144 – Signatory Bunnahabhain 1989
Apples, orange zest, medicinal, coffee, custard. Sea salt, peaches, coffee beans, rose petals.
145 – Old Pulteney 17 Years
Coke, cherries, hand cream. Peaches, hand cream, lemonade, passionfruit, custard.
146 – Spey Tenne
Wood glue, apple, honey. Honey, juniper, under matured and still slightly raw.
140 – Ben Nevis Port Pipe 12 Years 2002
Butter, honey, rose hip jam, cream, salt, pepper. Unmistakable Ben Nevis fruit, heavy maple syrup, burnt butter, musk, jersey caramels, dust, flat Coke, toasted malt.
141 – La Grande Galerie Miltonduff 21 years 1995
Rockmelon, floral, apricot jam, milk chocolate, fruit straps. Tropical fruit salad, salt, butter and honey on crumpets.
142 – Acorn’s Brut de Fût (Bunnahabhain in Wine Cask?)
Honey, smoke, hospital, maple syrup. A beautiful dry sweetness, rich buttery, seaweed, iodine, honey, salt.
143 – La Grande Galerie Arran 19 Years 1997
Chicos, oranges, strawberries and cream, coke foam, fruit tingles, passionfruit. Butter, maple syrup, flinty, coal, gas, Brie, sea water, cream, rubber.
To celebrate(?) being back home I had three pretty rare Australian whiskies. The Sullivan’s Cove TD0060 is an important Australian whisky as it was the first whisky to be distilled and bottled under the ownership of Tasmania Distillery. Unfortunately, I was a little underwhelmed by it. There was no real complexity or depth, drinking alongside a 3 year old Timboon it really did not stand up. The Southern Coast, again for me drinks as some of Australia’s best whisky.
137 – Sullivan’s Cove Barrel American Oak TD0060
Floral, yeasty, tinned pineapple, pavlova. Marzipan, clove, raw dough, salt, bitter herbs, sultanas.
138 – Timboon Barrel 9 57%
Coffee, rhubarb, red cordial. Brown sugar, clove, melted butter, hazelnuts, poached rhubarb, sarsaparilla, banana bread.
139 – Malt Whisky Society of Australia Southern Coast Distillers Cask 48
Honey, brown sugar, wood, chicos, malt. Maple syrup, strawberry jam, buttered toast, salt, creme brûlée, tobacco and vanilla.
133 – Whiskies of Scotland 1990 Linkwood 24 bottling for The Mash Tun
Oil paints, apples and pears, Christmas spice, marzipan. Huge apricots and peaches with cream, subtle spice biscuit, rock melon, banana caramel pie.
134 – Candenhead 1987 Linkwood 26 Years
Chocolate finger biscuits, Malt, slight herby note, bread, dried banana. Some tropical fruits, caramel, salt, herbaceous, mangos and cream, rock candy.
135 – Berry Bros & Rudd Benrinnes 1988 28 Years Cask 892 for Whisk-e
Peanut brittle, almost ozone, chocolates, earl grey tea, yeast, glue. Juicy rockmelon slathered in whipped cream, winter spice, clear sugars, salty, slight leather, chocolate, melted butter, egg whites. So much in this thing!
136 – The Whisky Agency Ben Nevis 17 Years 1996 for The Mash Tun
Sweat (in a good way), caramel, salt, marmalade, creme brûlée, honey ice cream, baked potatoes. Tropical fruit, ice coffee, salt, butter in coffee, egg custard. Wonderful.
This still counts as I’ve never had it but it’s not very good. It was ¥250(!!!) for 180ml.
132 – Suntory Torys Whisky
Some vanilla and water. A little vanilla and honey. Meh!
I’ve had a lot of good whisky over the past few weeks. Ichiro’s Cask 2688 and the Chieftan’s Springbank were no exception – both wonderful drams.
128 – Hart Brothers 1966 Ben Nevis 39 Years
Marzipan, apricot jam, leather, formic acid, golden syrup. Pan cakes, vanilla, touch of brown sugar, wood, crushed ants, stewed apples.
129 – Chieftan’s Springbank 1972 30 Years Cask 410
Old leather couches, boot polish, corn chips, salt and vinegar crisps, maple syrup, peanut brittle. Apples, cigar smoke, leather, beef stock, cloves, dry spice, over baked meringue, woody.
