tasting – Page 5 – grey whisky

Whisky 2016 – 68-76 (Kavalan Tasting)

68 – Kavalan Solist Manzanilla
Gluey, woody, smells hot and salty, nutty. Unexpected sweetness, dried orange and apricot, Terry’s chocolate orange, floral, mango Weiss bars.

69 – Kavalan Solist Amontillado
Glue, musk, wood, brown sugar, caramel, melted cultured butter. Salty, leather, brown sugar, caramel, walnuts oil, loads of musk on the finish, bitter almonds, toasted almonds. Maybe a bit bitter for me.

70 – Kavalan Solist Moscatel
Chicos, milk chocolate, instant coffee, treacle and I’m reminded of little thyme flowers. Smooth so so smooth, butter loads of it, honey, caramel, maple syrup, maybe some passionfruit and just freaking good.

71 – Kavalan Solist PX (Pedro Ximenez)
Corn tempura, butter, cream, dried fruits. Really smooth big tropical fruits, macerated berries, slight mint, slight motor oil.

72 – Kavalan Solist Fino
Glue, dry sherry (ha!), rock melon, coffee, white peaches and cream. Tropical fruit, caramels, salt, creamy, rose water.

73 – Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique
Vanilla and chocolate, Xmas spice, toasted coconut. Jasmine, cold milk tea, tropical fruits.

74 – Rest and Be Thankful Bunnahabhain 1989
Green grass, old bananas, brown sugar, passionfruit vine. Coffee, cream, caramel, salt, thyme and a slight iodine hit.

75 – Finlaggan The Original
Iodine, sweet, sea water, cream, caramel, cherry wood. Sea water, pepper, prunes and iodine.

76 – Blair Athol Manager’s Choice Cask 5989
Toffee apple, sulphur, brandy, chicos, egg white, aged sake maybe. Cream, apricot delight, toffee, caramel, apples skins.

Whisky 2016 – 57-64 Bruichladdich Tasting

57 – Laddie Classic Batch 16/004
Chicos, green herbs, wood, rubbery, toasted almonds, roses. Caramel, sea salt, leather, custard

58 – Micro Provenance 12YO Sherry Hogshead
Bitter cocoa, hand cream, slight clove cigarette, brown sugar, huge sherry, Chinese herbs. Rubber, dry white wine, brown sugar, rum, sarsaparilla. Lovely.

59 – Port Charlotte Scottish Barley
Fake Parmesan cheese, plastic, iodine, seaweed, boiled sweets, lemon zest. Salty, dry herbs, slight bacon.

60 – Port Charlotte Islay Barley 2008
Glue, new make, tequila, ozone, plastic. Sugary, herby, tobacco smoke, BBQ meats.

61 – Octomore 7.1 Scottish Barley
Butterscotch, caramel, salty sea. Sea weed, iodine, slight smoked meat, dry herbs and salty.

62 – Octomore 7.4 Virgin Oak
Hospital, iodine and clove, strawberry cheese cake. Dry cake spices, clove cigarette. Great!

63 – Arran Private Cask Milano Whisky Festival 2014 6 year sherry Hogshead
Crushed ants, dusty, salt, butter, grilled peaches. Butter, toasted, sarsaparilla, custard, peaches, woody and perfumed. Definitely in my top 5 for the year.

64 – Adelphi Glenrothes 9 Years
Chicos, dusty, wood glue, cloves, pound cake, prunes, plums, tea. Caramel, custard, cloves, spiced biscuits, white pepper and cream.

Whisky 2016 – 12-20 BenRiach tasting

12 – BenRiach 10 Years
Rubber, honey, slight vanilla, warm cola, slight banana, Xmas fruit, red apple. Stewed Apple, vanilla, tobacco, green grass, firm green pear slices.

13 – BenRiach 16 Years
honey, slight floral note, almost rose petals, apricot jam. Vanilla, stewed pears, dry cake spices, apple tea cake.

14 – BenRiach 20 Years
Apricot jam, brandy snaps, slight cola, runny honey, hand cream, chocolate. Cream, passionfruit, pepper, something green and salty, butter, banana flavoring.

15 – BenRiach 12 Years Sherry Finish (50% Olorosso 50% PX)
Cream, brown sugar, cola, milk chocolate, cloves, egg whites, overripe apple, toffee apple. Quite dry, powdered apple, cream, slight toffee.

16 – BenRiach Curiositas 10 Years Peated
Herbaceous, cream, sight medicinal note, rosemary and thyme, proper bacon, fruit sweetness. Apple, campfire smoke, BBQ chicken, cream and toffee apple, slight molasses and liquorice, minerals.

17 – BenRiach Cask Strength Batch 1
Loads of apricot jam and cream on scones, dates, some dry white characteristics, dried pineapple, butter and maple syrup, floral. Dates, figs, cream, vanilla, dried apricots, butter, some salt and herbs.

18 – BenRiach 25 Years
Really deep apples, marzipan, light musty note, meringue, whipped cream, my Nan’s pavlova, stewed apricots. Cream, orange citrus cake, young mangos, passionfruit vine, juicy apricots.

19 – BenRiach PX Cask #5171 1998
Salted butter, brown sugar, vanilla essence, my mum’s stewed apricots. Cream, stone fruit, brown sugar and Greek yoghurt.

20 – BenRiach Oloroso Cask #8687 1999
Cola and honey, salted butter, chicos, apricot jam, egg whites. Apricots (again) in a pound cake with lashings of creams, some citrus zest, honey.

Whisky 2015 – 145-152 (Adelphi Tasting)

145 – Adelphi Glenborrodale 1
Textas, plums, strawberries, bacon, rubber balls. Crazy sweetness on the palate, plums, xmas fruit, nuttiness like macadamia, some peat in there.

