Tastes

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Premium Whisky Tasting, 14 January 2023). Nose: Acetone, hairspray, Campino sweets, summer berries. Light herbal wisps Palate: Sweet & sour, malt, oak, very light char, caramel wisps, burnt sugar, orchard fruit, icing sugar Finish: Medium short finish. Burnt toffee, banana, earthy, dates, herbal. There's an artificial note on the aftertaste. 1of 72 bottles from a single octave cask £133.50 for a 50cl bottle Young and intense. There is an old fashioned feel to this whisky. Spirit forward, but with a load of cask influence. Savoury, woody and a little fruity. It is a little artificial tasting, but is strangely reminiscent of the whiskies I used to enjoy in my youth - most often when I used to go around the distilleries in the early 90's and get spirit straight from the cask before they all had 'visitor experiences' that sanitised the visits. Came second out of the six drams, with 24% of the final vote for favourite of the night. 68% of those present said they enjoyed the whisky.

Nose: Damp peat smoke, sweet vanilla, plum jam, dried fruit Palate: Sweet peat smoke, dried fruit - dates, salted plum, prunes. Salt/ saline. White pepper and vanilla wisps Finish: Very long finish. Sweet, salted and peaty. There’s a huge hit of sweet dried fruit, with some fresh cranberries and orange peel. Dark chocolate, coffee and wisps of bonfire smoke Distilled 2005 Bottled 2020 Ex-Pedro Ximénez sherry cask finish This is a sweet, fruity and peaty dram. Much sweeter than the standard 16y/o, but maintaining the peat smoke backbone. The dried fruit is beautifully integrated with the damp peat smoke, giving a deep and luxurious note to this sweet whisky. Excellent dram.

Nose: Fruit - peach, apricot, pineapple. Lightly floral, wisps and hints of wood smoke Palate: Tropical fruit, vanilla, salted caramel and light citrus. There’s a light peated smokiness throughout, but not overtly Finish: Long finish. The finish is far more citrus/sour than the palate. There are more smoky, peaty and peppery notes, before edging towards a citrus and spicy (black pepper, chilli and ginger) aftertaste. This is a fruity and lightly smoky dram. The flavours are not completely integrated through the layers, with a completely different experience from the palate than the finish and aftertaste. It’s easy to drink and has a quite a creamy mouthfeel on the palate, which hardens into a sour and spicy finish. Generally OK.

Nose: Sweet, summer berries, raspberries, cranberries, caramel, slightly artificial, light baking spices Palate: More of the artificial summer berry, sweet, oak, vanilla, ginger, black pepper, caramel. Finish: Medium short finish. The finish is quite tight, more summer fruit, but more oak/wood and vanilla, caramel. The aftertaste is sweet and more creamy fruitiness. I’m not sure why the SMWS chose not to have a distillery code on this one, not much of a problem but an interesting departure for the society. This is a sweet and fruity dram. It doesn’t taste it’s 50% ABV. There’s a great, full bodied mouthfeel, loads of berry sweetness and a fair amount of oak and vanilla. Distilled: 11 May 2006 Bottled: 23 Feb 2021 1 of 1,367 bottles

Nose: Sweet, slightly chemical. Forest fruit, berries, vanilla, caramel. Quite light on the nose. Palate: Spirit forward, barrel char, summer fruit, vanilla, citrus/lime, light tannic spiciness Finish: Medium long finish. Spicy - black pepper, ginger and chilli, toasted oak, maltiness, more of the summer fruit. Tannic on the aftertaste. Fruity and malty, there’s a nice spiciness throughout. Loads of summer fruit and berries with a dry, tannic note.

Nose: Very light one the nose. Vanilla, fudge, oak, ginger in syrup, oak and spice Palate: Malty, vanilla, caramel, Demerara sugar, black pepper, oak/wood, nutty, toffee, orange, citrus Finish: Long finish. Malt, charred oak, vanilla, orange, lemon, pepper, light spice. Souring on the aftertaste. There’s a lot of spicy vanilla, burnt Demerara sugar, oak and citrus on a malty backbone. This is a easy drinking malty and sweet dram. An easy drinking spirit forward dram.

Nose: Malt, oak/wood, summer berries, vanilla, warm plastic Palate: Sweet. Dusty upfront, nutty, woody, summer fruit and berries, rose/floral Finish: Medium finish. Fruit/berry jam, mild spiciness, liquorice. The aftertaste builds on the fruit compote notes and sweetness. This is a sweet and fruity dram. There’s a good amount of immediate dryness, a little spiciness and hints of rose and liquorice. There’s a lot of youthful flavour, not necessarily complex, and not completely integrated, but tasty and quaffable. Not bad at all.

Nose: Spicy, vanilla, summer fruit, caramel, lightly floral. Palate: Sherried, dried fruit, sweet, orchard fruit, heather honey. Light oak and hints of minerality Finish: Medium long finish. Citrus, Granny Smith apples. More of the oak and honey, and more prominent hay/floral notes than the palate. Sours on the aftertaste. Named after an island in the Shetland Islands archipelago, c110 miles north-east of the Scottish mainland. The whisky is distilled at an unnamed Speyside distillery. Aged in first-use Sherry oak casks, before being transported up to the Shetland Islands to age for a year, then transported back down to mainland Scotland to be bottled. Not the most carbon conscious whisky! This is a sherried, easy drinking and uncomplicated dram. Not particularly remarkable, but the slightly oily mouthfeel, sherry and dry fruit notes with hints of wood and hay keep it interesting enough. A session dram.

Nose: Stewed fruit - pears & plums. Coffee, hairspray, baking spices Palate: Sweetened baked fruit - pears & apples, chocolate, malt, baking spices Finish: Long finish. Dark dried fruit, leather, spicy, oak/wood. Maltiness builds strongly on the aftertaste 13 years in a single port pipe Distilled: February 2006 Bottled: January 2020 1 of 815 bottles This is a kick in the teeth - full-bodied, unctuous, toffee and fruity. A very tasty, malty dram.

Nose: Sweet, ginger syrup, black and white pepper Palate: Orange, ginger, allspice, clove, toffee Finish: Short finish. Char/ash, orange zest, white pepper. Slightly bitter. The overriding taste is orange and white pepper. Hints of barrel char on the finish and aftertaste. I like this rye, but I can't quite see when I'd choose to dink it - I suspect this would get pretty dusty in the cabinet before it'd be finished.