the whisky find – grey whisky

Whisky 2021 – 14-18

14 – Glen Grant 1995 24yr by The Whiskyfind “The Drunken Cat” Bourbon Hogshead #119469

Nose is super floral, rose hip syrup, milk chocolate and vanilla pods. It’s quite densely packed on the nose. Pink bubblegum.

Palate is pink flowers, pink jelly, grassy, citrus fruit, grapes and nutty.

Finish continues with the pink flowers, it has a lovely toasty note, melted butter and some vanilla.

4/5 Stars

15 – Tormore 1992 27yrs by The Whiskyfind for The Mash Tun, Bourbon Hogshead #101154

Nose is really waxy and fake banana flavouring, burnt banana bread with a lick of old butter.

Palate is reminiscent of 1970s whisky with an initial hit of tobacco. Elegant and pretty with bright fruit, green figs and fig leaf.

Finish has slight saltiness and more green figs, and hint of milk chocolate.

4/5 Stars

16 – Glenrothes 1987 32yr by The Whiskyfind for The Mash Tun, Hogshead #9980

Nose is mainly ginger ale but has good apricot notes with salty caramel, salted lemons and black tea.

Palate is hot and spicy. The flavour of cloves, cola and sarsaparilla. Feels like it is too old.

Finish is grassy and salty with cream and woody tannins.

3/5 Stars

17 – Arran 2012 7yr for The Mash Tun’s 16th anniversary, 1st fill sherry #12/2768

Nose is smoked paprika, dates, medicinal honey, honey ham chips. Flambéd Xmas pudding. Cola.

Palate is initially dark fruits followed by some refreshing flinty/minerality. Honey dipped orange pith.

Finish is steely, sweet and stony. There is some good orange zest notes in there.

4/5 stars

18 – Clynelish 1999 21yr for The Whisky Exchange & The Mash Tun sherry butt #305054

Nose is honey, cream and wax. With some slight rubberiness. Maraschino cherries and rich dark dried fruit.

Palate is big and powerful. More dark fruit! Honey and loads of citrus and stone fruit. Some really balanced and integrated cask influence. It’s good.

Finish is musky and sweet almost like fresh cut strawberries. The sherry shines with bruised apples, salty and woody notes.

4.5/5 Stars

Whisky 2019 – 38-41 – Bar C Shell, Tokyo

38 – Ben Nevis 22 years 1996 by the whisky find sherry butt c#828
Nose: Dough, chocolate, orange, apricot, cream, lemon cheese cake, almonds

Palate: Apricot, stonefruit, whipped butter, burnt chocolate cake

Finish: Cream, spices, rock melon

****

39 – Ben Nevis 21 years 1996 selected by J’s Bar bottles by The Vintage Malt
Nose: dough, apricots, almonds, candy orange zest, chocolate

Palate: cream, rock melon skin, citrus candies

Finish: cream, salt, butter, burnt orange zest

****

40 – Auchroisk 28 by Cadenhead for Whisk-e 42.8%
Nose: Pencil shavings, chlorine, yeasty, hand lotion

Palate: Kinda empty, old ice cubes

Finish: oil paints, olive brine, super savory

***

41 – Imperial 17 Years Cigar Malt Salon de Shimaji PEN x Shinanoya
Nose: jersey caramels, brown sugar and butter, maple syrup, grilled nectarines

Palate: cream, apricots, honey, rye, butter, tobacco

Finish: Butter and soy sauce, tea tannins, grape seed

****

Whisky 2018 – 100-104 Thornbury Spirits Co Tasting

100 – Thornbury Spirits Co. 1st Release – Vatted Casks 17yo “The forgotten casks”
Nose – pine, rose water, metallic, apricots, marshmallow
Palate – apricots, green almonds, loads of tropical fruits, ice coffee
Finish – super creamy and salt, cold butter with salt

101 – Thornbury Spirits Co. Cask HH0363 17yo
Nose – pine resin, garden pea tart, salted lemons,
Palate – butter, cultured butter, passion fruit vine,
Finish – cream, dried apricots,

