Dramboree 2017: Dramming table, Day 2

Following on from Day 1, here’s what i got my lips round on the second night, starting with some blends.

 

[The] Creative Whisky Co. 1993 23yo blend 54.3%

• N: Good good, rounded notes of every-which-way.
• T: Juicy potency with first-fill sherry vibes.
• F: Fruity sherry.
• C: Only the ‘new’ vibe puts me off. Otherwise, what’s not to like?

Scores 85 points

 

Grant’s NAS blend Finest Scotch 70 proof [26.3 fl oz]

• N: This is old skool Grant’s from the 70’s, and much bigger on caramel/toffee than current expressions. Different beasts of course.
• T: Same old vibe continues on caramel-malt. As a whole, moderately intact for its ilk.
• F: Fades quickly though all is well.
• C: Representative of the better end of 70’s blends, yet ultimately still relatively generic.

Scores 81 points

 

Mackenzie 20yo liqueur blended scotch GR.43c WB80[2]

• N: Old skool oily pong with old vegetal decay, all very intact and showing super intent for its age and strength.
• T: Vegetal old skool barley,… same same as the nose – intact & intent.
• F: Yet more old skool metallic caramel.
• C: An even better example than the Grant’s of an old skool blend, though the Grant’s has no prickles.

Scores 83 points

 

Haig & Haig Dimple 1940’s [US import] No abv stated

A [winning] lot from Bonhams from 10th November 2000, brought along by Angus.

• N: With a colour like ill poo [greeny-brown], things are looking rather ominous. On nosing, there’s old-dusty-dry metallic barley – somewhat intact.
• T: Really close to gone but hey, it’s always an honour to have the opportunity with these golden oldies whatever the colour or condition. Just about holds on to vague notions of minty>fruity=liquorice barley water.
• F: Fades, naturally.
• C: Not scored, but close to almost. A remnant.

Not scored

 

Haig Dimple 1930’s No abv stated

• N: Weak & frail, the elements have been too much for this ole’ timer.
• T: The same story on the palate with only glimpses of a smoky-ish malty thing in its prime.
• F: nuh
• C: Not scored, but another rung on the experience ladder.

 

White Horse ‘Fine old Scotch whisky’ Ref:#7908896 No abv stated

• N: Old tomato-ey blended vibe, a little nutty & oily with soft spice.
• T: Combination of OBE & Old & Rare with a [good] cardboard maltiness in toe.
• F: Long finish with a little hint of smoke at best.
• C: We simply loves these old WH blends. It wasn’t that long ago when you could pick these bottles up for a steal.

Scores 84 points

 

Now to the malts, tried as i found them.

 

Glenrothes 1997/2017 19yo Cadenhead Sherry butt [528 bts] 58.7% WB90.54[15]

• N: All is good with this classic Rothes and its big copper=sherried sulphury notes.
• T: Amazingly amenable for a malt in the high 50s [abv].
• F: A nice curve into bitter-sweet with a sour finish.
• C: Very decent as expected, given the consistency and quality of both Glenrothes as a distillery and Cadenhead as a bottler.

Scores 85 points

 

Longmorn 23yo [2016] Ob. 48% WB86.50[2]

• N: More refined than the Rothes. A dryish though also hugely squidgy fungal sweet malt with sweet tyres [though this could be from the previous Glenrothes of course]. Good good, either way.
• T: Dark & deep woody fruits and steeped vanilla indicate this is an old, deeply matured 23yo – not many tired refills here.
• F: The squidgy malt never gives up being, er – squidgy.
• C: Very good but not perfect. £450 for a bottle i’m told, blimey!Wouldn’t you want more perfection for that price?

Scores 87 points

 

 

Glen Moray 1976 34yo SMWS 35.52 ‘Lush, divine & exotic’ [110 bts] 52.3% WB0

• N: To-die-for fruits with clarity and intensity after a really long maturation period in a wonderful bourbon cask.
• T: Delivers as you would wish with a lovely intense all-fruit bite and some vanilla.
• F: Light dusty/fusty fruits.
• C: Clearly the best of the night so far.

Scores 88 points

 

 

Dalmore 12yo Ob. Pure Malt Scotch Whisky 70 proof WB87.33[3]

• N: Familiar 1970’s O&R character opening out unsurprisingly with dry oaky raisins. Very nice indeed if only simple beginnings.
• T: There are improvements on the palate bringing with it a most desirable dryness. Soft, subtle, gentle.
• F: Dry-soft whisky-ish whisky with lemon drops & lemonade and heathery/ppm porridge. Super finish.
• C: An unexpected surprise. Ideal 3am whisky.

Scores 87 points

 

Bowmore 1995/2016 21yo Whiskybroker cask #4 [btl# 15/183] 54.7% WB88.75[26]

• N: A sweet farmy [not too smokey] number with hints of raisins, grasses, a touch of tobacco=vegetal BO [yep], with a slight oily pong, a little garden feed and pot ale.
• T: Huge & complex arrival, even when watered down significantly. A little nutty and silky=waxy, almost slimy-waxy mouthfeel.
• F: Grassy raisin peaty=porridge.
• C: Slimy & briney it may be, and a good one at that.

