19/09/2026 Four or more

cavalier66, SOB, YM and JS join me for an afternoon of dramming, using a theme proposed by JS. Interpretation open, as always.

The soundtrack: Noir Désir - 666.667 Club (in which each figure is more than four)

Plenty of things to try, today.
Four or more, of them that is certain.

tOMoH opens the dance with four Connoisseurs Choice.

Dailuaine d1971 (40%, Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice, b. ca. 1989) (tOMoH)

Mouth: astringent (cavalier66), punchy for 40% (SOB). I find it mentholated, today. 

Finish: sharp finish in two layers (cavalier66), hints of cardboard in the back (cavalier66). 

Comment: "this tastes like a Connoisseurs Choice mini bottle" (cavalier66). My notes are here.

Score: 7/10

Glenlossie d.1969 (40%, Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice, b. ca. 1989) (tOMoH)

Nose: this has quite the strong nose. cavalier66 finds ozone, YM spots nectarines.

Mouth: peppery on the tongue.

Finish: very tannic (YM), interesting and fruitier (cavalier66), mangosteen, maybe (cavalier66). He then adds: "caramelised/crystallised mangosteen, glazed with a touch of olive oil."

Comment: this is the most popular of the lot. My notes are here.

Score: 8/10

YM: "Maybe it's a mangosteen with a mango sauce on top!"

North Port-Brechin d.1970 (40%, Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice, b. ca 1990) (tOMoH)

Nose: stewed gooseberries (YM), Bovril, meat and Bolognese sauce (cavalier66), a bit of dampness (cavalier66).

Mouth: a weird weed dankness (YM), punchy (cavalier66), chalky and mouldy (cavalier66), caraway seeds (YM).

Finish: cavalier66 finds it challenging. Tomato sauce.

Comment: this has a four-syllable name to boot. My notes are here.

Score: 7/10

cavalier66: "I had spaghetti Bolognese ice cream, one day."
JS: "What!?"
tOMoH: "He means shaped like spaghetti Bolognese."
cavalier66: "No, ice cream that was spaghetti-Bolognese-flavoured."
JS: "Did you like it?"
cavalier66: "It wasn't unpleasant."

The soundtrack: Apparat - DJ-Kicks

Tomatin 1964/1995 (40%, Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice, IE/14) (tOMoH)

Nose: cardboard pointing at mocha, honeydew melon with a slice of prosciutto (YM).

Mouth: honeydew melon indeed (JS).

Finish: chocolate milk. cavalier66 finds it tertiary, which amuses us immensely.

Comment: My notes are here.

Score: 8/10

cavalier66: "This is quite nice."

tOMoH: "Woah, you keep the English understatement going on."
cavalier66: "It turned from 'quite nice' to 'very pleasant'."

cavalier66: "There is an element of chocolate. But not quality Belgian chocolate. Its more of a bland Swiss thing."

cavalier66 presents a Johnnie Walker Black Label sample from a bottle found in a friend's parents' house. It was bought around nineteen-seventy-four, it was gifted to cavalier66 four his birthday, and he has had it four a while.

Johnnie Walker Black Label (unknown ABV, John Walker & Sons, b. ca.1974)

Nose: it is more subdued than the first four (cavalier66). I find it watery, but it has soot and ashes. cavalier66 detects old-bottling effect, while YM calls a weird metallic thing (that would be the OBE). Tin lids, silver spoons (cavalier66).

Mouth: leather and pot-pourri (YM). A lot of soot, here; it is a spoonful of soot in a tin lid. It is watery, though, and clearly below 40%.

Finish: caramel, melted milk chocolate, nut spread, and almost no smoky-soot-y aspect left.

Score: 7/10

cavalier66 introduces a forty-four-year-old Invergordon. A double-four.

Invergordon 44yo 1966/2010 (46.8%, Hunter Hamilton The Clan Denny, Refill Barrel, C#HH4995) (cavalier66)

Nose: blackcurrants (cavalier66), rum-y (YM). It is unmistakably an Invergordon, with blackcurrants and metal, super sharp. It has a green bitterness, for a moment, then a warmed black bin.

Mouth: mellow, with just a minor sparkle, it has blush-orange segments, pink grapefruit and ripe blackcurrants. Chewing opens the door to a water cannon shooting blackcurrant juice. cavalier66 mentions Ribena. Posh.

Finish: blackcurrant paste or fruit-flavoured marzipan. It has gingerbread spices too (ginger, cinnamon).Comment: this is amazing.

Score: 9/10

YM rolls out a Hazelburn from the infinity cask of the Cadenhead shop in Campbeltown. He adds there are "way the fuck more than four" casks that went into this bottling.

Hazelburn b.2026 (59.5%, OB Hand Filled Distillery Exclusive) (YM)

Nose: orchard fruits (cavalier66), punchy incense, ash, soot and toasted cereals. The second nose adds a touch of surgical alcohol.

