Here are my notes for the third pre-sale tasting we held on Monday night. It was, as always, a wonderful evening. Thanks to everyone who came along and helped make it such a fun and successful night.

Cameron Bridge Single Grain. 1954-1989 35yo. Signatory Ink Pot label. Casks 1 & 2. Bottle 226 of 450. 46%. 75cl.

Colour: Rich amber

Nose:  That acetone attack of grain that I usually struggle with in most grain whiskies is relatively absent from this one, it is thin but there is also some beautiful fruit tones from the sherry in the form of damsons, prunes, apricots and then some wonderfully sizzling wood spice.  Quite elegant with some really pitch perfect aromas of wood and fruit, obviously this has been in quite a classy sherry cask. With time it becomes less and less grainy and more of these nervous, resinous fruit notes come through, baked bananas in brown sugar, tea, crystalised fruits, molasses and white chocolate. Quite a delicate and elegant nose.

Palate: The sharpness of the grain is much more apparent on the palate with quite a tart delivery all on under-ripe cider apples and red fruit. Once again the cleanliness and vibrancy of the cask is perfectly absorbed and expressed by the spirit. Thick notes of chocolate, vanilla cream, wood spice, nutmeg, sultanas, XO cognac, rancio, tobacco and hints of tar. This is one of these aged spirits that really starts to converge on old rum and brandy territory, these notes of raisins, brown sugar, demerara and dark fruits is something all three  sprits share at great ages. The palate really settles down with a little time and becomes quite wonderful. Very vibrant and lush.

Finish: Quite long and full of soft notes of dark chocolate, some very soft tannins, game, rancio, aged madeira and some really classy hints of something like great aged pinot noir. Great.

Comments: This is quite a wonderful grain in my opinion. None of the aggression that usually troubles most grain whiskies for me. This is clearly a case of the spirit being a perfect sponge for all the quality of the cask. It was also interesting how it reflected so many excellent qualities of other drinks, not only old rum and brandy but also various wines as well, and not it a vulgar way as is often the case with finishes. A great, flavoursome, drinkable and complex grain.

Score: 89/100

St Magdalene 1975-1999 23yo. Cadenhead. Bourbon Hogshead. 156 bottles. 42.1%. 70cl. 

Colour: Dark straw

Nose: It’s one of these delightfully fresh cocktails of butter, chopped parsley, grass, wax, minerals, honeysuckle, coal dust, wild flowers and hints of tropical fruits coming through at the back. Classic St Magdalene old style, distillate driven whisky. Lots of elegance and balance on display. These mineral notes of pebbles, graphite, linseed oil, toasted sunflower seeds and dandelions are just wonderful. A very savory whisky with only a touch of very natural sweetness keeping that underlying austerity in check. It’s a difficult style of whisky for sure but the elegance and freshness makes it instantly charming and approachable. The naturally low strength works wonders as well. These oxidative touches of tropical fruit and wax polish are just lovely.

Palate: A syrupy attack, all on toasted nuts, cereals, mineral notes, touches of smoke, honey, chamomile, dried herbs, marmite, liquorice and even some subtle hints of medicine. There is fruit as well but its very gentle and controlled, notes of greengages, pomegranate, orange juice and mango syrup all show face. There is also something cooling about it like cucumber and aloe vera, quite a soothing dram. More of these green, grassy and austere mineral qualities towards the end. A nice drying bite of wood, some natural vanilla, spice and well salted butter. Excellent, nervous and lively whisky.

Finish: Long, drying and sharp with notes of lemon juice, minerals, hessian, sea salt, more herbs, all kinds of oils, flowers and white fruits.

Comments: A fantastically drinkable, captivating and delicious old style Lowlander (not that there ever really was such a thing as a Lowlander as this spirit proves). Another top notch St Magdalene.

Score: 90/100

Oban 13yo Manager’s Dram OB. Rotation 1990. Screw Cap. 62%. 75cl. 

Colour: Straw

Nose: Neat this is a big hot pot of porridge, salt and honey, quite a little firecracker. Very glycerol in the nose with hints of farmyard, germoline, hay, cut grass, lime juice and white pepper. Quite closed and focused when neat and not a little tricky to navigate due to the high alcohol. Lets add some water… with water it becomes hyper coastal with some very pleasant cooling notes of eucalyptus and mint. More herbal notes come through like sorrel and parsley with more delicate peppery note in the form of watercress. More oily notes such as camphor and engine oil as well with the tiniest wee flirtation of vanilla in the background. Quite a greasy, salty big beast of an Oban.

