Tomatin 18 yo (46%, OB, bottled 2012)
An older livery of the Tomatin 18. These batches were finished in sherry casks. I recall them being quite enjoyable at the time but I never recorded any notes. Until now... Colour: gold. Nose: rather a lot of golden syrup, gingerbread and some nicely ripe garden fruits. Mirabelle, gooseberry, pears, green apples etc... some bready notes as well, savoury pastry and a dollop of sweet lemon curd. Very pleasing and rather sumptuous. The kind of malt you could snooze to, in a good way. Mouth: a little more towards juicy plain malted barley, lemon cordial, a lick of camphor, dried thyme and some eucalyptus. Again it’s pretty good I think. Gets drier and more mineral, a little clay and putty. Some tree bark and a little over-extracted green tea. Finish: medium and getting drier and more teaish. Reminiscent of some old OB bottlings from the 80s. Some shoe polish and cheap runny honey. Comments: very drinkable, good quality malt whisky. Good fuel for the tumbler. I think the strength works well here.
SGP: 641 - 85 points.

Tomatin 36 yo (46%, OB batch 3, -/+ 2016)
Composed from a mix of sherry casks and plain oak hogsheads. Colour: gold. Nose: Luscious old school Tomatin. Bags of nectars, guava, mango and papaya. Some menthol tobacco, soft waxes, hessian, eucalyptus resin, aged herbal liqueurs and fragrant sandalwood. Underneath, in time, there’s also nectarine, ripe mandarin, star fruit and overripe banana. This typically Tomatin and thoroughly seductive abundance of exotic and green fruits basically. Mouth: various resinous and nervous fruit qualities with sweet fruit jellies, green apple peelings, spiced honey, pears baked in calvados, lime peel and wood spices such as nutmeg and cinnamon bark. Some lemony waxes, gently smoky paprika and further menthol qualities such as wormwood and mint tea. Finish: long with resurgent papaya and guava, pineapple juice and precious hardwood notes. Comments: Predictably delicious. If it were legal I’m sure Tomatin could declare that their 1970s stocks contain vitamin C.
SGP: 761 - 91 points.

Springbank 21 yo (46%, OB, 2018)
This year’s release of the 21yo was composed of 30% bourbon casks and 70% ex-rum casks. Colour: light gold. Nose: if there’s a rum component then so far it’s rather shy. What comes through first is this pretty typical mixture of waxes, beach pebbles, minerals, sheep wool, hessian, bath salts and light medicines. Pretty pure modern-era Springbank and extremely good. There’s some clay, flinty smoke, chalk, lime zest, carbolic soap and a prickle of mustard powder. Also a wisp of peat and wood smoke as well. That distant beach bonfire character that seems to inveigle its way into all contemporary Springbanks. Mouth: lots of soft but emphatic oils. Light peat, black pepper, olive oil, preserved lemons, mineral oil, hessian, soot, seashore minerals and a tiny allusion of dunder funk which may well be the rum, or possibly my imagination. A beautifully supple, textured, oily and characterful Campbeltown malt. Finish: long, some brittle minerals, spry wood spices, a touch of engine grease, lemon rind, wax and some rather fat phenolics. Comments: This combination of characterful distillate, gentle casks, a supportive nudge of peat and plenty maturation time make for a proper malt whisky. Still plenty lessons to be learned from those Karaoke-coveting distillers in Campbeltown it seems...
SGP: 472 - 92 points.

Springbank 21 yo 1996/2018 (54.7%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, #27.112, ‘A broadside cannon barrage’, sherry butt, 532 bottles)
Colour: dark mahogany. Nose: gun flints, motor oil, coal dust, black pepper and some very old balsamic vinegar. This is one SMWS title that makes sense as there is this gunpowder allusion in the nose with this kind of brimstone and struck flints quality. However, what’s impressive is that it remains a pure, powerful and clean style of sherry, and there is still some lovely and clear Springbank DNA underneath it all. Leathery cured meats, hessian, jasmine and old rope exist next to natural tar, embrocations, truffle oil and some very dark, stewed fruits such as prune juice, black cherries, dates and fig paste. Pretty great stuff I think. With water: kirsch, sandalwood, hessian, bitter chocolate, mint tea, blackjack chews,  salty liquorice and a glimmer of earthy peat. Mouth: big, intense spices, hickory wood smoke, gentle medicines, salted meats, strawberry wine, struck matches, more tarriness, freeze dried raspberries and some ancient boal madeira. More old balsamico, walnut wine, rancio, aged pinot noir and boot polish. With water: more very old dark wines, leather, wood spice, cloves, sap, intense herbal resins, Fernet Branca and various earthy, coastal and farmyard qualities all mingling with impressive boisterousness. Finish: wonderfully long, medicinal, oily, sooty and fat. Lots of cherry notes, hessian, camphor, engine oil and something heathery as well. Comments: Some good friends are not fans of this whisky and there are times where you sense it is wandering off towards dirtier territories, but it remains comfortably natural, earthy and intense to my palate. I understand the intensity and sheer madness of it may not be to everyone’s tastes but I think it performs wee miracles by being such a brazen sherry cask while still retaining a core Springbank identity. The total opposite of the OB 21 but its equal in quality, complexity and character if you ask me.
SGP: 673 - 92 points.

