Cask No. 85.29                               $140

Best of the Med

Speyside, Lossie

Different panel members got different associations nosing this one. China Martini liqueur was one, flavoured with cinchona bark, herbs and spices. Sambuca an aniseed flavoured liqueur was another and finally Jaegertee –over proof rum, black tea sugar and spice. This carried on in the taste; mead (fermenting honey with water, fruit and spices), Krupnik from Poland and an Amontillado sherry from Andalucía. With water aromas and flavours of Torrone, better known as nougat made from honey, egg whites, vanilla, walnuts and almonds as well as a light, sweet, creamy Crema Catalana. This was like a trip around the best the Mediterranean can offer in a glass.

Drinking tip: Reading a Mediterranean cook book

Colour: Strawberry blonde

Cask: Refill hogshead

Age: 15 years

Date distilled: October 1999

Alcohol: 54.2%

USA allocation: 120 bottles

Flavour profile: Sweet, fruity & mellow

 

*PRESIDENT’S CHOICE*

Cask No. 70.12                              $100   

Heady, Zingy and Fizzy

Highland, Northern

A strong exhilarating aroma greeted the Panel and got us all very excited. It was an array of different heady aromas; sweet-smelling scented flower bouquets, poached pears in white wine, rose water as well as freshly polished new leather. Refreshing, slightly minty on the palate like a cool and green fruit salad with honeydew melon, grapes and kiwi accompanied by a glass of ice cold apple cinnamon water. With water, white chocolate covered peanuts, pecans and almonds arrived and the herbal aroma of sage rubbed between one’s fingers. Fizzy with a minty, slightly salty mouthfeel and a zingy finish of herbal iced tea.

Drinking tip: Watching the sun go down

Colour: Summer moonlight

Cask: Refill barrel

Age: 9 years

Date distilled: May 2006

Alcohol: 56.8%

USA allocation: 60 bottles

Flavour profile: Young & spritely 

 

Cask No. 4.211                               $190

Sun, Sand, Surf and Serenity

Highland, Island

This sample had personality and character and brought up evocative descriptors on the nose neat. To mention just a few; grilled pineapple and lobster salad, barbequed langoustines in garlic and herb butter, tarry ropes and like lying in warm sand with a ’salty dog’ (the animal and the cocktail). The taste did not disappoint; salty, oily and sweet like skewers of barbequed scallops wrapped in crispy pancetta on a bed of lentils. With water a teasing light perfumed smoke appeared from a distant bonfire on the beach and in the taste the sweetness mingled with the smoke of lychees stuffed with smoked salmon. 

Drinking tip: In your duffle beach bag

Colour: Sand dunes in late afternoon sun

Cask: Refill hogshead

Age: 24 years

Date distilled: May 1991

Alcohol: 52.2%

USA allocation: 90 bottles

Flavour profile: Oily & coastal

Cask No. 29.167                     $170

‘Wowf!’

Islay

The nose brimmed with peat smoke, coal cellars, Germolene, coal-tar soap, salted liquorice, toasted coconut, treacle, sea-shells and a Barber’s leather strop. The palate produced at least one ‘Wowf!’ (between a Wow and a Woof, apparently), with its kiln-smouldering peat, roasted coffee beans, figs, honey-flavoured Fisherman’s Friends, and walnuts and lavender in a coal sack – rather unusual, but good. The reduced nose was tamer – brown sugar meringues, banana chips, salted almonds, honeyed lemon and salty olives. The palate found honey cake and dry hay, but still the heavier memories of salty coal and sweet smoke weighed satisfyingly on our manna-receiving tongues.

Drinking tip: Would probably work with food – preferably a spread of tapas in the open air

Colour: Antique gold

Cask: Refill barrel

Age: 20 years

Date distilled: April 1995

Alcohol: 58.6%

USA allocation: 120 bottles

Flavour profile: Peated

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