These are my tasting notes from the Blind Tasting Consortium's 6th #BlindDrams evening.
Appearance: vey pale gold in the glass, swirls create a hairline crack in the glass, takes a while to bead up and fall as slow thin legs.
Nose: an almost meaty note, brown sugar, marzipan, banana peel
Palate: sweet golden syrup arrival, ABV hits hard followed by a peppery spice. Some orchard fruit notes - stewed with custard maybe? Very moreish - looking at the bottle and thinking should I pour the rest before @MrsMaltMusings comes in asking for more?
Finish: long lingering citrus and orchard fruit, a zing left on the tongue - nice! Young strong Speysider?
Appearance: dark gold in the glass with a definite pink tinge. Swirls form beads and cling an an inverted crown before falling as slow fat legs.
Nose: typical wine red berry notes but with a hint of smoke too. Some chocolate notes and a hint of tropical fruit - dried pineapple? Highland Toffee Bars - there was a strawberry version wasn't there - this is it!
Palate: sharp but sweet arrival, very drying. Red berry notes, grape skins, black cherries. Hints of cola cubes and strawberry laces. Another high ABV dram here!
Finish: Dry vanilla oak notes, hints of red berries and a big bite of peppery spice. Nice!
Appearance: light gold in the glass, darker than 1 so 1st fill maybe? Swirls go straight into beads which fall as slow thick legs,
Nose: huge ABV hit on this one - lots of oaky vanilla, honey and tropical fruit. Mango, pineapple and a hint of banana.
Palate: very sweet arrival, honey and icing sugar. Peppery spice takes over, more of the tropical fruit and a huge drying note as the liquid disappears. Some strawberry jam (sherry cask?), cherries and milk chocolate notes - chocolate limes?
Finish: Short dry and spicy with lots of oak and a hint of strawberry jam.
Appearance: dark bronze in the glass, swirls leave a hairline crack which beads slowly and fall as slow thin legs.
Nose: A bag full of take away : fish & chips with lots of vinegar, curry, spicy kebab. Very oaky - too long in the cask? Some strawberry jam notes - but this is Fortnum & Mason not Tesco - full of fruit.
Palate: sherry bomb, Christmas a month early!
Very old, very drying and a little bite of cinnamon spice. This one has lowered the ABV a little from the previous 3, Dates, figs black cherries, stewed prunes, and a dark chocolate.
Finish: long lingering curry spice dryness.
Not for me this one.....
Appearance: pale gold, almost white wine - screams Islay! Swirls cling as a thin line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin legs.
Nose: maritime peat smoke, citrus, a little digestive biscuit and some dried pineapple. Like everyone else I'm thinking Caol Ila - but an IB rather than distillery?
Palate: thick peaty smoke, seaweed, smoked fish, some tropical fruit notes - dried pineapple, mango etc - the icing sugar sweetness is there. But I'm just not getting on with Islay at the moment and this is another no from me....
Finish: long lingering peat smoke, loads of citrus and a bit of ginger spice.
The drams were:
Dram 1 was a Kingsbarn's single cask #1510295 - 62.1% abv - £75
Dram 2 was a Glen Moray Hand Fill from cask #6002610, 2010 Marsala Cask Finish (8 mths) - 57.6% abv - £55
Dram 3 was a WhiskyBarrel bottling of a 10yo Balblair single cask #TWB1008, 1st Fill Oloroso Hogshead - 59.4% abv - £60
Dram 4 was a Tomatin Hand Fill single cask #34880, PX finish (8 years) - 53.7% abv - £145
Dram 5 was an English Whisky Single Cask Peated Exclusive - 55.2%
The theme was #AnExclusiveAffair with Chris taking us through a selection of exclusive bottlings!
More information about the Blind Tasting Consortium can be found here!
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