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| Hello, that is certainly one of our (nearly) each day tastings. Santé! |
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June 9, 2022
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A Loch Lomond extravaganza in two elements, Half Two
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We’re again with extra whiskies from Loch Lomond, at all times roughly at random…
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Inchmurrin 10 yo 2008/2013 (54.1%, OB for Whisky Journey Singapore, 273 bottles) 
This one ought to be lighter. It is stated that with Inchmurrin, the distillers have been making an attempt to copy their very personal Littlemill. Color: straw-white wine. Nostril: marshmallows and custard, plus coconut balls and toffee apple. Extraordinarily light and youthful. With water: emphasis on custard and sponge fingers. Maybe just a few drops of younger pure chardonnay Champagne to match these sponge fingers. Mouth (neat): works very nicely. Kiwi juice, recent cider, lemon drops, a little bit lime juice, and a pack of various fruit bonbons. Just a little Timut pepper within the aftertaste, in addition to a little bit correct pepper. With water: will get a tad narrower and a little bit extra on recent oak and vanilla. End: medium, recent oak moderately dominant now, nevertheless it’s nonetheless very loyal and trustworthy. Feedback: you’ll suppose this stems from some form of Lomond nonetheless, actually, ala Mosstowie. Fairly good drop.
SGP:641 – 84 factors. |
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Inchmurrin 14 yo 2003/2017 (56.3%, OB for The WhiskyNerds, sherry, cask #17/169, 264 bottles) 
Large sherry right here, based on the color. Color: deep amber. Nostril: used gun, spent engine oil, plasticine, leather-based polish and new Michelins (joking), then moderately some form of stewed fruit soup, walnut wine, Maggi and miso, then brisker dried fruits, primarily figs and dates… Fairly tremendous, so long as you get pleasure from garage-y smells as a lot I do. With water: walnut cake and black nougat! Nobody’s in opposition to that, much more so since water erased these nasty whiffs of ‘a gun that was simply shot’. Mouth (neat): begins a little bit bizarre, with actually lots of plasticine this time, then we have now inexperienced oranges, bitter wines (excessive orange wine) and a wee feeling of acetic varnish. With water: wow, chocolate cake and Ethiopian mocha. End: ah, sure, gorgeous salted and peppered chocolate. Feedback: it was a little bit scary at instances because the sherry was fairly a giant fighter. It nearly blew this drop off the highway however in the long run, all the pieces labored out for the (very) greatest.
SGP:372 – 88 factors. |
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Inchmoan 12 yo 2007/2019 (54.9%, OB for The Whisky Trade, refill bourbon hogshead, cask #96, 289 bottles) 
Boy are we late this time once more… Now Angus already tried it for little WF. Color: straw. Nostril: way more uncooked and easy peat right here. Maybe a tad extra acidic than the Croftengeas? Having stated that there is a pretty porridge and a few very fairly sourdough bread. Curious… With water: vanilla yoghurt and custard bursting out! Nice enjoyable right here. Mouth (neat): some very younger Ardbeg. I imply it is extra on very younger Ardbeg than younger Ledaigs, for instance, and maybe even than younger Ardbegs. With water: it adores water. Limoncello (once more!) and dried bits of papaya. Within the again, enormous ashes, nearly a sense of licking an ashtray. End: lengthy, extraordinarily ashy, ultra-tight. Feedback: younger uncooked barely tarry and vastly ashy peat, and basta cosi. The issue is that we at all times get pleasure from this excessive fashion quite a bit.
SGP:357 – 87 factors. |
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Sure, a Croftengea, you are proper, good thought…
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Croftengea 10 yo 2009/2020 (53.5%, Les Grands Alambics, Birds Collection, 107 bottles)
Vorsicht, very small outturn. Color: white wine. Nostril: maintain on, high-ester Jamaican rum? And new rubber boots, new LP, olives, gherkins and capers? What’s this trick? Let’s dig deeper… With water: new scuba diving swimsuit, let’s assume, plus cigar ashes. Mouth (neat): wonderful, extraordinarily olive-y, almondy, peaty and salty. Find it irresistible, however one thing could have occurred – or the opposite method ‘spherical. With water: some smoked butterscotch and salted triple-sec. No, no excuses. End: lengthy, salty, nearly fats. Feedback: I will simply say ‘wow’, even when I am deeply perplexed. Was this nicely integrally Croftengea?