Palate: Like the nose this is a big bonfire in a farmyard, hot, peppery and earthy with a tang of lemon juice and salt. Quite a difficult beast this one, not entirely pleasant either with a couple of hints of cardboard and plastic flickering in the background. Quite intellectual but not a little stubborn and austere too. Lets not hang around, time to add water. With water it softens out a bit but the core components of farmyard, seashore and oily muscle remain very much intact. It has a distinct dirty edge to it but it is evolving into the good, funky kind of dirtiness, like an old 1960s Jura perhaps. Excellent stuff. Increasingly vegetal, smoky, oily and resinous with some wonderfully delicate waxy and menthol notes beginning to emerge. A late bloomer so it would seem.

Finish: Ashy, acrid and gently smoky with good length, citrus, seaweed, boiler sheds, camphor, brown bread and peanuts.

Comments: An odd and quite extreme whisky with an undeniably masochistic edge. A powerful brute of an Oban that really needs time and water to be teased out of its shell, but the reward is a highly charismatic dram with great oomph and plenty of intricacy. A fascinating window into this often forgotten, overlooked and misunderstood distillate.

Score: 89/100

Oban 19yo Manager’s Dram OB. Rotation 1995. Screw Cap. 59.8%. 70cl. 

Colour: Straw

Nose: A much richer, and more obviously mature profile compared to the 13yo. This one is oilier and fatter with a much more up front and luxurious coastal quality. A wonderfully soft, sweet and oily peat quality with big notes of wax, creosote, sea salt, vinaigrette and dazzling white pepper. It shares a lot of DNA with the 13yo but this has extra dimensions born of age and probably slightly more active wood. The result is pretty excellent. With water: the peat softens and the saltiness blooms even more, the coastal qualities in this one are thick, fat and oily now with a wonderfully nervous, citrus edge running through it. More notes of hay and wildflowers bring yet more complexity.

Palate: It’s one of these big farmyard smoothies. Old sweetie shop cinnamon balls, caraway seed liqueur, seashore, wet pebbles, big mineral notes, hessian, green apples, white flowers, ripe plums, muesli and lemon rind. With water: the oiliness is magnified as are these wonderfully spicy notes of old sweetie shop cinnamon balls, mint, liquorice, cannabis and tar. Again, like the 13yo, this is a pretty uncompromising beast of a whisky. The flavours and full on, concentrated, direct and abundant. Fabulous stuff.

Finish: Long, fat, salty, oily, spicy and lively. Hugely mineral, waxy, floral, coastal and boisterous with curtain calls for all those big farmyard notes of stables and hay. Touches of green pepper and peat in the end as well with more cinnamon and toasted brown bread.

Comments: This baby, along with the official 20 and 32yo expressions shows just how utterly fantastic Oban can be when it is allowed off the leash of low strengths to properly shine. A great and uncompromising distillate is made at this small distillery, what a shame we so rarely get to see its full, blustery glory.

Score: 92/100

Glen Ord 16yo Manager’s Dram OB. Rotation 1991. Screw Cap. 66.2%. 75cl.

Colour: Gold

Nose: A spectacular mix of tinned tropical and green fruits in syrup with a huge, thick waxiness and mineral sheen over the whole thing. A fantastically concentrated nose which is remarkably approachable at such a whopping great strength. Notes of fresh herbs, wild strawberries, hummus, paint, green peppercorns in brine, lemon oil, flints and furniture polish. Wonderfully old style, a classic old highlands style aroma. With water: those syrupy qualities just get better and better now with more rich fruit notes, hints of cereal, a big saltiness, green tea, soft phenols and touches of green peat. Brilliantly old style.

Palate: Neat it is understandably a bit of a bulldozer full of wax, oils, minerals, vanilla, more of these fruit syrups and huge pepperiness.  Needs water quite evidently. With water: like the nose the fruit only becomes more excessive with water, notes of fresh tangerine, apricot, quince, lychee and damson jam all come through. There are some fantastically fresh and mouthwateringly dry coastal qualities as well, balanced by a touch of natural sweetness. The texture becomes even more syrupy and oily with time, like olive oil, mango puree and herb liqueur. Fantastic stuff.

Finish: super long, oily, waxy, drying, herbal, fruity and mineral. A wonderful mix of all of the above with fantastic complexity.

Comments: For me this is one of the real hidden masterpieces of the Manager’s Dram series. Huge, complex, totally old style and unsexy but very drinkable and very Glen Ord. I love it, if you like that old highland’s style you’ll adore this one.

