Hanging out with an old dram

A few weeks ago @MaltMan_Mike tweeted a picture of a 57 year old sample he'd been send from Glenfarclas, we were all insanely jealous!

A few days later a DM came through asking if a few of us were possibly interested in trying a sample? What could we say?

A date was set and some #dramples of the Glenfarclas and 4 other blind tasting samples sent out.

One of these drams was a little older than the others!

Rather than the usual tweet tasting type format that we are used to he held a Google Hangout instead - this meant we had live video and sound - meaning we all got to watch each other try the drams and see & hear the reactions!

@MaltMan_Mike & @Tim_Squixl

So first up was dram #1

Nose : Apples and pears, marzipan, some spice
Palate : Sweet honey, some spice and a little banana
Finish : Short and spicy, slightly creamy
Overall : An OK dram but not great, I felt it just lacked a little something.

We all had a guess at the region, ABV, distillery and expression - Mike kept score!

This turned out to be The Gauldrons Blended Campbeltown Malt from Douglas Laing (46%)

@Whisky_Viking

Next up was another pale dram, #2

Nose : Tropical! Pineapples with vanilla - and a nice spicy element.

Palate : Lots of vanilla, more of the honey and a mild chilli spice.

Finish : The spice came through on this one and a long vanilla finish.

Overall : Definitely thought this was a grain from first nose and turned out to be right - but wasn't expecting a Japanese one!

This turned out to be The Chita Suntory Whisky (43%)

@GentlemanGrimm

Third of the evening was another pale dram #3

Nose : Another tropical nose.

Palate : Honey, some pineapple and a little spice but seemed weak and watered down. 

Finish : Orchard fruits with a little spice.

Overall : I was disappointed with this one, and even more so when a found out what it was - usually a huge fan of GM but this one just didn't do it for me, I think the low ABV let it down.

This turned out to be The Glen Moray 15yo (40%)

@GavsDrams

Fourth up was the Glenfarclas 1957 (50.3%)!

Nose : Road tar, lots of oak, sherry

Palate : Sour blueberries (in a nice way), the ABV stripped the moisture from your mouth. A little vanilla and a gingery spice. 

Finish : More of the oak, a sweet sherry note but masked again by the slightly sour note.

Overall : A nice dram, easily the oldest (57yo) and most expensive (£10k / bottle) I'd ever tried. Some interesting tasting notes from everyone but I felt it was loosing it's whisky identity and taking on too much oak - maybe it had spent to long in the cask? 

Yours truly!

The final dram of the night was one I'd supplied #5

Nose : Peat smoke but with an equally intense salty maritime note.

Palate : Loads of smoke, some salt, can tell its a young whisky.

Finish : Long lingering BBQ smoke.

Overall : A lovely dram, typical Islay but not medicinal - so that narrowed it down a little.

This one was a Creative Whisky Company Islay Single Cask (50%) which is reckoned to be a youngish Bunna!

The Whisky Viking changed hats for each dram!

A really enjoyable night tasting a great range of drams including a real special from Glenfarclas. The Hangouts aspect really made the evening - being able to talk rather the tweet to each other and see the reactions of tasting and each other comments made for a great night.

Thanks to @MaltMan_Mike for the samples and @whisky_viking @GentlemanGrimm @gavsdrams & @Tim_Squixl for making a great evening!

There was even time fro some PorkiePorkiePorkie pies afterwards!