TWE Show 2019: Loose Ends, part 1/2

Nearly there! Here are seven festival ‘loose ends’ arranged by age, almost.

 

Bladnoch 10yo [2019] Ob. Celebrating 200 years 46.7% WB83.22[107] WF80[2] Ralfy90

“A raw Bladnoch” announces The Foz, before offering it up.

• C: Littlemill-esque with putty and sweet & light citrus pretty much sums it up. Nice as, affordable entry-level Lowlander.

Scores 84 points

 

Arran 21yo [2019] Ob. [9000 bts] 46% WB88.28[187] WN85 dramble89

• N/T/F: Last time I saw Mariella [Arran’s Global Brand Ambassador], she handed me Arran 18yo [WLP87]. This time, she hands me Arran’s just-released 21yo [at time of writing]. With a denser body, this Arran has maintained its faithfulness to the waxy-enveloped malted barley coupled with a riper savoury-sweet fruitiness. With a ground nuttiness, Arran’s spiciness has become significantly more consolidated with age. I consider the bourbon/sherry cask balance to be spot on.
• C: thedramble.com tells us: ‘there’s been over 1000 releases worldwide since the distillery was founded‘. Have Arran enough stock to maintain the 21yo as a core range bottling, or will we see a 25yo in a few years – or both? Either way, Arran’s stocks are maturing nicely.

Scores 88 points

 

Rosebank 21yo [2019] Ob./Speciality The Roses Edition #4 ‘Grace’ [113 bts] 52.6% WB88.75[6] TWE

As I understand it, some years ago the remaining official Rosebank stocks [15 casks], were vatted/stored into inert containers. Released annually under the ‘Roses Edition’ moniker on Valentine’s Day, each subsequent edition [seven in all], offers subtle differences in character, dependent on marriage time – much like the Thomas H Handy annual releases for example. This is the 4th, 2019 release:

• N: Fruit, beer, yeast. Distillate-forward yet also decidedly oak-stewed.
• T: Wine > beer, fizzy, yeasty.
• F: Curiously murky.
• C:  It’s a good Rosebank is all one needs to know, but don’t go spending over £4000 for a bottle.

Scores 86 points

 

We stick at 21 years

Glentauchers 1997/2019 21yo TWE cask #402 [182 bts] 54.5% WB87.50[2]

C: This ever-dependable robust spirit seems to shine as a single malt around this age. Solid!

Scores 87 points

 

add 1 [year]:

Ben Nevis 1996/2019 22yo TWE Show 2019 ‘Magic of the Cask’ Refill sherry butt #1465 [519 bts] 51.6% WB89.77[35] SW

• N: A creamy mineral profile in keeping with the Ben Nevis I know.
• T: Very agreeable creamy dark mineral notes.
• F: Light bitter waxy chocolate > caramel.
• C: Love it, but sherry? Where’s my UV pen?

Scores 89 points

 

Tomatin 30yo [2019] Ob. Batch 2 [3000 bts] 46% WB89[4]

[Photo is of Tomatin’s 2018 edition]

• C: It’s very good, but not quite as good as last year’s batch #1 [WLP88].

Scores 87 points

 

Let’s slip this ‘younger’ one in to finish

[Glengyle] Kilkerran 2004/2019 15yo Ob. Refill bourbon single cask [324 bts] 53.1% WB87.67[13] MR8/10

Has the Glengyle distillery been around for 15+ years already?! This single cask offering was released yesterday [at time of writing].

• N: Non-salted lemon seasoned oysters, soft smoky earthy toasted barley and bicarbonate of soda is all I noted, but there was plenty more going on.
• T: Very tasty salted shortbread, and sour raisins? There’s a lovely fruitiness that suggested sherry at times and an equally likeable healthy citrus freshness.
• F: With a candidness shared by Glengyle’s recent 8yo [WB], this is genuinely sweet barley juice by the end, followed by toasty phenols.
• C: Not all of Kilkerran’s 2004 vintage cask were as lovely as this. At around £85, now five times that on the secondary, this was sold out before you could sing: 

Scores 87 points

 

Part 2 is HERE

 

.

END

.