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| Hello, that is one in all our (nearly) each day tastings. Santé! |
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March 13, 2025
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Whiskyfun’s combined baggage
A number of disguised Scottish malts
We’ll simply get pleasure from them rapidly, with out bothering to attempt to discover out the place they’re from.
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Replace: As has been recommended to us many instances since we printed this, observing clues, reminiscent of drawings representing distilleries, allowed us to depart little question about sure origins. We simply did not have the time…
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Secret Speyside 14 yo 2008/2023 (55.6%, Tri Carragh, second fill sherry hogshead, 305 bottles) 
Color: gold. Nostril: beautiful, honeyed, with a light-weight earthy and yeasty contact, biscuits, raisin rolls, and fig leaves. With water: little change, only a bit extra yeastiness and a few notes of infused tea leaves. Mouth (neat): actually good, malty, within the type of Glenfarclas, a bit thick and oily. Touches of gunpowder. With water: cherry stalk tisane and a drop of blackcurrant cream. End: pretty lengthy, barely natural. Blackcurrants, pepper, cherries in eau-de-vie, and a contact of pine needles. Feedback: a bit rustic, however I discover this actually excellent—the worst half is that it’s most likely higher than the official model of an analogous age.
SGP:551 – 84 factors. |
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Secret Speyside 13 yo 2008/2022 (52.3%, Roger’s Whisky Co., bourbon cask, cask #41, 283 bottles) 
Color: white wine. Nostril: stunning to search out gunpowder notes in an ex-bourbon cask; this should be a kind of naturally sulphury Speysiders. Past that, peach, ripe apple, banana, and croissants. With water: it swims fantastically, changing into extra floral. Mouth (neat): this feels very ‘Dufftown’. Peppery, waxy, and fruity (white fruits). With water: glorious, with the arrival of a barely saline edge. Orgeat syrup. End: pretty lengthy and even lovelier. Pear and almond tart with a drizzle of honey, and nonetheless that contact of sea breeze, considerably Highland Park-like. Feedback: glorious. Wait, Highland Park isn’t in Speyside, is it? A disgrace—it may need been attention-grabbing for the distillery’s title to seem right here. Simply saying.
SGP:551 – 86 factors. |
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Secret Speyside 15 yo 2007/2022 (51.8%, The Whisky Company for Tiffany’s New York Bar and Hong Kong Whisky Competition, hogshead, 120 bottles) 
Color: white wine. Nostril: pure cassata and contemporary panettone. An abundance of contemporary white nougat, dandelion flower confit (a responsible pleasure), and juicy sultanas. Holy Suzy! With water: I’m now pondering of small white pears. Mouth (neat): a contact of smoke, litres of lemon juice, large Timut pepper, and… a tiny cup of pu-ehr tea. With water: barely any adjustments, though the quinces begin to rise to the floor. End: lengthy and really a lot about quinces and pepper. It’s an uncommon mixture, but it surely works brilliantly. Feedback: shock, shock. I like this little Hong Kong child.
SGP:562 – 88 factors. |
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Distilled at a Speyside Distillery 15 yo 2009/2024 (54.9%, Watt Whisky, hogshead, 318 bottles)
Color: white wine. Nostril: the wealthy and barely sulphury type beforehand talked about returns, with orchard fruits and a really, very delicate earthy observe plus a touch of ham rind. No worries, it’s good. With water: wow, issues get vigorous! Leather-based and natural teas, tomato leaf, bay leaf… Mouth (neat): a wealthy, fruity, and peppery assault, with a great deal of inexperienced apples. The pepper is huge—you might nearly use it as a condiment. For instance, on Scottish smoked salmon. With water: sure, good, very lively, spicy, and peppery, with honey-coated capers. This implies enterprise. End: lengthy and wealthy. Fruit peels and paraffin, with marked pepper within the aftertaste. Feedback: really beastly, this middle-aged Speysider.
SGP:462 – 87 factors. |
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A Speyside Distillery 13 yo 2009/2023 (53.2%, Duckhammer’s for Wu Dram Clan, hogshead, cask #200929, 326 bottles)
This one is claimed to be ‘peated’. A number of ex-Seagram distilleries did peat at a while, however Benriach is probably the most well-known of them. We’ve at all times thought outcomes have been ‘common’, however let’s see… Color: pale gold. Nostril: you may certainly detect a smoky layer, paying homage to charcoal and next-morning fire ashes. For now, it feels a bit closed. With water: a lot better, with a contemporary bread observe accompanied by smoked ham and salted butter. We’re beginning to really feel hungry… Mouth (neat): a lot better than the nostril, even when it’s easy and direct. Lemon and ashes. With water: now that is good—proof that we’re edging in direction of the type of a younger Caol Ila. All it wants are crabs and oysters. Nonetheless, the ashes preserve a agency grip. End: somewhat lengthy, leaning extra in direction of pickled gherkins. Feedback: very good, however 1. we don’t know the distillery, and a couple of. it doesn’t fairly really feel like a Speyside, naturally. Maybe good for marinating salmon? Trout? Caviar?
