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| Hello, that is considered one of our (nearly) day by day tastings. Santé! |
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Might 31, 2025
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Our distant Feis Ile 2025, as we speak at Ardbeg
It’s all the time been an absolute nightmare, we have by no means managed to attend Ardbeg’s Open Day as a result of I’ve all the time needed to depart the island both on the day itself or the day earlier than, for varied causes. However after all, there have been personal events within the week main as much as it… Proper then, we’ll style two legends, after which we’ll head in the direction of ‘Kildaltons’ if we’ve obtained the time and the inclination…
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Ardbeg 1974/2006 (48%, OB, bourbon, cask #4547, 133 bottles) 
We’ve by no means tasted this little 1974 earlier than! A minimum of not formally. What’s extra, there have been solely 133 bottles, and again then, some lovers had quite odd relationships with their bottles: they have been consuming them! Proper then, we’ll attempt to not go overboard… Color: mild gold. Nostril: it’s completely mad how this smells like ‘residence’. Model new rubber boots, contemporary trainers, low tide on a Hebridean shore, turpentine, engine oil, whelks, preserved lemons, camphor, cough syrup, hints of retsina… These vintages have been essentially the most lovely ever recognized on Islay, and even perhaps in Scotland. Mouth: such exceptional compactness, coherence and pedigree. Let’s say preserved lemon smoked with rubber, augmented by coal tar, seawater, wakame and tar liqueur. It’s merely distinctive and we quite anticipated that. End: lengthy, with the proverbial lapsang souchong and ever that majestic rubber, with a marmalade curiously salty and camphory, and smoked almonds. Feedback: solely the very slight lack of beefiness retains me from going even increased. However what splendour!
SGP:566 – 94 factors. |
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Ardbeg 13 yo 1975/1988 (54.2%, Gordon & MacPhail, Particular Choice, Intertrade, 543 bottles)
Little bit of a cheat, this one—we’ve already tasted this child, the final time being in March 2007. Will you grant us, in your boundless generosity, the indulgence of revisiting it? Word, there have been two variations, 54.2 and 54.8%, however no worries, each have been quite particular. Color: full gold. Nostril: the G&M type is sort of evident, with a cask affect barely extra assertive but extremely elegant, resulting in better austerity, rigour, even perhaps a whiff of intellectualism (what?). Seaweed, seaside bonfire, grapefruit peel, iodine tincture, ink, mint, eucalyptus, Islay soil post-rainfall (so, all the time), contemporary concrete… With water: moist canines, Provençal herbs, that outdated tweed jacket that’s weathered many a Scottish winter, these unbelievable little citrus fruits… Is likely to be time to summon the AMB? That’s it, the Anti-Maltoporn Brigade. Mouth (neat): of completely astonishing compactness. Citron, smoke, salt, myrtle, tar. With water: we’ll say no extra, aside from to warning you about diluting these peaty drams. Water, sure after all, however carefully, lest they collapse. Critically. End: unforgettable. Feedback: only a hair beneath the OB, which was in the end extra compact and coherent, whereas additionally extra fast. In any case, it’s completely splendid.
SGP:466 – 93 factors. |
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We’re now going to have a number of impartial Kildaltons, whereas avoiding any pointless comparisons with the 2 stars we have simply tasted. Relaxation assured, we gained’t be including any trendy official NAS bottles, let’s hold this elegant.
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Secret Islay 2009/2023 (52.5%, The Roots, hogshead, 179 bottles)
Color: white wine. Nostril: you’ll be able to clearly sense the distinction from the mid-Nineteen Seventies—that is extra acetic, medicinal, taut, fermentative, smoky, additionally greener, and fewer compact, much less rubbery. Fact be instructed, it’s completely beautiful too. With water: one edges nearer to peated malt, sourdough, steel polish, and seawater. Mouth (neat): imagine it or not, we’re not so removed from the 1975, which was roughly the identical age, give or take, besides right here we’ve much more olives, mezcal, earth, and a barely easier profile—salty, lemony, with ashes. No complaints in any way, we’re completely having fun with it. With water: how scrumptious! Salty rubber, lemon zest, wild thyme, and a whole crate of oysters. End: lengthy, saline, taut, more and more maritime. Seawater with loads of outdated ship diesel. Feedback: one can’t actually say we weren’t anticipating this, however truthfully, this un-doctored ‘beg is solely very good. Bravo, The Roots.
SGP:467 – 91 factors. |
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We’ll say it once more, if we have been the distillery, we’d be proud to have our identify on such a bottle. What a waste.
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Kildalton 15 yo 2009/2024 (52.2%, The Whisky Cask, sherry cask) 
What may probably go fallacious—sherry, maybe? Color: amber. Nostril: how amusing that is! Concentrated rooster inventory, fir needles, all-purpose balm, kumquats, and, nicely, Marlboros. The worst half? It’s beautiful. With water: and right here comes the proverbial rubber, new boots and all that. Mouth (neat): a powerful little monster, with zest, Jägermeister, leather-based, mentholated tobacco, baijiu, seawater, and leather-based once more. It’s explosive and we adore it, even when it’s a contact missing in finesse. Who cares. With water: one other bottle to cellar for twenty or thirty years (a observe to youthful whisky lovers). End: lengthy, although a bit extra rustic. Leaves, leather-based, and barely bitter nuts. Feedback: the sherry in all probability posed a slight handicap right here, nevertheless it’s nonetheless very beautiful certainly, little question about it, regardless of a quite bitter end.
SGP:477 – 88 factors. |
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Let’s return to the pale crowd…
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Secret Islay 14 yo 2009/2023 (49.3%, DramCatcher, hogshead, cask #1201)
What’s this outdated double-kiln on the label? Rings a bell… Color: white wine. Nostril: a stroll by means of a meadow thick with wildflowers, with a campfire smouldering in a single nook whereas a number of ageing millionaire hippies in brand-new wellies puff away on… You get the image—it’s easy, nevertheless it works. Mouth: quite simple, very beautiful, very compact. Paraffin and smoked sesame oil, lemon, seawater, oysters… End: simply the identical, with an additional twist of pepper. Feedback: maybe not the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, nevertheless it’s obtained its appeal. A advantageous simplicity.
SGP:466 – 88 factors. |
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Let’s deliver again the sherry…
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Islay Single Malt 15 yo 2009/2024 ‘Supernova’ (57.5%, Connoisseurs Dram, 1st fill oloroso sherry, cask #200000114, 422 bottles)
There’s little doubt as to the origin of this wee dram. However lets survive one more Supernova? Color: gold. Nostril: ultra-precise, mentholated, lemony, with inexperienced apple and the proverbial rubber, and an oloroso that solely manifests by means of inexperienced walnut, which we discover most pleasing. You get the drift. With water: virgin wool, sourdough, outdated tweed and suchlike. Mouth (neat): immaculate, compact, on smoked marmalade, seawater and tarred rubber. Or rubbery tar, whichever you like. Arrival of bitter liquorice wooden, important mint oil and salt. With water: I wouldn’t say it’s been tamed, however we’re edging nearer to lemon and grapefruit zest. End: lengthy, extra medicinal, and admittedly quite uncompromising. Notes of inexperienced walnut and eucalyptus within the aftertaste. Feedback: once you give one thing like this to novices and inform all of them of it was within the malt from the beginning, they often don’t imagine you. A advantageous beast.
SGP:467 – 90 factors. |
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There’ll be extra to return quickly. Adios Fèis Ìle 2025 — see you subsequent yr, hopefully in individual and never nearly.
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(Merci to Fuji, KC, Thierry and The Golden Promise)
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