05/08/2026 A triplet of Chichibu at Bar Lotus

JS and cavalier66 join me for what is supposed to be a modest night out, but will go on much later than expected. cavalier66 who cannot even remember how long he has been home alone, is determined to make it count too and orders only the most prestigious. He is there first, enjoying a dram of Highland 49yo 1976/2026 (45.1%, Thompson Bros. specially bottled for Dornoch Castle, Hogshead, C#SR26050, 140b) which he seems to like.

JS discovers there is an offer on flights of Chichibu, so she chooses one such flight. There are twenty-or-so Chichibu on the menu, you see? And that is before cavalier66 points out there are thirtyish more on the other side of the page.

Whilst she chooses, I peruse the shelves. cavalier66 has another.

Talisker d.1970 (53.1%, Gordon & MacPhail, b.1980s)

Nose: very peaty, with a lick of tropical fruits in the back. It then turns tertiary, much to cavalier66’s pleasure, with forest floor, mushrooms and dead leaves. It also starts smelling of pepper. A promising nose, at any rate.

Ah! We have a selection.

Chichibu 2015/2021 (63.3%, Venture Whisky exclusively bottled for Spirits Shop Selection, imported by Hua Yang International Exhibition, Bourbon Barrel 2nd Fill, C#5497, 223b)

Nose: pretty powerful. It is spirit-y and a bit mute, really. Potato salad? Water barely opens it up. We have bandages, wet with white-fruit juice, perhaps.

Mouth: very strong, it cauterises the mouth. Gauze soaked in ether. Adding water strikes a better balance: more fruit (baked plums), but that is still subdued.

Finish: powerful and disinfecting as to be medicinal. Antiseptic. JS finds it peppery. Water makes it fruitier, but also rather dry -- how ironic! cavalier66 detects banana. I am less convinced.

Score: 6/10

Chichibu 2015/2022 (61.7%, Venture Whisky exclusively bottled for Spirits Shop imported by Hua Yang International Exhibition, Bourbon Barrel 2nd Fill, C#5494, 183b)

Nose: more custard-y, it also has an allure that reminds tOMoH of the fun fair in Huy. The smell of fried doughnuts mixed with that of grilled sausages, perhaps? Stale industrial bread? That gives way to freeze-dried raspberries. Water does not really change the nose. Maybe it adds plastic grapes.

Mouth: super dry and a notch meaty (roast beef), it is also fairly salty. And strong, it goes without saying. With water, it becomes a tad fiery.

Finish: still pretty strong, yet it now also exhibits fruits -- Sauvignon Blanc grapes, ash-dry and bitter, devoid of the sweetness often associated with the term ‘fruity’. Water releases a bit more fruits, but it remains a fiery, drying number. cavalier66 even calls chilli. He is not wrong.

Score: 7/10

Talisker 47yo b.2026 Magma (48.8%, OB, Refill American Oak > Volcanic Toasted American Oak, 622b, b#310)

Nose: marsh-like, quagmire (giggity giggity), it has an overdose of vegetal peat, lichens, dried algae, dried mosses. Marshmallow (cavalier66) -- “or marshsmooth” (tOMoH). It is too peppery, according to cavalier66.

cavalier66: "Two supermarket whiskies in the same evening..."
JS: "The Tesco tasting!"

Chichibu 2014/2023 The Tree In The Forest (63%, Venture Ichiro's Malt exclusively bottled for Shinanoya distributed by Japan Import System, 2nd Fill Bourbon Barrel, C#3551, 191b, b#54)

Nose: this is more welcoming. It has baked sweetcorn and confectionary sugar. In fact, it is Destrooper butter crisps. Water allows dirty fruits to shine very brightly (peaches, rambutans), along with dirt and mud.

Mouth: oh! It is peaty. The manager had told us, but I had forgotten. Elegant smoke in an engine room, perhaps a hot motor (Aston Martin). It also has yellow fruits rubbed against galvanised metal (iron or zinc). With water, it sees more fruits and ashes, maybe burnt wood, and also a forest-fruit smoothie.