SGP:465 – 83 factors. |
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Speyside Area 27 yo 1991/2018 (48.5%, Whisky-Fässle, hogshead)
No, this may’t be true—the place have the geese gone from the label? Let’s be clear, we love Whisky-Fässle, its whiskies, and its geese. Color: pale gold. Nostril: one phrase springs to thoughts—class. The class of ripe apples, the class of sentimental honeys (acacia), and the class of baked yellow and white fruits (peaches, apricots, quinces). It’s like a top-tier white from Pessac-Léognan, aged ten or fifteen years, no much less. Mouth: the identical impression of class, however with extra citric, rooty, and natural pressure. Ginseng, turmeric, ginger, radish, grapefruit… It tingles a bit, but it surely’s in your personal good. End: lengthy, with related notes however leaning much more in direction of salty root flavours. Maybe samphire. Feedback: it’s humorous how the palate feels so totally different from the nostril. Superb in any case—and I’ve no clue what this could possibly be, I admit.
SGP:561 – 88 factors. |
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Speyside 25 yo 1998/2023 ‘Aged Elvis Tilting #2’ (55.4%, Dramfool, bourbon barrel, cask #4406979, 246 bottles)
What-iz-dat? Maybe some enjoyable… Color: gold. Nostril: a traditional nostril, targeted on apples and chalk, with delicate hints of coconut within the background. Water ought to wake it up… With water: sure, not unhealthy—pistachios emerge, together with almond milk and a nice contact of inexperienced tea. Mouth (neat): beautiful, pretty highly effective, however fairly cask-driven, with loads of inexperienced pepper. Feels a bit like Glen Spey or Glendullan (and we love them each, love them guys!). With water: sure, it’s good—easy, traditional, malty—an excellent ‘filler’. End: pretty lengthy, extra natural, with pleasant pear notes and a few white pepper within the aftertaste. Feedback: very fairly, although I didn’t fairly get the hyperlink to Elvis—then once more, Elvis isn’t actually my factor anyway.
SGP:441 – 84 factors. |
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Replace: foolish me, the title was an anagram. However in fact. To whom this will concern, thanks!
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Secret Highland Distillery 11 yo 2012/2024 (53.3%, Acla Choice, Ski Women, refill butt, cask #62491)
Magnificent label, nearly Artwork Deco, and for as soon as it ties in with the bottler and their native environment. Color: white wine. Nostril: simply drop the whole lot. The purity of the malt shines by way of, with wax and contemporary citrus. With water: apple and quince juice. Mouth (neat): properly sure, white cherries, citron, beeswax, mirabelles… With water: it’s contemporary, it’s good. Lovely touches of gentian (additionally fairly native). End: reasonably lengthy however flawless, waxy and fruity (inexperienced, white, and yellow fruits). Feedback: how good is that this younger ‘C’! I don’t know if there’s any left, however at round €55, overlook Netflix and safe your self 3 or 6 bottles instantly. Restrict 88 factors.
SGP:651 – 87 factors. |
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Highlands 12 yo (40%, Canmore, Charles Edge London, bourbon & sherry, +/-2023)
Whoops, it definitely takes some critical co**nes to current a 12-year-old Highland malt at 40% ABV. However let’s see—in any case, the extremely praised Macallan 1938 ‘purple ribbon’ was additionally bottled at 40% (a totally garbage argument, S.). Color: gold. Nostril: it whispers, but it surely whispers somewhat properly. Ripe apples, gentle ale, liquorice, dried figs… Fairly nice. However you and I each know that it’s on the palate the place the actual take a look at lies… Mouth: properly, blow me down—it’s good, and never even remotely weak. I’m shocked. Pretty pepper, walnuts, butterscotch, roasted pecans, peanut butter… Nicely, I’ll be. End: even the end may be very first rate, well-constructed, with no flabbiness. Walnut cake and a small glass of palo cortado sherry with a contact of saline class. Feedback: the worst half is that this child at 40% comes after a number of cask-strength malts. One should now bow in respect and provide an honourable apology—properly performed, Charles Fringe of London!
SGP:562 – 85 factors. |
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The tenth would be the final one for at this time… There’ll nonetheless be a lot left to get pleasure from later…
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Secret Highland Malt 21 yo 2000/2022 (54%, Liquid Treasures, peated bourbon hogshead, cask #63, 319 bottles) 
From what I collect, it’s the hogshead that was peated, not the distillate, right? Color: gold. Nostril: nice if a bit undefined. Flint, sulphur, porridge, spent matches, an previous sea captain’s coat, spent fireworks, and extinguished ashes à la Ardmore… It’s really austere and most definitely not Ardmore. With water: an previous Zippo lighter. Mouth (neat): nonetheless these spent matches—it’s extraordinarily intense on the ‘sulphur’ entrance. It’s important to like that type of factor, particularly as this profile may be very uncommon when not from an ex-wine cask (sherry is wine, in case you hadn’t seen—ha, sorry). With water: some wax and oranges attempt to steer it again heading in the right direction, however actually, it’s a hopeless mission. End: lengthy, very sulphury. Feedback: I battle to grasp this—it should be me. There are some redeeming qualities, and we all know Liquid Treasures has delivered numerous gems over time. Actually, I’m certain they did this on function to tease us a little bit and take a look at our resilience. Nicely performed—it labored completely. Or maybe it was the Y2K bug that struck. Hugs.
SGP:363 – 70 factors. |
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