Mouth: punchy, it has ashes, wood gratings, anaesthetics, soot (SOB). It is bright, powerful and soot-y at second sip, a trifle medicinal, fleetingly. cavalier66 finds green bananas.

Finish: soot (SOB), Ardbeg levels of soot (YM), and sweetness. This is naked power. The second gulp has a strong Bourbon-y vibe. JS says it tastes like white-grape juice.

Comment: delicious.

Score: 8/10

SOB: "I had a chance to buy it. I said no. Then I tried and I regretted it a bit."
tOMoH: "To quote GL: 'You can't buy everything.' But GL is an idiot [for saying that]."

Time to eat something.

Comté, smoked salmon, oak smoked Wiltshire ham, prosciutto di Parma

Langres, Tomme d'Aydius, Gouda 48 months,
wild boar saucisson

SOB also brought pastries ("because I knew JMcD was not coming"), but I fail to take pictures.

The soundtrack: Iarla Ó Lionáird - The Seven Steps To Mercy • Seacht gCoiscéim Na Trocaire (because seven is more than four)

That will be referred to throughout the rest of the tasting as the Irish funeral music.

YM brings us a Thompson Bros. Mystery Malt that can be one of more than four bottlings they did. It is also a four-year-old, he discovers when he opens it.

Mysterio!

Lochlea 4yo (48.3%, Thompson Bros. Mystery Malt, Refill Bourbon, B#2, 172b) (YM)

Nose: strawberries and grain. It is not grain-y, mind. There is simply a little grain, alongside cream and caramel.

Mouth: thin and spirit-y, it has distilled cardboard, if that makes sense. Chewing reveals a creaminess of vanilla pudding. Corn syrup emerges at second sip, though nothing sickly. cavalier66 finds it a tad yeasty.

Finish: boozy (SOB), lemon-y (YM), laundry detergent (YM), laundry taken out of the washing machine (cavalier66). SOB adds cocoa beans. It has caramel poured onto vanilla pudding stored in a cardboard box.

Comment: decent, not that exciting, it still grows on me over time.

Score: 7/10

SOB tells us he decided to go with six as an underlying theme. The first whisky he brought was made of barley kilned for six hours. He adds that J & A Mitchell, the producers of this whisky, have four-not-more single-malt brands to their name (Springbank, Hazelburn, Longrow, Kilkerran). Also, the equipment they use was manufactured by Four-syths. Boom.

cavalier66 [observing SOB's generous pour]: "This is almost up to the four-centilitre mark on the glass."
tOMoh: "And I hear no-one complain!"
JS: "You have not even tried it yet."
cavalier66: "You're right. I take it back."

Springbank 30yo b.2026 (47.8%, OB Open Day 2026, Bourbon + Oloroso + Rum Oak Casks, 1572b) (SOB)

Nose: phwoar! Sophisticated nose (JS). "Where is the dirty funk?" asks cavalier66, who says this has an occasional whiff of celery. Berries and the shrub they grew on, a whisp of smoke, dark grapes and greengages.

Mouth: waves of celery (cavalier66), celery leaf (YM), a mix of plums and tractor fumes on a field. It develops a striking strength, over time, a few dead leaves and a pinch of scorched earth.

Finish: burnt, scorched earth, myrtles and blackberries trampled into earth, aged funk (SOB), tertiary funk (cavalier66). SOB calls it funk-adjacent, which slays us all. It has more and more berries with time.

Comment: magnificent. "A Springbank with a dinner suit and white tie." (cavalier66)

Score: 9/10

The soundtrack: The Pussycat Dolls - PCD (a group of more than four girls)

tOMoH [about the music]: "I found this downstairs. I like it, but I need to be clear about that."
SOB: "You found it downstairs in a package with your name on it?"

SOB brought the sixth edition of the White Stag. He tells us Arran is a five-letter distillery and they also use Four-syths equipment. He adds that it is called Arr-an and is distilled at Lochranz-arr, which is on point for Talk Like a Pirate Day. He then points out that his previous pour was also related to TLaPD: Spring-walk-the-plank.

SOB [struggling to remove the wax seal]:" I can't get it to open!"
cavalier66: "That's still too much wax on the top."
tOMoH: "Is that a Clynelish, then?"

Arran 23yo 1997/2021 6th Release (53.8%, OB White Stag, Sherry Hogshead & Sherry Puncheon, B#6, 995b) (SOB)

Nose: vaguely pickled, it has caramelised apples and a fruity eggnog, complete with foam and all. It has a murmur of quarry dust and a lemon-y side too. The second nose gains toasted bread. A hint of dark-grape juice (or wine) rocks up a bit later.

Mouth: lemon-y and mineral. It is on the limestone side of things, acidic and abrasive. The second sip adds a lick of lime, maybe zest, even dark rubber -- and it gets darker with each sip to end up with liquorice.