Finish: peaty and fruity. Plums dragged through an extinguished fireplace (soot, ash, charred wood), then rubbed on zinc. Water makes it linger and stick like a thick smoothie cut with mouthwash.

Score: 8/10

cavalier66: “Oh! wow, very different. I have been drinking old. I know it sounds…”
tOMoH: “Do you want a dickhead glass?”

The manager recommended water to open these Chichibu up when he brought them to the table. At first, I thought it was presumptuous to assume we were not familiar with 60+% whiskies. But coming out of the place, I seem to be more under the influence than I expected. Very glad JS did not go for a margarita on top of that. I really do not need another unit of alcohol tonight!

I enjoyed this to Bar Lotus visit it more unequivocally than the previous. It works better as a bar than as a vessel for tastings, I find. It also reminds me of those bars we went to in Korea, with dimly-lit atmosphere that make for dark pictures, and very few others drinking whisky.

13/07/2026 Springbank tasting at Bar Lotus

JS and I meet Gunooner for another tasting at Bar Lotus.

This one

Campbeltown Loch 21yo (40%, Springbank Distillers)

Nose: roasted apples, hot tin and a tea shoppe full of bags of gunpowder, dried leaves and even an incense section. The tin becomes louder, jar lids and copper coins. Melted plasticine joins the dance, while JS and Gunooner think of dusty-musty lofts.

Mouth: roasted apples it is, dripping with juice and filled with a tiny bit of smoke. It becomes thinner and metallic at second sip, with cut apple slices rubbed on tin and copper.

Finish: charred apples, smoked quinces, pears, a sprinkle of ground white pepper. JS mentions those Korean juice cans with grapes inside the can.

Comment: a good starter that will be more and more impressive as we get back to it later in the evening. They do not make the mistake of telling us this is really Springbank 21yo under a different name -- there is no Springbank in Campbeltown Loch below the age of 25, according to trustworthy sources.

Score: 8/10

Our host does a little introduction for the bottles in the main line-up. Sadly, he mispronounces Hedley Wright's name, tells us he was manager of the distillery in the 1980s before someone else took over (Wright was never manager; he owned the distillery from the 1960s to his death in 2023). He also tells us that Murray McDavid had a good relationship with Springbank, hence why they bottled the third dram of tonight. In fact, one of Murray McDavid’s co-founders was Wright’s nephew. When he left the family business to set up Murray McDavid, he bottled one of his own casks of Springbank, much to the ire of Hedley Wright. That torpedoed any relationship between the two.

All that to say: there is a lack of research on display.

Springbank 30yo Hedley G. Wright (38%, OB, b.1980s)

Nose: incredibly deep and elegant. It speaks of drinks cabinets, old liqueurs, corduroy sofas and velvet drapes. It feels a little fragile, but it does not suffer too much. A whiff of berry-flavoured cough drops tickles the nostrils, blackberry and blackcurrant. It has a farm-y nuance at second nose, and pickled onions. It becomes incredibly fruity, a few hours in, tropical — pink maracuja and dragon fruit, snake head fruit and kaki in a rubber punnet.

Mouth: smoked-cassis liqueur, a pinch of charcoal, a spray of defroster fluid. The second sip has tree bark bathing in balsamic vinegar, at once acidic and fruity. A woody bitterness emerges, old cinnamon sticks. Coming back to it after the rest of the line-up, it is full-on lychee and pink grapefruit, not particularly assertive, but beautiful.

Finish: much more potent than expected, this rolls out woodworm and dried mushrooms, followed by soot and grated charcoal. A lick of balsamic shows up at second gulp. Later on, the finish is weaker, too subtle, bitter, with ink and fennel.

Comment: this is excellent, if not extraordinary. It should objectively have been bottled sooner. What a treat to try it, though! Emotionally charged. Likely bottled between 1977 and 1988: the volume is written in millilitres (the glass states 75-77cl), which means post-1977, and the Scotch Whisky Act of 1988 dictates that Scotch has to be 40% minimum, so it cannot be later than that.

