11 samples might be too much for 4 of us, but we'll do our utmost!
The whole selection as follows:
Magilligan 08-year-old peated malt 43% - both bourbon and sherry casks were used.
Nose: quite clean and smoky, sweet barley.
Taste: plain and pleasant, touch of earth and dirty bandages.
Finish: medium-long, ashes and earth, smoke and barley.
Overall: well-composed and pleasant to drink malt.
Score = 21 20 21 21, 83/100!
Glenmorangie 10 yo (2-nd generation) 40% - bottled for Italian market.
Nose: elegant, grassy, nettle at first and then roses :)
Taste: sweet honey and apples. Not very thick.
Finish: medium-long, floral and honeyed.
Overall: quite good for 10 yo standard malt!
Score = 22 20 21 21, 84/100!
Highland Park 15 yo Fire edition 45.2% - 28 000 bottles released, refill port-seasoned casks were used.
Nose: red berries and their leaves, touches of coal smoke and salt.
Taste: thick, but a bit strange. Forest fruits smoky jam with a splash of sea water in it.
Finish: fresh, mentholated with notes of smoke and cinnamon.
Overall: a bit upset, Highland Park of that age could have been better. Maybe I'm not a Port guy.
Score = 22 21 21 21, 83/100!
Highland Park 2007/2016 GM cask #15603510 - 15603515 58.8% - matured in refill bourbon barrels.
Nose: ripe pear and citrus fruits at the beginning. Then aroma fades away, but adding water does help opening more barley and vanilla sweetness.
Taste: power itself, fruits, smoke, quite mineral.
Finish: long, salty and spicy.
Overall: very nice young and fruity HP, great taste for that value.
Score = 22 22 22 22, 88/100!
Laphroaig 16 yo 1999/2016 Kingsbury cask #4144 55.0% - matured (or finished?) in rum cask, 217 bottles released.
Nose: some hospital notes at once, healing herbs, sea air and lots of tropical fruits (should be the cask).
Taste: rich, briny, with time and splash of water gets sweeter and fruitier.
Finish: long, medical, spicy and salty
Overall: very assertive Laphroaig combining typical medical and salty notes with sweet fruitiness. Peat is not so evident here.
Score = 22 22 22 22, 88/100!
Bowmore 18 yo 1996/2014 Kingsbury cask #2787 58.6% - 245 bottles released.
Nose: elegant smoke, perfumes and damp earth. Very Bowmorish :)
Taste: tad narrower than in previous Laphroaig, but tad more expressive and sharp.
Finish: long, spicy and salty.
Overall: typical Bowmore of that era, is that typical for Kingsbury to choose such typical casks?.. :)
Score = 22.5 22.5 22 22, 89/100!
Caol Ila 17 yo 1991/2008 CWC Exclusive malts cask #3900 52.7% - fresh american oak cask, 312 bottles released.
Nose: warm, gouache paint and citrus fruits, very Caolilsh :)
Taste: ashes, smoke and sea water.
Finish: salt on the lips, lemon was thrown in yesterday's bonfire.
Overall: not utterly complex, but so pleasant to drink!
Score = 22 22 22 22, 88/100!
Caol Ila 21 yo 1996/2017 Kingsbury cask #798 54.7% - 235 bottles released.
Nose: soaked apples, grass, only lightest peat, smoked fish, just delicious!
Taste: oily, smooth, well-bred and well-aged taste.
Finish: long one, smoked fishes lying in ashes.
Overall: that's a style of older Caol Ilas I adore - grassiness, fruits, delicate peat, Port Ellen isn't so much better.
Score = 22.5 22.5 22.5 22.5, 90/100!
Caol Ila 26 yo 1990/2016 MM the Syndicate's cask #8730 50.4% - 188 bottles released.
Nose: ashes, touch of fruits, apples, quite elegant.
Taste: pretty similar to the nose.
Finish: long, salty and ashy.
Overall: good Caol Ila, this one is more on apples than on citrus (noticed that in quite a few Ilas, is that age influence?).
Score = 22 22 22 22, 88/100!
Caol Ila 30 yo 1983/2014 55.1% - combination of refill American & European oak, 7638 bottles.
Nose: silky smooth smoke, some grass, rosin and soot. After a while fruits make their way on surface.
Taste: expressive, quite sharp and spicy (feel free to add water), salt, leather, ashes and kippers.
Finish: long, citrus and salt of course, touches of licorice and smoke.
Overall: great and very complex Ila, sherry casks in a batch have certainly made it richer.
Score = 23 22.5 22.5 23, 91/100!
Lagavulin 20 yo 1990/2010 MM the Syndicate's cask #4395 48.1% - decided to finish with this one, very rare Lagavulin from independent bottler, 261 bottles released.
Nose: medical and salty, but not so many seaweed as in regular ones.
Taste: big and dense, salty, touches of lemons and wet rags.
Finish: long, salty with some cough syrup staying in your mouth.
Overall: unusual Lagavulin I must say, but a very good one.
Score = 22 23 22 22, 89/100!
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