July 2019 – grey whisky

Whisky 2019 – 68-73, North Star Tasting

68 – North Star Fettercairn 12yo, Bourbon Barrel, 54.3%
Nose: Banana split!! Banana cake, peaches and cream. A freaking fruit bomb with freshly cut wood.

Palate: Chocolate ice cream dusted with cinnamon. Really rich with water, creamy.

Finish: A touch of butter and the spice really lingers

***

69 – North Star Invergordon 31yo, Bourbon Barrel, 63.1%
Nose: orange zest, donuts, orange blossoms, pound cake, glue

Palate: great intense sweetness, cream, tiramisu, dusty shelf, vanilla slice

Finish: melted butter, plasticine and woody but still pleasant.

****

70 – North Star Orkney 12yo, Bourbon Barrel, 56.4%
Nose: honey… loads of honey, aspirin, new leather footballs

Palate: heavy mouthfeel initially honey and fire ash hits immediately, dripping with bacon fat, what seems like high acid cleans the heaviness of the spirit.

Finish: Nan Cooper’s malt loaf, cold salted butter, almond shells

****

71 – North Star Spica 29yo, Sherry Butt, 44.1%
Nose: Grapes, caramels, spicy, chico lollies,

Palate: A bit flat and tired, chocolate, black berry

Finish: Cream and wood

72 – North Star Vega Blended Malt 1990 28yo, Sherry Butt, 44.5%
Nose: Asian corn snacks, leather and spice, green peas, ham and mustard sandwich, sulfur

Palate: Gas bottles, coffee grounds, Jaffa, red plums, dates, pop corn, integrated sulfur

Finish: old bicycles tires, port, pop corn

Loads of fun ****

73 – North Star Vega Blended Malt 1985 33yo, Sherry Butt, 44.5%
Nose: Old apples and red apple skin, heather, caramel, chocolate

Palate: Creamy, pencil shavings, orange zest, fat raisins, muscat, red apple, caramel

Finish: cream, salt, bracken

****

Whisky 2019 – 61-67, Fleurieu Tasting

61 – Springbank 15 (early 2000s bottle)
Nose: Nose of a wax dipped brown banana, caramel dipped old apples, pencil shavings and a hot chocolate on a dusty shelf, hit of my mother’s apricot jam on a honey joy biscuit.

Palate: Beautiful mouth feel, cooling even. A very gentle whisky Honey, burnt rocks and old cream. Green leaves about to smoke.

Finish: Old wood, green leaf smoke and apple snow.

*****

62 – Fleurieu New Make
Nose: Apricot kernels, raw dough, apricots, raisins

Palate: Super intense fruit sugar, raisins, pastry

Finish: Gentle citrus

(No score as new make)

63 – Fleurieu Fountain of Youth 53.3%
Nose: Chestnut flower honey, rubber, salt water taffy

Palate: Raisins, old butter, golden syrup, green figs

Finish: Prunes and muscat grapes

***

64 – Fleurieu single port cask, selected by Whisky and Alement 49.7%
Nose: Super intense sweet honey and again the metallic taste of chestnut honey, white cheese mould, lemsip, grape seed

Palate: Plum cake, salt, cold butter, sweet jasmine tea

Finish: Prunes in maple syrup

Still a bit young for me

***

65 – Fleurieu Cartoon Lourve peated port and sherry cask (Not released)
Nose: Spicy rubber, honey and plums, smells very sweet

Palate: Chocolate, ash and madarin

Finish: Honeycomb and cream

****

66 – Fleurieu 7 Banger blend of 7 105L casks (Not released)
Nose: Cake, cake, cake and more cake, chocolate mousse, pepper and grape seed, cardamom

Palate: Creamy, salt, prunes, plums with a great mouthful, chalky and marshmallow, spicey cake

Finish: Salty butter, plums

***

67 – Fleurieu We’ll Always Have Paris – peated cask strength
Nose: Leaves, caramel, blue vein cheese, grapes and prunes

Palate: Burnt chocolate cake, ashy rocks, prunes, with some great mineral elements

Finish: Old leaves, prunes, grape seed

***

Whisky 2019 – 58-60

58 – Cambus 1991 25 years by Liquid Treasures “Faces on Angkor”
Nose: Initially the sweetness of jaffa cakes and strongly reminiscent of tiramisu. Bolstered by marzipan sweets and green apricots fallen in a rocky orchard. Orange zest grated over cold butter, the power of the cask (which I assume is PX) is evident.

Palate: There is a tiny influence of sulfur but that settles quickly to reveal an intense coffee, molasses, liquorice and chocolate backbone. Tropical fruits, specifically rock melon and kiwi smothered in whipped cream and drops of Manuka honey. It has a heavy and interesting mouthfeel – doesn’t seem like a grain whisky.

Finish: Lots of cocoa and that tiramisu makes a comeback.

****

59 – Daftmill 2006 “Winter batch” 5 first fill bourbon casks limited 1265 bottles
Nose: Really heavy on the nose deep biscuity notes and lemon drops, peaches with fresh cream and eggy pudding, obviously bourbon cask.

Palate: Much lighter spirit than I expected but the biscuit and cream note hits late and heavily and has pound cake smothered in almond cream.

Finish: Butter poached stone fruits show up wrapped in salty grape vines.

****

60 – Daftmill 2006 Cask 039/2006 57.4%

Nose: Heady toffee and dark caramel leads to flat coke and milk chocolate, dates and figs. Deep and heavy.

Palate: Tannic but well controlled … but but but … where’s anything else? Maybe some dark chocolate and dried fruit but I’m struggling to identify much else. With water it settles quite a bit, but only to reveal musk, meringue, spice and white pepper.

Finish: Woody, maybe a bit too old.

***

Whisky 2019 – 55-57

55 – Craigellachie 1980, 16 years by Cadenhead 59.3%
Nose: wax, tropical fruit, vanilla candles, lemon balm, white peaches with cream, aspirin

Palate: autumn leaves, sweet and ripe tropical fruit, ash, stones, caramel

Finish: shaving cream, old leather, dry spice, apple skins, olive brine

****

56 – Port Charlotte 2001 bottled 2016 by Eld Vatten sherry hogshead #901
Nose: Chocolate, prunes, liquorice, bacon and cheese Cheetos, vanilla extract, wax

Palate: Baked apples, ashy, creme caramel, salty, brown sugar

Finish: Camp fireplace, cream

****

57 – Nikka Black Aromatic Fruity & Sweet limited edition 2017
Nose: melon, pears, wax

Palate: cream, apricots, old apples, pear juice, tropical fruit

Finish: cream and coffee

***