102 – Thornbury Spirits Co. HH0367 17yo
Nose – cream, plastic toys, mango, rhubarb, tropical fruits
Palate – burnt matches, salt, cocoa, cream,
Finish – stewed apricots, cream

103 – Port Charlotte 13 Years by The Whisky Find, Leroy cask finished, cask 1049 59.6%
Nose – grilled pineapple, chalk, stewed apricots, aspirin, butter, truffles, ham, dust, hair spray
Palate – vegetal, honey, cream, butter, smoked ham hock, orange zest cake
Finish – cough syrup, leather, beef jerky, instant coffee

104 – Wemyss Malt 1998 Bowmore 2017 bottled “mocha on the deck”
Nose – dark honey, brown sugar, glue and old leaves, milk chocolate mousse, candle wax, apples
Palate – rocks from a fire, autumn leaves, tarte tatin, salt, old rubber, caramel sauce, wax
Finish – wine tannins, salted caramel

Whisky 2018 – 85-87

85 – Burnside (Balvenie) Silent Third Kyoto by Whisky Find Cask 5749 Sherry Hogshead
Nose – rock melon, wax, cake mix, hot chocolate, dried banana
Palate – coconut, dried apricots, chocolate, salty cream
Finish – coconut cream, apricots, bounty bars, burnt butter

86 – Glenrothes 20 Years old by Drunken Master Bar 1997 Cask 7162
Nose – brown sugar, soy sauce, maple syrup, cold salted butter
Palate – cocoa, leather, vanilla, musk, woody, tomato paste, chicos, dark chocolate
Finish – woody, salty, butter, ice coffee

87 – Okayama Takashimaya Buyers Select “Sherry cask debut” 58%
Nose – meringue, caramel, burnt marshmallow, honeycomb, dark toffee, liquorice
Palate – honey ice cream, chocolate, Xmas spices,
Finish – melon, chocolate, cream

Whisky 2018 – 69-70

This Bowmore was outstanding!! And I’m not an Islay guy.

69 – The Whisky Agency Bowmore 1991 25 Whiskyfair Takao 2017 Cask #29736 *

Nose – smoked ham, leather, salt, dates with blue cheese, figs, maple syrup

Palate – leaves, golden syrup, earth, dried mushrooms, candied ham, brown string

Finish – sherry, rubber, coffee grounds

70 – The Whisky Find Glenallachie JAZZIN 12 Years 62% Cask #900755

Nose – honey, maple syrup, green grass, salty cold butter, lemon balm, toffee

Palate – honey, rock melon, pancakes with maple syrup, melted butter, apricots

Finish – rubber, soy sauce, brown sugar, raisins

Whisky 2018 – 51-54

51 – Old Particular Glenrothes 2006, 11 Years “Yagyu Challenge” for Whisky Find and Shinanoya
Nose – raspberries, raspberries sticks, woody, leathery, burnt caramel, pine resin
Palate – liquorice, wood, wax, melted butter, salt, milk chocolate
Finish – woody, sherry, salt, rubber

52 – The Single Cask Linkwood 1984, 26 Years Cask 4238
Nose – bananas, yeast, menthol, pine, glacé fruit, rock melons
Palate – medicinal, gentle, grains, old whisky, tobacco, honey
Finish – tobacco, old whisky, old apples

53 – Ichiro’s Malt and Grain “World Blend Whisky”
Nose – apricot, spices, marscapone, chicos, crushed ants, pineapple
Palate – apricots, peaches, cream,
Finish – old apples

54 – Glenrothes 19 Years, 1997 for Eiling Lim 50.2%
Nose – blackberry jam, caramel, purple plums, musk, vanilla, honey comb
Palate – sucking cream through a sherry cask, butter, shaving cream, black currants, blackberry, grilled lettuce, peanuts
Finish – tannic, rubber, butter

Whisky 2018 – 44-48

Some incredible drams at the Elysian with Hideo Yamaoka and Toru Suzuki. These were all top level drams but the “Water of Life” Speyside is in my top all time 5, just mind blowing.

