Late April 2013 Outturn Offerings
A window box outside a pub
Cask No. 30.69 $145
Speyside, Spey
The nose had lots to offer – sultanas, figs, sweet tobacco, coconut oil, vanilla, pineapple, banana bread and butterscotch bumped up against leather, slate, sea salt and Fisherman’s Friends. The palate was also very attractive, with marmalade, blossom honey, golden syrup on buttered toast, crêpes with Cointreau, geraniums, beer and tobacco (‘like a window box outside a pub’ someone said). On the reduced nose, a laundry basket appeared, along with white chocolate and jellied orange sweets. The mouth-feel turned slightly fizzy and developed new flavours of biscuits, linseed oil and slippery elm. The distillery still-house looks out over the Rothes graveyard.
Drinking tip: A dram for those with a sweet tooth – and water doesn’t do much for it
Colour: Simpsons yellow Date distilled: December 1989
Cask: Refill hogshead Alcohol: 51.7%
Age: 21 years USA allocation: 102 bottles
Sweet and smoky
Cask No. 29.112 $120
Islay
A polite and somewhat reserved example of what used to be known as Islay’s most pungent malt – a mild nose-feel, then ‘fresh linen on a clothes line’ and sweet short-crust pastry (even hints of tablet), with antiseptic cream and coal smoke in the distance. The taste is sweet and very salty, with clean smoke and a floral aftertaste. Water takes us to a rock pool, then public swimming pools and foot-baths – with plastic water-wings and beach-balls bobbing in the background. The taste remains sweet and salty, with a peppery finish and ash in the aftertaste, with traces of Coal Tar soap.
Drinking tip: On a warm machair beach
Colour: Full gold Date distilled: April 1995
Cask: Refill barrel Alcohol: 61.3%
Age: 16 years USA allocation: 72 bottles
Jar Jar Binks in trouble again
Cask No. 63.27 $85
Speyside, Spey
Remarkable for its age, the nose suggested unripe green fruits, stewed rhubarb, lemon bonbons, mint, golden syrup and Werther’s butterscotch. It reminded us of grappa, tequila, pear schnapps etc. The substantial palate delivered apple sours, lime fruit pastilles and red cola – a caustic/sweet combination so juicy it had us slavering like Boss Nass berating Jar Jar Binks. The reduced nose had apples sautéed in butter and raspberry jam pips – and woody, earthy, floral notes inspired the gardeners among us. The palate now had tart toffee apples and Key lime pie – very interesting indeed. The distillery was built by James Buchanan.
Drinking tip: To accompany light gardening or an episode of Star Wars
Colour: Tutankhamen’s breastplate Date distilled: June 2006
Cask: Second-fill Sherry butt Alcohol: 62.3%
Age: 5 years USA allocation: 90 bottles
A land of sweet and spicy fragrance
Cask No. 73.47 $105
Speyside, Deveron
Our panellists found the nose attractive, though quietly assertive – beyond a freshly-painted dentist’s waiting room, was a land of sweet and spicy fragrance – ginger, nutmeg and clove, toffee, raisins and croissants, banana, orange, balsamico, cigars and cognac. Water added apple cider, fresh laundry, lemon balm and lemon barley water. The palate bestowed superb, exquisite sweetness, like heavily honeyed Lindisfarne mead, but also some lively taste impressions of salted beef, pretzels and grappa. With water, sweetness persisted, but we now discovered spearmint and lemony hot toddy with liquorice allsorts on the finish – very quaffable indeed. The distillery name means ‘big stream’.
Drinking tip: A pleasant summertime, ‘déjeuner sur l’herbe’ kind of dram
Colour: Pinot Grigio Date distilled: May 1999
Cask: Refill barrel Alcohol: 57.8%
Age: 12 years USA allocation: 90 bottles
Please visit the Scotch Malt Whisky Society of America at http://www.smwsa.com/
