Late December 2013 Offerings 

Cask No. 26.89                                            $185 

An exotic tearoom experience 

Highland, Northern 

Lemon drizzle cake, dried pineapple cubes and waxiness on the nose give way to fresh ginger, gorse flowers and wood glue. Tasted neat, there was a spicy pepper heat and the waxy notes. The taste also offered peaches, vanilla pods and an apricot cake. Adding water led to notes of vanilla ice cream and toffee sauce, lemon sorbet, spiced apple tea and an indulgent orange spiced soap! The taste was warming and exotic introducing Turkish delight, old fashioned perfume (lavender) and a hint of ras el hanout spices. This cask comes from the Brora distillery, whose name means ‘sloped garden’. 

Drinking tip: A dram for after church high tea 

Colour: Polished pine                               Date distilled: November 1984

Cask: Refill Sherry butt                               Alcohol: 56.6%

Age: 27 years                                              USA allocation: 120 bottles 

Cask No. 29.142                                          $135 

Rock Pooling and beach barbeque 

Islay 

It is a warm sunny afternoon on the beach and we are rock pooling, exploring diverse marine life; starfish, anemones, crabs, limpets, small fish and seaweed – exposing a possible meal every low tide. Talking of a meal there is also aromas of lamb chops sizzling on a barbeque with a hint of rosemary and the freshness of mint sauce. The taste is ashy to start, oak smoked mackerel, cold smoked salmon and the sweetness of honey glazed ham. With water turning into sweet cured herring with a dill sauce and gravlax with a honey mustard marinade. The taste is now hickory sweet smoked fish, beer battered calamari and roasted marshmallows over an open fire – hungry yet? 

Drinking tip: Take a hint from the title

Colour: Polished copper                         Date distilled: April 1995

Cask: Refill barrel                                        Alcohol: 58.6%

Age: 18 years                                              USA allocation: 108 bottles

Cask No. 63.29                                            $160 

Charcuterie board in a carpenter’s workshop 

Speyside, Spey 

We all moved into a carpenter’s workshop with warm, deep and woody aromas of chestnut, cedar, pine, oak and cinnamon bark. At the same time wood shavings, glue, felt tip pens and a glass of freshly pressed apple juice. The taste turns the juice into Calvados, very mouth coating and moreish with a pleasant semi dry finish combined with the chewy sweetness of blackcurrant wine gums. Adding water, still plenty of aromatic wood besides tobacco and banana leafs and a quince jelly. The taste is now more oriental wood, alongside a well brewed Lapsang Souchung tea accompanied by a charcuterie board served with oatcakes. 

Drinking tip: Whilst getting things ready for hosting a party 

Colour: Polished brass                              Date distilled: December 1989

Cask: Refill barrel                                        Alcohol: 53.0%

Age: 23 years                                              USA allocation: 84 bottles

Cask No. 73.52                                            $160 

Speakeasy perkiness     

Speyside, Deveron 

The nose hinted at uniforms and boots in a wooden chest, musky perfume in a leather handbag, calvados, sherry-soaked fruit cake, molasses, syrup, crême brûlée and a distant bonfire. With water it remained fascinating and perky – perhaps fruitier (apple, pear, peach, orange) but with some bitterness, burnt notes, wood and hessian. The palate delivered a surge of sweetness and a spreading glow of warmth – marmalade, aniseed, apple pie, black coffee and traces of smoke. The reduced flavours suggested humbugs and a gangster’s moll sipping espresso in a 1920’s speakeasy. The distillery contributes to Dewar’s and sits between Keith and Buckie. 

Drinking tip: While watching favourite gangster movies 

Colour: Autumn gold                               Date distilled: May 1989

Cask: Refill Sherry butt                               Alcohol: 57.5%

Age: 23 years                                              USA allocation: 90 bottles 

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