25/05/2021 Strathisla

Strathisla 15yo (100° Proof, Gordon & MacPhail, b.1970s): not sure if this is the version with stencilled flowers or not. Nose: the perfect balance of encaustic/wood polish and wine influence. We have drinks cabinets, teak coffee tables, pickled onions, leather grease (the kind one uses to waterproof a coat), plenty of rancio, and, on the late tip, lichen-covered staves. In the medium term, sangria materialises, teeming with macerated fruits -- orange rinds, berries, peaches, plums, perhaps apricots too, closer to dried than juicy, however. I really want to smell smoke in this, but I do not think I can. Even later, that impression of onions, pickled in red-wine vinegar comes back with a vengeance. This time, it is accompanied by older, dryer wood (old bookshelves) and old newspapers, kept in a damp cellar. There might even be a whisper of old cardboard, on the second nose. The addition of water brings sulphur into the picture, with spent matches, cooled off in cold water, black cumin seeds and nigella seeds. I would go further and diagnose charred raspberries. Mouth: ooft! This is lively and punchy. It is also ample, woody, laden with tannins, and pickled red onions. Decaying plums feature too, antique teak bookshelves crumbling apart (it may be mahogany, but it was too good a pun to pass), and rancio, in the back. After thirty seconds on the tongue, it reveals itself for the old lady it is, with old wood (sawdust, yellowed newspapers) and old liqueurs (plum, elderberry). This is definitely not an easy palate: it is acidic (vinegar), bitter (wood), and, if it is not austere in the mineral way (no chalk nor limestone, no flint either), it certainly is not openly welcoming. Charming, though. As it did for the nose, water pushes charred, sulphur-y notes forward; marinated spare ribs left for hours on the barbecue, until they crumble out of their own accord, nigella seeds, and charred herbs (rosemary, chiefly). Finish: remarkably soft on the way down, milky (full-fat milk, if you please) and velvety, it nonetheless reminds one of its other characteristics, namely old wood (sawdust, newspapers) and wine (red-wine vinegar, pickled onions). The second sip brings fruit into the mix, yet it is fruit that has spent an extended period in wine or liqueur. Plums, peaches, greengages, mirabelle plums, apricots, green gooseberries. are all soaked beyond recognition, made acidic and bitter, as if unripe, by a nasty young red wine (cheap sangria) or red-wine vinegar. Water tones down the vinegar acidity, which allows timid berries to come out, but they are charred too. Again, I find dried raspberries, left to char on the grille until they are but a heap of black ash. 7/10 (Thanks for the sample, SA and JW)

24/05/2021 Blue Spot

Blue Spot 7yo (58.7%, Midleton Distillery for Mitchell & Son, Bourbon Barrels + Sherry Butts + Madeira Casks, b.2020): nose: light and ethereal, this has morning dew and rising sun leaping out of the glass -- glad I waited for a sunny morning to try this! Next up is fruit on a wooden cutting board, more peach than persimmon, yet it is juicy alright. There is a wooden desk in a sunlit conservatory, perhaps a whiff of hazelnuts in a cardboard box, until nut oils appear (hazelnut and walnut), as well as walnut stain. The second nose goes further and adds a mix of wood varnish and acrylic paint, which hints at solvents, I suppose -- not unheard of in a fruity whisky. Balsa wood is the last piece that comes top it all off. Breathing does it wonders: fruity chocolate ends up appearing (banana-flavoured Jacques). Water cranks up the fruit, and adds a flowery scent too (jasmine, cherry blossom), though also wet paper and line-drying linen. Citrus makes an entrance, calamansi and lemon. Mouth: oily and nutty, it only takes a second for this to turn rather fruity indeed, with lovely peach slices, and also pretty strong. It has cassia-bark splinters, habañero shavings and Port-marinated hazelnuts. The texture becomes buttery with time, the spices cool off, and only that fruity-nutty profile subsists. The second sip has a hefty dose of mango powder, sprinkled on dried mango slices. Unfortunately, water increases a slightly-unpleasant green bitterness, whilst also toning down all the good parts. Finish: not too far off the palate, this finish has creamy nuts and ripe peach, maybe dried mango, covered in wood spices (mace and mango powder), yet it also feels young and green, with a bitterness that reminds me of asafoetida -- and that will not please everyone. The death has that wonderful buttery feel that wraps and irons out everything else. Water works oddly well on the finish: it makes it creamier, decreases the bitterness and helps it deliver a modest vanilla-ed tropical-fruit kick (papaya and dragon fruit). Oh! It is no Gelston 26yo, but it is pleasant enough. There is huge potential on display, here, but why bottle this so young? 7/10 (Thanks for the sample, SA and JW)

