BTC12 #BlindDrams Tasting Notes

These are my tasting notes from the Blind Tasting Consortium's 12th #BlindDrams evening.

These drams were picked by Matt @thedramble

Dram 1

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

Nose: loads of maritime smoke, a little medicinal maybe - are we on Islay? Some orchard fruit - apple doughnuts? A little bit of citrus funk going on too. High ABV is tickling the nasal hairs!

Palate: sweet citrus to start, spicy and mouthcoating. Lemonade, lemon bonbons, lemon sherbets. Then the spice kicks in - a little peppery. Then the smoke comes to blanket everything. The medicinal note from the nose has gone - so maybe north Islay - Caol Ila?

Dram 2

Appearance: another pale gold dram, swirls cling as a very thin line, take an age to bead up as an inverted crown and eventually fall as slow thick legs.

Nose: similar to dram 1 but lighter - light smoke, light maritime salt and light citrus. Some creamy berry notes - raspberry / strawberry yoghurt?  Runny caramel, some almonds - marzipan? and  a little earthy filth!

Palate: thick oily arrival, a little maritime and smoke funk, a lot more citrus than the nose suggested. The high ABV tickling the taste buds - a little earth, milk chocolate and a big peppery spice. Yummy!

Dram 3

Appearance: again pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thick legs - high ABV again?

Nose: maritime smoke, citrus, tropical fruit. Earthy smoke - embers and warm earth, sour grapefruit, dried icing sugar covered pineapple. A little farmyard funk and sweet peanuts suggesting Kilchoman?

Palate: the sweet peanut note from the nose is back with a vengeance - yuck. there are some tropical fruit and citrus peel notes but this isn't as good as the first two.

Dram 4

Appearance: dark gold, almost bronze in the glass. Swirls cling as a fat line, slowly beading and falling as slow thick legs.

Nose: Sulphur, dunnage mustiness and thick fruit jam. A little orchard fruit and berry notes add a layer of complexity - stewed apples and pears, strawberries, raspberries, cherries.

Palate: thick meaty sweet arrival. Mouthcoating maple syrup, brown sugar and dark chocolate alongside BBQ steak. There's some dried fruit - raisins, figs, dates and a new leather handbag note - @Radley_London ?

Dram 5

Appearance: dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a hairline crack in the glass, beads take a while to form and fall as slow thick legs.

Nose: huge toffee notes - strawberry toffos anyone? Christmas cake mix - dried fruit, raisins, sultanas, dates, cherries, nutmeg, cinnamon, brown sugar... and on and on and on...

Palate: thick mouthcoating sweetness - maple syrup, brown sugar, hard chocolate. Some BBQ meat notes and some tropical fruit notes - pineapple , mango and a big kick of gingery spice. Lots of berry notes - strawberries, blackberries and raspberries.

The drams were:

Dram 1 was a Glenglassaugh 8yo from 2011, peated full-term rum cask - 55.2% ABV

Dram 2 was a Kilchoman 7yo from 2013, mezcal cask finish - 55.5% ABV

Dram 3 was a Lagavulin 12yo from Diageo 2019 Special Releases - 56.5% ABV.

Dram 4 was an Alistair Walker bottled 10yo Glenturret peated marsala cask finished - 57.8% ABV

Dram 5 was a Roger’s Whisky Co bottled 6yo Ben Nevis from 2015, heavily peated 1st fill sherry cask - 58.4% ABV

Not quite in the order we tried on the night!

The theme was #TheFilthAndTheFury with Matt taking us through five peated drams, but surprisingly none were from Ledaig!

More information about the Blind Tasting Consortium can be found here!