Scores 86 points

 

 

Dailuaine 1984/2014 30yo SMWS 41.64 ‘Sharing caring loving dram’ [210 bts] 53.3% WB88.71[9] WF84

• N: A fusty & [bourbon] fruity putty/porridge dunnage concoction, one tha immediate evokes ‘dad noises’.
• T: The joy continues with gentle movements. Really needs water from the off for the most ‘aah’s’.
• F: Dry fruit remnants and gentle wood-spice.
• C: A spot-on session dram to share with close malt friends.

Scores 88 points

 

Macduff 18yo [2017] TBWC Batch 3 [btl#289/372] 48.6% [50cl] WB85[1]

• N: Distillate pong (Mortlach style-y).
• T: Edgy aged distillate.
• F: Vanilla edge and more of that pong with it.
• C: Good/recommended but i’m personally not so ‘bovered’.

Scores 85 points

 

 

Dufftown 1988 55.9%

• N: A touch closed but first up is a sweet soft caramel funk. [Read my notes later on in the day when it had opened out].
• T: The abv shows as do the vibrant candy/fructose fruits sugars. Responds to water really well. An amalgamated fruity~wood curve.
• F: Carries through well.
• C: This is a sample bottle taken straight from the cask at the distillery, so unfortunately this whisky will never officially bottled. Shame, because it’s excellent. So excellent in fact, I just had to have it again.

[Provisionally scores 88 points]

Dufftown, take 2.

• N: Every time I walk into a dunnage warehouse with a group of people, at least one person says ‘aah, if only they could bottle that’. Well, sometimes they do. Balblair sometimes do it too, Tomatin,… I find it’s the bourbon casks that are more synonymous with ‘that’ smell, no doubt because they are the most widely used. Add water to fully bring out those bourbon fruits.
• T: Like the nose, it translates on the palate. Water again brings out more bourbon fruits and dunnage earth/clay.
• F: Deep bourbon earthy clay.
• C: Love it! One of my desert island dram for sure. Truly comforting.

Same, scores 88 points

 

Tamdhu 23yo Cadenhead Cask selection samples 57%

Distilled in an age when [bourbon] cask weren’t predominantly used to speed up the ageing process, to super-fuel young whisky and to impart vanilla, but to store and slowly age the spirit. This age wasn’t so long ago.

• N: Oily/fatty grain in the main.
• T: Yes yes, job’s a good’un. Sugary-sweet with some fattiness.
• F: Lovely jubbly.
• C: I’d prefer a little less sugariness but these are minor/personal quibbles, it’s excellent stuff. I’m really starting to develop quite an admiration for Tamdhu malt.

Scores 87 points

 

Clynelish 1996/2017 20yo SV cask #11380 [btl #602] 46% WB86[2]

• N: Oh yeah, bring on that fatiness, candy sweets and some lactose notes.
• T: Peppery at first becoming more thirst quenching oily-sweet with fatty aniseed,… and more besides.
• F: Hums/purrs.
• C: Very good and it was cheap I hear, £50-60 – bargain.

Scores 87 points

 

Old Pulteney 2002/2016 14yo Ob. [Bottled for the Whisky Fair cask] #705 [btl #69/258] 55.8% WB86.50[10]

• N: Grainy/creamy with a little [Benromach-y] ppm/barley smoke.
• T: Spikey before opening out its hearty bourbon spread.
• F: Honey>vanilla malt.
• C: Another good’un.

Scores 86 points

 

Imperial 1979/1997 18yo G&M 40% WB89[2] WF84[no notes] WM81[5]

• N: We are all liking the old skool style with this one. There’s an easy vegetal funk with a light maltiness, leathery tar,.. All good so far.
• T: Yeah that’s nicely intact for an old distilled & old bottled malt, [20 years in the bottle already, how time flies]. Sure it’s a little watery but really only slightly. Also light malty with a little citrus. Very nice
• F: Light malty fresh.
• C: A great late arrival from John Beech.

Scores 87 points

 

Glengoyne ‘Teapot dram’ batch #5 [2016] Ob. [3138 bts] 59.6% WB88[50]

Glengoyne have stayed faithful to their core age statements [blog], but have found a reason [a story] to introduce at least one NAS into their range. This ‘Teapot Dram’ is from first-full oloroso casks, and is giving some of their more established expressions a run for their money – so i’ve heard.

• N: Delivering toffee-sherried pancakes and leathery oils at huge power.
• T:  More sherry sweetness but with a nice bitter-sweet vegetal aniseed twist.
• F: Good form.
• C: Indeed, a point higher than the standard 12yo me thinks.

Scores 85 points

 

I could have finished there with the Rosy Lee, but I was urged to try this Tennessee whiskey before retiring.

 

George Dickel 17yo [2016] Distillery Reserve Ob. [800 bts] 43.5% WB92[4]

From the Cascade Hollow Distillery in Tullahoma, I’m told this is the oldest Tennessee whiskey ever bottled [as of July 2017].

• N: Despite a modest abv level, this is full-on laminated-fungal-emulsion. A nose-kicker.
• T: Only 43.5% yet still super-charged/full of beans down the back straight. Vegetal=oily sweet with fenugreek!
• F: Bitter-sweet, the 17 years of wood impacting hugely on all the things.
• C: Wow, refreshing. I imagine that abv is what the angel’s left at natural cask strength. I wonder what the same spirit put in a refill cask for the same period or longer would have turned out like?

Scores 89 points

 

Glad i stuck around. Thanks to everyone at Dramboree