It started here.
It is the halfway point. Here, that means exhibitors pour their special wares for a token that everyone received at the start. It is called the halftime orange dram. Queues have been forming for the most popular drams, but it seems there is nothing comparable to the chaos at the Tomatin stall last year. JS and I debate what to get: the only stand-out on offer is the Rosebank 31yo, but we had that last year already.
What is in our vicinity?
Glenburgie 38yo 1988/2026 Chapter Thirty Two (46.7%, Decadent Drinks Whiskyland, Refill Hogshead, 168b)
Nose: I want to say 'peachy', but that is SSS talking, who told us he finds Glenburgie peachy. It is fruity, though. Nectarines, plums, greengages, none too ripe.
Mouth: a tad mute at first, it wakes up with a chew: lots of greengages, apricot stones, but also something fiercely bitter that is not a fruit stone... Walnut shells turned into a paste?
Finish: explosive, long and bitterly fruity. Fruit stones, walnut shells, preserved pistachio.
Comment: I would like to like this more, but it is nice. It is a pleasant bonus that JS is told to keep her token and spend it elsewhere.
Score: 8/10 (Thanks for the dram, AMcR)
Port Askaig 25yo b.2025 (45.8%, Elixir Distillers)
Nose: meow! Ashes and char, elegant as an old Ardbeg. Fireplace grille, then algae scratched off an empty vase, lichen scrapped off an old stone. At long last, it becomes fruity, with peach and plum cloaked in a veil of smoke.
Mouth: tarry ropes, smoky fishing nets, diesel fumes hanging over harbour water, smoked plum. Ha! Ha! Some crushed glass and sand appear too, gently stripping.
Finish: biggish, sandy, flooded with diesel-tainted sea water, smoked cockles and fishing nets drifting in the current.
Comment: my dram of the day, so far. Probably a Caol Ila; it ticks all the boxes of a good one, at that.
Score: 8/10
Royal Brackla 23yo 2000/2023 Double Cask (53.3%, OB Exceptional Cask Series, Refill Puncheon + Tokaji Wine Finish, C#500005, 258b)
Nose: sweet, it offers dunked biscuit, sweet corn, lots of sweet corn, perhaps a cardboard box full of green grapes, gooseberries and unripe greengages.
Mouth: liqueur, brandy, corn syrup. It is a lot stronger than expected too. Crystallised apple drops, hard candy of sorts and briny cardboard.
Finish: toffee and cardboard. It struggles to develop the complexity I would like, even after a couple of sips. JS finds it a lot of red fruits.
Comment: it would be a good blend, but for a single malt, and a halftime orange dram at that, it leaves me wanting.
Score: 7/10
Daftmill 20yo 2006/2026 Chapter Thirty Five (53%, Decadent Drinks Whiskyland, 1str Fill Sherry Butt & 1st Fill Bourbon Barrel, 344b)
Nose: it is a perfume-y number that turns earthy. Then, we have dried kale, crackly leather an fruity flapjacks.
Mouth: earthy and drying, rancio turned to eleven. It is also strong, fierce, but that is balanced by remarkable berries (cranberries, boysenberries, mulberries) and bitter wood. Oh! it is bitter alright, if pleasantly so.
Finish: earthy and fruity. A beautiful Oloroso cask (I guess). A vatting of two casks, in fact.
Comment: imagine this! The first independently-bottled Daftmill and the oldest bottled Daftmill to-date. What a move to pull off! Apparently, there is a 22yo cask sample under the counter at the Daftmill stand, but it is neither here nor there. The cask is loud, but I like it. That said, I prefer Daftmill in a Bourbon cask.
Score: 8/10
Dufftown 13yo 2012/2026 (52.3%, James Eadie Distilleries of Great Britain & Ireland Commemorative, First Fill Bourbon Barrel, 530b)
Nose: honeysuckle, ethereal perfume, an empty Moka pot, barley water.
Mouth: warming, it has melted toffee, mocha custard that has not yet cooled down and hot metal.
Finish: toffee and cream of tartar or custard powder.
Comment: decent.
Score: 7/10
ST tells us they brought the cask end of their Highland 1976 -- the real cask end, cloudy liquid, vegetables and all. This is not exactly the bottling that was unveiled at the Whisky Fair.
Highland 49yo 1976/2026 Cask End (45.1%, Thompson Bros. specially bottled for Dornoch Castle, Hogshead, C#SR26050)
Nose: ridiculously fruity. Ridiculously!
Mouth: a lick of wood bitterness, but mostly fruit stones with tatters of flesh still attached.
Finish: exotic fruits, woodworm and rotten cherries. Crazy depth.
Comment: this is incredible. Dram of the festival.
Score: 9/10 (Thanks for the dram, ST)
Clynelish 12yo 2013/2026 (52.5%, James Eadie Distilleries of Great Britain & Ireland Commemorative UK Exclusive, Re-Charred Hogshead, 496b)
Nose: shaving foam.
Mouth: wick, fresh and spent, shaving foam and a dollop of minty toothpaste.
Finish: something fiercely minty in this finish, perhaps a lick of cardboard and toffee too.
Comment: good!
Score: 7/10
Ardmore 27yo 1999/2026 (50.5%, Thompson Bros., First Fill Barrel, 161b)
Nose: plaster bands, elastic bands, then a strawberry filling for chocolate wafers. Fruit juice sprayed onto old bandages.
Mouth: fruity paste it is (strawberry again), with quite a bit of alcohol and chewy bandages. This is so good! Fruitier and fizzier with each sip.
Finish: big, it alternates between smoked fruits and bandages. There is a pinch of earth and some grated mature Cheddar, as well as one manner or another of mature-Italian-cheese rind.
Comment: excellent.
Score: 8/10
Glenturret 35yo 1990/2026 Chapter Twenty Nine (41.5%, Decadent Drinks Whiskyland, Refill Hogshead, 231b)
Nose: wood and strawberry, the latter most prominent. That turns into strawberry yoghurt.
Mouth: more fruits -- freeze-dried raspberries, peach stones, apricot stones.
Finish: wonderfully fresh, it has rambutan, lychee, white peach, Korean pear, Korean melon...
Comment: phwoar! If my palate was not so tired, this may well score a 9.
Score: 8/10
Time to go. They are clearing people out. A quick stop by the shop and we are out of here.
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