#BTC41 #BlindDrams Tasting Notes

These are my tasting notes and results from the Blind Tasting Consortium's 41st #BlindDrams evening.

These drams were picked by Billy @BillyCowan

His theme was Whisky To The Max

Unfortunately I was ill on the night so tried my samples a couple of days later but as usual the other 26 of the Consortium worked their way through the 5 blind drams, sharing 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 clings as a thin line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin oily legs.

Nose: sharp citrus, stewed orchard fruit and a note of spice. There's a bit hit of vanilla here, a little milk chocolate and some marzipan. A little time and air offers a little perfume, pine and a little salinity.

Palate: thick chewy arrival, immediately very astringent. There's the vanilla, citrus and marzipan from the nose alongside the perfume note. Immediately drying and spicy. The salinity is here too - there's just too much of it.

Finish: lingering sour citrus, dry spice and a little pine.

It's ex-bourbon, c55% ABV, I didn't like this, scores a 0

Dram 2

Appearance: dark gold in the glass, maybe a hint of red? Swirls clings as a thin line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin legs.

Nose: a little dunnage funk: thick cut orange marmalade, sherry soaked fruits, blueberries, a little balsamic vinegar and some toasted almonds. There's some cookie dough notes here - chocolate chip.

Palate: another thick chewy arrival, a little spice and all of the sherry notes from the nose. Again there's a little pine note here suggesting maybe a younger dram? Toffee and honey come through with a few more sips.

Finish: lingering toffee, honey and pine with some ginger spice.

Nice enough dram, thinking RF sherry c 57% ABV. Scores a 3

Dram 3

Appearance: dark gold, almost bronze in the glass. Swirls cling as a thin line, bead up immediately and fall as slow thin legs.

Nose: toffee apples, strawberries drizzled with balsamic vinegar, dates, prunes and figs. There's a little salinity here too. Rum & Raisin ice cream, glacier cherries and soft fudge.

Palate: chewing nuts, burnt treacle, dry gingery spice. This one is a little dry too. There's dried fruit, strawberry toffos and some dried pineapple.

Finish: short, dry and spicy with toffee and red berry notes.

Another lovely dram, got to be sherry finished c 48% ABV.

I score it a 3.

Dram 4

Appearance: dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line of beads which take a while to fall as slow thick legs.

Nose: Wowzah - here comes the peat smoke! Bonfire on a beach stuff here - grilled kippers dripping in butter, smoky bacon crisps, BBQ pineapple and a good helping of dried seaweed. Once you get past the smoke there's some lovely berry fruit notes & some spice

Palate: thick chewy arrival, berries and cherries, ginger spice, dried seaweed and that huge blanked of peat smoke. Immediately drying leaving a spicy tingle on the tongue. There's some burnt toffee, treacle and a little walnut.

Finish: lingering dry spice with a little more dryness and some spice to round things off!

The ABV seems a little higher on this one c60% with what I think is a sherry cask maturation.

Again nice dram, scores 3

Dram 5

Appearance: very pale gold in the glass, almost transparent. Swirls cling as a thin line, take an age to bead up, forming an inverted crown, and eventually fall as slow thin legs.

Nose: feels like were back to dram 1 here: a little new makey, pine, perfume and a big bang of citrus. There's a little salinity on this one, beach pebbles spring to mind. Some tropical fruit hints.

Palate: Gin like floral notes, spice, sour citrus and some pine. Very astringent, this is worse than Dram 1, can I score less than 0?  a few more sips over tropical fruit, caramel and a little honey but then the astringency comes back...

Finish: lingering dry spice, sour citrus and pine loo cleaner...

Assuming ex-bourbon if it's even seen a maturation cask? ABV is high c 65%.

Scores another 0 from me - sorry Billy.

The drams were:

Dram 1 was Speyside Blend from Cadenhead

Dram 2 was Auchentoshan 2011 12yo Single Cask #2563 (Virgin)

Dram 3 was Deanston 2017 7yo Single Cask (Fino)

Dram 4 was Glasgow 1770 2018 5yo Single Cask 18/1190 (Peated Madeira)

Dram 5 was Lagg 2020 3yo Single Cask #20/1154 Lagg (2F Sauternes)]

The overall scores from our 28 members were:

Bottle picture not in the correct order...

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