TWE SHOW 2017: Trade day, PART 1

Trade day [am] saw a flight of nine single malt vintages. But first up is a Cognac from the ‘Blogger’s breakfast’. Huge compliments to Billy for the idea and invite.

Frapin 22yo 1993/2017 TWE Single cask 43.2% WF87

• N: Smell that ‘boiled up Bois’ accompanied by Marsala wine, cough sweets and essential fruit oils.
• T: Floury cough sweets. A whisky-like mouthfeel with cherry liqueur and euthymol toothpaste. Dry and deliciously light yet never lacking presence.
• F: Toothpaste fresh with a quiet yet firm sour milky=fungal. Great length and complex finish on malty fruits, Nice biscuits and wax capacitors. A decent finishing mouthfeel with a slightly numbing power that belies its modest 43.2% strength. Fruity slightly malty bitters conclude.
• C: Massive malternative and one of the finer Cognac’s I’ve had. Around £120 [rrp].

Scores 88 points

 

Glenrothes 1997/2017 20yo TWA/TWE [360 bts] 51.3% WB90.33[14]

• N: Ideal sherry influence that displays complexity with subtlety.
• T: Waxy butterscotch and sweet biscuits lead the charge, followed up by further delights. Much head nodding.
• F: Minstrels and distinctly, [a few] Cadbury’s buttons.
• C: Scrumptious.

Scores 89 points

 

Ben Nevis 1996/2017 20yo SMoS cask #1528 [466 bts] 53.1% WB88.60[7]

• N: Dreamy creamy sherry and sweet coconut hessian. Pancake wraps with water. Works superbly at strength.
• T: A sherry cask that allows the spirit to talk.
• F: [no notes]
• C: A treat for the Nevis faithful.

Scores 88 points

 

Bowmore 1994/2017 22yo SMoS cask #100587 [224 bts] 52.8% WB91.50[2]

• N: Smokey buttery lettuce.
• T: Super full bodied, the widest of the weekend.
• F: Salty/prickly initially but water & time will knock that off.
• C: Delicious.

Scores 88 points

 

Glenrothes 1990/2017 26yo SMoS cask #35481 [151 bts] 44.5% WB0

• N: No sherry monster here.
• T: This bourbon Rothes has plenty of those raisins I often associate with its sherry casks, so that distillery character must also be from the distillate rather than sole reliance on casks – right?
• F: Perfectly pianissimo.
• C: Worth trying bourbon-cask Dalmore too, for an understanding of what’s spirit and what’s cask.

Scores 88 points

 

Littlemill 1990/2017 27yo Ob. Private Cellar Edition [btl #264/500] 51.3% WB0

• N: Refill distillate-led style with notes on light honeyed fruity putty. Irish-esque, slightly peppery.
• T/F: Consistent and slow growing complex ending. Creamy citrus & heathery dry.
• C: Super.

Scores 90 points

 

(Bushmills) Irish 1989/2017 27yo TWA & TWE 46.8% Blog

• N: Billy [rightly] describes this as fruit juice, archetypal-y Irish in style – i.e. fruity. And for me that includes putty too. Also a little added leather.
• T: Fruity putty. Soft ginger with water.
• F: Smooth sour cream,…
• C: Even more delicious than yesterday [blog].

Scores 89 points

 

Bunnahabhain 1980/2017 36yo Ob. Canasta cask finish [1200 bts] 49.5% WB89.50[2]

A rare old official vintage.

• N: Sherry, soot, and pickled onions for starters.
• T: Big sherry arrival. Quickly becomes all-sherry and with more soot.
• F: Winey.
• C: Unless you like old sherry I’d pass. For the price you’d be better off with a Glenalba, or for calibre that 1997 Glenrothes.

Scores 85 points

 

Longmorn 1967/2015 GM Distillery label 43% WB85.33[3] WF89

• C: Deliciously mature winey, smokey & sherried whisky.

Scores 89 points

 

Glen Grant 1949/2014 GM casks #2200 & 3185 40% WB91[2] OMoH11/10

• C: Love it, proper old. The headline is ‘Heart of Glass’ – that is to say it’s fragile & liable to cracking but presently holding form brilliantly.

Scores 90 points

 

 

 

Part two of the final day sees old age-statement Scotch. [Coming soon]