Scotch Malt Whisky Society of America “Late December 2013 Offerings” – Scotch Whisky News
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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