Score: 93/100

Springbank 21yo OB. Tall bottle mid-late 1990s rotation dark vatting. 46%. 70cl.

Colour: Mahogany

Nose: Initially a perfect melee of dark fruits, sultanas, mulling spices, cloves, dark chocolate, salty bacon, mint creams, chocolate limes and black pepper. With time the fruit dominates more and the whole thing becomes more luscious and old-style Springbanky. Gets earthier and mulchier with notes of truffle, soy sauce, balsamico and leather, there is a distinct note of peat arising after a while also. Beautifully fresh, clean and rich. Those notes of meat, salt, aged wines and fruits are brilliantly combined and poised.

Palate: Big for 46%. Lots of aged madeira, dundee cake, stewed fruits, wood resin, coal, earth, hessian, strawberry liqueur, cassis, tar and creosote. A perfect streak of salt at the back with more meaty notes like game and salt cured beef. A big, old style Springbank that harks back to some of these brilliant 1960s sherry casks in style. Gun metal, motor oil, tcp, wet pebbles, seashore notes, sandalwood and some syrupy notes of flat coca cola and root beer. Final touches of medicine and peat flicker in the background.

Finish: Long, meaty, salty and rich. Packed with dense, dark fruits, compotes, tar, balsamico, liqueur notes and wax.

Comments: Remember how they always used talk about the 21yo getting topped up with whatever old casks they had lying around? Well I think this batch more than proves it. Spectacular old style Sprinbank with lashings of flavour and character.

Score: 91/100

Springabank 1965-1999 Murray McDavid. Cask 580. 46%. 70cl. 

Colour: Rosewood

Nose: Sweet strawberry liqueur, gummy bears, candifloss and fig paste on top of a blitz of tropical and green fruits. That sweet start gets more luscious and fresh with time eventually revealing more classical notes of lemon rind, sea shore, crystalised fruits and coal fires. A wonderful mix of dunnage, farmyard notes and seashore qualities with a wedge of marzipan and salted almonds driving through the middle. Grows a little teaish and herbal with time.

Palate: Once again a particularly sweet start up front with a sackful of hot spices, paprika, cloves, black tea, stewed fruits, mulled wine, honeycomb and some gentle medical notes as well. The sweetness fades to dry quite quickly as some very well balances tanning just start to nibble around the edges of the gums. Lovely notes of rosewater, turkish delight and dark chocolate begin to emerge with more of these dark, thick fruit qualities. There is a fantastically fizzy mix of spice and salt going on now, you could almost use this as a rub for a joint of lamb (although I’m not sure I’d go that far with 1965 Springbank). Goes on with hints of green pepper, caraway and demerara with increasing notes of menthol, mint tea and soft brown sugar. For once I think this is one oldie that is better on the palate than the nose.

Finish: Long and very warming, loads of mulling spices, tar, touches of medicine, sea salt, lemons, wax, a little chili pepper and a fade thats all on brown bread and toasted cereals.

Comments: I wasn’t that impressed by the nose, in fact globally it’s perhaps a little disappointing for a 1965 Springbank. That said, it’s a fantastic whisky in its own right, wonderfully spicy and warming and the odd twist with the palate trumping the nose is very unusual at this kind of age. A great and unusual old Springbank.

Score: 91/100

Laphroaig 1968 26yo Hart Brothers. 43%. 70cl. 

Colour: White wine

Nose: A wonderfully soft fresco of tropical fruits, metallic notes, minerals, iodine, aged phenols, all kinds of medicine and sea air. Just fantastic, utterly unmistakeable, old style Laphroaig, big as only Laphroaig can be as only 43%. Luscious, elegant and soft but powerful and balanced with it. Goes on with notes of white pepper, sea water, passion fruit juice, motor oil, hessian and all kinds of smaller tropical notes. Just brilliant.

Palate: Up front its the clearest, driest, most wonderful old style peat with all kinds of notes like metal filings, iron, wet pebbles, mercurochrome, tcp, euthymol toothpaste and herb liqueur. The tropical fruit is a little quieter on the palate but it’s still wonderfully bassy in the background, booming quietly away. Hugely coastal and farmy with a perfect mix between the two. SO much to say, so little point in saying it, great, extinct style Laphroaig.

Finish: Long and ridden with peat, antiseptic, dried tropical fruits, greengages, boiler smoke and a whole seashore of freshness.