Score: 9/10

Springbank 15yo J. Archibald Mitchell (46%, OB imported by Japan Import Systems, b.1980s)

Nose: lovely Sherry cask(s), it seems. Prunes, fresh figs and a delicate whisper of smoke that could even be cigar. It also has gentle shoe polish, melted plasticine, suet, cured cherries, maybe mahogany oil.

Mouth: nice and oily (JS), Cognac-y, it has grapes, prunes, rambutans. Chewing adds cured gooseberries, cured plums, wine-soaked Mirabelle plums, a puff of smoke, and a soft note of onion relish. Honey-glazed pearl onions materialise at second sip. Yes: pearl onions coated in honey become really clear.

Finish: weirdly enough, the dilution shows, in this one. It is otherwise a great combination of the above, with gooseberries, plums, pearl onions and sweet fresh figs to balance the tartness of those onions. The second gulp brings together the figs, prunes and onions.

Comment: excellent!

Score: 9/10

There are sixteen of us, tonight, with little interaction between many of the participants. I sometimes get the feeling that some are discovering Springbank on this occasion. There are worse ways to do it, but I cannot say if I find this the best.

Springbank 33yo 1965/1998 (46%, Murray McDavid, Sherry Cask, C#580, 204b, b#149)

Nose: we are shifting gears! This is, of course, in a completely different league, brimming with lychee, gooseberry and carambola. There is a hidden note of pine needles too, and a vague wine influence, despite the host’s assuring us it is from a Bourbon cask (it is not). Next up are warm lettuce leaves, and stewed lemons appear in the long run, albeit not shouty. The second nose brings a pinch of earth.

Mouth: syrupy as fook, this is clearly an ex-Sherry cask. It has honey spilled on earth, cough syrup spilled on lychee, carambola doused in minty camphor, and cough drops. The second sip seems more powerful and wine-y, with prunes, bitter currants (unripe), cherry stems and liqueur poured on mud patties.

Finish: the Sherry keeps it from reaching the heavens for me. It is a little on the loud side. Stewed citrus, marmalade-like but augmented with stewed liquorice. The second gulp is more straightforward prunes and red-wine vinegar toned down with honey.

Comment: the nose alone was a top score. The rest is too sherried for me.

Score: 9/10

Springbank 30yo b.2025 (46%, OB, 25/13)

Nose: fresh watermelon slices, smoked carambola chunks. At some point, incense unexpectedly wafts in. Soft-leather handbags, cosmetic products, then excellent hard candy, melting and fragrant (berry-flavoured), borderline chewing gum-like.

Mouth: yeah, hard candy it is, acidic, fruity, sweet. Chewing cranks up the fruits: raspberry, strawberry, Morello cherry. There is a wisp of acrid smoke, in the back, blink and you miss it. We have a bit of leather at second sip, and a berry paste dragged through earth. This is spectacular.

Finish: wood and fruits. Papier mâché paste, smashed strawberries, cinnamon powder. There are even tropical fruits, after a while, carambola in the lead.

Comment: I certainly did not want to like this, considering the RRP. But I have to admit it is excellent.

Score: 9/10

Springbank 21yo d.1993 (unknown ABV, OB Private Bottling for MGM & SCT)

Nose: vulgar, it has no finesse, compared to the previous drams. Mud, boozy vase water followed by ash and lichen-covered metal pipes. The longer you nose, the more-pleasant it becomes, thankfully, but the contrast with the rest of the line-up is not flattering. The last thing to drive to the nostrils are the plastic cover sheets of comb-bound booklets.

Mouth: it is a bit rough around the edges, with sand and melted glass. It moves to a minty custard a little further on. The second sip brings an unbelievable mix of fish sauce and smoked raspberries. It turns muddier with time and adds ashes.