146 – Adelphi Fascadale 9 (Ardmore 14)
Shoe leather, hand cream, white peaches, pepper, walnuts. Vanilla cream, pepper, stone fruit, ashy.

147 – Adelphi Liddesdale 9 (Bunnahabain 21)
Chocolate mousse, struck matches, salty, stone fruit. Cloves, caramlised fruit, stewed apricots.

148 – Adelphi Ben Nevis 1996 18 Years
Rope, honey, hay, plum cake, lemonade, botrytis, really floral. Crazily floral, like a botrytis, chocolate and cocoa. best dram of the tasting… I bought a bottle.

149 – Adelphi Longmorn 1992 23 Years
Maple sugar, salted butter, peanut butter, caramel pudding, dusty, mandarin and menthol. Loads of cream, pepper, golden syrup, coffee.

150 – Adelphi Ardnamurchan distillery new make
Barn yard (but not in a bad way), bog, salt, ethanol. Cucumber, chili, honey, salt.

151 – Adelphi Ardamurchan 11 Month
Banana and caramel, cloves and cola, honey. Spicy, bubble gum, cucumber, honey and salt.

152 – WhistlePig The Boss Hog Barrel:63 13 years (Not part of the tasting, obviously)
Star anise, dry ginger, bubblegum, vanilla pods, watermelon, cream, cloves, fly spray. Rubbery, hot an absolute destroyer, overwhelming crushed ants, loads of dry spice and vanilla cola.

2015 – 86-91 – Glenfarclas Tasting

Whoops. Late Post!

This tasting of Glenfarclas at Whisky & Alement was excellent. I left with a bottle of the 21.

86 – Glenfarclas 15 Year Old
Flour, light honey touch, boozy Xmas pud, fresh figs, sherry. Green figs, light fruit cake, tiny tropical fruit.

87 – Glenfarclas 17 Year Old
Lemon and honey in hot water, slight dusty note, Sherry poached figs, lemon balm. Very light on the palate, slight milky coffee touch, clove, honey and sultana cake.

88 – Glenfarclas 21 Year Old
Bananas and cream, brown sugar, vanilla, slight peppery note. Spices, vanilla cake, sultanas, elegant whisky.

89 – Glenfarclas 1997 Family Cask
Strong honey and sherry nose, lemon zest, slight woody note, cultured butter. Hot (57.8%), peppery and bitter like rocket, dark almost burnt toffee, salty, honey, slight rubbery hint.

90 – Glenfarclas 30 Year Old
Honey, cloves, warm spices, hand lotion(?!?), candle wax, slight ripe pineapple. Cola, Xmas spices, lavender and cream.

91 – Glenfarclas 40 Year Old
Musky sugar and spices, wax, slightly rubbery note, slight banana. Woody, musky, perfume like. I like it but wanted more from it.

Whisky 2015 – 73-77 Ardberg Day

Happy Ardbeg Day! A silly event but a good excuse to drink some Ardbeg. I went to the tasting at Whisky and Alement – let’s see how they went down.

73 – Ardbeg 10
Mulch, autumn leaves, smoked meats, iodine, brown sauce. Green, tobacco, salt, some candy sweetness.

74 – Ardbeg 10 (Early 2000 bottle)
Jules at W&A explained that due to the closure of Ardbeg in the 90s it is likely that there was 1981 distilled whisky in the bottle. It was rounder and gentler. Still that lovely autumn leaves thing also a slightly oily note. More honey sweetness and less candy.

75 – Ardbeg Auriverdes
Chocolate and plasticity, warm spices in there like clove, brown sugar – still that green peaty note. Sweet candy, vanilla, bracken.

76 – Ardbeg Perptuum
Leaves, iodine, sweetness of roasted shallots. Soft, salty, brine, pepper, some fruit sweetness and a touch of that green bracken. Very easy to drink!

77 – SMWS 33.118 “Good bye to care” (Ardbeg)
Cloves, pepper, tobacco, vanilla. Dry, short, autumn leaves, vanilla and iodine.

Whisky 2015 – 56-60 – Last Great Malts tasting.

Dewar’s Last Great Malts tasting at Whisky & Alement.

56 – Aberfeldy 12
A little rubber, sea salt, touch of vanilla fudge, slight oil, cucumber skin, pepper, dried orange zest. Slight salty, flinty and mineral, honey.

57 – Aultmore 12
Rubber, salt, cultured butter, chamomile, slight dusty note. Salt, grains, bracken, chamomile.

58 – Aberfeldy 21
Oranges zest, marmalade, pepper. Old leather and salt, dry and dusty. Delicious. (This was not part of the tasting)

59 – Craigellachie 13
Butter, stewed apples, custard, slight rubber. So buttery initially on the pallet, rubber and sulphur and some sugar.

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After the tasting I introduced a couple of mates to the Signatory. The savvy Yao suggested the Old Malt Cask… but unfortunately with all the other drams I don’t think this one came through.

60 – Old Malt Cask Craigellachie 18
Suffers next to a half dram of the signatory. Buttery but I can’t pick up much else. I got some crazy like watermelon flavor in there.

Floral Whisky Tasting

Went to Whisky and Alement as part of Melbourne Food and Wine Festival for a floral whisky tasting. I’m not going to count these 3 in my tasting for the year, as W&A was packed with flowers and it was quite difficult to smell just the whisky. That said what a lovely idea it was to really explore the floral nature of whisky.

The three whiskies for the afternoon were; Glenore 8, Old Pulteney 12 and a Singleton 12.

Surprisingly, I thought the combination of geranium and whisky was quite good.

Would be nice to see bars do more interesting tastings like this.