Just like last time, as soon as we explain to the barman that we like whisky and are keen to discover exclusive bottlings for the local market, he collapses and sends us his manager... who remembers us! She brings us a handful of bottles (amongst which a Ballechin). When JS says smoke is a secondary interest to us, she turns around: "Ah. All of these are smoky" and brings a different selection.
Also, complimentary cobbler on arrival
Mlla b.2025 (53%, Michel Couvreur bottled only for South Korea imported by Splash International, Dry Manzanilla Sherry Butt)
Nose: strongly herbal, like a génépi. Juniper leaves, laurel, fresh rosemary, maybe dried seaweed, though not much salt. Hinoki wood appears at second nosing. It smells like a warm bath in a scented tub. Mouth: full-bodied, almost syrupy. More herbs (laurel and rosemary again), now complemented with stem ginger and cassia bark. It feels woodier at second sip, though it is still syrupy. Thuja, cypress bark, hinoki. Finish: big, liqueur-like, this has thuja, hinoki and other scented woods. JS finds grapefruit pips. The second gulp has a lovely pine-tree-bark allure that makes me think of Benrinnes. Comment: good effort. Matured "over a decade." Score: 7/10
F b.2025 (53%, Michel Couvreur bottled only for South Korea imported by Splash International, Dry Fino Sherry Butt)
Nose: balsawood, sandalwood, oiled teak furniture and dried rosemary. It has a faint whiff of burnt sugar and torched molasses. The second nose has an earthy perfume from the 1980s, the name of which escapes me. Mouth: fruitier on the palate, it has prunes and figs soaked in booze, berries liqueur, a gentle lick of wood (distant acacia). drier at second sip, it is very reminiscent of a Fino, mineral with a Sauvignon-Blanc vibe to it. Finish: dry and robust, it has walnut-shell gratings and crushed fruit stones. Follow flint and slate chippings, bitter and mineral. It is fruity and dry at second gulp, like a good white wine. Comment: even better. But then, Fino is my favourite type of Sherry. Score: 7/10
Paired with olives and chocolate
Edradour 11yo 2013/2024 (60%, OB Ibisco Decanter imported by Stirling Korea, Bourbon Barrels, C#413+415+417+418+419+420+421+422+423+424, 1997b)
Nose: spirit-y, medicinal, even. Ether, surgical alcohol -- wait! Peaches appear suddenly and more and more pronounced, as do Turkish delights, then crème brûlée and gentle rubber. The second nose has custard and fruity yoghurt. Mouth: ester-y and spirit-y again. This might as well be new make, so little character it has. In terms of flavours, that is, because it is otherwise rather fierce, with lashes of surgical alcohol. The second sip is more mineral, with quarry dust peppered over it. Finish: eau-de-vie-like, here are distilled peach and kaki somewhat hidden behind a generous dash of booze. It is not poorly integrated; it just kicks like a mule. The second gulp is more quaffable, though still powerful. Custard-cream biscuit on acid. Water makes it more biscuit-y and gives it an impression of wet dog (Hardois, si tu nous regardes…)
Comment: the Korean text states Ibisco Decanter as the collection, even if it does not appear in English. Score: 7/10
Glenlossie 12yo 2013/2025 (60.3%, North Star High Proof Guarantee selected and exclusively bottled for Jens Drewitz imported by Sansibar-Whisky imported by Roehni, 282b)
Nose: the Sherry cask speaks. This is lactic and animal: cow hides, cattle sweat, and it has a hint of alcohol in the back, before oily orange peels appear. The second nose has more and more orange rinds, dried, but still fruity. Mouth: leathery and animal alright. Cattle breath, raw hides, rancio, and the bitterness of shoe polish. The second sip is more medicinal: ether at first, then plaster glue and muscle straps. Finish: it kicks too, but citrus comes through more. Oranges, blush oranges, cured tangerines. The second gulp is, again, more medicinal (tuberculin).
Comment: a Korean import of a German import of a Scottish whisky. Ha! Score: 7/10
Paired with nuts
A few people leave:
tOMoH: "If you want to go scan the shelves, go for it." JS: "Yeah, now it's clearing up a little." tOMoH: "Oh! yeah, the other long nose has gone. I'm now the longest nose in the room." JS: "Let's call you Pinocchio."