Finish: big, woody and earthy, it has a strong anaesthetising cinnamon effect. The second gulp is earthier, ashier, yet clean and dry, closer to Sauvignon Blanc or Chenin Blanc than to mud patties.

Comment: a slow-burner. A good whisky, objectively, but it feels out of place in this selection.

Score: 8/10

Springbank 27yo 1992/2020 (48.4%, OB Private Single Cask, Refill Bourbon Hogshead, C#273, b#186)

Nose: a completely different nose again. Here are cereals and yellow flowers -- daffodils, tulips, forsythia. Plums and white peaches are here too. Later on, we have a minty paste and a whiff of curry. Yup, that weird! The second nose welcomes transparent nail varnish and lychee shavings.

Mouth: super fresh, it has mint and pressed green grapes. Extremely fruity at second sip, it rolls out grapes, physalis, plums, greengages and, as soon as one chews, hazel wood shavings. That spells a mild bitterness, without doubt.

Finish: not at all living up to the nose and palate, the finish is earthier, dirtier, Springbankier, perhaps, but a little less to my taste (tonight). The second gulp is better, less earthy. It rallies around fruits and injects a drop of red-wine vinegar.

Comment: saved from a potential slip-up. It is actually very good.

Score: 9/10

Good selection again. I like that everyone goes at their own pace (I take my time), but still unsure what to make of the place or the organisation. It is not really a guided tasting, more a flight-of-the-day type, and the disconnect between the knowledge gaps and the calibre of the whiskies is unsettling. In any case, how smashing to try these drams.

They also have this American whiskey bottled by Chichibu.
Someone else tries it, we do not.

29/06/2026 Bowmore Rare Bottlings at Bar Lotus

Last week, BB tipped us this event when we met. Tonight, JS and I meet here for the first time. cavalier66 joins us, who has been before. Only six of us, tonight, amongst whom Gunooner.

Bowmore 29yo b.1979 Bicentenary (43%, OB, Sherry Casks, 24,000b)

Nose: tarry passion fruits, purple maracuja and soot, followed by jams and jellies of all sorts. It is definitely fruity, yet the fruitmonger used to be a chimney sweep. cavalier66 finds it a touch of petroleum, as well as medicinal and herbal notes. For me, it is asafoetida that emerges, and a butyric side. cavalier66 finds pickled onions.

Mouth: salty and briny, it soon gives more soot and charcoal dust. Grilled fruits follow suit, with chargrilled peaches and persimmons. It has burnt-wood gratings too that never overpower the fruits.

Finish: thin and short, it has the allure of a dry white wine, Sauvignon blanc, ashy and mineral. The second gulp adds hardened rubber and crushed pistachio shells.

Comment: "bottled for the Italian market," our host says. It has no tax seal and no importer indication, which would have been illegal in Italy (and still is). The paperwork is, indeed, in Italian, though. I suspect an Italian box to complement a UK bottle. In any case, despite being excellent, it is not the best of the Bicentenary expressions I have had the pleasure to try (the honour would belong to this one). Finally, the paperwork is clear: this is a vatting of ten different vintages, the most recent of which is 1950, aged twenty-nine. Written black on white.

Score: 9/10

Our host regrets that he forgot to pour us the welcome drink. It is a Lagavulin. With a mix of gratefulness and disbelief, I put my glass to the side. I am not tarnishing old Bowmores with a peaty Lagavulin!

Bowmore 34yo 1968/2002 (41.40%, Duncan Taylor Peerless, C#1427, 210b, b#060)

Nose: coconut and yellow passion fruit (cavalier66). This is a fruity killery of the highest calibre. Carambola, mango, jackfruit, yellow maracuja, persimmon and lychee grow at second nose, buttery peaches and overripe apricots join them. cavalier66 detects anchovies. Must be the pizza from his lunch stuck between his teeth!

Mouth: floral (cavalier66). It has a vague floral hue, almost impossible to read underneath the cascade of fruits. However, that comes with grains of soot on the tongue. The second sip is a notch bitterer, with ground mace and a lick of rubber amongst the now-dominant nectarines.