SGP:467 – 89 factors. |
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Croftengea 15 yo 2005/2020 (49.3%, Michiel Wigman, They Impressed)
Some form of monarch on the label, I’ve to say I favor Mandela or Sarah Vaughn. All proper, she’s Catherine the Nice of Russia, whom did she encourage?… Ach… Color: white wine. Nostril: milder, on recent dough, cigarette ashes, previous boat, hessian, dunnage, candles… Mouth: we’re reminded of the Grand Alambic, with this huge saltiness, even hints of parmesan cheese (Max at Whisky Vintage is a professional), mezcal, olives, lime, and… Ardbeg. Suppose one of the best batch of ‘Supernova’. End: lengthy, salty, tight, lemony, with a really ashy aftertaste. Feedback: not too certain about Catherine the Nice, however I am lifeless constructive this wee Croftengea is simply wonderful.
SGP:467 – 88 factors. |
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Croftengea 11 yo 2010/2021 (57.1%, Golden Cask, cask #CM274, 280 bottles)
In principle… Color: white wine. Nostril: sure to smoked porridge, to lime juice, to almondy butterscotch and to pistachio nougat. Extraordinary notes of smoked olives too, one thing uncommon that I simply adore. I’ve this sense… With water: wow. Some mushy vanilla, popcorn and nougat are rounding all this off, including some extra-dimension. Very good nostril. Mouth (neat): distinctive mixture with lemon, anchovy in brine, olives, lamp oil, ashes and pad Thai. Certainly, chilli chiming in, even when it is not fairly some ‘XXX-end-of-the world’ form of atomic-grade chilli. With water: moderately drier, nonetheless salty, very ashy. Water made it easier. End: lengthy, stuffed with ashes. A wee contact of menthol, maybe, and the anticipated drops of olive brine. The chilli’s again within the aftertaste. Feedback: I might say this golden cask was of platinum high quality, regardless of the marginally roughish end.
SGP:367 – 87 factors. |
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Good, maybe an Inchmurrin…
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Inchmurrin 1996/2020 (49.7%, Malts of Scotland for Whisky Hort and Flickenschild, cask #MoS20022, Marsala hogshead end, 105 bottles) 
One other micro-bottling, however we have now all religion on this wonderful German bottler – and in Marsala. Color: amber. Nostril: the Italian facet or Marsala appears to have taken over, with even notes of amaretto and maraschino, however I’ve so as to add that these almonds and cherries simply work. Cherries are about almonds anyway (we’ll clarify later). Behind all that, numerous yeasty and spongey muffins. Mouth: caramel ice cream, fudge, additionally previous musty barrel, mushrooms, some tacky sourness and, nicely, just a few previous wine wooden. Not completely certain anymore… End: moderately lengthy however rugous, bitter, even mustier, with two tons of inexperienced walnuts, together with their husk. Feedback: robust man. I might suppose it was ultra-dry, fino-type Marsala. Preferred the nostril moderately quite a bit however I had some bother with the palate. Loopy finishings…
SGP:462 – 78 factors. |
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Inchmurrin 23 yo 1997/2020 (48.5%, Liquid Treasures, bourbon barrel, 115 bottles)
Color: straw. Nostril: superior. Tiny herbs, wormwood, dill, touches of steel (pennies), angelica, the smoke of a cigarette, a curious feeling of artisanal cachaça, recent almonds, damson spirit… It is actually moderately uncommon, in a great way. Pretty certainly. Mouth: some fruit salad that may have concerned just a few fruits about to begin to start to rot, plus a salty tang, some chalkiness, plus a peatiness that sends you straight to Kildalton. End: moderately lengthy and actually very salty. Both they’ve added seawater, or they’ve rolled the barrel within the ocean. Or do some molecules merely set off your tastebuds and generate this enormous saltiness? Feedback: unimaginable, uncommon drop. However ought to Inchmurrin actually be this peaty?
SGP:365 – 88 factors. |
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Loch Lomond ‘Single Grain Peated’ (46%, OB, +/-2021)
Floral and smoky, does it say. Apparently, that is peated malted barley from a Coffey nonetheless. For crying out loud! Which reminds us that what defines ‘grain whisky’ just isn’t the grain, it is the best way of distilling it. I might add that we have heard ‘issues’ about this expression… Color: white wine. Nostril: enormous chlorine at first, municipal swimming pool (can’t not consider Mr Bean), then increasingly more fats and oil, ham fats, paraffin, suet… It could then by no means cease getting simpler and extra lemony, coastal, and easily Ardbeggian. I am critical. Mouth: have been all of the plates disengaged? By no means would I’ve stated this was grain whisky, it’s as fats as any malt, very salty as soon as extra, with lots of iodine and… Ardbeg. Questioning in the event that they could not replicate simply any new make… End: very spectacular, lengthy, extra medicinal, with an exquisite tarry and salty tightness. Feedback: unimaginable younger grain whisky. I might have by no means imagined… This one could be a star at any blind tastings. Extraordinarily impressed, as soon as extra.