One great joy of travelling is discovering that a bar on the other side of the world has whiskies one would never come across anywhere else. They may not be the most prestigious vintages, distilleries or ages, but that does not make them less exclusive.
Nose: sweet, syrupy, almost heady (in fact, not almost!). This has "cherry jam" written all over it. Waxed leather develops over time. The second nose has pressed currants and dried figs. Mouth: thick, coating like melted chocolate. It has a clear Mon Chéri touch -- cherry-liqueur-filled, dark-chocolate pralines. JS finds it spicy. The second sip is a little woodier, if still as sweet and liqueur-like. Finish: long, powerful and sweet. We have more cherry jam and a good dose of melted dark chocolate. A minuscule hint of musk struggles to make itself heard. The second gulp is woodier; oily exotic wood, such as teak or mahogany. Score: 7/10
Knockdhu 9yo d.2013 Release No.104 (59.5%, Angus Dundee for Alistair Walker Infrequent Flyers imported by MetaBev, Bolgheri Red Wine Hogshead Finish, C#804977, 295b)
Nose: this one has dates and dried figs. It soon progresses to reveal strawberry bubble gum and a pinch of blonde tobacco.. Mouth: unctuous texture, liqueur-like, it has pressed currants, silky Cotton Candy grapes, but also some power. The second sip injects some bitterness into the mix. Wood or mocha? Probably dark wood. Finish: big, a notch tannic, it has polished wood and coffee beans coated in honey. The second gulp has dried pineapple bark. Score: 7/10
Ki One 3yo 2022/2025 (56.8%, OB, Hypebeans Coffee Cask, C#0297, 281b, b#211)
Nose: unsurprisingly, it reeks of coffee. More surprising are the notes of seaweed and urchin before it turns citrus-y. Lemon zest and hay. Smoked seaweeds rock up, with one mint crumble. The second nose offers seaweed-flavoured chocolate. Mouth: it is very woody, especially considering the age -- even though there is no age stated, the distillery only started producing in 2020, so it is six years old at most. There is a hint of sweet latte, some pine-tree bark, followed by smoked grapefruit zest. The second sip is dry as bread dough that has too much flour. Dark flour (buckwheat?) Finish: big and spicy, it has pine needles soaked in weak, watery coffee. Now, this is not watery! I mean that the coffee is not overpowering. JS calls it almost not a (malt) whisky, it being closer to a rye, sorghum or Coffey malt or grain. The second gulp is more whisky-like, yet it shows the cask influence clearly: coffee grounds, mocha filters, sandalwood and cedarwood. Score: 7/10
Glen Keith 25yo 1998/2024 (49.7%, Whiskybroker for Club Qing Happy Loner imported by Roehni, First Fill Bourbon Barrel, C#149567, 191b)
Nose: very elegant. It has custard powder, citrus zest and cream soda, powdered peach skin, Turkish delights. The second nose is more-intensely scented, with fruity custard aplenty. Mouth: it feels a tad watery at first (we just had a few high-octane drams, yeah?), but settles in as a fruity number, without surprise. Citrus zest, dried lichens, flower petals to provide a slight bitterness. It is fruitier at second sip, with peach, lime, grapefruit...What a cocktail! Finish: wonderful custard cream with citrus zest. It has a little more Bourbon-y spices and lots of acidic fruits.
