#BTC18 #BlindDrams Tasting Notes

 These are my tasting notes from the Blind Tasting Consortium's 18th #BlindDrams evening.

These drams were picked by Damian @newdramrising

Damian's theme was Dramming Through The Decades...

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 thick line, bead up and fall as slow thin legs.

Nose: lots of farmyard funk on this one, a little tropical fruit, icing sugar and some honey.

Palate: thick sweet arrival, dried pineapple and icing sugar, a little honey, there's a bite of ginger spice and some vanilla. Seems old and not so high an ABV? there is a bit of complexity here - a few more sips offering berries, thick cut orange marmalade and a hint of engine oil.

Finish: fairly short, fruit and some spice.

Dram 2

Appearance: mid gold in the glass, swirls leave a thin line on the glass, beads form and fall as slow thin legs.

Nose: orchard fruit basket: apples, pears, apricots, peaches; forest floor earth pine-y  hints and a little honey.

Palate: a little thin on arrival, loads of melon notes. There's a sweetness on the tongue and some other tropical notes - kiwi, mango, pomegranate before a nice bite of ginger spice. Very low ABV - so maybe an older dram?

Finish:  again short and straight to the point - a little citrus and  a little spice. Inoffensive?

Dram 3

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

Nose: citrus lead, grapefruit, lemon, orange and a little lime. There's some serious spice in here too - cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.

Palate: wow this has a bit of a kick - 55%+ so I'm guessing quite young. Has a lot of Bimber ex-bourbon characteristics: tropical fruit and spice, vanilla, honey.

Finish: fairly short and fiery, ginger spice and tropical fruit - obviously a young dram but very tasty.

Dram 4

Appearance: mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up slowly to form an inverted crown and fall as slow thin legs.

Nose: loads of oily, rubbery Ledaig type smoke, some bbq corn on the cob, maybe a little stewed orchard fruit and honey. Nice! The ABV is prickling my nasal hair, we could be in the high 50s here?

Palate: thick oily arrival, tropical fruit, cherries, liquorice, smoked fish. This is delish! There is a sour grapefruit note and a load of curry spice as the liquid disappears. YUMMY!

Finish: lingering curry spice, bbq meat and a little honey soaked tropical fruit.

Dram 5

Appearance: dark bronze in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, slowly bead up as an inverted crown, hold for an age and eventually fall as slow thin legs.

Nose: quite closed this one, a little cola cubes, strawberries drizzled in balsamic vinegar, wood shavings and a little mint.

Palate: thick jammy arrival, PX cask, a little smoke and salt: Campbeltown. This is yummy - loads of berries, dark chocolate and the balsamic vinegar from the nose - loads of chilli spice - Yummy!

Finish: lingering blackcurrant jam, chilli spice and a little tropical fruit - nice.

The drams were:

Dram 1 was Bladnoch's Samsara - 46.7% ABV

Dram 2 was the Aberfeldy 21yo - 40% ABV

Dram 3 was a Bimber single cask #127 - 59.5% ABV.

Dram 4 was a Talisker from 1989 - 59.3% ABV

Dram 5 was a Springbank from 2013 - 56.5% ABV

 

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