Tastes

Nose: Buttered toast, honey, oak, vanilla, citrus Palate: Sweet fruit/berries, chocolate cherries, juicy/jammy fruit. Hints of charred oak Finish: Dark chocolate, thick jam, kirsch cherries, dusty smoke/ash, ginger Warming, jammy and lightly charred. A kick of alcohol on the nose, but quickly mellowing into jam and chocolate on the palate. Delicious.

Nose: Fruit (apricot), salt/brine, marzipan/almonds Palate: Sweet vanilla, forest fruit, citrus, salt/brine, spices (black pepper) Finish: Long sweet finish, tobacco, leather, a little citrus, muddy/earthy/damp although dries on the aftertaste There’s the Campbeltown funk, moist and salty, but with a load of sweet forest fruit throughout.

Nose: Sweet berries, red fruit, bread, dark chocolate Palate: Alcohol heavy up front, red fruit, dry Fino sherry Finish: Dark chocolate, pipe tobacco, tropical fruit. Sweet & sour on the aftertaste. Punchy and alcohol heavy at first taste, turning sweet and fruity once your palate settles into it. Water brings out a more subtle and layered dram, and loses some of the darker notes. It the sours more on the aftertaste but is easier to drink overall. 1 of 728 bottles

Nose: Pears, pineapple, apple, vanilla, oak Palate: Coffee, gristy, light, pears/apples Finish: Coffee, tiramisu, banana sweets (the soft foamy banana sweets that taste extremely fake, but unmistakably of 'fake' banana!) Matured in 1st-fill ex-Bourbon casks from Heaven Hill Kentucky distillery, and 1st-fill STR barriques Distilled in 2015. Light, gristy and a little fruity. This is an uncomplicated and unassuming light dram - simple and refreshing.

Nose: Caramel, brine/salt, dried fruit - currants and raisins Palate: 'Hot' sharp alcohol, apples, citrus, dark chocolate, saccharine sweet, boiled sweets Finish: Dark chocolate, gristy, raisins/sultanas. Long finish, with berries on the aftertaste Batch 8 1 of 1,160 bottles 50cl bottle This is quite an old fashioned feeling dram. Sweet and fruity. Not complex, but unassuming and quite fun to drink.

Nose: Fig pudding, chocolate, candied orange, acetone, farmyard (pig farm), oak, sweaty Palate: Alcohol heavy, cranberries, vanilla, dark chocolate, spices (clove & cinnamon), caramel Finish: Rye, sherry, cherries, sweet & gristy. There's a dark, earthiness on the aftertaste. There are cherries and cranberries throughout. Batch 1 1 of 1,622 bottles 50cl bottle Pig farm and sherry is a fairly odd combination! This is a weird marriage of fruit and rye. I'm not sure if I like it, I think I do, but it's a bit odd. Definitely a memorable weird dram.

Nose: Spice, honey, freshly sawed wood. A hint of zingy citrus. Palate: Baked fruit, spices, honey & lemon, gristy Finish: Spices, char/ash, zingy citrus and orange. Medium long finish I would describe this as a bourbon for a Scotch drinker. It tastes like it could be a sweet, young single malt with a bit of honey and smoothness.

Nose: Sweet, toffee sweets, honey, earthy Palate: Fruity and earthy, vanilla, fruit sweets. There's an artificial note and a slightly odd combination of creamy and muddy Finish: Medium short finish. Hot and spicy, but smoothed out by the honey sweetness This is a bit rough and a bit overly sweet, but it's drinkable and you don't feel hard done by. Easy to have as a session dram, better with water or a mixer. Generally, it's OK.

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Whisky Tasting, 09 April 2021). Nose: Peat, smoke, rye bread, lemmon drizzle, dark spices. Hints of ash/burned wood. Palate: Wood / roasted nuts, dark chocolate, cloves & allspice. There is a little dried fruit (dates & figs) as a background note. Finish: Ash/wood. Damp smoke, dry sherry, tobacco/liquorice/leather. Lightly sour on the aftertaste. Well balanced between damp wood and peat smoke, and dried dark fruits. Lots of nice dry notes with a cigar smoke finish. Lovely creamy mouthfeel. Nice dram. Matured in 24 Oloroso sherry butts from 2011 & 2012 1 of 17,000 bottles 50ppm Came 1st out of the six drams, with 38% of the final vote for favourite of the night. 88% of those present said they enjoyed the whisky.

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Whisky Tasting, 09 April 2021). Nose: Acetone, wood/furniture polish, dark Demerara sugar syrup, ginger snaps, dried fruit Palate: Dates, dried fig, raisins, dark chocolate, baking spices, nutty. Sweet & syrupy. Finish: Long finish. Dark chocolate, spice and ginger. Concentrated and warm. This is a great dram. Chewy and syrupy with loads of dark caramel, wood and vanilla, backed-up with some wonderful dried fruit notes. Water opens up more of the dried fruit notes and adds more spice - allspice, cinnamon and clove. Bottled in January 2021 1st fill Oloroso sherry butt 1 of 626 bottles Came 2nd out of the six drams, with 19% of the final vote for favourite of the night. 88% of those present said they enjoyed the whisky. This received my vote for favourite of the tasting.