The story started here.
Armed with my halftime orange dram, I find a quiet corner to savour it.
Benromach 40yo b.2022 (56.5%, OB, Oak Casks, B#2, 1098b)
Nose: very deep, it has all sorts of noble woods, forest floor and dried mushrooms. Shiitake, maitake, porcini. Smoked raspberries enter the dance. Phwoar!
Mouth: there are traces of Sherry, here, with cured meat, smoked blackberries and myrtles, and the desiccating character of unripe blackcurrant or elderberry. And how powerful, at this venerable age!
Finish: long, evolving, it goes from game-y, wine-cured meat to dark-berry compotes. Elderberry sauce, smoked blackberries, blackcurrant jam.
Comment: phwoar!
Score: 9/10
JS comes back with her own treasure. She shows me pictures of the chaos at Decadent Drinks: their halftime-orange dram today is the acclaimed Glen Garioch 52yo Whiskyland. It went in minutes and AMcR put on a show.
That is not what she went for. This is.
Imperial 27yo 1998/2026 (45%, Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers Càrn Mòr Celebration of the Cask, Bourbon Barrel, C#104071, 108b)
Nose: rosehip, jellied lychee, rose-petal jam, peach jelly. It even has preserved nuts in jelly. The second nose brings rambutan and tinned peaches.
Mouth: marmalades and jams, compotes. Peach, lychee, physalis, rosehip. It has power too; kicks like a young'un.
Finish: juicy and mineral, rather incredibly, it contains jams and limestone, quarry dust an tinned peaches.
Comment: a-beli-bobol. Completely overlooked too: JS was the only one queueing to try this, with the sheep on the other side of the tent, fighting for the Garioch. Ha! Ha!
Score: 9/10
Clynelish 8yo b.2026 (48%, Thompson Bros., Refill Hogsheads, B#001, 2187b)
Nose: bright and fruity, it has apricots, Mirabelle plums and greengages. Waxy yellow fruits, in other words.
Mouth: a notch bitterer than expected, it offers quarry dust sprinkled on Mirabelle plums.
Finish: big, waxy yellow fruits, a hint of drying quarry dust and other mineral components.
Comment: very good.
Score: 8/10
tOMoH: "Believe it or not, it is not my first radio show."
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| tOMoH: "Wait! Where is the other glass?" JS: "Erm, in your hand?" tOMoH: "Oh." |
Highland 15yo (46%, Thompson Bros., Moscatel Casks, b.2026)
Nose: hinoki (or bathtub wood, as we know it), thuja and cypress wood. Very drying, yet oily, sappy conifer wood. There is a faint manner of fruit too.
Mouth: the Moscatel is strong, here; caramel coulis, crème brûlée and winy dessert (whatever that means).
Finish: more Moscatel influence, with earthy fortfied wine and caramel.
Comment: a secret Highlander with a label showing sardines in a tin with tomato sauce. Wonder what that could be...
Score: 7/10
Torabhaig Taigh b.2025 (46%, OB, Bourbon + Refill Bourbon + Madeira Casks)
Nose: peat. Muddy peat patties. It opens up to reveal hay and mulch. It is a farm-y number, all in all. Maybe it has seaweed too, but mostly peat.
Mouth: softer than expected, with lemon custard and mussels, oyster sauce and custard with lots of charred wood for shits and giggles.
Finish: sweetened sea water. It maintains a smoky backbone, but becomes a maritime force with a sweet nuance.
Comment: very good.
Score: 7/10
tOMoH: "Champagne is just beer with fewer -- I mean less foam."
Torabhaig Sound of Sleat b.2025 Batch Strength Chapter 4 (46%, OB Legacy Series, American Oak Casks)
Nose: very different. We see smoked preserved lemons in brine, and wet sands.
Mouth: soft and sweet. At 46%, how could it be different, after drinking whisky all afternoon? Chewing gives away a bit of smoke, as in: smoked seaweed drowned in custard.
Finish: lovely subdued smoke kisses mint crumbles, custard and crushed dried-seaweed thins, all complementing one another. Bigger gulps bring more smoke and some wood.
Comment: really good. I can see this being a daily sipper for many.
Score: 7/10
Torabhaig Sound of Sleat b.2025 Batch Strength Chapter 4 (60.2%, OB Legacy Series, First-Fill Bourbon + Refill Barrels + Virgin American Oak Casks)
Nose: this one has antiseptic and dsinfectant. It gradually becomes closer to the reduced version, but remains "a little" less accessible. Mud patties, wet clay, smoked pottery, tractor tyres.
