Tastes

summmer in scotland + real life prunes (not whisky ones)

3.75 WITHOUT WATER Nose: Cured meat, and a briney oyster note. Seaweed, maybe once the tide’s been out for a couple hours. One of the most coastal noses I’ve experienced. Vegetative notes too - cabbage? A little rubbery, which is more pleasant. Some wet grass and bitter chocolate - not too sweet on the nose at first, but some sherbet at the back as it opens. More feinty with water - plastic note. Palate: Smoky, but a lot less of the cured meat now. It’s tempered by a rounder sweet note - tastes like salted chocolate. A great balance of dry and sweet. Maybe some ginger, but overwhelming note is dark chocolate for me. Maybe with dried berries. Menthol is another great note, stolen from MoM. Too soft with water for me - 46% felt better. Loses some of its bite and all that balance is a bit dulled. Favourite notes: Oyster brine, menthol, dark chocolate

Nose: Sharp, varnish at first. Lime, berry, green apple. Pine, and a green leafy note. Linen - very clean nose. Much sweeter with water - ripe apple, honey, that sweet air you get around flowery trees. Some of that pastry suggestion from MoM, but with a raspberry edge. Rose’s Lime and a musty vanilla as it opens further. Right as I was about to finish - sports day in the summer. Finally, a more specific ‘grassy’ note. A summery, warm leaves and grass and hard dirt type note. Palate: Feinty, with a bit of honey in the middle to back it up. Candied, green and piney. Dark bitter chocolate on first finish, like drip coffee with a squeeze of honey and a lime rim. Aniseed as it opens and agree with pistachio note from MoM. With water - sweet barley sugar, but keeps its grassy green edge. More musty vanilla bean now, and a light bit of fruit - like someone’s vaping in a laser quest. I like the finish more as it has time in the glass - got a last minute milk chocolate note that was pretty nice! Favourite notes: Pistachios (stolen from MoM) and laser quest vape clouds. Sports day and Inverleith Park in summer. Without water this was a 3.25, with water anywhere from 3.5 to 3.75, maybe more as I get past the first pour and it opens further! Cool one. I just bumped it up to 3.75 because of that summery park note. Excited to try more of this one.

(2022 release) Nose: Got funk really quickly despite what people said about 2021 release. Must. Curdled, round citrus sweetness like an orange cream that’s a bit old. Guava and a sharper tropical note at the back, maybe pineapple. Cream, cardboard and rich damp. Stole green tea note from Dramface, that’s bang on, as is wet soil and overripe apples. Right at the end a MASSIVE blast of tinned peaches. Palate: Round and fruity at first, then immediately get a puff of sooty smoke and flat coke sweetness. Some fudge and that creaminess from the nose. Clementines, white chocolate and kalamata olives, olive brine (stole green olive note on the finish from Dramface, too!) Favourite notes: Green tea, tinned peaches and green olives on the finish.

Caveat: May have COVID Nose: Honeydew, pear. Full, florists’ shop floral note. A little solvent. Maybe a little coconut? Palate: Very smooth, round. Orchard fruits, honey and malt at the back of the palate. Some clove as it opens up, and it becomes a little more buttery. Finish: Dry, with a bit of the sweetness lingering. A little resinous? Spruce? Overall: found this really hard to pick apart after tasting the distiller’s reserve. May have to revisit it one day, but not at over 100 pounds a bottle! Standout notes were the soft, round, sweet ones, but nothing jumped out as a distinct flavour to me. May be the effects of the virus!

Caveat: May have COVID Nose: jam, some apple, malt. Some light vanilla and honey, a bit of that milk chocolate wafer smell. Strawberry note I’ve heard about becomes more apparent after a few sips. Palate: Malty, a little spicy. Oak notes, fruit notes are pretty juicy whatever they are. Can see the fresh berry and white peach notes more and more as it opens. Lychee. Finish: Spicy, like a red hot. Sweet note underneath it. Overall: nice blend of fruit and cinnamon spice. I had to lean on MoM notes and others to guide this tasting because my taste and smell are a bit whacked, but only noted the things I could actually pick up with their help. Feels like a juicy, generous dram that would be great in summer. Could be a higher rating if my senses turn out to have been impaired.

Nose: Solvent, oranges and orange oil or zest. A bit metallic. Vanilla, sharp leather or resin, maybe some green apple. Palate: Grainy, malty and sweet up front in a nice balance, and a little spicy. Hollows out in the middle but has nice orangey flavour on the back of the palate. Vanilla and light honey too. Slightly smoky? There’s a very faint earthy smoke to it that fleshes it out and is really nice. Some nuttiness now and again, almost a sherry note. Brown sugar. Melted butter note from MoM is definitely there. Finish: Caramel, a little nutty and oaky. Brown sugar. Overall: very nice, has that baking cupboard smell and taste to it that I really like. Feels very well balanced after it’s opened up a bit - not too heavy on the vanilla and sugar notes, has enough spice, zest and herbal notes in it to lift it up and stop it from getting cloying. 3.75/4

Nose: chocolatey and nutty. dates, raisins. Not a heavy nose despite those notes - they’re there but in quite a light way. Maybe a bit of clove, some very subtle honey and molasses. Palate: Sherried flavours, no surprises coming off the nose. Sarsaparilla, vanilla, a bit of a toasted note. Reminds me of that chocolate with pretzel bits in it that I had the other day. Finish: biscuity, grainy and a little like play doh. Overall: fun to try a whisky with such a big sherry influence that isn’t ‘heavy’. This was nice and middling - not too light either. Well balanced but with a good punch to it.

Nose: Apple (raeburn, if I may be so bold), grass, citrus zest, a little sandy. After a while some burnt leaves, plastic bucket, fresh cooking herbs like parsley. Some mineral chalky notes. Cucumber and melon note from MoM is on the money. Palate: Great first impression - hit of honey that’s backed up by this really nice earthiness and mossy note. Vegetal more than it is sweet, herbs again. Mint, but that full kind of minty taste you get in Moroccan tea. Not damp like a Ben Nevis, but warm kind of earthiness. Some peppery spice, a little vanilla and light, fresh smoke. Humbugs. More and more bright mint as it goes on. Becomes almost like a fernet branca taste. Finish: Bracing, fresh and menthol. Overall: delicate notes, but quite full on in the mint department. Sweetness alongside that fernet note is really cool. Slightly bitter one that makes me want to try more Hakushu whisky! Almost gets a 4 because it’s not boring.