130 – Chichibu Ichiro’s Malt 2011 Mizunara Heads Cask 1429
Bananas, honey dew melon, Darjeeling tea, honey. Honey, salted butter, salt, toast, green herbs, orange cordial, kiwi fruit, mango.
131 – Chichibu Ichiro’s Malt 2013 American White Oak Cask 2688
Intense yeast, malt, bananas, whipped cream. Malty, HUGE maple syrup, salted butter, pancakes, tobacco, brown bread.
124 – 3 Rivers Ben Nevis 1996 19 Years “The Dance”
Unmistakable Ben Nevis cake mix, marmalade, apricots, gentle cloves, pepper, butter powder. Green, coffee, less honey, flintiness, milk chocolate.
125 – The Arran Exclusive for Whisk-e 1997 18 Years Sherry Hogshead
Oranges, vanilla, heady, hand cream. Vanilla, cream, pound cake, sooooo creamy, gas, leather, salt.
126 – 1975 Glen Elgin 34 years for Bar Superhero 3rd Anniversary ny Kingsbury & Co
Melons, kiwifruit, egg whites, pavlova, apples and plums. Tobacco, rum, honey cakes, delightful fruit cocktail.
127 – Salon de Shimaji Pen x Shinanoya Glenfarclas 19 years Cask 3781
Apricots, passionfruit, maple syrup, wood, musk, orange zest. Orange juice, pancakes, maple syrup, Xmas fruit and cream, salt, cloves, coffee.
121 – Salon de Shimaji Pen x Shinanoya Hanyu 2000 14 years Mizunara heads
Chocolate box, Terry’s chocolate orange, lemon balm, balsa wood, lemonade. Spice busicuits, short bread, doughnuts, honey, marshmallow, salt.
122 – Mars 618 20 Years 1989(?) Single Cask
Egg whites, whipped cream, milk chocolate, strawberries, green peppercorns. Dry to begin then crushed ants, huge vanilla, tannic salty mouth with a finish that just keeps going, cloves and sarsaparilla.
123 – Suntory Hakushu 1988 Bourbon Cask 8J40514
Plastic, chocolate, flinty, strawberry jam and whipped cream on scones, kiwifruit and pineapple. Pina colada, medicinal, coal, tropical cordial, salt, chocolates by a campfire, leather and bracken. A beast of a whisky!
Back in Tokyo. As I said to Suzuki-san (owner of The Mash Tun) all I’ve done in Japan is drink these excellent Scottish stuff I haven’t touch Japanese whisky while I’ve been here.
117 – Springbank 21 Single Cask Japan Only
Boiled sweets, Xmas fruit, kiwi fruit. Honey, green herbs, medicinal, salty, rubber, cigars, bitter chocolate, angry jam.
118 – Springbank 20 TIBS 2016
Hazelnuts, gas, chocolate, candle wax, roses, marzipan. Rubber, salt, bitter herbs, coriander seed.
119 – The Arran – The Mash Tun 12th Anniversary Bottling
Bananas, marmalade, loads of fruit, marzipan and beautiful sweetness. Apricot jam, cream, pepper, cream, chicos, coffee, rum baba, egg whites and clove. (Suzuki had these for sale – I bought one)
120 – The Arran The Devil’s Punch Bowl III
Soy sauce, leather, eggs, dried pineapple, chicos. Stewed apple, blue vein cheese, apricot jam, bitter green herbs, salt, pineapple, lettuce, tomato sauce, Caesar salad.
114 – Old Pulteney 1996 Cask 3557 Bottled 2011
Apricots, chocolate, salt, pepper, chicos, cloves. Really chewy, rose hips, apricot, cream.
115 – Aberlour Cadenhead 1995 19 Years Sauternes Cask
Sulphury, cucumber, stewed apples. Fruity soooo fruity, vanilla cream loads of it, brandy snaps, dried figs, green figs, peaches
116 – Benrinnes 23 Years
Rubber, sulphary, honey, stewed apples. Honey, cloves, rubber, lettuce, brown butter, leather, roast beef, dry wood. So freaking good.
grey whisky 