Mouth: sweet, it has a mix of smoked shrimps and candy floss. Chewing revives the muddy peat, hidden behind antiseptic.
Finish: big, if not stupidly so. Peat smoke, earth and mud, smoked seafood and an undeniable sweetness. The second gulp is decidedly numbing and medicinal.
Comment: very good, if much less easy to drink for most people, it is safe to imagine.
Score: 8/10
Aberargie Inaugural b.2025 (48.2%, OB, 1st Fill Bourbon & SHerry Casks, 2905b)
Nose: cereals, sweetness, shortbread.
Mouth: easy-going, with cereals in milk, doughnuts with too much caster sugar on top. It ends up fairly drying.
Finish: vaguely-minty custard cream. It is pastry aplenty with each following sip. That and shortbread.
Comment: really, really easy, though really, really simple too.
Score: 7/10
Someone barges in at the stall and demands the Glen Keith from under the counter. Since it is out, I ask for it too. Yay.
Glen Keith 27yo 1993/2020 (49%, Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers Càrn Mòr Celebration of the Cask, Bourbon Barrel, C#31450, 178b)
Nose: lots of yellow fruits; physalis, plum, Mirabelle plum, greengage, apricot. Insecure tasters would call this: 'not bad'.
Mouth: mellow and fruity, it properly bursts with yellow fruits. There is a minor wood bitterness, but it is mostly stunningly fruity.
Finish: long and creamy, fruity as fook.
Comment: hard to beat a 1993 Glen Keith. sonicvince would undoubtedly love this, the born-again fanboi he is.
Score: 9/10
JS rolls the die at the Thompsons' again.
Mystery Malt #2
Nose: a strange herbacous profile, with thyme and sage. Sure, it has some creamy elements, but it is mostly an arometic affair.
Mouth: it tries to be soft and delicate, but cannot help being drying. It has a vegetal freshness to it -- angelica? Buckwheat?
Finish: it is elegant, at this point, with fresh herbs complementing cut nectarines.
Comment: interesting. We fail to identify it again.
Blair Athol 27yo b.2026 (46.3%, Thompson Bros. Mystery Malt, Refill Butt, B#6, 326b) 7/10
Someone I met queueing for the Benromach, earlier, urges me to try the Ardnahoe. Quite rigt, as I have not been to that stall yet.
Ardnahoe 5yo b.2026 (61%, OB Cask Strength, 1st Fill ex-Bourbon Barrels, B#2, L26 021 26/01/13PB)
Nose: smoked hay, ink, burnt grass. It is an exremely-smoky number, overall.
Mouth: big, smoky, it has lots of hard, dry cereals and numbing alcohol. Surgical alcohol, novocaine, xylocaine... This is so numbing!
Finish: very, very punchy, this is also peaty to the max. It has thick plumes of smoke and continues to numb.
Comment: good. A bit challenging, if not overly complex. It is simply uncompromising, peaty whisky. The first Ardnahoe on this blog too, since I took no notes for the three we tried in 2024.
Score: 7/10
JS manages to obtain one last one before they file everything away. Although she is annoyed, because they no longer have any of the Humboldt Cask that she wanted to try.
Isle of Raasay 4yo 2021/2026 Hungarian Oak (50%, OB Oak Species Maturation Series, ex-Oloroso Sherry Quercus Petraea Barriques, 8000b, b#0681)
Nose: mud and a cow's behind, smoky (not scorched) earth.
Mouth: it is much fruitier here, with pressed apricot hidden amongst the smoke.
Finish: long, earthy. Scorched earth makes an appearance, apricots trampled in the mud.
Comment: another good one.
Score: 7/10
We are encouraged to leave, and it takes being very close to some of the exhibitors to not be swept out with the masses.
We bid our friends goodbye and proceed to the exit, along with our fellow festival-goers, many of whom are staggering.
Next stop: Thamel.
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| A wee pun, here |
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| Thamel Margarita (JS) Gulmeli Mule (me) |
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| Salmon Bhuteko (me) |
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| Scallops Mollee (JS) |
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| Peshwari Naan |
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| Pilau Rice |
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| Still bright outside, which comes as a shock, after spending two hours in a dark basement stuffing our faces |
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