Cask No. 27.107                                      $145

To the Manor born

Campbeltown

Thick, old fashioned vanilla ice cream, with tinned peaches, then a complex of polished leather (an antique desk, a sea chest, a worn leather chair, a vintage car), but also sherry trifle and creamy yoghurt, amber beads and rich fruit cake. Rich and sweet to taste, then tannic-dry with bitter chocolate and salt crystals; sandalwood. Water sweetens the nose to treacle toffee and sticky toffee pudding, hazelnut and almond praline – rich and complex. The taste is rich, sweet and very fruity; elegant, with dark chocolate and treacle, and Macademia nuts in the aftertaste.

Drinking tip: Digestif after Sunday lunch

Colour: Teak oil, with scarlet lights

Cask: Refill gorda

Age: 16 years

Date distilled: May 1998

Alcohol: 56.0%

USA allocation: 180 bottles 

Cask No. 3.217                              $145

A Delicatessen Shopping Basket

Islay

This had all the makings of a great feast of prosciutto ham, sundried tomatoes, roasted fish skins, sushi and brown sauce. A leather jacket stuffed into a canvas bag and a pouch of pipe tobacco. A damp forest with recently burnt heather and a shale beach. Much discussion ensued on the topic of ham – honey glazed or German peppered? They were all in agreement that it had delicious foodie characteristics in a warm plastic box. Lavender lip balm and orange peel were detectable above the blast of tar, sea spray, incense sticks and wet hessian rope.

Drinking tip: Drink neat or only a splash of water

Colour: A foxes brush

Cask: Refill butt

Age: 16 years

Date distilled: September 1997

Alcohol: 55.6%

USA allocation: 180 bottles 

 

Cask No. 35.101                            $330

‘Oh How Joyfully’

Speyside, Lossie

A gentle and soft aroma to start, almost shy, but it heightened our expectations of what was to come. Making baked apples with brown sugar, cinnamon, chopped pecans, currants, raisins and sultanas as well as anise-flavoured cookies, a smell of pine needles and wood sap from a fresh cut fir tree – happy childhood memories of the night before Christmas. It is a waxy, oily, honey mouth coating texture with flavours of sandalwood, resin and exotic spices. With water there is a hint of wood smoke followed by candied orange and lemon peel, dried fruits and cardamom. Now on the taste a pleasant light woodiness combined with fragrant spices and fresh mint – this makes a great Advent dram.

Drinking tip: Whilst wrapping Christmas presents or decorating the tree

Colour: Resonant sunset over the sea

Cask: Refill hogshead

Age: 39 years

Date distilled: February 1974

Alcohol: 46.2%

USA allocation: 78 bottles

 

Cask No. 39.95                              $100

Caressing, warm and friendly

Speyside, Lossie

The nose, fresh and attractively youthful, tumbled aromatic antics of vanilla, gorse flowers, sandalwood, scented candles and melon, plus plentiful sweet suggestions  (stroop waffles, toffee ice-cream, lemon puffs, Edinburgh Rock, white chocolate). The palate also provided intense sweetness in the form of butterscotch, brown sugar, toasted marshmallows and custard creams; but we also found marmalade and black tea bitterness, white pepper, orange blossoms and ‘licking a new stave’. Still refreshing, the reduced nose conveyed pot-pourri, icing sugar, nougat and pancakes with lemon and honey. The palate now seduced us with its caressing sweetness and friendly warmth. From the east Elgin emporium.

Drinking tip: On a camping holiday, even when the sun don’t shine – this will provide warmth and smiling contentment

Colour: Pale buttercup

Cask: Refill barrel

Age: 9 years

Date distilled: May 2004

Alcohol: 61.2%

USA allocation: 120 bottles

Cask No. 112.7                              $130

Youthful vigour in a barrel prison

Highland, Western

The nose had sweetness (butterscotch, honey, syrup) but that was held fast by a barrel stave prison of woody, spicy aromas – clove, hot cross buns, glossy magazines, charred and toasted oak and vanilla. It seemed creamier and more perfumed with water – beeswax, linseed oil, hazelnut and Yankee candles. The palate had a youthful vigour involving gooseberry, pea-pods, green olives, grass, greenhouses and glue – but also carried silky textures, marshmallow and toffee bonbon sweetness and interesting citrus. In reduction, we tasted apple skins, cream soda and pot-pourri – light but pleasantly refreshing stuff to delight Captain Haddock (Tintin) whose favourite dram this is.

Drinking tip: Fairly easy-drinking, anytime whisky – but would go well with Tintin comics or movies

Colour: Golden syrup

Cask: Refill barrel

Age: 13 years

Date distilled: September 2000

Alcohol: 58.5%

USA allocation: 150 bottles

 

Cask No. G1.12                    $135

Mouth-puckering citrus and pleasant sweetness

Grain

The nose seemed delicate, yet also lively – gardens after rain, honey, vanilla, waffles, pepper and pine – but mainly fruit (melon, tangerine, grapefruit, strawberry, lemon, lime). The neat palate combined mouth-puckering citrus with pleasant sweetness (crème anglaise, honey nut cornflakes, lemon puffs) to balance; then leather, cocoa and dry woody spices (clove, cinnamon, nutmeg) on the finish. The reduced nose was a joy – lemon-scented candles, lemon drizzle cake, orange barley water, orange blossom and subtle shades of liquorice, cumin and tarragon. The palate now had lemon sherbet, lime zest and French fancies, with pencil shavings, gingerbread and star anise in the after-taste.

Drinking tip: A summery dram, perfect for a pre-barbeque dram in the garden to get the juices flowing

Colour: Apricot blush gold

Cask: Refill hogshead

Age: 23 years

Date distilled: December 1990

Alcohol: 60.3%

USA allocation: 72 bottles

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