Late April 2014 Outturn Offerings 

Cask No. 29.144                                        $175

‘You gotta love this one’

Islay

The smell made us all smile and for some there were memories of a warm sunny autumn afternoon day – peat smoke emerging from the pagoda and a fresh salty/briny breeze – standing on the pier at the distillery by ‘the beautiful hollow by the broad bay’. Freshly opened oysters, crispy seaweed and tempura prawns with a sweet chilli sauce complete the kaleidoscope of aromas. Very restrained on the palate; salty and sweet popcorn, beach barbeque with langoustines and scallops as well as crispy aromatic duck. Adding water it becomes like a comfort blanket or a long soak in the bath. Sweeter and juicy to taste like a tropical fruit salad and in the finish clean peat smoke.

Drinking tip: If in need of a comfort blanket

Colour: Pale sunshine after rain

Cask: Refill hogshead

Age: 22 years

Date distilled: October 1990

Alcohol: 51.2%

USA allocation: 180 bottles

 

 

Cask No. 9.74                                             $100

Thai Noodle Stir-fry

Speyside, Spey

The nose neat started off with a solvent note (turpentine and nail polish remover) but was very soon replaced by fresh and fruity aromas of green apples, ripe bananas, pear cider and Thai sesame noodles. Hot, peppery and a ginger spice on the initial taste followed by the bitter flavouring of tonic water and finishing with the sweetness of cooked bananas or stewed apples. With water, freshly cut flowers in a vase in a kitchen whilst a crispy beef stir-fry with lemon grass and spring onions is being prepared. The taste is now fresh and juicy like homemade ginger beer and in the finish an old fashioned Bitter Lemon.

Drinking tip: Whilst cooking a stir-fry

Colour: Macon Villages Blanc

Cask: First-fill barrel

Age: 10 years

Date distilled: June 2003

Alcohol: 62.0%

USA allocation: 120 bottles

 

 

Cask No. 71.38                                           $205

A cheese-board in a library

Speyside, Lossie

A tired bowl of fruit (including bruised apples and ripe peaches), backed by polished wood panelling, leather books and faded roses, then a scent of mild cheeses (Caboc, unripe brie, white stilton) and Melba toast. The taste reflects some of these scents: sweet, then ‘cheese on a Cream Cracker’. With water the cheese note shifts to full-fat creamy (Laughing Cow), with melon, green banana, peach skin and a hint of Badedas chestnut bath oil. Soft and sweet to taste, then faintly fizzy/peppery (Flying Saucers, spicy), with a long warming finish and a hint of banana yoghurt in the aftertaste. This distillery supplies the heart malt for Ballantine’s, so is uncommon.

Drinking tip: With cheese and grapes after informal supper

Colour: Barley sugar

Cask: Refill hogshead

Age: 27 years

Date distilled: May 1985

Alcohol: 57.0%

USA allocation: 90 bottles

 

 

 Cask No. 73.60                                           $185

Watching the Monaco Grand Prix from a roof terrace

Speyside, Deveron

Very deep aromas on the nose neat; beeswax furniture polish on a soft cloth, cedar lined Art Deco cigarette box, rosewood scented stationary, mead flavoured with spices, pastrami and always  the smell of strong espresso coffee in the background. The taste is that of walnut oil, salty almonds, and buttered sour dough but at the same time green apples, floral blossoms and a bright finish like a delightfully refreshing Pinot Grigio. With water aromas of treacle toffee, coconut fragrant sun tan lotion and ever so often the hint of burnt tyre on hot tarmac. The taste is coffee cream and walnut cupcakes, Tiramisu and honeyed mead bread with salted butter. 

Drinking tip: Spring time in Monaco or celebrating Indian Summer in Scotland

Colour: Topaz

Cask: Refill butt

Age: 24 years

Date distilled: May 1989

Alcohol: 57.0%

USA allocation: 120 bottles

 

 

Cask No. 125.67                            $130

Clean and innocent

Highland, Northern

The nose inspired sweet descriptors (meringue, barley sugars, toffee, honey, crème brûlée) and woody references (tea chests, sawdust, coconut, polished Steinway) – also leather, lemon zest, banana, apple, elderflower and vanilla – clean and innocent. With water, some perfume and tropical mix appeared. The unreduced palate had clove and nutmeg spice, sugar-coated fennel seeds and old-style wooden toys (sticky with love and sweets and chocolate and ice-cream and honey and custard)… more perfumed with water, we found orange blossom, suntan oil, guava, mango, peach and Cadbury’s creme eggs. The finish was long-lasting – like the memory of a first kiss. Made by sixteen men.

Drinking tip: This could turn a lazy Sunday into a perfect lazy Sunday

Colour: Innocent blonde

Cask: First-fill barrel

Age: 14 years

Date distilled: July 1999

Alcohol: 58.7%

USA allocation: 72 bottles

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