Islay Single Malt From A Port Askaig Distillery 8 yo 2009/2017 (55.8%, Filmnik, sherry hogshead, cask #308656, 180 bottles)
One of a handful of bottlings by a new(ish) independent bottler, Filmnik, started by some very cool guys in China. Being an ex-film student I can’t help but enjoy the cinematically themed labels. This one references a film called Pirate Radio, although in the UK it was called ‘The Boat That Rocked’. It was directed by Richard Curtis who also co-wrote Blackadder and was responsible for Love Actually. Sort of like the Bowmore of TV and film writing careers, dizzying heights and murky lows... Colour: deep gold. Nose: bags of brine, a sort of minty peat and big dollops of salty porridge. Really quite rich and dense with a billowing gust of sea air and boiler smoke. Has this quite modern, chiselled and blade-like swoosh to the peat which is clean, bright and very enjoyable. Some savage gristy notes underneath. With water: lime juice, sheep wool, metal polish, mercurochrome and perhaps a bay leaf or two. Mouth: kippers, mixed olives in brine, lemon juice, wood ash, charcoal, fish sauce, capers and parsley. A smoky kedgeree with lots of sharp citrus juices. Gets oilier and fatter with time. With water: sootier, more camphor, oyster sauce this time, smoked oatmeal and some cooling peated wort. Still very salty and zingy. Finish: long, heavy, earthy, densely oily, some jumbled beach pebbles, salted fish, peppered mackerel. Very good. Comments: my guess would be Bunna but the sherry cask may be throwing me off. A perfect wee peat monster! Well selected Filmnik.
SGP: 377 - 87 points.

Single Islay Malt 13 yo 2005/2018 (52.6%, Thompson Bros, 217 bottles)
There’s no distillery named, but there is a picture of what appears to be Bessie Williamson on the label (or could it be an elderly Dutch dentist...?). So, I’ll leave you to come to your own conclusions... Colour: straw. Nose: pure peat smoke with a vein of heathery smoke running in between. Very farmy and with a thick, dunnagey, earthy note and a mix of malt vinegar and brine. You could quite comfortably drench your fish supper with this stuff (unless you buy it in Drumnadrochit in which case it’s traditional to use a certain Rothes condiment). Green peppercorns in brine, toasted cereals, lime juice and raw oysters. Seawater and dried seaweed. With water: cider apples and new world Sauvignon Blanc along with chalk, new rubber and some old canvas. Also, it’s inescapably fishy, in a good sense. Mouth: a big, emphatically farmy and raw, smoked barley tinged delivery. Lots of sooty notes, metal polish, a rather syrupy peatiness, tar, ointment, floor cleaner and hessian. Modern but the height of purity and power. With water: pure lemon juice now, canvas, smoked meats, soy sauce, salt and a suggestion of dried tarragon. Finish: Long, ashy and filled with a lungful of kiln air, peat smoke, miso broth, tarry rope and an old fishing trawler - or something like that. Comments: It’s a tough one to score. On one hand I really miss the more exotic fruit aspects in these contemporary Laphroaigs. However, the purity, power, smokiness and the way it evolves and becomes a little more complicated with water is quite compelling. I’m teetering on the brink of 90 but I’m going to be cruel and cautious...
SGP: 378 - 89 points.

Ardbeg 30 yo 1975 (58.2%, Auld Alliance ‘Lost in the Warehouse’, 24 bottles, 2018)
One of two very cool recent bottlings from the Auld Alliance in Singapore. From bottled stock which had remained in bond but never labelled or used until our resourceful pal Emmanuel managed to snuffle it out like a truffle hungry piggy. Colour: Gold. Nose: hot peat ash, tar, seawater and rope. Pure 1970s Ardbeg. A little wet seaweed, lime oil, salted fish and smoked grist. Wonderful stuff - extremely pure and powerful. With water: plasticine, sea salt, kippers and pure brine. Some burning sandalwood and pine cones in the background. Mouth: wonderfully dense in texture, peated silk if there is such a thing. The peat takes on a kind of meaty quality with some very dense, creosote and earthy notes. Plenty black pepper and green olives in brine. Some dried mixed herbs and anchovy paste. Majestic old Ardbeg. With water: stunning! Pure, old school, Ardbeggy perfection. Leaps about like a slippery Dolphin. Finish: Thrillingly long, ashy, earthy, tarry and medicinal. Comments: I wonder how many whisky nerds were started on their journey with distillate like this. A bracing and totally thrilling blast from the past.
SGP: 477 - 93 points.