Finish: big, surprisingly minty, fruity and a tad peppery (think: peppermint). It takes two gulps for yellow fruits to come to the top, but when they do, they rule. cavalier66 talks about elderflower cordial.

Comment: with exactly zero surprise, this is fantastic and will remain the dram of the night for JS and tOMoH.

Score: 9/10

Our host, paralyzed_frank, asks us if we want to try a certain Glenlivet. He says he does, so he will pour it for all. Another dram for the back of the queue, as far as I am concerned.

Bowmore 21yo d.1973 (43%, OB)

Nose: pickled onions ("of the dark-brown variety, hanging at your aunt's for several years," says cavalier66). It really is onion-y: onions that have fermented in the larder and dripped, decayed red onions, smoked and smashed on earth, acetone (cavalier66).

Mouth: pwah! Parma violet, lavender, perfume of you-know-whom. This is too much, even for me. Crystallised violet sweets come out on top and almost save it, but it sadly only has a novelty value. The second sip is even more violet-y, too much for tOMoH, who is usually not at all negatively-impacted by this well-known taste.

Finish: long, bitter, violet-y. It is less sweet -- or it has fewer sweets. Instead, it tickles perfume. A sentiment which is confirmed with the second gulp.

Comment: 750ml bottle (not 75cl), no US Proof nor importer information. paralyzed_frank explains it is a UK version from before 70cl became the standard; I beg to differ: that was in 1991; this is twenty-one years old distilled in 1973. It was bottled 1994 or 1995. Besides, the earlier bottlings indicated 75cl, not 750ml. Which market was this for? South Africa? Anyway, this is not my thing.

Score: 6/10

Bowmore 21yo (43%, OB imported by Carmi Zvi, F158, b. ca. 2000s)

Nose: an earthier number, it has warm rubber and heated liquorice allsorts. It also smells a lot stronger than its predecessor. Preserved lemons, dried and salty. Some fruits emerge at second nosing, mostly apricots, fresh and dried. There is a pinch of dried herbs too, likely tarragon and oregano.

Mouth: sea salt (cavalier66), crystallised liquorice, a lick of anthracite, and chewy blackcurrant cough drops. There is a veil of smoke, but it is hardly noticeable.

Finish: bigger, longer, more sherried. It has liquorice, soot, tar, creosote and lint. It is not a brutal finish, but it sticks to the gums like a petrolic Sherry.

Comment: several of us expected this one, being likely distilled in the 1980s, to be the violet-y one. How surprising that it has none of that, when its more-ancient equivalent is plagued by it. Did they mix up the glasses upon serving?

Score: 7/10

A fly sets camp in JS's glass. paralyzed_frank traps it and removes the glass.

Barman: "I'll give you another one."
tOMoH: "I have a fly in each of my glasses!"

Bowmore 36yo 1972/2008 (45.4%, Signatory Vintage Cask Strength Collection, Fresh Oloroso Sherry Butt, C#3890, 540b, b#6)

Nose: prunes, sultanas, dried figs, a whiff of hashish. It is earthy and a bit, but also promises dried fruits. The second nose is super lush, with prunes and raisins aplenty. It adds a drop of ink, black as night.

Mouth: rancio, elderberry jelly, smashed prunes, dried Medjool dates, fig relish. It has an acidic touch and a slight bitterness -- the Sherry, clearly. The second sip has a mineral touch akin to prunes smashed on pebbles. Ginger and cinnamon powders become more intense with time.

Finish: big, earthy, it has bucketloads of prunes, figs and pressed blackberries. The second gulp is similar: dark, juicy and a little mineral in a tickly way.

Comment: excellent.

Score: 9/10

Bowmore 18yo d.1971 (57.3%, Sestante)

Nose: this is much more austere and mineral, with volumes of pepper and billows of smoke. Smoked pepper ground in a granite mortar, let us say. The longer it sits in the glass, the more mineral it becomes too. The second nose has dried onion peels and candle wax.

