The idea of this tasting was to repeat blind session format we had on Whisky felling #10 with quite a few surprises planned in advance...
Exact bottles to be opened were known only by me, they were wrapped and hidden in other area, so absolutely no chance for the participants to spy the distilleries.
The theme was set as "journey across regions of Scotland ", main task was guessing the region, ultimate task was guessing the distillery. There were also the following hints:
1. Not a single region to be met twice.
2. Line-up done by me so there must be my influence.
3. Silent distilleries do take part.
Imperial 1997/2011 DT (Glen Karadag) 46% - finished in 30 yo Crimean madeira cask, 414 bottles released. One of the first private releases in Ukraine and start of Scyfion choice project managed by Ruslan Zamoskovnyy.
Interesting fact about Imperial distillery is that for 100 years of its existence it spent more time silent than working. The distillery was closed in 1983 (slight hint at your humble servant vintage).
Interesting fact about Imperial distillery is that for 100 years of its existence it spent more time silent than working. The distillery was closed in 1983 (slight hint at your humble servant vintage).
Nose: sweet and grassy with plenty of roasted seeds.
Taste: sweet and grassy again, quite dense despite 46% strength.
Finish: long, textured, slightly bitter though enjoyable.
Blind discussion: most guys supposed that was Lowland, though 2 of us were right calling it Speyside malt. Actually that was almost impossible to guess the distillery, you don't taste Imperial often and here we have strong influence of Madeira cask on top.
Score = 22 22 23 22, 89/100!
Littlemill 1990/2014 Maltbarn #28 50.6% - 158 bottles released, matured in a bourbon barrel.
We already tasted this malt on Whisky felling #9 and it was quite restrained. I decided to open this very bottle one week before the tasting and let it breathe for 5-10 minutes every day. The difference was tremendous.
Nose: dried bread, grapes, meadow flowers, touch of wax and citrus.
Taste: fruity and creamy.
Finish: long, fruity, tannic and resinous.
Blind discussion: opinions divided 50/50 between Speyside and Lowland, Dmytro and Alexander spotted Littlemill and that was cool. Strong recommendation for this very malt - let it breathe for some time before tasting.
Score = 23 22.5 22.5 23, 91/100!
Caroni 1974/2008 46% - 34 year-old rum from silent Caroni distillery, quite a surprise for the participants :)
Nose: diesel, shoe polish, old cars, whiffs of mint.
Taste: salt and kerosene on top of fruit basket, tobacco and mint.
Finish: long, herbal and slightly Laphroaig'y.
Blind discussion: noone was expecting such a dirty trick. The most interesting versions were "ancient blend", "ancient grain finished in wine", "non-scotch whisky". Three participants liked it (me, Max and Igor), six others weren't so happy as tasting the malts. Ruslan and Kostya who tasted their blind samples later spotted rum at once.
Score = 89/100!
Ardbeg Alligator 51.2% - bottled in 2011, the batch contains heavily charred new American oak casks (the so called alligator skin charring).
Nose: roasted barley, smoked fish, salt, licorice, oysters, just beautiful!
Taste: pepper, ginger, salt, citrus and spices.
Finish: quite long, tarry and dry. Very nice Ardbeg which is on par with Airigh Nam Beist.
Blind discussion: almost all the the participants go to south Islay, but majority of versions were Laphroaig and Lagavulin.
Score = 23 22.5 22.5 23, 91/100!
Springbank 16 yo Local Barley 54.3% - 80% ex-bourbon / 20% ex-sherry, 9000 bottles released. Tasted for quite a few times, but it seems that I write some notes only now.
Nose: salty, mineral and malty. Whiffs of smoke. Citrus fruits. Subtle earthiness and hints of industrial fumes.
Taste: oily, mineral, sharp. Sweet fruity notes mixed with brine and peat.
Finish: long one on lemons, salt and smoke.
Blind discussion: opinions divided between Talisker, Ledaig, north Highland, but Dmytro spotted Springbank and that gave him the lead in standings.
Score = 22 23 23 23, 91/100
Highland Park 1983/2003 cask #1096 56.4% - 1983 vintage Highland park (again hint at your humble servant vintage), which spent 20 years in first fill sherry cask and was bottled (OMG!) 16 years ago.
Nose: tons of sherry, heather honey, hints of peat and wood smoke, fresh mint, herbs and red berries.
Taste: just superb, rich and dense, but it doesn't feel like 56%. Sweet, fruity and smoky.
Finish: superb again, very long, the same profile as the taste shows + some oak.
Blind discussion: having some old Bunnahabhain or Highland Park at the end was rather predictable, so mostly we had these 2 options.
Score = 22 24 24 23, 93/100!
P.S. I was so excited that forgot to add few drops of water, perhaps the nose could have become even better and I would have gone for 94-95 out of 100, who knows.
P.S. I was so excited that forgot to add few drops of water, perhaps the nose could have become even better and I would have gone for 94-95 out of 100, who knows.
Conclusions:
1. We tried first bottling of Ruslan Zamoskovnyy and that was the best malt among his releases I've tasted so far.
2. We proved again that some whiskies need air (Littlemill Mba became significantly better after a week of breathing).
3. We tried one of the oldest rums available, opinions divided but that was good experience in any case.
4. Few guys placed Ardbeg Alligator on 1-st place, which proves that good single malt doesn't have to be the utterly expensive.
5. I did enjoy old sherried Highland Park I was dreaming to open :)
No comments:
Post a Comment