Comment: we have a winner! Score: 8/10
Kimchangsoo 4yo 2021/2025 (51.7%, OB Single Cask, 1st Fill European Oloroso Sherry Hogshead, 276b)
Nose: phwoar! A refined peat hits my nostrils rather gently. Bales of dried meadow flowers, purple-primrose petals, then smoked green grapes. This moves from farming to gardening and back again effortlessly. It has a hint of chocolate-flavoured coffee too, but, mostly, it is farm-y. That said, rosewood embers grow in intensity. The second nose is earthier, with sweet potato peels and dried soil. Mouth: rosewood, rosehip and earthy peat. This has burnt twigs, burnt rose bushes and dried earth (not scorched). It is a juicy, earthy number at second sip, full of drying peat bricks. Finish: a trifle weaker here, it remains a solid peated whisky with some ozone and tar. The second gulp confirms: ozone, tar, even charcoal dust. Comment: there are two different bottlings on the shelf. This is not the one we ordered, but we enjoy it anyway. Score: 7/10
Ben Nevis 26yo 1997/2023 Private Edition No.2 (50.9%, North Star Spirits for Rotten Glasses x The Whisky Agency imported by Roehni, Sherry Butt, 120b)
Nose: a dirty Ben Nevis with sink funk, and some drying fruits, somewhere. We are treated to a vague smell of sewers from the street, and it is hard to tell where the Ben Nevis stops and the sewers start, so close they are. Mouth: decaying fruits it is. Pineapple, apple, Comice pears, crunchy, crumbly and bruised in more places than necessary. The second sip confirms. Decaying fruits turn dirty, funky and a bit dry. Finish: it has orchard fruits in disarray (apples, pears, quinces all past decaying point), Korean pears, perhaps kakis. That may be the location playing with my mind. The second gulp has a minty freshness and the drying touch of eucalyptus. Water turns down the funk and increases the fruitiness. Score: 7/10 (8 with water)
Time to go. There are other drams to try, but tomorrow is another day.
Glenfarclas 12yo (45%, OB for F.W. Hempel Metallurgical GmbH): nose: fruity and very dry, it shifts between hay and dried grapefruit peels. The latter take the upper hand, and even gain moisture, after a moment. Not much, but better than nothing. We catch droplets of grapefruit juice or grapefruit oil. Then, those same grapefruit peels receive the wine treatment: wine-cured grapefruit peels it is, rich and heady. It has a faint smell of an old blend (ye aulde blende); not in a dusty-cardboard way -- more a generic, old-school roughness, almost vinegary, though, of course, not that extreme. One may be tempted to call it briny, but there is no salt whatsoever. It goes back to fruity tones anyhoo, now closer to pressed currants. The second nose has a pile of wood, twigs, really, ready for the fire, slowly crumbling to dust. Last is a glass of heated flat cheap cola. Mouth: old school alright! This was bottled at a time when only a certain demographic would order a Scotch: men of a certain age, mostly smokers. Stale barley syrup, caramel and toffee, cardboard, tobacco oil... Chewing simply increases all that. It is intensely faded orange, a colour inextricably linked to 1970s curtains completely impregnated with tobacco smoke. It has a hint of peppermint at the top, but stale Mokatine is soon the dominant. Oh! and some ashes too. In fact, we have the content of an ashtray in which someone spilled half-a-glass of water. Counterintuitively, that presents a certain charm. The second sip may be a tad brighter, less orange, more yellow, with fresher grapefruits and even pineapple. Tobacco is still present, if more discreet. Finish: stale Mokatine all the way! Dusty caramel on cardboard, oily tobacco, wine-stained dried orange peels, ginger powder, cinnamon powder, ground cloves. It does not come across as overly woody, yet there is an undeniable wood influence at play. A wood-panelled smoking room with faded curtains. No-one is smoking at the moment, but last night's ashtray has not yet been emptied and the fireplace needs a clean. Retro-nasal olfaction gives us a whiff of cigar. Not so much the smoke or the leaves; more the smell that coats the walls of the mouth. Cigar breath, in other words. Genuinely an old geezer's dram. The second gulp plays a soft bitterness against the fruity acidity. Bay leaves or cigar leaves -- definitely cigar leaves, in fact, with a lick of stale Mokatine for good measure. I find this less convincing than on the night; a bit generic. It grows on me, however, and I could go to 8 on another day. 7/10
