Tastes

Nose: Summer fruit, honey, milk chocolate Palate: Sweet, vanilla, cream, oak, summer berries, honey, icing sugar Finish: Medium long finish. Sherry, dried fruit, summer berries, leathery and creamy. Sweet, fruity and vibrant. For a 21-year-old, this has a youthfulness that is unexpected and hugely welcomed! Berries and cream on the palate, leather and sherry on the finish. Lovely!

Nose: Chocolate, spicy, window putty, hairspray, chocolate chip cookies Palate: Chocolate, popcorn, golden syrup, light spice - ginger. Nutty and aromatic Finish: Medium long finish. Citrus, green apple, dried fruit, herbal. Cocoa, butter and vanilla on the aftertaste. This is a chocolate-y and aromatic rye dram. Smooth and velvety on the mouthfeel. The 100% rye adds some darker notes to the herbal spiciness. A decent dram!

Nose: Malt, sherry, roasted nuts, dried fruit, cream Palate: Sherried, spice (clove & ginger), chocolate praline Finish: Long finish. Fruit heavy, dried and fresh fruit - apple, apricot, pear, plum. Pastry and cream. Sour apple on the aftertaste. 1 of 8,520 bottles This is a lovely sherried dram! Fruity and malty, with apple pie and pastry. This has a lovely, mouth coating creamy and oily mouthfeel. Deep fried apple pie!

Nose: Gristy, barley, malt, honey, vanilla, orchard fruit Palate: Sweet, sherried, dried fruit, spices - nutmeg, toffee, wood/pine Finish: Medium/long finish. Spicy, dried fruit, oak. Menthol and mint on the aftertaste. Sherried and fruity. Thin but creamy mouthfeel. This is a nicely layered, sweet and fruity dram. Mild spice and wisps of pine and menthol.

Nose: Wood, cinnamon, BBQ meat, salt/saline, damp peat smoke Palate: Woody, spice - chilli and pepper, char/ash, damp peat, nuts, menthol/green salt, mineral Finish: Long finish. Black pepper, chilli, BBQ meat, building peat, dry ash This is a 'hot', ashy and peated dram. There's a clean minerality that you don't always get in a peated dram. Not complicated at all, not unpleasant, but a little too 'hot' to be fully enjoyable.

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Whisky Tasting, 08 October 2022). Nose: Hot/spicy/alcoholic, fruit and nut, burned wood, apple, hairspray, peat Palate: 'Hot', wet peat, toasted oak, nutty, toffee, vanilla Finish: Long finish. Nutty, pipe smoke, damp peat, toffee, burned wood, sweet and dry on the aftertaste. 160hr fermentation time 1 of 10,000 bottles (worldwide) Ex-rye, bourbon and virgin oak casks Interesting, hot and a bit numbing. Loads of peat and wood smoke. The layers are fantastically diverse. Not necessarily an easy drinker, more of a chin-scratching "interesting" dram than one you'd choose to keep going back to. I would never have guessed that this was a GlenAllachie if it was a blind tasting - very little of their typical character. Came second out of the six drams, with 27% of the final vote for favourite of the night. 80% of those present said they enjoyed the whisky.

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Whisky Tasting, 08 October 2022). Nose: Bonfire, burnt wood, port, slightly funky, petrol/Kerosene Palate: Spicy, black pepper, wood smoke, saline, paraffin wax, black cherries, seaweed, almond/walnut, chocolate Finish: Long finish. Salt/saline, Black Forest cake, light peat, dark cherries. Drying aftertaste, light spices - clove and allspice Matured in European oak casks that previously held Bordeaux red wine. This is a very cake-y whisky. Lots of dried wood and soft sweet peat, cherry and chocolate. Black Forest whisky! Pretty decent - dry - dram. Came first out of the six drams, with 33% of the final vote for favourite of the night. 93% of those present said they enjoyed the whisky.

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Whisky Tasting, 08 October 2022). Nose: Sherry! Toffee apple, butterscotch Palate: Fruit cake, dried dates, dried berries & currants, malty, espresso coffee Finish: Long finish. Christmas cake, wood/oak, dried fruit, Golden Syrup, leather, cigar smoke, fig pudding, coffee. The aftertaste is full bodied and chewy. 1 of 2,293 bottles First-fill sherry cask matured The distillery is undisclosed on the bottle (although I have since had it confirmed as being from Blair Athol) This is a full-bodied, unctuous dram. Sherried and Christmassy. Loads of layered fruit, dark coffee and chocolate notes. A great, full-bodied, sherried dram. Came third out of the six drams, with 20% of the final vote for favourite of the night. 67% of those present said they enjoyed the whisky. This got my vote for favourite of the tasting.

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Whisky Tasting, 08 October 2022). Nose: Sweet, artificial fruit sweets (Starburst), floral, hay, malty and cereal. Light hints of farmyard funk as background notes. Palate: Very sweet, light dry peat, kids sweets (pear drops), orange zest, orchard fruit (peach and apricot) Finish: Long finish. Dry, herbal, liquorice, leather, charcoal, aniseed 2022 edition Matured in 70% ex-bourbon & 30% ex-sherry casks Full bodied, lightly peated and very sweet - lots of reminders of childhood sweets, pear drops, foam bananas, liquorice - there's a lot going on, interesting and very tasty layers throughout. A fab, wee dram! Came fourth out of the six drams, with 13% of the final vote for favourite of the night. 67% of those present said they enjoyed the whisky.

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Whisky Tasting, 08 October 2022). Nose: Earthy/peaty, medicinal, herbal (sage & tarragon), fruity/sweet, caramel. Mezcal-like. Wood smoke. Palate: Wood smoke, butterscotch, malt loaf, vanilla, caramel. Slightly mineral. Finish: Medium long. Wet peat, wood smoke, herbal (more sage). A little more of the butterscotch on the aftertaste. OK, first up, it tasted young. Lots of herbal/green Mezcal notes, with a load of damp sweet peat. It puts me in mind of Werther's Originals, sweet pipe smoke and malt loaf. To my palate, this needs more time, but generally it's not a bad young dram. 100% ex-bourbon casks Matured for three years Concerto barley Peated to 50PPM 1 of 10,000 bottles (worldwide) Came fifth out of the six drams, with 7% of the final vote for favourite of the night. 53% of those present said they enjoyed the whisky.