- PEATED

CASK NO. 16.37
Polarizing perceptions
We were throwing the ultimate barbeque with sizzling sage sausages, pulled pork, burgers and chicken drumsticks but also fan-cier like halloumi wrapped bacon bites and baked BBQ tofu toast. There was a lot of seasoning going on as the taste was fiercely hot - wasabi and strong mustard came to mind next to spicy Texas-style barbeque sauce. After a gulp of water ashy and sooty, slightly dirty and oily smoke teased our olfactory system and on the palate cod liver oil, smoked sardines in olive oil and salty liquorice graced our palate - certainly not to everyone's taste.

 

Glenturret - 7 YEARS - 56.9%
Date distilled 25th November 2010
REGION HIGHLAND
RE-CHARRED HOGSHEAD
1 of 252 BOTTLES

- LIGHTLY PEATED

CASK NO. 108.15
Turi cutter's teatime
Amidst the smell of clean earth and turf came divine aromas that heralded a welcome break as sizzling bacon and freshly baked bread became acquainted. Warm milk bubbled in an old pan whilst toasty and malty wafts came from roasted barley and puff pastry. Fresh oranges gently warmed over a peat fire and mixed with apricot marmalade and toasted malt loaf with butter. Then after the addition of a few drops of water, elements of chestnuts, walnuts and toasted pine nuts fused in a coal fireplace full of ash and dust. Sweetness emerged as baked Alaska united with praline on a finish that also incorporated segments of baked lem-on.

 

Allt-a-Bhainne 7 YEARS 64.8%
Date distilled 1st November 2011
REGION SPEYSIDE
2ND FILL EX-BOURBON BARREL
1 of 252 BOTTLES

- OILY AND COASTAL

CASK NO. 10.168
Cuquillo black olives
The aroma neat was a bouquet of freshly made sweet and salty marshmallow popcorn, a light flintiness of crushed rocks and ateasing hint of perfumed wood smoke. On the palate neat; salt cured salmon with juniper, rosemary and lemon zest followed bya clean peppery/sweet nutmeg note in the finish. With a drop of water we imagined walking on the beach listening to the saltysea breeze rustling through marram grass on the sand dunes whilst we sucked on salt water taffy, salt liquorice pastilles, smokycandied almonds and naturally brine cured pitted Cuquillo black olives from Southern Spain.

 

Bunnahabhain - 13 YEARS - 61.8%
Date distilled 25th May 2005
REGION ISLAY
2ND FILL EX-BOURBON BARREL
1 of 205 BOTTLES

- DEEP, RICH AND DRIED FRUITS

CASK NO. 29.260
A visceral, elemental experience
The nose - syrup of figs, prunes, moist gingerbread, custard tart, Liquorice Allsorts, cigars in bodegas and boots of Spanish
leather. The palate - cough syrup, ash, burnt wood, dark honey, dried orange peel, sugary espresso dregs, poached pears with cloves and kippers soaked in PX. With water, the nose finds malt loaf, stem ginger, maple pecan pastry, muscovado, creosote,exotic pipe tobacco and burnt prawn shells. The palate now has bottled Guinness, Amarena cherries and burnt raisins in a cake -quite a dram, a visceral, elemental experience. 16 years in an American oak Oloroso butt - then into a first-fill Spanish oak Oloroso butt
 

Laphroaig - 19 YEARS  56.9%
Date distilled 25th March 1999
REGION ISLAY
1ST FILL EX-SPANISH OAK OLOROSO BUTT
1 of 507BOTTLES

- SWEET, FRUITY AND MELLOW

CASK NO. 38.24
Princes Street Gardens in summer
The nose takes you to Princes Street Gardens in the summer - grass, roses, flower beds, ice-cream vans and pastry wagons laden with donuts, Danishes and churros; also perfumed sweets (sherbet straws, blackcurrant, lemon, apple). The palate is delicious -tropical fruits (custard apple, monstera, Charentais melon), vanilla slices and dark chocolate digestive biscuits - all balanced bysubtle back-tastes of wood and clean leather. The reduced nose is even fresher, with a dominant flavour of perfumed pear. Thepalate has that je ne sais quoi of age - oak, putty, Gewurtztraminer and Hoegaarden against the marshmallow, coconut, cocoa and biscuit of luxury Rocky Road.

 

Caperdonich - 26 YEARS 51.2%
Date distilled 17th June 1992
REGION SPEYSIDE
RE FILL EX-BOURBON BARREL
1 of 270 BOTTLES