Cask No. 53.187 $175
Simplicity at its best
Islay
We found ourselves on a warm sunny day sitting on the harbour wall with fish & chips for lunch and the fresh aroma of heavily starched white sheets on the washing line is being carried by the sea breeze. The tide is going out and smells of rock pools, mussels and oyster shells are emerging. The taste neat is a fine combination of sweetness and wood smoke, Arbroath smokies being prepared on the beach. With the addition of water we moved from the harbour along the coastline to a peat bog. Briny and salty aromas fill the air as we cut the peat and spread it out across the moor to dry. The taste is now that of smoky bacon, bacon frazzles, honey glazed ham and the minty sweet finish of Mentos.
Drinking tip: As a reward after a hard day’s work
Colour: Chartreuse French liqueur
Cask: Refill hogshead
Age: 22 years
Date distilled: January 1991
Alcohol: 51.2%
USA allocation: 120 bottles
Cask No. 4.183 $125
Something for Everyone
Highland, Island
Where do we start – sweet like an apple flan or a Garibaldi biscuit or heather honey, savoury like roasted tomatoes with basil or a Miso soup or Bovril. At the same time briny, smoky, sooty and ashy with perfume notes of exotic cedar. The taste is a mouth-watering mixture of toasted peanuts, treacle tart with clotted cream and a balsamic tahini dressing over a salad with toasted sesame seeds. Water adds maritime aromas of fish boxes, driftwood and seaweed as well as sea salted dark chocolate and berry Pavlova topped with vanilla whipped cream. The taste is now burnt toast with salted butter and marmalade as well as garlic Indian Nan bread.
Drinking tip: Before, during and after a barbeque on the beach
Colour: Red gold
Cask: First-fill barrel
Age: 13 years
Date distilled: June 2000
Alcohol: 62.1%
USA allocation: 54 bottles
Cask No. 7.89 $205
The Perfect Comfort Blanket
Speyside, Lossie
The nose neat is very comforting; bread and butter pudding, plum crumble, dark chocolate with raspberries or bitter orange, caramelised sugar, an empty cigar box and freshly ground coffee. The taste did not disappoint; Peach Melba yoghurt with a sprinkling of white pepper as well as cinnamon and cardamom. Only a drop of water transported us into the kitchen for breakfast; fruit scones, brioche, toast, Golden syrup sponge cake, cocoa powder and fresh fruit salad. The taste is very moist like an apple sponge cake or a peach cobbler with custard and vanilla ice cream. This is a classic example from the distillery that switched from direct coal firing to steam heating as late as 1994.
Drinking tip: On a warm summer’s evening in the garden
Colour: Moroccan gold
Cask: Refill hogshead
Age: 27 years
Date distilled: September 1985
Alcohol: 54.1%
USA allocation: 54 bottles
Cask No. 76.105 $155
A continuous snow-fall of curiosities
Speyside, Spey
The nose spread a smear of sweetness (Danish pastries, Victoria sponge, Wagon Wheels) textured by a continuous snow-fall of curiosities – aniseed, Kummel, grappa, sandalwood, conifers, grass, leather, raisins, pineapple and sherry – complex and intriguing. Adding water brought out the fruitiness – strawberry, pear, kiwi and tinned fruit cocktail. The palate, though big and hot, had sweet juicy fruits and a succession of mouth-watering flavours – apple skins, blackcurrant Starburst in waxed paper and egg-custard tart. The heat came from ginger, nutmeg and pepper spice, but (especially with water) this was a refreshing, smooth and enjoyable dram from the first of Dufftown’s seven stills.
Drinking tip: To get the juices flowing on a Sunday afternoon
Colour: Hay in the moonlight
Cask: Refill butt
Age: 19 years
Date distilled: May 1993
Alcohol: 59.3%
USA allocation: 120 bottles
Cask No. 77.30 $95
Attractively accessible and mouth-watering
Highland, Northern
The nose was attractively accessible, with barley sugars, cream soda, fondant sweets, shortbread and pastry with custard – other notes included fresh linen, lemon, pear sorbet, candied angelica, orange zest, flowers and felt-tip pens. Some preferred it with water – tinned fruits in syrup, lime, under-ripe mango, daffodil stems, cream horns and malted cereal. The palate was straightforward and easy-drinking, yet mouth-watering; stewed apples, pears in syrup, vanilla, pineapple tarts, caramelised sugar, hessian and cayenne pepper. The reduced palate was softer and more ‘giving’ – toffee, tablet, rice pudding, apricot jam, tropical fruits and sherbet fizz. The distillery complex includes a substantial maltings.
Drinking tip: Suited to an afternoon in springtime – aperitif perhaps
Colour: Pale yellow
Cask: Refill hogshead
Age: 9 years
Date distilled: April 2003
Alcohol: 61.9%
USA allocation: 120 bottles
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