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Dwelling
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| Hello, that is certainly one of our (nearly) day by day tastings. Santé! |
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June 20, 2025
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One other little bag of unknown malts and typically incongruous blends
We actually take pleasure in these barely off-the-wall periods, you by no means fairly know what to anticipate… Particularly the primary one, which already had us in stitches given its identify…
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Dewar’s 8 yo ‘French Cask Clean’ (40%, OB, blended Scotch, apple spirit cask end, +/-2024) 
On the model’s web site they declare this one’s seen some Calvados wooden, and that it ‘reveals the surprising flavours which might be crafted when Scotland meets France’. How totally pleasant, although I daresay they weren’t referring to rugby! Color: pale gold. Nostril: probably the most stunning half is that it truly appears to work, the Calvados seems to have quashed the grain whisky and lent it larger texture and a way of depth. Vanilla, damp earth, woodruff, apple ice wine… That is actually somewhat pretty. Mouth: certainly, it’s good, pity they didn’t bottle it at a barely increased energy. Frozen apples, vanilla, honeyed compote, touches of recent mint, then a extra herbaceous aspect rising, which is most agreeable as properly. End: a tad quick, however that’s solely right down to the low energy. Feedback: stunning certainly. Beware, over ice this one goes down like a allure. Lengthy dwell the Auld Alliance!
SGP:541 – 83 factors. |
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Velvet Fig (46%, Wemyss Malt, blended malt, +/-2024) 
One other intriguing bottle with packaging that’s been more and more jazzed up lately, sporting a palette that leans somewhat ecclesiastical. We have been fairly keen on the early variations, properly over a decade in the past now. Color: gold. Nostril: naturally, there are dried figs entrance and centre, together with dates, barley and cane syrups, charming natural teas, just a few notes of wicker, and somewhat loads of Earl Gray tea, with some golden sultanas in tow. This nostril can’t be faulted, it’s merely disarmingly seductive. Mouth: I daresay this might be the head of NAS blended malts, although admittedly I haven’t tried that many. The raisins seize management from the outset and by no means let go, even when confronted by these celebrated dried figs so proudly marketed on the label. End: lengthy, with a trio of honey, raisins and marmalade. Allow us to not overlook the figs. Feedback: I’m unsure whether or not they’ve modified the recipe, however I’m simply as keen on it now as I used to be again in… 2014.
SGP:651 – 86 factors. |
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Milroy’s Closely Peated 13 yo (48%, Milroy’s, sixtieth anniversary, Jamaican rum barrels, 2024) 
This seems to be a peated Jura, completed in Monymusk casks. It’s been ages since we final got here throughout a correctly peated Jura, although there have been some marvellous ones again within the day. I ought to add we’ve typically toyed with the thought of ending Islay whisky in Jamaican casks, or the opposite approach spherical. Thoughts you, it’s already been executed… Color: white wine. Nostril: oh sure. Yeast, ashes, lemon and chalk. As they are saying, it’s obtained its geese in a row. Given a bit of time, there’s carbon, olives, seawater, petroly Riesling and wee touches of glue. For our functions it ticks all of the bins. Mouth: I’m not saying it’s flawless, however I’m saying it’s completely up my avenue. You might as properly copy and paste what I simply wrote concerning the nostril. End: lengthy, and there’s one factor that takes the lead, and it’s not the peat. It’s the olives! Feedback: this inconceivable concoction impresses me vastly. I do hope they’ll be releasing additional batches frequently – and whereas we’re at it, how about Ardbeg plus Hampden?
SGP:566 – 89 factors. |
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Seaweed & Aeons Digging & Hearth 18 yo (40%, Atom Manufacturers, peated Highland, 2022)
A secret single malt from the Highlands, although it does really feel a contact peculiar presenting this form of factor at 40% vol. Ex-Seagram/Pernod Ricard inventory, maybe? Ardmore, possibly? Color: gentle gold. Nostril: properly sure, it’s charming, recent but peaty, with notes of bacon, lemon zest, engine oil and tar, and above all a great deal of toasted sesame oil. Mouth: it holds its personal at 40%, smoky, bordering on sooty, but certainly there’s not the faintest whiff of the ocean, not even the shyest of periwinkles. Thoroughbred peated Highlands, in brief. End: surprisingly lengthy, with smoked tea and lemon… Feedback: no, that is each pretty and scrumptious, it’s simply that I can’t fairly find the ‘seaweed’ factor, however no complaints in any other case.