Coleburn 47yo 1972/2020 (62.4%, Gordon & MacPhail 125th Anniversary Edition, Refill Sherry Puncheon, C#3511, 363b): nose: old and mysterious, this has old bandages and embrocation, mummy bandages, gauze strips, old plasters. Then, suddenly, cured pineapple and juicy orange segments leap out of the glass, completely unannounced. But that changes quickly to unveil cast iron and rugged sandstone. That also disappears: now, we have a spoonful of vanilla custard augmented with a couple of drops of lemon juice. Ha! It settles on lemon mint and pineapple weed for a second; they are presented in an old beige plastic container -- the kind that smells of melted plastic when opened. Next is a drop of weak disinfectant, akin to diluted mercurochrome, followed by gauze and muscle straps splashed with pineapple juice and spinach cooking water. How peculiar this nose is! The second nose is more indistinct, more Coleburnian, with dusty cardboard and grist, though that is overtaken by piping-hot strawberry jam which is incredible. That jam is enjoyed on a thick woolen picnic blanket heated by the sunrays and loaded with desert dirt. Mouth: incredibly behaved, considering the strength, it is creamy and fruity. Peachy custard, baked peaches. A certain heat rises, of course, but one would be remarkably astute to guess the ABV. Chewing renders this immense -- not in that it burns; it simply confidently asserts its flavour profile. We have smashed fruits (pineapple, peach, cured apricot) and a few mint leaves, perhaps spearmint. It is warming and comforting, never overwhelming. The second sip has the "whisky" quality of some bottlings from the 1980s, which means dusty, cardboard-y, with bitter fruit stones to boot. Chewing confirms an old-style concoction, yet one augmented with hot peach jelly, would you believe it. Indeed, despite a more-austere start, it claws back its fruity notes. Hot pineapple cubes in a metallic colander are not far behind. Finish: It kicks a bit more, here, and leaves the throat numb, for a minute. Nevertheless, similar notes abound: pineapple (dried slices, this time), a drop of mercurochrome and a soft bitterness in the far back that reminds one of hot metal (tin? Aluminium? Stainless steel?) Mind you, it could also be the spinach from earlier. In any case, the lips are tingling with fruit juice. The second gulp has sweetened orange or tangerine juice, lukewarm, sprinkled with a pinch of grated Aspirin and spilled on minty gauze. It is not strictly speaking tarry, but it has a gentle fresh bitterness that one may associate with bitumen. It sticks to the gob in a comparable way too. Stupendous dram. What a ride! 9/10 (Thanks for the sample, adc)
GD and ydc are hosting this one, and they intend to celebrate their corner of the world with the theme. They went all in with invitations in local dialect, themed t-shirts, badges, stickers and other promotional items.
GD's tee
Tèje tu Boyard!
ydc's tee
sonicvince, Bishlouk, dom666, Psycho and I join GD and ydc for an afternoon of fun.
And work.
As I ask for a pen and warn that I may need a sheet of paper, at some point:
GD: "An Englishman without paper." dom666: "That's called a clandestine."
GD opens the dance: a gin produced in Charleroi. It is called 972, which is the depth (in metres) of the deepest pit of the Martinet site.
Nose: hay, lime zest and parsley-topped goat's cheese. sonicvince has cloves and Granny Smith apples, while I find green peppercorns. Mouth: it is very citrus-y on the palate. Acidic lime. Finish: creamy, custardy, even, it has lots of lime zest again. GD detects black pepper, which, ydc points out, is wild. Wild black pepper. It also has génépi, though much less syrupy, naturally, more gin épais (boom-tsch). Comment: this may be my favourite gin to-date. The acronyms mean Monceau-Fontaine, Marcinelle, Nord Charleroi and La Manufacture Urbaine respectively. Score: 8/10
tOMoH notes that mines (coal mines are the reason this is called the Black Country) have pits. Here is a Pit-tyvaich.
Nose: wet sands, vanilla (sonicvince). It is acidic, then soft (sonicvince), with dried fruits (Psycho) and apricot (ydc). Finish: liquorice (ydc). Comment: full notes here. I am pleased that it is very successful, today. This group's experience with Pittyvaich was, so far, limited to one or two d.1993 by Gordon & MacPhail, and those have been less appealing. Score: 8/10
Two kinds of dried sausage Ossau Iraty Homemade savoury cake
Psycho: "Are you saying I should inject alcohol with a syringe?" dom666: "Do what you want with your own body." ydc: "Impossible. He cannot stand needles." tOMoH: "Psycho will never be pictured in a pine forest." sonicvince: "I'm not a fan either." Bishlouk: "You don't like pine trees?" tOMoH: "That horrible smell of freshness..."
