#BTC25 #BlindDrams Tasting Notes

 These are my tasting notes from the Blind Tasting Consortium's 25th #BlindDrams evening.

These drams were picked by Billy @BillyCowan

His theme was Anniversary Drams for our 25th tasting!

So as usual the other 27 of us worked our way through the 5 blind drams, sharing our thoughts and giving a score out of 5 before they were all revealed at the end.

Dram 1

Appearance: pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, beads up slowly and fall as slow thin oily legs.

Nose: sweet honey, orchard fruit: apples, pears, apricots. There's some meadow grass and a little cinnamon perhaps?

Palate: Sweet arrival, mouthcoating, honey, orchard fruit, drying icing sugar and a bite of citrus. The ABV isn't high - 43% maybe? There's a little spice at the end almost rye like.

Dram 2

Appearance: pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a very thin line, bead up very slowly and fall as slow thin legs.

Nose: more orchard fruit and honey here, some vanilla and a prickle of peppery spice, This one seems to have a bit more ABV. There's a digestive biscuit note - the caramel ones with the chocolate and a little hazelnut.

Palate: A huge jump in ABV - mid 50s easy. The ABV and oak spice makes it difficult to get anything else. Brown sugar, butterscotch and a fizzy sour sweet note.

Dram 3

Appearance: dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a hairline crack in the glass, take an age to bead up and fall as slow thin legs.

Nose: dunnage warehouse, blueberry jam sherry bomb notes - yummy! Some berries, cherries and toffee here too. A little balsamic vinegar and red wine give an acidic note.

Palate: high ABV gives a kick but this then settles down with strawberry toffos, the balsamic from the nose and a little black treacle.  There's a little salinity and a chilli spice which coats the tongue as the liquid disappears, Nice.

Dram 4

Appearance: back to pale gold with this one, Swirls cling as a hairline crack, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin legs.

Nose: a little salinity gives way to stewed orchard fruit, vanilla custard and some caramel sauce. There's a little almond, drying icing sugar and a little prickle of spice.

Palate: lovely effervescent arrival - LL Chardonnay Wine Yeast territory? A little tropical fruit, some salinity, drying icing sugar and some pepper spice. ABV has come down a bit from the last one.

Dram 5

Appearance: mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, beads up slowly and falls as slow thick legs.

Nose: gentle smoke, a hint of dunnage funk and berry jam with maybe some engine oil? Peated Sherry but is it from Mull? A little citrus zest and cardamom spice are offered after a few swirls.

Palate: thick sweet arrival, toffee, chilli spice and a gentle blanket of peat smoke. There's a little salinity, sour citrus and a little drying icing sugar as the liquid disappears.

The drams were:

Dram 1 was Girvan 25yo

Dram 2 was a Glencadam 2008 11yo Single Cask

Dram 3 was a Tobermory Virgin Oak Distillery Exclusive

Dram 4 was a Balmenach 2013 8yo Single Cask from Infrequent Flyers

Dram 5 was a Allt a' Bhainne 2011 10yo from SMWS

The overall scores from our 28 members were:

More information about the Blind Tasting Consortium and the scores for all of our tastings can be found here!