Early August 2016 Offerings
Cask No. 71.42 $150
Sinbad preparing for a journey
Speyside, Lossie
The invigorating nose gave us cinder toffee, crème brûlée, burnt sugar, maple syrup, smoky bacon crisps, pork crackling and patchouli; also something between an old-fashioned boat-builder’s yard and an Eastern rug shop – we thought of Sinbad preparing for a journey. Adding water brought Dairy Milk chocolate in a steamroller cab and an Asian dish of prunes and roast pork. The palate was big, tasty and dark – treacle cake, pancakes and bacon with maple syrup, caramel pop-corn, vanilla ice-cream, chilli chocolate, caramelized apples with pork; beef jerky and leather. In reduction – sweeter and more pleasant –tarte tatin, bacon, custard and cigars.
Drinking tip: Not an all night drinking dram – but could be very useful after chopping logs in the snow.
Colour: Treacly tan shoe polish
Cask: Refill butt
Age: 17 years
Date distilled: March 1998
Alcohol: 57.5%
USA allocation: 150 bottles
Flavour profile: Spicy & dry
*PRESIDENT’S CHOICE
Cask No. 26.106 $290
‘Say it with flowers’
Highland, Northern
The first impression is of sweet pastry – shortbread – with vanilla notes, increasingly supported by fruit cake or dried fruits steeped in tea. In time it lightens: fresh figs, melon, fresh grass, rosemary. At natural strength, the taste is heavier: herbal tea and jasmine tea, musty/waxy, nutty (macaroons, hazelnuts and almonds), flower honey. The last increases with a dash of water, becoming more waxy/oily – sunflower oil, crème Anglais, light nuts. Now the texture is soft, the taste sweet with honeycomb, then slightly bitter (edible flowers like nasturtiums) in the finish. Complex and ever-changing.
Drinking tip: For a special tea party
Colour: Imperial ivory
Cask: Refill butt
Age: 29 years
Date distilled: November 1984
Alcohol: 58.0%
USA allocation: 120 bottles
Flavour profile: Sweet, fruity & mellow
Cask No. 41.71 $115
Refreshing and lip-smackingly tasty
Speyside, Spey
The nose was sweet, creamy and fruity – wine gums, Gummi Bears, Randoms, pineapple humps, vanilla slices and donuts filled with cream and covered in chocolate. The palate was also sweet and fruity (pineapple, lemon) but our mouths were warmed by aniseed and fiery ginger beer and our curiosity aroused by perfume, quinine and lemon zest. The reduced nose kept our interest – Tangfastics, sherbet lemons, laundry, vanilla-scented candles and lemon and lime. The palate had pineapple, lemon and lime sorbet, a flake of ginger, a lemon balm leaf but still retained some yoghurt creaminess. Simple but very refreshing, perfumed and lip-smackingly tasty.
Drinking tip: A palate cleanser – or a wee treat for a relaxing summer day.
Colour: Transparent canary yellow
Cask: First-fill barrel
Age: 11 years
Date distilled: May 2004
Alcohol: 59.5%
USA allocation: 120 bottles
Flavour profile: Light & delicate
Cask No. 10.90 $95
Muckle, massive immensity of smoke
Islay
The nose chucked a muckle, massive, immeasurable immensity of peat-smoke and smouldering sawdust all over us – we also found dark toffee, grilled prawns, liquorice, American Cream Soda and a wet dog scampering through flower-beds. The palate was simply breath-taking – tar, smoke, ash and liquorice – but developing cheekily in the glass – barbecued scallops, grass, earth, stone, school cagoules and waxed jackets. The reduced nose gave us nougat, dark honey, heather and ‘Snickers in a humidor’. The palate now – no nonsense, big peat smoke – but balanced with sweetness and savoury pork crackling. Even meek peat freaks will keech their breeks for this!
Drinking tip: End of the night dram – or after Serious Exertion.
Colour: Blonde mermaid
Cask: Refill hogshead
Age: 8 years
Date distilled: December 2006
Alcohol: 61.4%
USA allocation: 60 bottles
Flavour profile: Heavily peated
For more information on the Scotch Malt Whisky Society of America please visit them at www.smws.com