SGP:456 – 87 factors. |
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The Huntly 27 yo 1996/2024 (52.8%, Duncan Taylor, The Single Cask Assortment, blended malt, cask #227408, 220 bottles)
No hypothesis right here, let’s simply get on with the tasting, we could? Color: gold. Nostril: there’s a little bit of ham fats, peanut oil, cigarette smoke (nightclub at 4am), then a full-on parade of barleys, beers and all method of recent breads. Any guesses? With water: nonetheless very a lot on barley and beer. Hardly one thing to complain about. Mouth (neat): apples, plums, waxes, grapefruits and fat. This thick, textured profile is basically fairly hanging. Pink grapefruit and blanc de noirs Champagne. With water: it’s beginning to bug me that I can’t fairly pin down what that is, but it surely does have a little bit of an east coast air. End: lengthy, pretty austere now, extra on herbs and yeast. Paraffin. Feedback: I did consider Glenturret however that’s a great 200km from Huntly, certainly they wouldn’t do this to us. Glen Garioch’s a lot nearer, although Glen Garioch tends to point out extra fruit in these vintages. Anyway, we stated we wouldn’t speculate…
SGP:451 – 89 factors. |
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Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky 8 yo (41.5%, Kirk & Vivid, +/-2025)
This bottle, from The Whisky Lodge in Lyon, is aimed, I quote, at ‘novices with excessive requirements, notably attuned to present developments.’ That’s us to a tee! Color: pale white wine. Nostril: pear and lemon juice, chalk, apple peel, sunflower oil, grist, younger Chardonnay… What extra might one moderately ask for? Mouth: pear eau-de-vie, vanilla, candied lychees, white peaches, buttery croissants, and that ever-charming Chardonnay nonetheless within the combine. End: a lot the identical, with pear nonetheless taking the lead. Feedback: it’s somewhat hanging how a lot additional oomph these 1.5% carry to a younger malt. A pleasant barley eau-de-vie character all through.
SGP:631 – 85 factors. |
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Blended Scotch 25 yo 1999/2024 (44.3%, C. Dully Choice, sherry butt, cask #24, 639 bottles)
Very probably one other of these Edrington-style blended malts/scotches, led by the unmistakable ‘M’. Let’s see what we’ve obtained right here… Color: gold. Nostril: heavy on praline, nougat, fudge, Calvados (actually), and the sherry’s sultanas. Then we veer a bit of in direction of milk chocolate and that well-known nation’s ice wine—the one which, by all fervent accounts, won’t ever be part of the US of America, it appears. A contact of quince jelly too. Mouth: it’s actually somewhat good, with a barely extra assertive woodiness and notes of cooked wines, PX, and once more that ice wine. End: pretty lengthy, with hints of lemon nougat. Lemon nougat is, because it occurs, a beautiful factor. Feedback: pleasant stuff, and the value is equally pleasing.
SGP:541 – 87 factors. |
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St Bridget’s Kirk ‘N.A.S. Solera Batch #4’ (48.5%, Hannah Whisky Retailers, fino/oloroso end, 142 bottles)
Goodness me, I nonetheless keep in mind once we first began tossing across the acronym ‘NAS’ with the Malt Maniacs, the complete trade virtually reached for his or her rifles. Color: gold. Nostril: this leans in direction of a somewhat fermentary type of sherry, with notes of bread, pasta, sourdough, walnuts and citrus zest, together with whiffs of smoked teas… Mouth: it’s obtained extra punch on the palate, regardless of a reasonably outstanding paraffin observe. Old school orange cordials, wax, ginger, saline touches, and slivers of candied zest… End: pretty lengthy, and somewhat ‘blended’, with a floral and perfumed streak, a saline, herbaceous peatiness, after which a medley of plums in all shapes and hues. Hints of lavender within the aftertaste. Feedback: this takes me again to these fashionable ‘residing casks’ from twenty years in the past. A really charming rusticity.
SGP:451 – 84 factors. |
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