Several samples arrived so why not taste them all?
The whole line-up as follows:
Chichibu Wine Wood Reserve 46% - matured in wine casks as you might guess from the name and obviously not very old.
Nose: fresh apple peels are dominating.
Taste: relatively thick, sweet and spicy.
Finish: long with some oak bitterness, but quite pleasant.
Overall: unexpectedly good for a young malt with wine cask finish.
Score = 21 22 21 21, 85/100!
Highland Park 17 yo Ice edition 53.9% - matured in 1st fill ex-bourbon casks, limited release of 30 000 (!) bottles.
Nose: at first it's quite shy, you only get some sweet lollipops, though it gets better and better with time: grassy and vanilla notes appear, touch of mint and orange, but one small lollipop is still alive. Highland Park for babies? :)
Taste: a bit watery, though tasty. Becomes grassy, herbal and woody. Oranges, pineapple and honey are there as well.
Finish: long with fruit, oak and salt accents.
Overall: I was afraid it would be worse, but actually I liked it.
Score = 22 21 22 21, 86/100!
Clynelish 13 yo 1997/2011 IM Dun Bheagan cask #4712 54.4% - single hogshead, 257 bottles released.
Nose: very powerful on apples, wax and salt. Touch of varnish.
Taste: big one, creamy and salty, tad young but that doesn't spoil it.
Finish: long, baked apples and salt dominate.
Overall: perfect mid-age Clynelish!
Score = 22 22 22 22, 88/100!
Clynelish 20 yo 1994/2015 Cadenhead 55.4% - sherry wood matured.
Nose: obvious sherry, a bit dirty. After a while wet rags and rotten rasins arrive, holy sh...t.
Taste: better than the nose, grassy and oaky.
Finish: also good, long and salty with coffee and chocolate tones.
Overall: well, that's just not my type of the nose. "I like sherry casks when they are not too much".
Score = 18 21 22 20, 81/100!
Talisker 20 yo 1982/2003 58.8% - matured in refill bourbon casks, 12 000 bottles were made.
Nose: wow, olive oil, salt, waxiness, pepper, peat and oysters. After some time beautiful pineapple layer arrives.
Taste: power itself, oily, sweet, peaty, salty and peppery, touches of earth, anise, liquorice and grass.
Finish: eternally long on pepper, wood and salt.
Overall: great Talisker indeed, everything is very well put together.
Score = 23 22 23 23, 91/100!
Talisker 25 yo (bottled 2004) 57.8% - refill sherry casks were used, 21 000 bottles released, that was nice time.
Nose: definite sherry, I'd say there are more fruits than in 20 yo, salt, cream and touch of citrus.
Taste: oily and fruity, salty and peppery.
Finish: very long on pepper, salt, oranges and wood.
Overall: also great, I'd say I liked finish more in 20 yo, though 25 yo is slighlty better in the nose and on palate.
Score = 23.5 22.5 22 23, 91/100!
Talisker 30 yo (bottled 2015) 45.8% - 3912 bottles released, in 2011 they reduced the strength to 45.8%.
Nose: very elegant, lots of fruits and vanilla, waxy notes, red oranges.
Taste: not so big as in 20 and 25 yo, though it's nice - creamy, salty and smoky.
Finish: long, fruity, tad smoky.
Overall: it is more gentle and delicate that its cask strength ancestors, the nose and finish are great, palate is a bit weak more gentle that you expect from Talisker.
Score = 23 21.5 23 22.5, 90/100!
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