#BTC16 #BlindDrams Tasting Notes

These are my tasting notes from the Blind Tasting Consortium's 16th #BlindDrams evening.

These drams were picked by Ben @WhiskyWithMolly

Ben's theme was Beyond The Core talking about the bottles he'd progressed to after starting his whisky journey on core releases.

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: dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line form tiny beads and fall as slow thing legs,.

Nose: spicy orchard fruit: apple, pears and apricots. A bready note, a little hint of smoke and maybe some nuts? There's a load of spice here - ginger, pepper etc - yummy!

Palate: loads of spice on the palate - the ginger from the nose and some baking spices: nutmeg, cinnamon. There's some sweet honey and a little toffee. Hints of sherry or rum?

Finish: lingering ginger spice, honey and stewed pear

Dram 2

Appearance: dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, take an age to bead up and fall as slow thin legs.

Nose: nail polish remover - high ABV really prickling the nose.  Some bourbon vanilla notes, orange zest, Plain Chocolate Bounty and a hint of Strawberry Jam..

Palate: thick syrupy arrival, sweet honey, vanilla custard and a big kick of bourbon spiciness.

The Dark Chocolate Bounty from the nose is here along with the orange zest. A little drying woody note as the liquid disappears. Nice!

Finish: long spicy sweetness - honey with some herbs in it?

Dram 3

Appearance: again dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, bead up immediately and fall as slow thick legs.

Nose: drying seaweed, camp fire embers, a little heather and some earth notes. I'm temped to say an Orkney dram but it has a fruit edge which I don't associate with HP. 

Palate: Bonfire on a beach, a little heather like the nose. Getting a little strawberry jam in here alongside the peat and salinity - sherry cask maybe?

Finish: lingering sweet smoky honey.

Dram 4

Appearance: again dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thick legs.

Nose: musty dunnage warehouse notes, we're sitting atop a sherry butt here - the bung has been removed and there's smoke coming out of the hole. Christmas spices, dried fruit and a lovely strawberry jam note.

Palate: dry sweet arrival, strawberry jam, some crushed berries and a gentle spice. Sherry / Wine cask maybe? There's a dark chocolate or burnt coffee note suggesting smoke, but it's no where near as peated as 3 dots.... 

Did Molly pick the order?

Finish: lingering dry berry notes and ginger spice.

Dram 5

Appearance: again dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, take a n age to bead up and then fall as slow thin legs.

Nose: Fortnums & Masons Strawberry Jam - thick, full of fruit and lovely on a hot buttered crumpet.

This one has some interesting spice notes - a Christmas dram in November - why the hell not! there's dried fruit: figs, dates, prunes; hedgerow berries: blackberries, raspberries, strawberries; and a big kick of ginger spice. There's a dry note too with some Christmas spices - nutmeg and Cinnamon. 

Palate: PX PX PX PX - are we on the Paul John PX cask here? Honey, barley sugars and nutty toffee. The Christmassy dried fruit are here but again the dark fruit of figs, prunes and dates.

Finish: dry, spicy and sweet - lingering spiced strawberry jam - yummy.

The drams were:

Dram 1 was a Glenfarclas 12yo from the Secret Bottle Shop - 49.4% ABV

Dram 2 was a GlenAllachie 2006 14yo Single Cask #1450 (PX) - 60.3% ABV

Dram 3 was a Ledaig 2010 11yo Single Cask #2350 (Virgin Oak) - 58.5% ABV.

Dram 4 was a Benromach's Cask Strength 2008 Batch 1 - 57.9% ABV

Dram 5 was a Bunnahabhain 2014 6yo Single Cask #2946 (Canasta Butt) - 61% ABV

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