Tastes

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Whisky Tasting, 12 August 2022). Nose: Sweet smoke, damp/earthy, black tea, salty/saline Palate: Tobacco, dried fruit, peat smoke, sweet, nutty, salt, seaweed, dark chocolate Finish: Medium long finish. Heather, wood smoke, wood ash, nutty, slightly herbal. Coats the mouth. Smoky and slightly youthful. Soft and gentle as a peaty dram. Quaffable - a session whisky. This is not a particularly complex whisky, it's a young peaty Islay, so you get what you expect - not a bad thing at all! It tastes to me that this is probably a peated Bunnahabhain. Came joint last out of the six drams, with 0% of the final vote for favourite of the night. 54% of those present said they enjoyed the whisky.

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Whisky Tasting, 12 August 2022). Nose: Light sweet fruit, apricot, orange, gristy, hairspray and a wisps of farmyard Palate: Sherry! Ripe and dried fruit. Green herbs, mint, thyme and dill. Caramel. Slightly grassy. Finish: Medium long finish. Orange, citrus, floral, mineral, sherry and chocolate raisin 1 of 266 bottles Refill hogshead All about the sherry - described on the tasting as a sherry delivery system! Chocolate caramel and dried fruit. A great, very tasty sherry bomb. Came joint third out of the six drams, with 8% of the final vote for favourite of the night. 58% of those present said they enjoyed the whisky.

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Whisky Tasting, 12 August 2022). Nose: Orchard fruit, sweet, baking spice, ginger Palate: Sweet, chocolate cherries, dates, dried figs, baking spices Finish: Long finish. Nutty, toasted oak, dates, raisins. Slightly burnt millionaire's shortbread. 10 years in 500L Oloroso sherry butts, followed by 2.5 years in Sauternes casks This is a cracker! Rich, chewy and heavy. Sweet dried fruit and an interesting slightly burned note (in a good way!) The Sauternes adds a little sweet fruitiness. Too dangerously drinkable for 58.2% ABV. Came second out of the six drams, with 15% of the final vote for favourite of the night. 77% of those present said they enjoyed the whisky.

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Whisky Tasting, 12 August 2022). Nose: Orchard fruit, green, sweet, spearmint, apple, vanilla, melon Palate: Woody, floral/gorse, light spiciness / white pepper, coconut, caramel, grape, honeydew melon Finish: Medium long finish. Oak, malt, char/ash, tinned fruit, caramel sauce. Slightly souring on the aftertaste A bottling of 28 first fill ex-bourbon barrels. Chariot barley This is a lovely woody, spicy and caramel dram. There's a luxury feel to this dram. Warming and lightly numbing. This is a very tasty wee dram! Came runaway first out of the six drams, with 77% of the final vote for favourite of the night. 96% of those present said they enjoyed the whisky. There were 11 bottles available to buy through a ballot and I managed to secure a bottle.

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Whisky Tasting, 12 August 2022). Nose: Sherry, dried fruit, sweet, butterscotch Palate: Sweet, sherried, cinnamon, puff pastry Finish: Medium long finish. Dried fruit, sultanas, vanilla Very thin mouthfeel, but tasty enough for it. Easy to drink, nothing to challenge you but it's definitely OK. Pleasant and unassuming, but you're unlikely to get too excited about it. This whisky was tasted blind on the tasting. There's a lot of snobbery in the whisky community and Macallan get's a bit of a backlash from some. The organisers of the tasting had tried to get a true reflection of people's thoughts for this Macallan before letting us know what we had been drinking. Quite an interesting experiment overall. The general feeling was that it was unremarkable, generally OK but not very interesting. I think that's a fair reflection, you'd be happy enough to drink this one, but not one you'd look out for to have a bottle. Came joint last out of the six drams, with 0% of the final vote for favourite of the night. 31% of those present said they enjoyed the whisky.

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Whisky Tasting, 12 August 2022). Nose: Sweet, strawberry jam, kids sweets Palate: 'Hot', citrus, orange, baking spice. Spirit heavy, black pepper, chillies, cereal, nutty Finish: Long finish. Vanilla, alcohol, fruit, white pepper. Numbing on the palate. 1 of 372 bottles Distilled: October 2013 Bottled: May 2022 Refill hogshead Very young tasting, spirit heavy, spicy/peppery dram. Not too complex, lots of sweet fruit notes in amongst the fiery spirit. Generally OK. Came joint third out of the six drams, with 8% of the final vote for favourite of the night. 42% of those present said they enjoyed the whisky.

Nose: Bacon, peat, caramel Palate: BBQ meats, salt, tart fruit, baked orchard fruit, gristy Finish: Short finish. Tannic, black tea, baked fruit, wisps of peat This is not a good whisky. BBQ, sweet, gristy, salty - all sounds good, but not here! There's a problem with balance, nothing in this is in the right proportions to be an enjoyable dram. Just no...

Nose: Demerara sugar, orange, light dried fruit Palate: Fruit/berry jam, black tea, dark chocolate, cinnamon, Chomp strips (Scottish kids sweets from the 70s/80s) Finish: Medium finish. Hershey's chocolate, dusty/chalky, mineral, baking spices. Sherried. Cheap dusty chocolate powder, caramel, cinnamon, and fruit jam. Easy to drink, fruity, chocolatey and sherried. Tasty and unassuming - a session dram.

Nose: Dried fruit, ginger, hints of musty dampness Palate: Chocolate, dried fruit (dates and raisins), tobacco, sandalwood, char/ash Finish: Medium finish. Sweet, wood, vanilla, dark chocolate, leather Simple, slightly thin, chocolate and dried fruit dram. Not at all complex, but perfectly drinkable - if ultimately forgettable.

Nose: Floral, fruit - berries, jam, chocolate, cinnamon Palate: Salted caramel, glace cherries, toasted nuts, wood, tannic, black pepper. Strong alcohol. Finish: Medium long finish. Creamy mouthfeel, baking spices, cinnamon, citrus/orange, toasted oak/ burned wood 1 of 643 bottles Cask No: 69290 Single refill puncheon Woody, sweet and spicy. Tastes every one of it's 59.9% ABV. Opens up with a touch of water to give more oak and vanilla, tannins and berry fruitiness. This is a decent, spirit forward, cask strength dram.