20/05/2021 Glenallachie

Glenallachie 12yo 2007/2020 (61.7%, Cadenhead Specially Bottled for Cadenhead's Whisky Shop Berlin, Sherry Butt, 606b): nose: nutty and a tad wine-y, this has almond paste, chocolate coulis and more and more pronounced red wine, not far off the stage at which it turns into vinegar. Canola oil, Madeira wine, plum liqueur, fermented cranberries... It is pretty sour indeed. A few minutes into this nose, it takes on an unexpected medicinal-come-metallic tint -- imagine Merbromin in a tin can. Soon, it goes back to almonds, yet, this time, it is the skins, as if stripped off the nut itself by a wine bath. The second nose has damp earth and humid leaves, just fallen on the forest floor. Perhaps one may find a pouch of pipe tobacco as well. With water, this acquires hazelnut paste, in a marzipan-made-with-hazelnuts sort of way, not Nutella. It allows the autumnal dead leaves to feature more prominently too, which I see as a good thing. Mouth: wine-y, nutty, and rather stripping, at cask strength. It is sun-drenched, heady red wine all round, with heaps of black pepper. The tin is present, though it is far in the background. This mouth is mostly about the red wine. Almonds have become hazelnuts, served with a cranberry compote and a wine sauce (yet no meat). Huge pickled red onions show up with the second sip, not extremely acidic, yet well briny (it is a sweet brine) -- or is it onion relish? Sweet-and-sour sauce and sriracha sauce, punctuated by drops of melted hazelnut chocolate. Well, it might be almond chocolate again, mind. Water keeps this wine-y and pushes the red onions front and centre, yet they are sweeter than ever, the sweet-and-sour aspect becoming sweet and sweet. Wine-y chocolate in the back, still. All in all, an improvement on the cask-strength palate. Finish: more chocolate-y in the finish, it is still drenched in bold red wine and sprinkled with black pepper. It is a long finish, acidic, sour and oh-so-wine-y. This time, it makes me think of Patras wine, which is usually around 79% ABV (not really, but it is strong). Almost all in this whisky points to Mare Nostrum. A late, mulled-wine nuance takes us to the Alps, I suppose, parts of which are on Italian soil. I rest my case. Water improves the finish too: chocolate takes over, almost entirely eclipsing the wine. It leaves a creamy, hazelnut and milk-chocolate feel in the mouth, the kind that makes me crave another praline. "Nog maar eentje chocolade, dan!" Altogether, though, this is too wine-y for me. 6/10 (Thanks for the sample, SA and JW)