Finish: coating, lemon-y. Tropical lemon (YM jokes), camphor, a strong cough syrup, liquorice allsorts and liquorice bootlaces.

Comment: good.

Score: 8/10

cavalier66: "I think it's really good, but I think it suffers from coming after the Springbank."

SOB: "I had a ticket to see Cate Blanchett, tonight. I sold it on Twicket. But I managed to have a ticket for last week."
tOMoH: "Well, that's no use, anymore!"

tOMoH presents a whisky that was part of the Special Releases four or more years ago.

SOB: "Did you notice this is one point four UK units per serve too?"

Dalwhinnie 30yo b.2019 (54.7%, OB Special Releases 2019, Hogsheads & Butts, 7584b, b#3278) (tOMoH)

Nose: "unmistakable Highland nose -- you can smell the heather" (cavalier66). It is quite herbaceous, with thyme dust, dried sage and, of course, metal, which is not that far from sage anyway. We have a minty paste too. The second nose brings acrylic paint, paint thinner, latex.

Mouth: strongly mentholated, it kicks like a motherfucker. Roundhouse kicks executed with steel-toed boots. The second sip is even more powerful, lively as a bronco. Mulch comes up more than wood shavings, and chocolate chips.

Finish: mentholated is right! Peppery, fresh, herbal.

Comment: looking forward to spending more time with this one.

Score: 8/10

The soundtrack: East 17 - Wathamstow (four blokes and seventeen is more than four)

cavalier66 explains that a friend of his had a private cask of Bruichladdich. It is four-teen years old. When cavalier66 asked him what MHYVHS meant, he was told it is Hebrew for a four-English-word whisky-club name (which I agree to not disclose to protect the innocents). SOB adds that Bruichladdich is the only distillery to ever do a quadruple distillation.

Bruichladdich 14yo 2009/2024 (57.9%, OB Private Cask Bottling MHYVHS, Bourbon Cask, C#1475) (cavalier66)

Nose: a slight bread-y note (cavalier66). I disagree. Lichen and empty vases for me. Gluten-free bread (SOB), dirt and dust on a windscreen. After a while, we get wafts of suede. It is caramel-y at second sip.

Mouth: caramel, toffee and a whole lot of spices. White pepper, ginger powder, asafoetida, whole mace.

The second sip hits just as hard, just as spicy, and adds a spoonful of marmalade.

Finish: very dry, Sauvignon Blanc style. Roast beef is lurking too. The second gulp brings marmalade or apricot jam, which is a welcome addition.

Comment: alright.

Score: 7/10

cavalier66: "Petrichor. What do you call 'petrichor' in French?"
tOMoH: "Erm. I don't know. Pétrichor? [It is.] You'd prolly call it 'undergrowth after the rain'."
cavalier66: "Oh. And in Dutch?"
tOMoH: "I don't know, but it'll be more guttural."

YM introduces an Ault-more (four or more, geddit?)

73.63 11yo d.2002 Vanilla spice latte (59.8%, Society Single Cask, Refill ex-Sherry Butt, 426b) (YM)

Nose: boozy and sweet (YM), suede, leather, but also a lot of (citrus) jam. It then evolves towards nuts. The second nose plays a metallic note.

Mouth: it has got some fruits, but it is mostly heat. Green chilli, bay leaves, pickled okras, chilli pickles. Slightly tamer at second sip, it blends mango pickle, chilli pickle and marmalade.

Finish: "has the taste of a youngish SMWS single-cask whisky" (cavalier66). Big, uncompromising, it has chilli pickle mixed with sweet jams and jellies. It stays fiercely hot at second gulp. Numbing.

Comment: simple, nondescript, yet perfect for where it is in the line-up.

Score: 6/10

The soundtrack: Ravi Shankar - In Concert (Shankar plays the sitar, an instrument with more than four strings)

JS unveils her Braes of Glenlivet, one of the few distilleries that count more than four syllables.

Braes of Glenlivet 22yo 1989/2011 (60.2%, The Scottish Liqueur Centre Càrn Mòr Celebration of the Cask, Bourbon Hogshead, C#1051, 267b b#69) (JS)

Nose: At this point, it feels a little neutral. Dried peaches, perhaps.

Mouth: strong, but strangely balanced, with dried citrus peels.

Finish: long, custard-y, it has custard-filled buns or doughnuts.

Comment: my palate is tired. It is good nevertheless. My notes are here.

Score: 8/10

SOB: "Did you say there was a distillery with three letters?"
tOMoH: "Yeah."
cavalier66: "Why?"
tOMoH: "Because."

The soundtrack: The Unity Mixers - Dance Computer Volume 3 (a series that is more than four instalments long; I stupidly do not play Volume 4. Bah.)

To accompany the music, we have a parting dram of Port Charlotte 14yo 2002/2017 (60.1%, The Creative Whisky Company The Exclusive Malts, Sherry Hogshead, C#1140, 228b) for which I take no notes.

We never try this, after all