Comments: A brilliant old Laphroaig, a style of whisky that everyone should try before it becomes totally impossible. This is by no means the best old Laphroaig, but in comparison to modern whiskies, it leaves them all spitting dust in the far distance.

Score: 94/100

Roll on september…

I was fortunate enough to be in the Scotch Malt Whisky Society Vaults in Leith, Edinburgh yesterday. Everything seemed pretty normal, it was exceptionally relaxed, there were legions of bottles behind the bar, there was Haggis on the menu, all as it should be at the SMWS. However something caught my eye, a line of bottles all familiar but a bit out of place. To cut all the nonsense short it was a a row of first bottlings from certain distilleries, the difference being these were not in the display case but behind the bar. First bottlings by the society are notoriously hard to track down. The early ones were almost all consumed and rarely collected or stashed away. In the early days I’m sure few people bought multiple bottles or thought to keep hold of their purchases. This makes finding the very early bottlings exceptionally difficult. So I was pretty excited to see these ones open and available. I got quite a bit more excited when I learned which distilleries two of them were from.

St Magdalene SMWS 49.1. November 1975-October 1987. 64.6%. 75cl. Screw cap. 

Colour: Straw Gold

Nose: Typically difficult, closed and unsurprisingly spirity at first. Not particularly aggressive, just very quiet, grumpy almost. After time it starts to show a little fresh cut grass and pin sharp notes of lemon juice. Starting to open up more now with notes of butter, old riesling and quite a wonderful silky waxy streak as well. Becomes also quite leafy and herbaceous with notes of sorrel, sage and bay leaf. With water: Now it’s alive with stone fruits, super lush notes of peaches, nectarines, plums, white flowers, greengages and green apples. There are also some light hints of eucalyptus, cereals and petrol, very rieslingesque this one. A really beautiful, old style nose that keeps dancing around.

Palate: Quite a buldozer at full strength but it carries some fantastic notes of lamp oil, wet pebbles, minerals, motor oil and old canvas. Then cocoa, over-stewed black tea, mints and something quite carbolic. Devastatingly unsexy and difficult but charmingly so, clearly needs quite a bit of time though, not to mention water… With water it becomes more about honey, wax paper, mead, more drying qualities, cereals, buttered toast and lots of ashy minerals. Something like smoked butter and burnt almonds as well. It’s not as glorious as the nose due to its extreme difficulty but it’s such a huge personality.

Finish: Long. All on toasted cereals, butter, dried herbs, mineral notes and oil.

Comments: It’s always a huge privilege to taste early society bottlings but to taste the first edition St Magdalene is on a different emotional plain entirely. This style of whisky is really up my street but it’s a hugely personal preference, the whisky itself remains excessively difficult and almost uncooperative. For this reason I won’t technically go above 90, but if you like this extreme old style then you’ll adore this one. It’s one of those cases where the beauty is in the mouth of the taster.

Score: 88/100

Brora SMWS 61.1. July 1976-January 1989. 63.6%. 75cl. Screw cap.

This was the first ever bottling of the Brora distillate that was made at the old Clynelish distillery from 1969-1983. Examples of this age are otherwise non existent so, needless to say, I’m pretty thrilled to try this one.

Colour: Straw Gold.

Nose: Hyper clean medicinal notes at first with a really elegant background farminess. Then big notes of bandages, tincture, oysters, lemon juice, mercurochrome and fresh limes. Super clean, pristine peat, the kind that draws in industrial, farmyard, coastal and medical qualities in perfect balance. A feat that only Brora seems to be able to pull of. Further notes of eucalyptus oil, petrol, dunnage and tar. There is also something incredibly fresh about it, notes of wet leaves and brine give it a kind of supercharged freshness. With water: It doesn’t change too much, it just seems to to soften slightly and become even more coastal. Notes of sea breeze, sea weed, lemon thyme, chives, smoked mussels and wet grains, a touch more smoke as well. Utterly stunning!

Palate: At full strength this is almost like peat jam! Hugely thick, oily, waxy and fat! Lots of motor oil, candle wax, tar and phenols, ashy, drying phenols and peaty sweetness as well. Very compelling. Coal soap, more tar, iodine, TCP, muesli, floral blossom notes, juniper, gin and then smoke and wood resin. This is powerhouse stuff that somehow manages to be incredibly drinkable at full strength. Let’s try with water all the same. With water: Oh God! Unbelievably the peat gets even bigger, but at the same time also sort of stretched out and more complex. It feels like a much bigger dram with water (which I wouldn’t have thought possible given its potency when neat). Fat, luscious minerals, flowers, tar, garden fruits, more medicine… lets stop this madness.