SGP:467 – 87 factors. |
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Croftengea 10 yo 2006/2016 (53.8%, Single Cask Assortment, bourbon, cask 496, 301 bottles)
Color: straw. Nostril: a little bit sizzling, maybe a notch feinty, with mashed potatoes, carrots and turnips, barely metallic, with some clay, damp earth, brussels sprouts… I might say this child might have to return to its senses, water ought to assist. With water: not too certain, some inky porridge? Stewed parsnips and salsify? Lots of enjoyable although. Mouth (neat): instantly wonderful, with this sense of ashy, smoky lemons that is actually not a primary. Some bitterer, vegetal notes too, very good. With water: the rooty greens are again, which I discover superior. Nice soup. End: lengthy, with extra smokiness. Feedback: this one whisky is superb in your “5 a day”. We used to joke with that twenty years in the past, we might have these previous jokes once more.
SGP:365 – 85 factors. |
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Inchmurrin 14 yo 2003/2017 ‘Order’ (53.3%, OB for The WhiskyNerds, cask #17/168, 174 bottles)
Order? Do they realise that little Whiskyfun is a French web site (even when the server’s situated in Switzerland)? Color: white wine. Nostril: a gentler Inchmurrin, extra on custard, croissants (we instructed you we have been French), crystallised quinces, dried papayas, a little bit ginger liqueur… Did we, certainly, discover an Inchmurrin that is obtained the specs of Inchmurrin? With water: chalk and porridge, recent baguette (S., please) and new guide, with just a few whiffs of mango. Mouth (neat): extraordinarily candy, candied, on toffee apples and lemon curd. Very a lot targeted and, for instance it, limoncello-y. With water: no additional developments. Maybe lime. End: medium, a tad doughy and metallic. Feedback: superb, simply not completely extraordinary – as at all times, solely a private impression.
SGP:551 – 83 factors. |
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The place are we? Do we are saying two extra, earlier than we name this a tasting session?
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Croftengea 15 yo 2006/2021 (53.2%, The Whisky Path, Silhouettes, hogshead, 342 bottles)
Color: straw. Nostril: this child may be a little bit extra Laphroaiggesque than Ardbeggian, which you possibly can translate as ‘extra medicinal, much less tarry’. Brine, seawater, cough drugs, some toasted cake and, wait, maybe, tiny whiffs of snails baked in butter and garlic. Which, by the way, is certainly one of Angus’s catnips. Angus’s birthday is on… Oh neglect. With water: plaster, ashes, new journal, roots… Mouth (neat): proper, simply wonderful, if a notch elementary. Plain rubber, salt, lemon, brine, grapefruits, samphires, oysters. Lastly, oysters! With water: mattress of roses, with extra syrups, popcorn and salted peanut butter. End: lengthy, with just a few oak tannins flying round. No issues. Saltier aftertaste. Feedback: impeccable. They have been benchmarking some distilleries, for certain, and did an ideal job.
SGP:466 – 87 factors. |
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Our final one, this, for and form of from Ukraine!
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Inchfad ‘Gunpowder UA’ (46%, Ukrainian Whisky Followers Affiliation Kyiv, 435 bottles, 2022) 
We had tried an outstanding Blair Athol for Ukraine on April 28, that is the opposite bottling, named ‘Gunpowder UA’ as a substitute of ‘Resistance UA’. Certainly, this Inchfad was bottled to help the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Whisky for weapons, that is an odd and difficult feeling however we most likely have to push ourselves past our pure boundaries right here, some causes are merely simply and bear no tepid wishy-washy emotions. So, sure, go Ukraine!!! Color: whiter than white. Nearly. Nostril: you can’t make a whisky that is nearer to the distillate than this. Rubber boots, pear and cherry juices, olive brine, lamp oil, tinned sardines and mackerels, pencil lead, mezcal and tincture of iodine. In fact, it’s a fantastic spirit. Mouth: proof that very younger distillate-led whiskies could be gorgeous. Let me first swear that I am not pushing all this, however I am unsure I’ve ever discovered a really younger un-oak-doped malt whisky that was as sensible as this. And, to present you an thought, as pear-and-mezcaly. I am critical. End: distinctive olives, smoked bread dough, and lemon cake, plus… Caol Ila this time. Completely blazing, for a moderately very long time. Feedback: I do certify that I’ve assessed this spirit whatever the trigger it’s supporting. Signed: Serge, who’s super-glad he is purchased a bottle, which will probably be empty earlier than the tip of the month of June. Definitely a success with oysters, smoked salmon and caviar.
SGP:567 – 90 factors. |
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Good, sadly no Craiglodge however a truth: I have been underestimating Loch Lomond for too lengthy. And stand quick, Ukraine!
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By the best way, we have nonetheless obtained an excellent bucnh of Loch Lomonds to strive. Developing quickly…
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