Early June 2014 Outturn Offerings 

Cask No. 93.57                                           $170 

Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of this! 

Campbeltown 

The nose was both interesting and appealing – appeal from sherry-soaked Christmas cake, honeyed apricots, balsamic-glazed pears, spun sugar, dark toffee and gorse flowers; and interesting thanks to benevolent smoke, tobacco, hessian, old sailing ships and new cars. The palate got us quite animated – cinnamon, nutmeg and iced gingerbread, molasses, toffee apples, honey-glazed ribs, salty limes, sweet sherry, prawn tempura and ‘biting a leather steering wheel’. The reduced nose – ‘Tim Burton gothic candy floss’ and ‘Sixteen men on a dead man’s chest’. The palate now gave honey, toffee and vanilla, plus wood, leather and ash (‘recently used electric chair!’). From ‘Scotland’s Glen’. 

Drinking tip: Good dram for your last request (of the evening) 

Colour: Burnished copper gold

Cask: Refill butt

Age: 21 years

Date distilled: March 1992

Alcohol: 58.3%

USA allocation: 180 bottles

 

 

Cask No. 4.188                                           $125 

A ploughman’s picnic 

Highland, Island 

A bracing start to the day with breakfast of granary toast with marmalade, caramelised apple and fresh grapefruit. Our ploughman strides past hedgerows, damp woods and gorse bushes. The flavours are exotic with a dramatic blast of ginger, cinnamon stick and orris root. Lunch delivers pork pie and Branston pickle with pretzels, and salted crisps and cashews. Sweet apple pasties and gingerbread cake. One panel member likens it to a drag race between smoke and sweetness. A rolling mouthful of heathery smoke with blackcurrant jam, cherry lozenge complete this culinary joyride of adventure.  Everybody agrees the whisky is the winner. 

Drinking tip: An embracing and invigorating hug of a dram 

Colour: Foxes whiskers

Cask: First-fill barrel

Age: 13 years

Date distilled: June 2000

Alcohol: 61.8%

USA allocation: 114 bottles

 

 

Cask No. 53.192                                        $180 

Mojitos, cigar smoke and everlasting joy 

Islay 

The nose evoked beach scenes – sea air, rock pools and a new tar road through the sand dunes; gammon was cooking on a smoky barbeque – also pineapple, coconut and lemon puff biscuits. The palate was interesting and tasty – lemon pepper pork, chalky mineral notes, good wood (pencils, cedar boxes, wood-burning oven in a bakery) and a perfect balance between sweetness and smoke. The reduced nose was a walk on the beach – sea-shells, sun-tan lotion, trees, sun coming up – heart singing with happiness…. The palate now had mint humbugs, caramel, ash, mojitos, cigar smoke and everlasting joy. From Islay’s biggest distillery. 

Drinking tip: For relaxing on the beach – or whenever you are feeling happy 

Colour: 18 carat gold

Cask: Refill hogshead

Age: 23 years

Date distilled: December 1989

Alcohol: 55.9%

USA allocation: 120 bottles

 

 

Cask No. 76.109                                        $90 

Sinfully seductive 

Speyside, Spey 

Attractive perfumes made the nose sinfully seductive; elderflowers, daffodils, white grapes, lemon and pepper, floated like pretty clouds over luscious landscapes of cereal. With water, we found it spritzy, fresh and clean; fruit salads of pineapple, strawberry, peach, pear and grape on beds of vanilla custard.  The immediate palate was deliciously sweet (iced donuts, dried fruits) with entrancing orchard flavours (Williams pear and delicate blossoms made us long for Spring), but besides that, we also encountered zesty lemon sorbet, magnificent malt, subtle wood, peppery spice and (believe it or not) salty leather. An amazing, lip-smackingly tasty dram from Dufftown’s oldest distillery. 

Drinking tip: Not very typical of the make – could be an aperitif – especially for the first picnic lunch of Spring 

Colour: Translucent buttercup

Cask: First-fill barrel

Age: 8 years

Date distilled: May 2004

Alcohol: 59.5%

USA allocation: 126 bottles

 

Cask No. G4.6                                            $150 

Ray Mear’s Digestif 

Grain 

Pre-dilution, the panellists were post supper. The nose suggested sweet treats- Battenberg cake and flapjacks smothered in Golden Syrup. Once tasted sweet transferred into cinnamon and then- liquorice, chicory, smoked meat, coal tar soap and pitchuli.  The addition of a tiny portion of water encouraged the scent of petrichor. To taste- Victorian Lemonade drunk from a plastic milk carton along with wet cardboard. One panellist suggested a wet muslin package with clove, ginger, tagine spice and dried banana. 

Drinking tip: While Foraging 

Colour: 18 Carat Gold

Cask: Refill hogshead

Age: 18 years

Date distilled: February 1988

Alcohol: 55.4%

USA allocation: 72 bottles

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