Finish: Have you ever seen The Neverending Story?

Comments: I can’t tell what a privilege it is to taste Brora at such a young age, evidently it was already in the realms of greatness in its early teens. This bottling is yet more proof, if any were needed, that Brora is probably one of the most distinctive and personality laden malts in the world. It is also interesting to note that they were clearly still producing very heavily peated batches in 1976. Anyway, this one is a magnificent whisky.

Score: 94/100

A huge thankyou to Nick from the Society for these drams.

If you get a chance to go to the Society vaults in Leith I strongly recommend you do, apart from the stunning array of bottlings to try there is also an incredibly useful and informative collection on display of all the first edition bottles from their archives. It really is worth checking out. What stuck me the other day, whilst looking at many of them for the first time, was that so many were in fact very young and super strong whiskies, like the pair above. It seems they didn’t begin to bottle much older casks until the late 1980s/early 1990s. In other words, great time capsules for those fortunate enough to try them. Keep your eyes peeled.

The elusive 1.1 (An 8yo Glenfarclas)

Today I’ve decided to go through a few odds and ends in my sample cupboard that find themselves without same-still partners. In keeping with the festive theme of ridiculously delicious whiskies they should all be ridiculously delicious. (hopefully)

Glenury Royal 1966-1979. 13yo. Cadenheads Dumpy. 46%. 75cl.

Colour: Amber

Nose: Very fresh and full of old style fruitiness, tutti frutti chewing gum, kumquats, greengages, apples, ripe bananas, pineapple, apricot jam, custard, a little metallic note of steel wool and a few more flecks of very attractive OBE. It’s also slightly coastal in parts, little hints of salt here and there with minerals and hessian in the background.

Palate: Green fruits and spices with a really delicate wedge of oak in there too. Jam, sawdust, opal fruits, tea tree oil, feels older than 13 but that’s probably time in bottle that has done that. Really mouth coating and engaging whisky, not an edge on it anywhere but it still manages to speak to every part of the palate. Big warming spiciness in the back with notes of old polish, new carpet, floor wax and varnish.

Finish: Gentle and warming with woody spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. Slightly gingery as well.

Comments: Lovely fruity old Glenury Royal. Another great lost distillery, another emotional treat.

Score: 89/100

Glen Elgin-Glenlivet. 1965-79. 14yo. Cadenheads for Samaroli. 360 bottles. 80 proof. 75cl.

This was one of the first ever series of Samaroli bottlings. It was opened in Alsace last month for our friend Patrick’s birthday which fell, fittingly enough, on D-Day.

Colour: Teak

Nose: Wild, potent, oily sherry. Pristine notes of stewed fruits, putty, minerals, raisins stewed in Cognac, blood oranges, tiny hints of medicine and tincture with camphor and olive oil. Wholegrain mustard, watercress, black olives, some earthy notes of mushrooms and dried fruit peel. A perfect old sherry cask as is the case with so many of these old bottlings. Walnuts, pecans, banana bread, brown sugar, lots going on here.

Palate: Very soft delivery with some musty notes of dried orange peel, old cupboards, mulling spices, Reciotto wine, dried mango, dark chocolate, a few tannins round the gums, little mineral notes and mushrooms. Quite a gentle sherry giant this, the musty notes are actually very nice, feels like a long forgotten relic in an attic somewhere. Cloves, wax, soot, nutmeg, cold black tea, rice pudding, orange muscat, orange bitters, an old fashioned cocktail, a little menthol and eucalyptus. Very pleasant sherry, not as overpowering as I remember it, given time in the glass it really softens out and becomes quite decadent.

Finish: Quite long and chocolatey with nourishing tannins and notes of balsamico, mushrooms, more mulling spices and hints of sweet red wine.

Comments: One for the decanter with all its statesmanlike olfactory swaggering. Alternatively, if you’re an anarchist, you could make an interesting seasonal variant on mulled wine. Although I don’t know any anarchists that could afford to make mulled wine with old Samaroli bottlings.

Score: 91/100

Ok so I left my picture of this bottle at home on my other hard drive. So until I can update it this one that I stole err borrowed from Whiskyfun will have to suffice. (sorry Serge)

Longmorn 1964-1992. 28yo. Cheiftan’s Choice Single Highland Malt. 50%. 70cl.