Psycho plays dyslexic and presents a Black-nod.
Bladnoch 1987/1999 (40%, Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice) (Psycho)
Nose: pears (sonicvince), daisy stems (Bishlouk), flowery and vegetal (Bishlouk), Littlemillian (Bishlouk). It has wet pebbles (sonicvince) and apricots (Psycho). It is fruity, light and ethereal. Mouth: pear and frangipane (sonicvince), though that is fleeting and turns medicinal (sonicvince). ydc finds elderberry. The dilution is noticeable, but tolerable. Finish: fruits and wood. Here are balsa and dried pineapple. It kicks harder than expected too. Comment: we had not had this in many years. Time in an open bottle seems to have improved it and turned it into a lovely, fruity drop. Bishlouk seems impressed. That happens rarely enough to mention. Score: 8/10
tOMoH: "GD, you were showing dom666 your glass collection, earlier. Dangerous." GD: "No, we don't have the same criteria." tOMoH: "What's dangerous is not that he would steal them, but that he talks about his collection for three hours."
Psycho tells us that slag heaps are nothing but little mounds. A mound, he continues, is a high land. This Glenmorangie is from the Highlands. Groan.
Glenmorangie 12yo The Lasanta (43%, OB imported by MHCS, Bourbon & Sherry Casks) (Psycho)
Nose: syrupy, it has distant toasted cereals, then cinnamon rolls, Cured blush orange segments and dried pine cones. There is a whiff of apple in the second nose. Mouth: soft, this is very syrupy. A syrup with a mineral side, mind. Then, we pick up dried coconut flakes cured in wine. Finish: blackberry drops and blackcurrants. Chewy for a while, it leaves the same impression as a chalky paste on the palate. The second gulp brings a thick custard. Comment: honest drop that grows on me. Score: 7/10
Smoking in the sun
dom666: "LVMH and their handbags made in China..." tOMoH: "What is not made in China, these days?" Psycho: "Me. I was not made in China." Bishlouk: "I can see that. You're losing oil."
sonicvince brought a bottling from the Mission Gold collection, because coal in Charleroi used to be the local gold.
Bishlouk likes Fabrizio from Charleroi, who talks about 'kete' a lot (Walloon for 'cock'), so he brought a Glen Keith.
With exactly zero surprise, that leads to this timeless masterpiece of Belgian television, with GD performing the choreography and all.
Since they are from the same distillery, we have them at the same time.
Glen Keith 32yo 1993/2025 (47.9%, Murray McDavid Mission Gold exclusively selected by The Whisky Mercenary, First-Fill Koval Bourbon Cask Finish, C#97174A, 140b) (sonicvince)
Nose: hyper-fruity sweets, mint (sonicvince). It gains a certain herbaceous note, indeed mint. Starburst/Opal fruits/Sugus (depending on where in the world you are), pineapple drops. There are fleeting glimpses of gelatine capsules, followed by candied angelica. Mouth: more fruits, here, but it is actually pretty mineral. The second sip has bitter fruits, perhaps carambola with a dusting of crushed Aspirin. Finish: quarry chippings sprayed onto vanilla custard augmented with cut apricot. The second gulp brings forth poached apples and Doyenné du Comice pears. Comment: amazeboulanger. Score: 9/10
Nose: hyper fruity too, at first, it soon picks up leather and hay. Then, it progresses towards sherbet and crushed peaches. Mouth: closely related to the other one, this has peach yoghurt and a stronger bitterness. That evolves to give a leafy fruitiness -- kumquat foliage. Finish: long, full of fruity sweets and a soft lick of woody bitterness. The second gulp brings clay floors and Turkish delights. Comment: we tried this three years ago and thought it would improve in the open bottle. It did. What is amazing is that it does not crush its younger sibling. Score: 9/10
dom666: "When I was younger, I listened to another good little band from Liège called Prïba 2000." All: "Errr… They were from Charleroi!" dom666: "Are you sure?"