44 – Burnside Speyside Blend by The Whisky Find for The Mash Tun Tokyo and Little Happiness Hiroshima 1990, 27 Years Cask 4393
Nose – dusty, apricots, chocolate, liquorice
Palate – wax, apricots, maple syrup, pencil shaving, chocolate, cough drops, caramel, gun powder
Finish – salty, woody, red wine tannins

45 – Chichibu Galaxy Express 999, 2010 bottled 2017 selected by Hideo Yamaoka
Nose – hazelnuts, marzipan, chocolate, menthol, juicy stone fruit, formic acid,
Palate – scones with apricots and cream, almond kernels, bright and spicy,
Finish – perfume, cream

46 – Akashi in Cognac and Chardonnay Cask #61191 Distilled 2011 6 Years selected by Hideo Yamaoka
Nose – honey, maple syrup, butter, yeast, toast with butter
Palate – honey, butter, chili peppers, maple syrup, old tinned pineapple, soy sauce
Finish – cream, honey, salt

47 – Douglas Laing’s Old Particular Longmorn for Mashtun, Elysian, Drunken Master, Etc 1994, 22 Years
Nose – apricots, galvanized fence, Cottee’s caramel
Palate – caramel, salt, nori, stone fruit, minerals, short bread
Finish – caramel, eggy pudding

48 – Speyside (Glenfarclas) Malt 1973, 43 Years “Water of Life” Cask #8 selected by Carsten Ehrlich and Hideo Yamaoka *
Nose – hamburgers, mayonnaise, cream, candle wax, tomatoes, caramel, chocolate nibs
Palate – passiona, cream, juicy, cream, cream, cream, tropical fruits, wax, hazelnuts, toast with butter and brown sugar
Finish – cream, hairspray (in a good way), tropical fruits, cream, cream

Whisky 2017 – 130-135 – Balvenie Tasting

Huge tasting on at the Elysian. Alex Moores from Dark Valley brought back some very good hand drawn single cask bottles from Balvenie. Alex and I shared a few other drams afterwards.

130 – Balvenie 13yo ex-bourbon barrel matured, cask #2022, 61.7%
Ice cream on warm pine apple pudding, red apple skin, choc-banana muffins. Super huge raspberry, choc-banana muffins, loads of vanilla cream, gooseberry, leather, dried apple.

131 – Balvenie 14yo ex-bourbon barrel matured, cask #13330, 53.2%
Fruit tingles, lemon and coconut cake, vanilla cream, strawberry jam. Great mouth feel, short bread, toasted coconut, strawberries, loads of cream, wood shavings, green herbs.

132 – Balvenie 14yo ex-sherry butt matured, cask #2378, 62.7%
Roasted corn cobs, treacle, crushed cloves, roasted almonds, peanut brittle, marshmallow, Earl grey tea cream. Woody, beef jus, rubber, peanut brittle, caramel taken too far, hazelnuts, Musk sticks, mushroom pate, tea tannins.

133 – The Whisky Find and The Mash Tun Craigellachie 1990 Cask 5401
Candle wax, soft gooey French cheese, dried apple, rock melon skin, caramel, fruit sherbet bombs, lemon butter. Bees wax, coconut, rock melon, coffee, strawberries, flowers, nasturtiums, caramels, salt.

134 – The Whisky Agency 2003 13 Years JD for Bistro Inn, The Elysian Whisky Bar and Drunken Master Bar
Butter soaked toast, crushed ants, tomatoes, rhubarb and whipped cream. Butter, cultured butter, cream, formic acid, cinnamon toast, dusty, raw almonds.

135 – The Arran 21st Anniversary Edition – Ex-Olorosso Cask
Cream, metallic apricots, toffee, chocolate, pouch tobacco, peanut brittle, hazelnut paste. Tobacco, apricots, green grass, cream, tinned pineapple, hazelnut butter.