18/05/2021 Longmorn

Longmorn 20yo 1999/2019 (55.2%, OB The Distillery Reserve Collection, 2nd Fill Butt, C#10448, 732b, LKNN2778): nose: how interesting! It is fruity from the word 'go,' yet also flowery; mirabelle plums and plum compote, as well as forsythia, daffodil and elderflower. That is matched by strong elderberry wine. Behind that initial red/yellow assault, gentle wood rears its head, garden furniture, more than chests of drawers. Over time, the wine impression becomes stronger and stronger, headier and headier; overripe dark grapes, elderberry cordial, fermented dates and, lastly, even chocolate (liqueur pralines, really). A whisper of sawdust (from old, dry wood) makes its way in, as one tilts the glass. The second nose is winey to a point it feels meaty, with roast-beef in a sauce grand'veneur, served with lingonberry compote. With water, the berries and flowers turn into oilskins at first, then back to mirabelle plums, though more elegant than ever. The heady liqueurs end up peeking through, though, slightly less aggressively than before. There is a whiff of leather too, now. Mouth: oh! it is liqueur pralines alright. Edle Tropfen, cherry liqueur, brandy-macerated berries, booze-enhanced cranberry compote. It is also powerful to the point of being numbing, not unlike a horseradish sauce. The meaty side surfaces on the tongue too, with roast-beef again, supplemented by an unexpected portion of banane flambée, doused in honey mustard. Surprising. This sweet-yet-savoury, savoury-yet-sweet profile makes me think of Madeira wine more than Sherry, but what do I know? Even one drop of water changes this radically. The reduced mouth has juicy mirabelle plums, with little of the spicy, meaty notes from before. If anything, it makes it closer to white Port or Fino Sherry. Finish: odd. On the one hand, it has the lusciousness of a well-matured malt, on the other, it feels rough as a three-year-old. It has chocolate of the milk kind, fruit liqueur again, yet also green brambles and a less-than-optimal alcohol integration. Banane flambée makes a comeback, more sickly flambé rum than strictly banana, to be precise. There is a pouring of bitter coffee, black and lukewarm, as well as a rancio aftertaste that strips the teeth clean and coats the gums. And then, via retro-nasal olfaction, a sliced, fortified-wine-marinated celery stick appears. Water brings more chocolate and less distraction. Along with the chocolate, a nip of white Port or Fino Sherry again. Clearly, water makes this more simple, yet also more enjoyable, in my opinion. Not too taken by this one. 6/10 (Thanks for the sample, SA and JW)

16/05/2021 Kavalan

Kavalan 5yo 2015/2021 (54.8%, OB Solist, Vinho Barrique, C#W151203043A, 213b): nose: immediately, this reminds me why I do not taste Kavalan very often: it is a heady mix of heavy wine and astringent wood with high-octane alcohol. Teak furniture, newly assembled and given a generous lick of teak oil (I understand one is not supposed to oil teak that much), toasted bread, dunked into a bowl of fortified wine, grilled dried dates and fortified-wine-soaked blotting paper or cardboard -- picture a bottle of Port on its flank on a teak desk, the content emptying on the desk blotter. Add a fistful of honey-glazed pecans, left under the grill for a little too long, and a glass of Pedro Ximénez for kicks: it is sweet, yet it retains a whiff of dunnage warehouse too. Simmering in a broth, bay leaves tickle the back of the nose, as one tilts the glass. Mouth: thick and spicy, nigh-on fiery, this has a red-chilli relish spread on a teak chest, with dates and pecans thrown into the mix. To extinguish the roaring chilli fire, you down a glass of syrupy sherry -- a daft thing to do, as it only fans the flames, of course. Boy! this is thick and coating. It turns musty too, almost cork-like on the taste buds, drying. I suppose that, if one consumes too much sugar, one ends up dehydrated too, and that is how this feels. The aggressive woody tones recede, the chilli calms down over time, leaving but the cloying sweetness. Treacle soon dominates this palate. Treacle and cough syrup. Finish: it is all thick and coating syrup, here, with a notch of wood remaining, enough sugar to give one diabetes with a single look, and that drying cork touch, yet it all feels more balanced than the palate, in that the chilli is only in the background, now, much more tolerable as a result. Phew! The second sip brings about something toasty, reminiscent of a liquorice-flavoured cough syrup. It does remain sweet, there is no question about it! Exhausting whisky, this. I cannot see how one could drink more than one glass -- or why one would want to. 7/10 (Thanks for the sample, SA and JW)