Nose: dusty (Psycho), herbaceous, close to a rye, which prompts dom666 to shout the link to the theme: "C'est comme un rye de coke!" (For those readers who are not aware of the Industrial Revolution, coke is a coal-based fuel that enabled ironworks.) It has a pinch of lemon thyme bathing in custard. Is that maracuja? It may well be! To follow that, we find a bite of marzipan and a dollop of shoe polish too. Mouth: powerful (Bishlouk, not used to alcohol at more than 24%), it has a note of fruits immediately followed by smoky flavours: smoky roasted apples, tarts in a dusty boiler room. Finish: strong coffee (sonicvince). I find it a tiny bitterness, almost mineral. Comment: this is incredible. dom666 opened it, ahem, almost eighteen years ago, which prompted me to procure my own bottle, which we opened ten years later. It remains a killery. Notes here. Score: 9/10
dom666 [about Dune]: "Nice images, but -- pffft! Long and slow." Bishlouk: "So are the books." dom666: "The books you can put down and do something else." Bishlouk: "You can press pause on a film..." dom666: "At the cinema, it is difficult." Bishlouk: "There is an interval. You can go take a wee." dom666: "The interval is a year between films." tOMoH: "You can take a long wee." dom666: "Great for you, that!"
dom666 [about Gotlib]: "The second genius of comic strips." Psycho: "After Léonard?" tOMoH: "That's a character, not an author." dom666: "Léonard... He was a lumberjack. Car c'est en sciant que Léonard devint scie." tOMoH: "You are quoting Psycho in his presence." dom666: "No, I read that elsewhere." Bishlouk: "In the bingos, it is definitely in the Psycho bingo!"
ydc introduces Old Black Cane, a nod to the Black Country.
Bologne Old Black Cane (45%, OB, b. ca. 2025) (ydc)
Nose: plastic pipes and herbs. Rum baba, baked pineapple rings. Mouth: rum-y, it has metal, melted plastic and sugar. All of them are rather discreet. Finish: cane sugar, black garlic. It has that charred-garlic bitterness, yet it is also pretty juicy, somehow. Comment: nothing could have followed that Strathisla. A rum is the perfect solution: so different it resets the palate. This one is good to boot. Score: 7/10
tOMoH: "dom666 and Bishlouk both like Talisker, neither likes cucumber tart... Clearly, they're the same person. They have no hair, they wear glasses, they both live in Liège..." Bishlouk: "We have no hair..." tOMoH: "Neither listens..."
We move to the dining table. ydc and GD made Nasi Goreng. I worry that the spices will impair our taste buds, but it is perfectly balanced. And delicious.
We discover that dom666 has never had Nasi Goreng.
tOMoH: "I don't know how it is in Charleroi, but in Liège, it's like this: Belgians of Italian descent discover after they're forty that Belgium also has Chinese restaurants. All they know is the Italian ones. dom666 is not an isolated case." dom666: "This isn't Chinese. It's Indonesian. I know Chinese restaurants in Liège. There is one rue Aaa, there is a Thai rue Bbb, a Viet-Namese rue Ccc…" Bishlouk: "There is also one rue Ddd." dom666: "There is also a good pizzeria in rue Ddd." Bishlouk: "It's not as good as the one rue Eee." tOMoH: "Unbelievable. We do a Charleroi tasting in Charleroi, and those two only talk about Liège!"
We talk about fried food.
tOMoH: "The Chinese have no lesson to take from anyone, when it comes to fried food. The best fried spiders I've had were from a Chinese restaurant." dom666: "Have you had them from many other places?" tOMoH: "No. That's the joke." dom666: "I know."
Dessert is served. rhubarb tart and rice tart, and apple turnovers for Psycho, which he will not share.
Rhubarb and sugar tart
Rice tart
Bishlouk tells us that Ben Nevis, the United Kingdom's tallest mountain, is but a large slag heap in Scotland.
