Month: December 2015

Favourites of 2015

I’ll probably have a few more drams this year but these have been my favourites for 2015.

49 – SMWS 124.4 (Miyagikyo) Full of Secret Pleasures
Muscat, port, Sherry fino, rubber, dry warmth, oil soaked rags, spices cloves and anise, maple. German spice biscuits, a rubber fire, cocoa, liquorice, toasted bran, so much going on. Jeezus!

70 – Heartwood Beagle 3
Pine resin, the sweet end of turps, marijuana, chocolate, crushed ants, tomato vine. Tobacco, leather, pepper, beef jerky, super powerful vanilla – it’s really chewy and salty. With time pina colada on the nose and beautiful rich thick caramel. Wow! Really impressed. One of the best for 2015.

121 – Ichiro’s Malt 2015 Tokyo International Bar Show Cask 2360
Wow just wow – favourite for the year!! Banana, ice cream, malty bread with butter, tomato paste, fruit tingles, slight vino cotto, CHICOS. Yeast, brown bread, vanilla, banana bread, prunes, plums, grapes.

143 – Whisky Base Ben Nevis
So much honey, aspirin, maple syrup, butter on crumpets. Melted salted butter, cloves and vanilla cream – it’s such a beautifully structured whisky nothing is offensive or is aggressive, pipe tobacco, tiny bit of pineapple and mango.

164 – Cadenhead Glenrothes-Glenlivet 24
Sulphur, gas, maple syrup, wood, chicos, brown tea and hay. Salt, wood, rubber, maple, dried strawberries or maybe strawberry jam, brown sugar, rum, brandy butter, caramel, chocolate and LPG. So damn complex.

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Whisky 2015 – 169-170

169 – Suntory Royal (Maybe an 80s bottling)
Toffee, malt, slight vanilla, pineapple cake, chestnuts, stewed apricots and tobacco. Caramel, earl grey tea, mango and tropical fruits.

170 – Palace Bar 14 Year
Hay, green vines, passionfruit, coffee, green bananas, gasoline. Bananas, mangos, slight bitter notes, grilled nectarines, white peach, sour cream and crepes.

Whisky 2015 – 165-166

165 – SMWS 70.10 Teenage Shenanigans Balblair
Peach Melba, almonds, slightly gassy, marzipan. Such a great solid mouth feel. Green bananas, cloves and cinnamon, banana bread, slight tobacco and cream.

166 – Balblair 2000 Single Cask 1343 14 years distilled
Beef stock, maple syrup, tobacco, dark chocolate, chicos, brown butter, rose petals. Sarsaparilla, coke, vanilla, cream, pepper, cloves, wood, earl grey tea, slight burnt rubber finish.

  

Whisky 2015 – 163-164

Sorry all have been a bit ill.

163 – Springbank 2001 Rundlets & Kilderkins
Honey, plastic, caramels, grapes, vanilla cream, watermelon. Honey, cream, the bitterness of rocket, slightly ashy and medicinal, cherries.

164 – Cadenhead Glenrothes-Glenlivet 24
Sulphur, gas, maple syrup, wood, chicos, brown tea and hay. Salt, wood, rubber, maple, dried strawberries or maybe strawberry jam, brown sugar, rum, brandy butter, caramel, chocolate and LPG. So damn complex.