#BTC32 #BlindDrams Tasting Notes

 These are my tasting notes from the Blind Tasting Consortium's 32nd #BlindDrams evening.

These drams were picked by Duncan @whiskytip

His theme was Whose Round Is It next, picking whiskies with beer finishes!

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: very pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, take an age to bead up forming an inverted crown and fall as slow thin legs.

Nose: sweet shop fruit drops, stewed pears, vanilla. Tropical fruit notes follow: pineapples, banana, mango and a hint of spice to come.

Palate: sweet thick arrival, honey, tropical fruit and dry icing sugar with a little mineral note. The tropical fruit is pineapple and kiwi. There's some citrus zest and a bite of ginger spice.

Finish: medium length, sweet honey and spicy ginger with a dry citrus ending.

Dram 2

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

Nose: sharp spirit forward nose: nail polish remover, icing sugar, lemon zest. A little minerality, salinity and a whole lot more sour citrus.

Palate: thick sweet arrival: golden syrup, brown sugar, icing sugar; there's a huge hit of ABV in the form of ginger spice. The minerality and salinity suggested by the nose are here, loads of sour citrus and a drying sherbet note as the liquid disappears.

Finish: short and spicy.

Dram 3

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

Nose: weird vinegar note on this one - a bourbon? Apples, pears and peached, vanilla, brown sugar, caramel, marzipan. There's a cereal note here suggesting a high grain content.

Palate: another thick sweet arrival, the weird note from the nose comes through as sour beer. It's very drying - icing sugar and almonds leaving a salted lemon note and peppery spice.

Finish: short dry and spicy - icing sugar and white pepper.

Dram 4

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

Nose: another weird one - loads of herbal and mineral notes. Tropical fruit and pine cleaning fluid - very strange. There's a sherbet note similar to drams 3. Dry and spicy.

Palate: sweet but chemically; this is another weird one - a little berry jam perhaps? Very dry and a little spice to finish - weird wine cask maybe? There's some stewed apple, lemon peel, a little peppery spice. Not good...

Finish: lingering sweetness, citrus, dry cinnamon.

Dram 5

Appearance: mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a hairline crack in the glass, small beads form and eventually fall as slow thin legs.

Nose: Nail polish remover, dark chocolate, coffee grinds and a more herbal shit... Again there's some salinity and minerality - are these all from the same distillery? A little caramel sweetness and dry icing sugar.

Palate: sweet to start - honey, brown sugar and a little toffee and then it all goes weird... sour citrus, sour cherries, coffee grounds. Its starts really nice and then goes really wrong... are we across the Atlantic again?

Finish: lingering sour citrus, salinity and pipe toilet cleaner.

The drams were:

Dram 1 was Fettercairn Warehouse 14 

Dram 2 was Benriach SMWS 12.48

Dram 3 was Glasgow 1770 2019 3yo Single Cask #18/1373

Dram 4 was Bimber Klub Edition no.3

Dram 5 was Ardmore 2008 13yo Single Cask #1900001 [MMD]

The overall scores from our 28 members were:

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