Rating 3/ 10
Glenallachie 9 Year Malt Lover #1 50.7%
Nose: Baking soda, mild pickling juice, old lady perfume.
Palate: Light oats, sour milk.
Rating: 3 / 10
Category: Single Malt
Rating 2/ 10
Glenallachie 2014 7 Year #54-57 First Fill Madeira 46% for Wilson & Morgan
Nose: Golden raisins, dandelions, bee pollen, peach gummies.
Palate: Lead pencil, dirty wood, peach gummies, slight taste of mushrooms
Rating: 2 / 10 – such discordance.
Rating 4/ 10
Springbank 2012 12 year Cask Strength Batch 5 54.6%
Nose: Golden raisins, grape must, quite sweet, large wet hay bundles after sitting under a tarp all winter, hazelnut, bark mulch.
Palate: Sulfur… and whatever ryan writes. I’m out. Dry on the finish, just not as much as in batch 2. Marsala, endive, oak.
Rating: Shane (2) Ryan (4) / 10 – well that was a disappointment. I’m sure it’s lovely for those of your who are immune to the devils taint, but mercy me. No thanks.
Rating 3/ 10
Springbank 2013 12 year Cask Strength Batch 6 53.1%
Nose: Raisins, dates, apricots and peaches, potting soil, champagne vinegar, hot tarmac, starting to resemble the classic profile.
Palate: Sulfur again, shane taps out. scotch tape, bit more of that classic Springbank profile here unlike in previous batches. Menthol, white pepper.
Rating: Shane (3) Ryan (5) / 10 – The first batch of 12 year cask strength that seemingly starts to embody that core Springbank DNA.
Rating 3/ 10
Ardbeg Fon Fhoid NFT 45.1%
Nose: Gummy bears, cherry cake topper, beeswax, artichoke hearts, touch of vanilla
Palate: Damp cigarette stubbed out in beer leftovers. a big dry white wine: astringent and yet sweet. Grape skins and seeds. Young vinaigrette with a highly acidic content. hint of floral soap
Rating: 3 / 10 – ouch this is not my favorite. Harsh, the peat deep into the cigarette spectrum. Tried it a second night just in case, and it was even worse. For such a price it’s almost as if they didn’t expect anyone to open it. Shame on them
Rating 1/ 10
Glenallachie 10 Year 1991 Sherry Cask Cask #01/108 46% For Usquebaugh Society Netherlands
Nose: Nutmeg, touch of the wet ski boot, sulfur, bottom shelf milk chocolate – more yoo-hoo chocolate drink than Tony’s Chocolonely, and a weird smokeyness that is probably peat but isn’t wonderful?!? Something pretty herbal.
Palate: Ash tray, glazed burnt ham on the verge of going bad, menthol vapor rubs.
Rating: 1 / 10 – I could rub this shit on my chest if I runs out of vicks. But then I would smell like a crotchety old lady. Sadly the Usquebach society was not having a good day when they picked this. Maybe they this harkens to Genever and made them feel at home?
Rating 3/ 10
Macduff 12 Year Sherry Cask 46% for The Private Cask
Nose: Hazelnut, musk, dijon cracked black pepper steak leftovers in a pan, dark fruit of the fig persuasion?
Palate: Young and hot and rough sherry.
Rating: 3 / 10 – bugh…
Rating 3/ 10
Bruichladdich Laddie Origins Feis Ile 2021 7 Year 56.3%
Nose: Cinnamon raisin oatmeal cookie, touch of peat, deep wood
Palate: Palate is tiptoeing on the very edge of the sulfur spectrum. or maybe Wine tannins. Something bitter that isn’t my vibe tight. Stale coffee. Touch moldy vibe. Chalky taste on the finish
Rating: 3 / 10 – smells nice but yuck
Rating 3/ 10
Glenallachie 1985 40%
Nose: Holy bananas, banana bread, freeze dried bananas. Walnuts, baking powder, honeysuckle. Okay you may all hate me, but I can’t unsmell it even after setting it down. Wet pampers.
Palate: Boring. This water has some nice mineral elements, kinda tastes like water used to clean the still. And tastes a touch like cardboard. Shane “wonders” if it tastes like wet pampers, but can neither confirm nor deny that. Subtle coffee and fruits on the finish.
Rating: 2 (Shane) 3 (Ryan) / 10 – meh is being generous. I think time has done it in.
Rating 3/ 10
Littlemill 26 Year 1988/2015 Sherry Butt 52.2% for Hart Brothers
Nose: Smells like an old person’s home. boiled down apple sauce, old 70s carpeting (still in use 50 years later), mothballs, graham crackers, old wood. Maduro cigar wrapper and leather.
Palate: Sour underripe berries. Mom rarely adds much sugar when making sorbet. Awesome when you nail the timing on the fruit, but a tough mouthful if you jump the gun. The taste and mouthfeel of spinach. Watered down peach black tea. The bitterness of grapefruit peel.
Rating: 3 / 10 – I’m starting to wonder if my palate and the hart brothers just don’t match. This is so well rated by so many people. I don’t get it. This is kind of yuck.
Rating 5/ 10
Glenfarclas 25 year 1951/1977 Queen’s Jubilee 70 Proof (40%)
Nose: Pilsner fizzle, capers, cedar, pickle brine, tomato leaves
Palate: Hint of wine/sulfur, pickle. bergamot, lightly bitter
Rating: 5 / 10 – surprised by the depth of character
Rating 6/ 10
The Singleton of Auchroisk 1981/1992 43%
Nose: Fresh coconut, pears, lemon pith, ginger
Palate: Boiled sweets, orange marmalade, hints of milk chocolate and leather, very rounded and soft on the palate
Rating: 6 / 10 – clearly a well blended older sherry style. Mature and mellow. 8 years in bourbon / 2 in sherry?
Rating 7/ 10
Glenlivet 1943 / 1988 45 Year 70 proof for Gordon McPhail
Nose: Dried bananas, gorse, bacon, camp smoke.
Palate: Peat, cigarette smoke, fresh cherries, metallic, vanilla
Rating: 7 / 10 – fun fact: speyside used peat during WW2 because they were not allowed to use wood.
Rating 4/ 10
Glenallachie 2011 9 Year Port Pipe #7858 59.1% Franconian Edition 2021 Germany
Nose: Sugar frosting, grape jolly rancher
Palate: Strong bazooka joes grape gum, mild sulfur note.
Rating: 4 / 10 – meh
Rating 5/ 10
Glenallachie 2008 12 Year Sherry Casks #30900793 55.2% For Duncan Taylor Dimensions
Nose: Buttery, vanilla, white tea.
Palate: Cabinet spices, redvines, rooibos, orange peel, slightly sour bourbon cask note.
Rating: 5 / 10