#BTC15 #BlindDrams Tasting Notes

 These are my tasting notes from the Blind Tasting Consortium's 15th #BlindDrams evening.

These drams were picked by John @jwbassman_

John's theme was high ABV drams so he started us off with a more gentle one a Kilkerran 12yo.

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: mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as  a hairline crack, very slowly bead up and fall as slow thin legs.

Nose: huge ABV kick (obviously), vanilla, citrus: orange zest, honey. This one has been in the glass for an hour but isn't really opening up yet.

Palate: huge fizzy lemon notes - lemon meringue pie, lemon rugby ball sweets, a little vanilla, some shortbread, icing sugar dryness and a bite of ginger spice - yummy! Lips are tingling!

Dram 2

Appearance: pale gold in the glass, swirls again clings as a hairline crack but forms beads quickly as an inverted crown. Slow thin legs.

Nose: huge tropical fruit notes, banana bread, dried pineapple in icing sugar, lemon juice. This has got single grain written all over it.

Palate: smooth buttery arrival quickly followed by a huge gingery spice ABV kick. Loving this - got to be a single grain. Tropical fruit notes - banana, pineapple, mango, coconut and a little milk chocolate. A drop of water increases the sweetness and tones down the spice a little. Long lingering finish - ginger and pineapple - YUMMY!

Dram 3

Appearance: dark gold almost bronze in the glass, swirls again cling as a hairline crack, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin legs,

Nose: we're in full on sherry bomb mode here - dunnage funk, dried fruit, a little bbq meat? Hints of dark chocolate and coffee.

Palate: sweet arrival, burnt toffee, golden syrup, sweaty trainers, tropical fruit notes: pineapple, mango, ginger. There's some milk chocolate here too. 

Dram 4

Appearance: bronze in the glass, swirls leave a thin line which beads up immediately and falls as slow thick legs.

Nose: we're on Islay here - BBQ meats, a little salt and some citrus. Red berries - strawberries, raspberries, a little dried fruit. Port or Wine cask matured?

Palate: BBQ steak with sweet but tangy BBQ sauce, some burnt coffee and honey notes, strawberry jam - sherry rather than wine? but very drying so is it wine? Yummy!

Dram 5

Appearance: another bronze dram, swirls leave a thin line which beads up quickly and falls as slow thin legs,

Nose: BBQ meat, burnt rubber, hedgerow berries - really interesting - a wine or port cask Ledaig?

Palate: wow this is really strong - highest of the night - very spicy. BBQ steam comes through - a little burnt rubber, some peanut skins. There's also the berries from the nose. This is really difficult love or hate - can't make up my mind...

The theme was #ABVWhore with John taking us through whiskies with high ABVs!

The drams were:

Dram 1 was a Glencadam 7yo from A.D. Rattray's Warehouse collection - 65.7% ABV

Dram 2 was a Glen Scotia 2012 7yo Single Cask #710 (Bottled for Robbies) - 57.3% ABV

Dram 3 was a Glenlivet 2006 14yo Single Cask #901279  from Signatory Vintage - 62.2% ABV.

Dram 4 was a Caol Ila 2009 12yo Single Cask from Chorlton - 57.7% ABV

Dram 5 was the Laphroaig Cairdeas (Feis Ile 2019) Triple Wood - 59.5% ABV

These were pretty high scores with the Laphroaig and Caol Ila taking 2nd and 3rd place in our overall scores. The Glenlivet also recorded our first 0 score - there's no accounting for taste!

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