Sherry maturation, dry, earthy, with entirely-desiccated raisins and a lick of cat fur -- or is it fox?
Finish: big, hairy, almost medicinal in a herbal way. It is very much an Oloroso maturation at second gulp, earthy and musky. Despite the strength, it is hard to detect much distillery character.
Comment: competent, even if it will not make me a Bimber aficionado.
Score: 7/10

BA: "This is one of TWE's engraving team's best work."
PP: "Huh?"
BA: "When Dariusz [Plazewski, who co-founded Bimber] bottled this -- or whatever his real name is -- he asked TWE to do the engraving. The team who did this did some of their best work here."

MSo: "It's actually decent, this Bimber."
JS: "That's rare!"
tOMoH: "It's from before they went legal."

PP recounts a couple of anecdotes relating to his adventures in the Wee Toon. On one such occasion, he procured this Springbank.

PP: "There were several Canadians there at the time..."
cavalier66: "And not all were whiskies."

Springbank 17yo d.2000 (48.5%, OB Duty Paid Sample, Fresh Canadian Barrel (ex-Potter), Rotation 836)

Nose: to me, this is so farm-y. Cows' behinds, cow dung, cow droppings (Holstein, Burlina, Bleu-Blanc). We catch a whisper of salty sea spray in the back, then caramelised puffed wheat. Behind all that, it has quince and pear, which is remarkable.
Mouth: dry and mineral, it quickly turns fruitier, with baked pears and quinces, very juicy. The second sip has a crushed-glass dryness to it, crunchy and abrasive, before the juicy side comes back to the rescue. There, it is smoky peach that is clearest.
Finish: long, farm-y. We have peach slices trampled into farm-path mud. It develops a note of charred wood that balances the fruit with a gentle bitterness. And soot too.
Comment: terrific Springer.
Score: 8/10

Finally, PP tells us, we will have a Millburn, a distillery very dear to someone we all know -- someone who, sadly, did not attend tonight.

Millburn 18yo 1975/1993 (58.9%, OB Rare Malts Selection)

Nose: astonishingly strong, this is pure RMS fury. Burning shrubs, old cast-iron radiators, paint tins. The second nose adds acetone. Water gives it horse's sweat, horse hair and desert dirt by the stables.
Mouth: salt city (cavalier66). Dried watercolour, dry brushes (in fact, it is the whole dry-brushing process) and, indeed, salt. Chewing cranks up the watercolour and adds plasticine. We find a little rubber at second sip (the texture, that is), perhaps black liquorice bootlaces.
Finish: caramelised chocolate, salted caramel, boiler-room smoke. Water makes it long and earthy, as well as a little fruitier: crisp apples, some smoked, some roasted.
Comment: I adore this. Muscular, austere, challenging Rare Malt. It is only now I realise that the back label is very different to that of the bottle we tried in 2015. It makes me think we tried the 25yo at the time, rather than this 18yo.
Score: 9/10

Tonight's back label

2015's back label
(the front label was missing)

cavalier66: "Where was Millburn? Speyside?"
JS: "Inverness."
tOMoH: "Never taken the train to Inverness? The distillery is on your left-hand side as you approach the station."
JS: "We must organise a field trip."
BB: "Dornoch weekend."
SOB: "Great name for a band!"

What a line-up!

Talking about the Cadenhead days in which we all met (2016--2020) and Mark Watt's influence on what the company was releasing at the time.

cavalier66: "It's like that surgeon who carved his initials on people's organs."
BB: "That doesn't seem right."

tOMoH: "I'm very upset."
MSo: "Sorry?"
tOMoH: "This friend of ours is organising a barbecue the day before we come back from Seoul."
MSo: "Oh! Sorry."
tOMoH: "I find it inSeoulting."
cavalier66: "You're inconSeoulable."

We talk about BB's broken bottle that PS delivered to him today.

cavalier66: "It's PS. You know what he's like."
tOMoH: "He's one Tullamore away from being wasted is what he's like."

PP reminds us that there is plenty more to drink at the bar, implicitly asking us to hit the minimum spend. After such a line-up, it is unclear what could hold up. And the kitchen is now closed. Samples and bottles come out of bags anyway.

Talisker 16yo b.268 (59.2%, OB specially bottled for Hedonism Wines, 15y ex-Bourbon American Hogshead + 1y Sherry Puncheon, 198b)

Nose: smoked nail varnish and a pinch of earth.
Mouth: drying and sandy, it is marred with tar or petrol topped with glass dust.
Finish: big, hairy, it has oily wood and dust. Pepper? Not so much.
Comment: alright.
Score: 7/10 (Thanks for the dram, MSo)

PS and BB are talking business. Specifically the broken bottle

BB: "If it's the Japanese sense of giving, I don't feel comfortable with it. I want to make up for it.
SOB: "[PS]'ll take a hand job."

MSo [about a 1976ers birthday party]: "We have a WhatsApp group."
PS: "?"
tOMoH: "If you're not in it, it is intentional."

SOB [to PS]: "How's your dad?"
PS: "That's not a good pick-up line."
MSo: "It is in Ireland."

Mars Komagatake 6yo 2018/2025 Tsunuki Aging (60%, OB selected for Capital Whisky Club imported by La Maison du Whisky, Bourbon Barrel, C#5435, 165b)

Nose: fruity, it rolls out peaches and apricots.
Mouth: tin and stainless steel with fruit.
Finish: more fruit and tin.
Comment: lovely.
Score: 8/10

Time to go before it turns messy. Happy birthday, PP!