Ben Nevis 15yo 2010/2025 (56.9%, Liquid-Treasures bottled for Espirits Whisky, Bourbon Hogshead) (Bishlouk)
Nose: fish (sonicvince), dusty hot metal, hydrocarbons (Bishlouk). It smells industrial (Bishlouk) or farm-y, with horse's dung (GD). I find horse's hair and lots of oxydised and dusty metal. Apple and quince come out in the long run, while Bishlouk finds peat. Mouth: it is peaty alright! Crushed peach stones and decaying fruits provide backing vocals. It has a bitter lick of tree bark, though peach custard rises a bit, timid. Finish: peat and hot metal, and the bitterness associated with the latter. Sea spray (ydc), lots of hay, a handful of horse's hair and Mokatine, maybe. Mocha is bitter after all, is it not? Comment: another one that will likely improve in the open bottle. It is promising, but a bit unruly, as it stands. Score: 7/10
Les Gayettes A special kind of local truffles
sonicvince shows us a whisky distilled in 1987 and explains that the 1980s were the golden age of socialism in Charleroi.
Tomatin 27yo 1987/2014 (46.3%, Morrison & Mackay Càrn Mòr Celebration of the Cask imported by The Stillman's, Hogshead, C#495, 187b, b#10) (sonicvince)
Nose: berries jelly to me, though sonicvince detects a touch of sulphur. Mouth: unctuous and ripe with berries. Finish: lemon zest (ydc), lemon pith (ydc), astringent (Bishlouk). Comment: full notes here. Long discussion about Bishlouk's impressions -- he calls this not horrible and the previous not bad. ydc cannot figure out if one is better than the other, or if Bishlouk is simply difficult. We all know the answer to that, do we not? Score: 8/10
Second serve
dom666 brought a peaty whisky and tells us that peat is nothing but wet coal.
Ardbeg 30yo (40%, OB, LS67462) (dom666)
Nose: lichens, an elegant vegetal peat, ashes, dried algae stuck to the side of an empty vase, sphagnum moss. Mouth: ashes, smoked currants. One can feel the dilution a bit, and that pushes algae, sphagnum moss and dried ferns to the fore. Finish: an onslaught of dried algae and lichens, stagnant water, empty vases. It leaves an extremely-dusty mouthfeel, bitter and ashy. Comment: unique profile, especially in the world of ancient Ardbeg. I like it. Score: 8/10
tOMoH unveils a Laphroaig, famously adorned by the seal of HRH the Prince of Wales, who favours Laphroaig. Naturally, Prince Charles was promoted, since this was bottled and became king. In French, one would say he is now Charles Roi. Check. Mate.
Comment: I take no notes for this today. It was a long day and time is running out. It is universally liked, which pleases me. Full notes here. Score: 9/10
What a day. The amount of nonsense was epic. These notes do not show it, but the word of the day was clearly 'bite' ('dick'), to the point Bishlouk is henceforth known as Bite-louk. His final words are: "I don't know how many times we said 'dick', but I'm satisfied with the tally!"
An hourglass, a diabolo, or a butt plug, depending on whom you ask
Inchmurrin 28yo (43%, OB imported by Preiss Imports, b. early 2000s): we tried this a few days ago. Let us give it a proper go. Nose: stewed citrus aplenty. Here are blush oranges, satsumas, tangerines, mandarines all broken up into segments and simmering in a cauldron with a dash of rum. The whole is slowly turning into a liqueur, which is very pleasant. It gives the occasional whiff of caramel, but also of heated cast iron, both of which reinforce this impression of stewed fruits. A few minutes later, we have a small dose of cardboard, followed by some kind of metal lubricant -- it does not appear to be WD-40, much less engine grease. Then, mace settles in, whole, not powdered, fragrant, and a trifle rubbery. Behind that is white wood, slightly sappy, as if it had been cut into planks too soon, and stale jam (likely apricot). The second nose has earthy caramel pointing at toffee and chocolate. The label gives no information about the cask type, but this may suggest some Sherry vessels were used. Come to mind cream Sherry, paxarette… or E150a. Mouth: mellow and unctuous, it quickly rallies the spicy troops -- ginger and nutmeg. It is syrupy at the same time; probably stem ginger, then. It does not assault the taste buds or anything, but it is certainly not weak. Chewing adds woody notes to that, such as gingerbread and cinnamon