This bottling was one of the old Cheiftans series from the early nineties, it doesn’t say Longmorn on the label but we were reliably informed that it is indeed Longmorn in the bottle. There was also a rather stunning 30yo Lowlander that we tried in Harry’s Bar in Paris a couple of years back, we thought it was either Rosebank or St Magdalene but the Jury’s still out on that one.

Colour: Yellowy straw like colour ???

Nose: Ahhh, yesss! Big buttery, oily and fragrant old Longmorn, full of fruits and minerals, like a great old Riesling or something. Lots of lychees, honeysuckle, milk, olive oil, potpourri, dried herbs, really luscious notes of vanilla and ripe pears. Greengages, kumquats, green apples, white flowers, mint, Kummel, Advokat and spicy hints of toasted cumin. What a great old nose!

Palate: Really oily and full on fruitiness here, typical old Longmorn, gloriously lush and intense fruits of all kinds, in fact I can’t be bothered to list them. If I have to write ‘greengages’ one more time I’ll go spare. Hazelnuts, coal, olive oil, hummus, old tea, tequila, a fleck of medicine, cloves, salt and a really lean streak of perfect oak.

Finish: Long, oily, fruity and immensely satisfying.

Comments: Great old Longmorn, this really reminds me in many ways on the old 1964 Signatory bottling I tried recently only more oily. Why can’t people make this kind of whisky anymore? (A rhetorical question by the way, sadly we all know the stupid answers by now). Anyway, gorgeous, fruit bomb material it is!

Score: 92/100

Benriach 1976-2007. 30yo. OB. Port Pipe (Port Finish). 649 bottles. Cask no: 4469. 55.5%. 70cl.

Colour: Rosewood

Nose: Hessian, smoke and tropical fruits at first. Then a wonderful mix of antiseptic and raisins, lots of different fruits, little sooty and waxy notes and some really fat notes of apricots and mangoes. I love these old Benriachs, they can be so stunningly fruity and this one is no exception. Little spicy flecks with mineral notes, coal tar soap, old rope, kippers, cured ham, hospitals, TCP and germoline. With water notes of orange juice, metal, more meatiness and gentian root emerge.

Palate: Ok this is really sweet all of a sudden, excessively so in fact. God Damn finishes!!! Notes of barbeque sauce, kiwis, marmalade, chili pepper, gun flints, medicine, Ribena, Lilt. Lets see if water helps this sugarsome madness… It’s still gob-rapingly sweet! Really thick and viscus notes of molasses, cane sugar, earth, campari, cheap orange liqueurs and marsala.

Finish: Cloying, spicy and (you guessed it) sweet!

Comments: Ok the nose was fantastic for me but the palate really let it down. I’m not going to say anything too sweeping about finishes here and now except to say that they are the scourge of good whisky,the root of all evil and the vinous, crappy, wine-caked downfall of the collective human soul! But I’d better stop before I make any sweeping generalisations or over-exaggerations. Anyway I love Benriach, many of the old casks they have released have been fruity wunderkinds. I wish we could have tried this cask without finishing, the nose was really promising but the palate just felt overwhelmed. What a waste…

Score: 79/100

That feels like a bad way to end one of our supposedly festive olfactory overloads, lets see what else lurks in yonder samples cupboard…

Lets try this sample that I gleamed from the great Glasgow Whisky Show back in November. Sadly I have no picture for it as it was a sample miniature that the very generous Frances from Dewar Rattray had under the table.

Tomintoul 1967-2010. 43yo. Dewar Rattray. Cask no: 3557. 123 bottles. 44.3%. 75cl.

Colour: Rich straw

Nose: Mmmmm… fruit! This is much better, lots of stewed apples and ripe bananas with all kinds of other lovely delicate fruit aromas, the kind that only seem to come out in naturally low strength old malts, ones that have had many years of glacially slow oxidization in cask. Ripe pear flesh, satsumas, star fruit, sultanas, green tea, milk chocolate and yet more greengages.

Palate: Lovely drying oak and bags of soft fruits, great balance and poise, quite a delicate malt but one that has obviously been nurtured in a very good cask. Not the most complex beast but the flavours are all very beautiful, clean and well controlled. Hints of butter and aromatic moroccan spices with further notes of dried herbs, menthol and camphor.

Finish: Medium to long with more notes of green bananas, grapes, wild flowers, drying oak, spice and a little waxiness.

Comments: Lovely, old, unassuming Tomintoul, one of the more reliable ‘T’ distilleries. It isn’t the most earth shattering beast but it sure is drinkable and incredibly charming.

Score 89/100

Tomorrow: strap yourselves in for a Glen Grantathon!