Mouth: onion syrup, sweet and pickled, totally weird. Confit d'oignon, JS tells us. It also has a prune-cut-on-slate vibe that is rather original. The second nose seems more nosebleed, drying and numbing, like granite.

Finish: pickled onions again, dripping with syrup. JS is right: it really is confit d'oignon! The dichotomy between syrupy sweetness and pickled acidity is surprising. The second gulp serves that confit on a hot tin plate.

Comment: not an easy one, but very good.

Score: 9/10

Bowmore 16yo d.1973 (62.8%, Sestante)

Nose: this one is even more austere, boiler rooms and dusty machinery. "Blind, would you say Bowmore?" cavalier66 asks. Nope. It is closer to Glen Mhor or Millburn. Metal filings covered in dust, quarry dust. The second nose is austerer yet, if that is possible. It is more and more numbing, like chilli flakes, yet also metallic.

Mouth: confit d'oignon here too, hot metal (zinc, galvanised iron) and hardened rubber, bizarrely enough.

Finish: the Industrial Revolution has begun! Hot dusty metal, smoke, hammered zinc, coal (cavalier66), galvanised iron. The second gulp is numbing, and, considering the ABV, it is hardly unexpected.

Comment: the staff tell us it is close to Baiju. Fortunately, I disagree with them. Wholeheartedly. This is uncompromising, and really a style I appreciate.

Score: 9/10

Punter: Such and such has tried four hundred Ben Nevises. One hundred and thirty from 1996."
tOMoH: "Does he have a girlfriend?"

Bowmore 22yo 2002/2026 (51%, Thompson Bros. for Bar Lotus, Refill Barrel, 88b)

Nose: extremely custard-y, it has flan tart and banana bread.

Mouth: ginger, a touch of smoke, tree bark, ginseng and rose water.

Finish: smashed banana served in a rubber bowl, dried algae and the residue in an empty vase.

Comment: this is good, but it is hard not to think it is a grave sequence mistake.

Score: 8/10

paralyzed_frank: "I started drinking whisky a year ago."

Our jaws drop in disbelief. It explains the missing bits. Not what is there.

Glenlivet 1946/1972 (43%, Berry Bros. & Rudd)

Nose: boiled potatoes sprinkled with soot. It is most particular! Cinnamon powder ends up making its way through. Then, we have lemons, crisp and acidic in a forest of Epiceas. The second nose has a drop of lemon juice on limestone, effervescent reaction and all.

Mouth: OBE in full effect. This overflows with the tin lids of marmalade jars and copper coins (remarkably not oxidised). It has the bitterness of brass, which makes one think of playing the trombone.

Finish: long and fairly fruity, it has prunes and fresh figs, followed by jam-jar lids and a pinch of soot.

Comment: it is not terribly complex, but very good.

Score: 9/10 (Thanks for the dram, paralyzed_frank)

Lagavulin 25yo 1990/2015 (44%, The Syndicate, C#4394, 243b)

Nose: vase water, musky hairballs, gunpowder, smashed dried algae. It also emits gas and lingering septic-tank odours -- in a good way. That dissipates to give dust, ash and burnt hair.

Mouth: dry, hairy, it has horse's hair and fairly-new rope. Chewing releases juicy dried fruits, prunes or soaked raisins, then rancio and fermented-onion juice.

Finish: juicy and prune-y, it is also smoky as fook. We have smoked prunes and smoked red onions, caramelised or in a relish format.

Comment: really good. Glad I saved it for last.

Score: 8/10 (Thanks for the dram, paralyzed_frank)

Good night out. The venue is a little hard to find, with its half-down shutter, I stopped twice to look at the cat in front, without realising it was the place. The selection inside is very impressive and the vibe is as geeky as it gets. Somehow, I did not feel entirely at home, but that must be me.

As for the tasting itself, it was not a guided tasting. More a preselected flight of eight(*) with an imposed pace -- a pace that suited me perfectly.

(*) with inexplicable detours, which I found weird and a little hazardous.