rolls. It has a pinch of dark-conifer sawdust (spruce, black pine) and a drop of resin too. Holding it on the tongue longer increases the woodiness and makes it darker. We now have walnut furniture, iroko sawdust and raw ebony. It never becomes too much, however: all that is balanced with cured citrus peels. The second sip starts slowly, giving away its mere 43%, but that is a trap: in seconds, the gingery notes are back, surfing on lukewarm, flat cola or ginger beer. There is something downright root-y about this that blends really well with the growing sweetness. Finish: a citrus slap in the gob. We are reunited with blush-orange peels or cured mandarine peels. It presents a discreet bitterness, confirming we are on citrus-peel territory, but punctuates it with a caramelised sweetness. Come to think of it, it is not very far from a certain orange liqueur sold in a square brown bottle (you probably know the brand). That sweetness, after a while, is reminiscent of burnt toffee. It is a long finish and, if it is not exactly smoky, it does leave the mouth dry and coated, as if one had smoked a cigar. The second gulp is earthier and rootier, yet also sweeter. Might it be reminiscent of burnt toffee? Once again, it is hard not to think about cream Sherry and paxarette, root beer and cola. However, we also keep the stem ginger and mace from earlier, and the sweetness that comes with those two makes the whole more complex, therefore more interesting. 8/10
Irish Single Malt 28yo 1989/2017 Vol.1 (56.2%, Limited Whisky Investment The Monkey Series in co-operation with Sansibar, Bourbon Cask, 164b, 16/05058): nose: very quiet, almost mute. Golden shortcrust with a dusting of confectionary sugar. It develops a greener touch, with rubbed mint leaves, citrus foliage and a pinch of lemon mint so dry and so faded it is hard to spot. Breathing time increases the shortcrust impression, soft, fluffy, with hints of baked mango, persimmon and apricot. Those two are really subtle, though. This is not at all an obvious fruity avalanche! The second nose is hardly more talkative and, if anything, it is more austere: it now has grated limestone and wet cliff rocks, as if washed by the rain. All that fizzes out after a while to leave but a generic impression of freshness. Mouth: a notch bolder on the tongue, it is thick and velvety, with peach nectar, persimmon and mango slices so ripe they melt in the mouth. Chewing, even briefly, causes an explosion of tropical fruit. We have a mechanical fruit chopper slicing mangoes at high speed and shoving all the output into the mouth, blades included. Indeed, beside the undeniable fruitiness is a lick of metal reminiscent of 117.3. The second sip has the gentle kick of a fruit-scented nail varnish. That paves the way for a mango-and-persimmon purée, and we may even detect timid maracuja. The metallic note from earlier is much more subdued, now. Each subsequent sip adds citrus foliage and it takes longer for fresh fruits to emerge, as they inexorably do. Finish: strangely enough, it has a pronounced bitter touch akin to chicory infusion, then heat. This drops a heated metal ball into the stomach, which then radiates heat through the whole body. The heat builds up especially at the top of the oesophagus. Those heatwaves carry wafts of baked mango and papaya before dying with a note of chocolate. Jammy at second gulp, it quickly grows in mango intensity, ripe, flavourful, and creamy in texture, close to quality milk chocolate indeed. There is even some caramel at play, in the long run -- salted caramel cream, to be precise. Even with a somewhat-disappointing nose (that made me think I inverted the labels of this and the Balvenie from the same night), it certainly holds its own as a whole. 9/10
Mlla b.2025 (53%, Michel Couvreur bottled only for South Korea imported by Splash International, Dry Manzanilla Sherry Butt)
F b.2025 (53%, Michel Couvreur bottled only for South Korea imported by Splash International, Dry Fino Sherry Butt)
Edradour 11yo 2013/2024 (60%, OB Ibisco Decanter imported by Stirling Korea, Bourbon Barrels, C#413+415+417+418+419+420+421+422+423+424, 1997b)
Glenlossie 12yo 2013/2025 (60.3%, North Star High Proof Guarantee selected and exclusively bottled for Jens Drewitz imported by Sansibar-Whisky imported by Roehni, 282b)
