Cask No. 37.60                       $220        

Oranges, spices and London honey

Speyside, Spey

Eastern scents of vintage herbal teas, jasmine and Chinese five-spice were first to appear on the nose; then an old polished bookcase surfaced with light earthy notes and steady hints of orange – Jaffa Cakes and Seville orange rind. To taste there was London honey, raw brown sugar and cigarette tobacco, with green stems giving a bitter finish. With water the nose delivered lightly perfumed hand soap and Yop drinking yogurt but with a sidekick of chilli spice and red pepper. The palate offered apricot tart and a balance of citrus and sweet notes – lemon barley sugar, burnt orange, toffee and cake mix. Sweet and spicy on the finish.

Drinking tip: A half-time orange for spectators

Colour: Lunar Lander foil

Cask: Refill hogshead

Age: 29 years

April 1985

Alcohol: 52.4%

USA allocation: 120 bottles

Flavour profile: Spicy & sweet 

 

Cask No. 72.45                               $270

‘Two + Two = Five’

Speyside, Lossie

The variety of aromas is well worth exploring; rich sweet East India Sherry, peanut butter fudge, raisins, sultanas, currants but at the same time mangos, lychees and carambola as well as fennel, coriander and cinnamon. To drink neat ‘it goes down a treat’; a chocolate summer fruit pudding, waxy honeycomb, peach cranachan and spicy lemongrass tofu. A drop of water and aromas of fresh pine needles surprise before fresh oranges slices with honey and cinnamon arrived and the taste was now as smooth as silk like a banana macadamia coconut cream pie. The whole was greater than the sum of its parts.

Drinking tip: When feeling philosophical

Colour: Polished copper

Cask: Refill hogshead

Age: 32 years

Date distilled: November 1982

Alcohol: 52.2%

USA allocation: 90 bottles

Flavour profile: Sweet, fruity & mellow

 

Cask No. 36.86                               $185

A celebration of life

Speyside, Spey

Immediately bright and attractive, this sample just got better and better – soft candies, toffee, vanilla, strawberry Nesquik and flowers were joined by orange peel, lemon sherbet, coconut and pineapple, resulting in a pina colada-like celebration of life. On the palate, coconut, tobacco and pepper underlay exotic fruits (pineapple, monstera, papaya, orange peel, peach) and smooth, enticing, perfumed sweetness (vanilla panacotta, Turkish Delight, jasmine). Water refined the nose further (orange blossom, hint of mint, parma violets). On the reduced palate, darker shades developed – gingerbread, toasted coconut, light smoke – these, along with the perfumed, bitter fruit nicely balanced the unctuously sweet top-notes.

Drinking tip: Fresh and dry enough for an aperitif, but deserves to be a celebration dram – celebrating anything at all.

Colour: Autumn sunshine

Cask: Second-fill hogshead

Age: 23 years

Date distilled: October 1991

Alcohol: 51.0%

USA allocation: 90 bottles

Flavour profile: Sweet, fruity & mellow

 

Cask No. 1.189                       $175                

High on the hills with a lonely goatherd….

Speyside, Spey

Yodelay, woohoo! Maria gathered goodies for a hillside picnic with ripe tropical fruits: guava, peach and mango all melded together as rumtopf. She packed crystalline ginger, cranberries and vanilla toffee fudge with flasks of Calypso coffee and cherry punch. One panelist described the taste ‘very jammy’ with cherry ice cream. Another described it as Austrian germknödel (steamed dumplings) filled with plum or damson powidl  – either way truly scrumptious! Water teased out cinnamon buns and then juicy blackcurrant, licorice and maple syrup. Our bakery flavours became more exotic with cassia, anise, incense and hot chocolate sprinkled with paprika. Marvelous Maria!

Drinking tip: For a heart warming singalong

Colour: Yellow cats eye

Cask: Refill hogshead

Age: 21 years

Date distilled: May 1993

Alcohol: 54.3%

USA allocation: 90 bottles

Flavour profile: Spicy & sweet

 

Cask No. 4.207                               $160

Fulsome sweetness – quietly brooding peat

Highland, Island

The nose was rich, full-bodied and well-integrated – puff candy, treacle sponge, Madeira honey cake, toasted marshmallows and salted caramel – indeed the salt took some of us to a storm-lashed beach. The palate enjoyed a profitable tension between fulsome sweetness and gentle peat-smoke – Moffat toffees, malt extract, spice cupboards and vanilla, with ashtrays, salty tang and leather (horse-riding on the beach?). The reduced nose gave us old sea-chests, medicine cabinets, honey, raisins and quietly brooding peat. The palate now had Fisherman’s Friends, firework casings, salty chip-shop wrappers and a lady’s handbag. We all liked it, but some of us loved it.

Drinking tip: For a cold winter’s evening, by a fire of peats or logs.

Colour: North Berwick beach sand

Cask: Refill hogshead

Age: 19 years

Date distilled: November 1995

Alcohol: 54.6%

USA allocation: 114 bottles

Flavour profile: Oily & coastal

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