Late April 2013 Outturn Offerings 

A window box outside a pub 

Cask No. 30.69                           $145

Speyside, Spey

The nose had lots to offer – sultanas, figs, sweet tobacco, coconut oil, vanilla, pineapple, banana bread and butterscotch bumped up against leather, slate, sea salt and Fisherman’s Friends. The palate was also very attractive, with marmalade, blossom honey, golden syrup on buttered toast, crêpes with Cointreau, geraniums, beer and tobacco (‘like a window box outside a pub’ someone said). On the reduced nose, a laundry basket appeared, along with white chocolate and jellied orange sweets. The mouth-feel turned slightly fizzy and developed new flavours of biscuits, linseed oil and slippery elm. The distillery still-house looks out over the Rothes graveyard.

Drinking tip: A dram for those with a sweet tooth – and water doesn’t do much for it

Colour: Simpsons yellow                            Date distilled: December 1989

Cask: Refill hogshead                                      Alcohol: 51.7%

Age: 21 years                                          USA allocation: 102 bottles 

Sweet and smoky 

Cask No. 29.112                         $120

Islay

A polite and somewhat reserved example of what used to be known as Islay’s most pungent malt – a mild nose-feel, then ‘fresh linen on a clothes line’ and sweet short-crust pastry (even hints of tablet), with antiseptic cream and coal smoke in the distance. The taste is sweet and very salty, with clean smoke and a floral aftertaste. Water takes us to a rock pool, then public swimming pools and foot-baths – with plastic water-wings and beach-balls bobbing in the background. The taste remains sweet and salty, with a peppery finish and ash in the aftertaste, with traces of Coal Tar soap.

Drinking tip: On a warm machair beach

Colour: Full gold                                           Date distilled: April 1995

Cask: Refill barrel                                         Alcohol: 61.3%

Age: 16 years                                          USA allocation: 72 bottles

Jar Jar Binks in trouble again 

Cask No. 63.27                           $85

Speyside, Spey

Remarkable for its age, the nose suggested unripe green fruits, stewed rhubarb, lemon bonbons, mint, golden syrup and Werther’s butterscotch. It reminded us of grappa, tequila, pear schnapps etc. The substantial palate delivered apple sours, lime fruit pastilles and red cola – a caustic/sweet combination so juicy it had us slavering like Boss Nass berating Jar Jar Binks. The reduced nose had apples sautéed in butter and raspberry jam pips – and woody, earthy, floral notes inspired the gardeners among us. The palate now had tart toffee apples and Key lime pie – very interesting indeed. The distillery was built by James Buchanan.

Drinking tip: To accompany light gardening or an episode of Star Wars

Colour: Tutankhamen’s breastplate                          Date distilled: June 2006

Cask: Second-fill Sherry butt                                                  Alcohol: 62.3%

Age: 5 years                                                       USA allocation: 90 bottles 

A land of sweet and spicy fragrance 

Cask No. 73.47                           $105

Speyside, Deveron

Our panellists found the nose attractive, though quietly assertive – beyond a freshly-painted dentist’s waiting room, was a land of sweet and spicy fragrance – ginger, nutmeg and clove, toffee, raisins and croissants, banana, orange, balsamico, cigars and cognac. Water added apple cider, fresh laundry, lemon balm and lemon barley water. The palate bestowed superb, exquisite sweetness, like heavily honeyed Lindisfarne mead, but also some lively taste impressions of salted beef, pretzels and grappa. With water, sweetness persisted, but we now discovered spearmint and lemony hot toddy with liquorice allsorts on the finish – very quaffable indeed. The distillery name means ‘big stream’.

Drinking tip: A pleasant summertime, ‘déjeuner sur l’herbe’ kind of dram

Colour: Pinot Grigio                                                 Date distilled: May 1999

Cask: Refill barrel                                                     Alcohol: 57.8%

Age: 12 years                                                      USA allocation: 90 bottles

Please visit the Scotch Malt Whisky Society of America at http://www.smwsa.com/