Cock-and-bull trio No.5, Caperdonich, Glen Garioch, Glen grant

October 25, 2013

Cock-and-bull trio No.5, Caperdonich, Glen Garioch, Glen Grant

Another bunch of new bottlings. We'll try to find a very old new one as #3, but not one of these very expensive new decanterised buzz-catchers.

Caperdonich 1996/2013 'Dunes An Oir' (58.6%, Malts of Scotland for Van Zuylen, bourbon hogshead, cask #MoS 13025, 276 bottles)

Van Zuylen is a well-reputed Dutch retailer. Good selection and, above all, a very fair price policy. Colour: gold. Nose: punchy and quite gingery. Some freshish oak involved, it seems. A lot of muscovado sugar too, speculoos, toasted brioche, bitter oranges... Maybe a tad rough at this point but the strength is very high. Water should help. With water: yes it does! Cough mixture, mint, humidor, pu-erh tea... Mouth (neat): huge and extremely spicy. Curry powder and very strong liquorice, very heavy tea, heavy pepper... A very extreme Caperdonich (not that you would detect the distillery) but I've got many friends who like these ooh-aah profiles. With water: once again water helps a lot, even if it remains spicy and herbal. Pumpernickel, earth, pepper, cardamom. Finish: long but, bizarrely, not really tannic. Sweet pepper sauce. A lot of bitter chocolate in the aftertaste. Comments: a heavily oaky beast. Bourbon wood with sherry wood aspects. I'm wondering whether this wasn't filled at a very high strength, around 72% or more. What's even more bizarre is that it's also quite pleasant but you just cannot avoid adding water. SGP:471 - 83 points.

A long break is obligatory, I'm afraid even Octomore at CS would have troubles after that extreme Caperdonich. (... ... ... so after two days ;-)...)

Glen Garioch 1989/2013 'Brandy Casket' (46%, Wemyss Malts, hogshead, 322 bottles)

This baby from the new series. A 1989 should be of the 'floral' style. Colour: light gold. Nose: I was wrong, it's rather an earthy and fruity one, showing good depth and indeed, obvious notes of peaches like some 'uncommercial' cognacs have. There's a little paraffin too, some hay, some tobacco and lastly, 'a new opened box of black tea'. Mouth: some peat coming through, bitter herbs, touches of salt, more tobacco, pepper, cough mixture and, maybe one or two glazed chestnuts. I love glazed chestnuts, they were very popular around Christmas time when I was a kid but sadly, it seems that they've gone out of fashion, at least in this country. Maybe also touches of juniper in this Glen Garioch. Finish: quite long, bitter, rather dry. Some green spices. A saltiness in the aftertaste. Comments: I think we're pretty much midway between the distillery's earlier smoky/spicy style and an easier, fruitier style. Rather firm, in fact. SGP:462 - 87 points.

Glen Grant 59 yo 1954/2013 (53.5%, Gordon & MacPhail for La Maison du Whisky, Book of Kells, first fill sherry butt, 120 bottles)

Another brand new one. Superb make, vintage, age, strength and bottler. I'm asking you, what could go wrong? Colour: rich amber. Nose: oh! This one will need quite some adjectives but no hyperboles, since it's absolutely magnificent. Where to start? Maybe with the fruits, first apricots and quinces, then raisins, dates, figs and dried pears. Good, that's done. Then we have chocolate, chocolates of all kinds. After that, enter more tertiary aromas, around teas and tobaccos, as well as funnily tense floral and honeyed notes, to which we could add drops of genuine maple syrup. Lastly, all things herbal, sappy and resinous, which could include natural tar and pinesap. Simply grand. With water (although water isn't needed): exactly what I was expecting and anticipating, it starts to resemble some great old Sauternes. Must be the apricots ;-). Mouth (neat): crunching a kind of artisan Mars bar that would be covered with marmalade. Or millionaire shortbread. What's utterly impressive is the way the oak components are behaving, they never get in the way, they're almost working like a thorough-bass in one of Bach's finest suites (hey, that's smart, S.!). Green pepper, cinnamon, bitter chocolate and cloves are doing that job. Other instruments would be dried fruits and marmalades. Notes of fresh oranges are keeping the whole as light and fresh as a fugue. With water: explodes into myriads of fruitier and spicier aromas and, most importantly, doesn't get any oakier. Finish: the chocolate is back. Marmalade-filled chocolate. Comments: this one is ideal for some Christmas time bacchanalias. Not cheap but worth every cent or penny, I think. SGP:551 - 93 points.

Pete McPeat and Jack Washback