Was this a tasting to celebrate the return of a long missing local whisky club member, the final release of Dramfool’s McEwan Signature Collection, or the return of a small group of us from a sojourn to Scotland? Maybe a little bit of each, though the long lost member proved elusive for the tasting in their honor and we got so carried away with other whiskies that we never got around to doing any sort of tasting, formal or informal, of the final McEwan series which all got packed up as to-go pours.  Instead, we celebrated our return and shared some of the exclusive distillery bottles from Islay and Campbeltown that we brought back.

I kept my wits about me and focused my attention, insofar as I cared to take notes on things, on some of the fruitier drams that people brought.  A couple of these are distilleries I rarely try, Balmenach, BenRiach, and Macduff especially, while the others were curiosities, different than the normal fare that I grab down from the shelf to pour on any given day.

So cheers to sharing whisky with friends and onto the fruity five!

Whisky Details: Glen Grant 19 Year (2003), SMWS 9.266 “A kaleidoscope of flavour”

Nose: Fruit punch, white rabbit candies, nectarines and marzipan, slightly fruity floral white tea, a touch woody and tannic at times.

Palate: Medium-bodied, slightly creamy, herbal white tea, nectarines and white peaches, white chocolate with hints of butterscotch and caramel; woody spices grew at the end with pepper.

Finish: Medium to long with hints of fruits and plenty of white chocolate chips.

Score: 6-7 (79)

Mental Image: Dentist’s Pay Check

Narrative & Notes: Sweet and fruity, this was enjoyable, but rather one simple and a touch too sweet for my taste.  The cask played a significant role in elevating some of the sweeter elements of the malt, which left behind some of the slightly savory, malty, or salty accents that usually come through on Glen Grant— and have been aspects I loved about sibling casks from SMWS.

This was a big fruit bomb with tons of decadent white chocolate on the palate.  Certain to please those with a sweet tooth, I found it a bit much for my taste. The finish was fairly long and enjoyable, if not a touch sweet and occasionally peppery.

Whisky Details: Balmenach 21 Year (2001), Hunter Laing Cask HL19934 for Broken Barrel Club

Nose: Grassy with bright citrus and sweet orchard fruits, mellow florals from heather and white flowers, hessian, burlap sacks, and textiles.

Palate: Medium-bodied, dried fruits and honey, hessian and grass, citrus rinds with peppery dandelion leaves and honeysuckle, peppercorns, a touch chalky toward the end like unwanted Valentine’s Day candies.

Finish: Medium-length with heather, grass, and mellow citrus rind.

Score: 7 (84)

Mental Image: Memories of Chalky Valentine’s Day Candies

Narrative & Notes: I actually have a bottle of this, one that I have long meant to open, but as it was available during the tasting I took the chance to sit with a pour and find some motivation to finally open my bottle at home— or to just move on if I ffound out if the whisky was not for me. To be upfront, the cask was selected by a friend, and while I am not sure if that led me to score it more gently or harder, it's an entanglement worth mentioning.

Overall, I enjoyed the combination of fruits and mellow florals— I have been on a floral whisky kick this year and I thought the mellow white flower and honeysuckle notes elevated the experience and gave the whisky a lightness that made it incredibly easy to drink. It felt equally suited for analyzing and picking apart as mindless mellow end of day sipping.  Chalky Valentine’s Day candies are not the most appealing mental imagine for a whisky, but this was quite good— much better than those candies.

Whisky Details: BenRiach 8 Year (2013), Malting Season Second Edition

Nose: Big orchard fruits and honey, apple cider with cinnamon and clove, ginger and hints of mellow earth which slowly shifted toward dry vegetation and fallen autumn leaves.

Palate: Medium-bodied with big orchard fruits, honey and ginger, apple cider and pastry crust, hints of fresh plastic— a bit like walking into a Toys’R’Us circa the 1990s; more sweet cinnamon, clove, and peppercorns arrived ahead of dry vegetation, earth, and autumn leaves.

Finish: Medium-length with orchard fruits, drying apple skins, and dry vegetation.

Score: 6 (78)

Mental Image: Fall Fun Fest

Narrative & Notes: I love that more distilleries have opted to undertake malting barley on site in the last decade or so.  Though most of them, like BenRiach here, only malt a small portion of the barley they use. Unfortunately for fans of old-fashioned production and some of the unique flavors that can be achieved, after only 10 years, BenRiach ceased to do their annual handful of floor malting weeks in 2023. It seems like the days of these malting season releases are probably numbered, especially as there was no release in 2024 at the time of this posting.

As to the whisky, it was quite nice.  Young and a bit punchy, certainly more characterful than the typical BenRiach malt at this age, so I hope we see some older releases in the future.

Whisky Details: Macduff 15 Year (2009), SMWS 6.75 “La belle Époque”

Nose: Candy necklaces— artificial fruits and refined sugars, nectarines and oranges; more honey and macadamia nuts, shortbread cookies, pineapple and ginger preserves.

Palate: Medium-bodied, mildly creamy, fruit tea and shortbread cookies, candied macadamia nuts, pineapple and ginger preserves, dried tangerine.

Finish: Medium-length and fruity with subtle herbal tea.

Score: 7 (82)

Mental Image: Shortbread Tasting Party

Narrative & Notes: A friend picked up this bottle from an SMWS bar in Scotland and was nice enough to share it as some of us gathered again at after our return. She relayed that she knew she wanted it the bottle after the first taste, but made sure to taste a number of other whiskies before coming back to it.  We all faced the real possibility of not having enough luggage space, or weight allowance, for our bottles, so some careful curation was required!

I thought she made a great choice— while this was a touch sweet for my taste, but it featured a wonderful mix of fruit, cream, and malty pastries, all with a delicious and refreshing tropical citrusy edge to it.  The flavors were well-balanced and varied enough that each sip revealed something a little different. I thought a few drops of water helped unlock more distinctive fruits and elevate some of the creamy qualities.

Whisky Details: Blair Athol 10 Year (2013), Lady of the Glen Cask 310876

Nose: Creamy and funky like walking into an old cheese cave, old rancid butter and lactic spilt milk; fruitier over time with fruit punch candies and orange hard candies, rubber jointed in with new erasures— the kind you collect rather than use— and a touch of dry wood.

Palate: Light to medium-bodied, dried fruits and candied spices, strawberry belts, licorice, hi hing mui, white rabbit candies, slightly sour and peppery at the end.

Finish: Medium to short with dried fruits and sweet spice.

Score: 6 (77)

Mental Image: Crackseed Fruit Tasting Board

Narrative & Notes: The nose on this was outrageously funky and lactic as if someone had mislabeled a Bruichladdich. The aroma was truly the height of how wild and crazy a wine cask can be with plenty of slightly spoiled cream and rubber erasures.  Yet, as bizarre as the aroma was, the palate was fairly straightforward and typical for a young Blair Athol.  I found all of the notes from the Crackseed store, a local Chinese type of sweets store specializing in dried, candied, and salted fruits, I expected.

Overall, not a bad little dram— though the nose was a major barrier, and quite a few people at the tasting got hung up in debating whether it smelled of farts or vomit. I did not get anything quite so foul, but clearly the whisky was divisive.