Bushmills 28 yo 1992/2020 (46.7%, OB, Irish single malt, for LMDW, 360 bottles)
This is ex-sherry and ex-bourbon, finished in a cognac cask. You could think that doesn’t make much sense, but remember some old families in Cognac were of Irish origin. Such as the Hennessies! Colour: gold. Nose: totally in line with all those stunning independent ‘secret Irish’ around, just with too many raisins thrown in. But I’m exaggerating, it’s not that bad at all, the whole remains very fresh and ueber-fruity, with the expected mangos, pink bananas and mangos. Seriously, this is an awesome nose. Mouth: absolutely tops, powerful, first on all those tropical fruits that I’ve mentioned before, then on myriads of tiny herbal notes, some probably borrowed from the Cognac cask. Now the French oak did impart some unusual spicy notes, especially green pepper and cardamom, which would make this older Bushmills a little spicier than necessary, which might make it miss the 90-mark. The finish will tell… Finish: yeah, raisins and leaves plus green pepper in the aftertaste. Comments: absolutely excellent, but I’m sorry to say that some indies are even better, probably because they would rather stem from pure ex-bourbon wood. I know, nit-picking again, apologies.
SGP:651 - 88 points.

Redbreast 17 yo 2001 ‘All Sherry’ (59.5%, OB, for LMDW, Irish pure pot still, sherry butt, cask #26494, 636 bottles)
I remember I had tried some of these casks while at Midleton. Me and my pals were impressed. Colour: amber. Nose: sweet Boris, Donald and Wladimir, this is something. Lorryloads of fresh cakes and mentholy raisins, both fresh and dried figs, and just these feelings of moss and mushrooms that usually come with proper sherry butts. And quite bizarrely, I’m finding a little cognac too. Here we go… With water: I solemnly swear that this is reminiscent of cognac, and would happily hand over my collection of Whisky Bibles (complete from 2003 to 2005) to anybody proving me wrong. Mouth (neat): really rich, still pretty young, a little brutal, a little rustic, a little hot, quite meaty/salty, and as we sometimes say, hipflasky. I’m sure water will bring civilisation… With water: civilisation indeed, but the sherry was pretty loud. Not unlike Keith Moon on a few old The Who records. Now the end result remains pretty faultless, rich, malty, cake-y and raw. Finish: long, with salty touches. Comments: I think the lovely Bushmills won the fight. This Redbreast is pretty bestial if you ask me, not unlike some young high-strength cognacs. Irish cognac?
SGP:651 - 86 points.

Providence (57%, Haiti, 2020)
This baby was batch-distilled at the very recent Distillerie de Port-au-Prince, a joint venture between Velier and Barbancourt as it seems, in December of 2019, from a mix of cane juice and cane syrup. As for the label, looks like it’s a wee tribute to those lovely old ‘Jura Whiskies’ from the 1970s. Colour: white. Nose: clairin springs to your mind, and varnish and glue to your nose. Which is actually good news here. Goes then towards olives and asparagus, good news too, and then some kind of earthier cane juice. Earthier than in Martinique, for example. I like these glue-y smells, they’re pretty regressive and remind me of my childhood. Not that that’s of any interest, I agree… With water: marzipan and glue, then roots (beet, turnip) and a small all-fruit tropical mix, the kind that you would throw into a cocktail. Touch of bananas, touch of pineapples. Mouth (neat): am I totally crazy if I claim that this reminds me of a blend of clairin and white Barbancourt? Would you even believe me? So these almost mescally olives, plus some sugary, lighter and slightly ethanoly flavours. Feels a bit like a ‘high-malt blend’. With water: more grassy and earthy cane juice. Something slightly prickly too, Suze-Schweppes? Finish: medium, grassy, with fine sour fruits. Comments: an extremely fine young white, a bit between two worlds, grassy and sweet.
SGP:362 - 83 points.

Chalong Bay ‘High Proof Batch 0001’ (57%, Thailand, 2020)
This is made in Phuket! I’ve always rather liked their white, a little less so their ‘infused’ versions, but in the old days I believe Thai law wouldn’t have allowed them to go beyond 40% vol. so this is what we had been hoping for, higher proofs… Colour: white. Nose: it’s a rather fatter, deeper spirit, perhaps a tad less complex but consequently better chiselled, with more esters as well, and more flowers. Ylang-ylang, pink bananas, a wee bit of black olive, capers, gherkins… It’s getting pretty heady over time, almost intoxicating. With water:  lovely grassy and smoky notes. Barbecued tarragon, oregano… Mouth (neat): liquorice allsorts and, well, liquorice allsorts. I like liquorice allsorts, they’re pretty regressive too. Lemon drops, tar, olives, pinch of salt, sugarcane. Not a throwaway. With water:  a little sweeter yet, but the tarry and salty foundation keeps it balanced and tight. Finish: long, salty. Perhaps a tad less clean and fresh, but that often happens in finishes. Comments: so we can’t fly to Phuket? At least we’ve got their rum. BTW Thailand’s Issan is pretty much to my liking too.
SGP:452 - 85 points.

Enmore 2002/2020 (59%, Rum Nation, cask #1700027/28/30, Islay cask finish)
Sure the very idea of an Islay cask finish sounds a bit strange,  but after all, we’ve seen some of those European Enmores that had been good but a little too ‘naked’ when natural, and Islays that had been finished in Demerara casks too – and that had been to my liking. Colour: straw. Nose: it’s technically rum, of course, but it’s more a meta-spirit to me, and an excellent one at that. Ink, grass juice, asparagus cooking water, ‘good’ cabbage, grapefruit, our good friends the green olives, some kind of sour/grassy smoke, wakame paste or something, certainly some pretty raw oysters, all that with a feeling of unity. This works in my book. With water: mercurochrome, so a Laphroaiggy feel. Mouth (neat): big fun and neither rum nor whisky in my book, something else. Peat coal (or very old peat), olives, more ink, petrol, salt, lime, tarmac, chewing leatherette, drinking ink at school (I find school very inspiring these days), bitter herbs aplenty… With water: salty, tarry, citron. Finish: long, tenser, tarry and salty, with the expected lemony and olive-y aftertaste. Comments: it’s true that a peater from Islay is philosophically closer to an Enmore than an Enmore to a, say Diplomatico. See what I’m trying to say? Fun and very good drop, to pour blind to your (soon to be former) friends.
SGP:463 - 88 points.

Neisson 2014/2020 ‘V.S.O.P.’ (44%, OB, LMDW, Martinique, agricole, 900 bottles)
Neisson’s pretty expensive, but so is Macallan, while Macallan is now very far from being the Neisson of Scotch malt whisky. I know, unnecessary comments, but at least I’m sure you get my drift. Having said that I haven’t got much in my glass, so we’ll be quick and get straight to the point. Colour: gold. Nose: sublime crystallised pineapples and pine resin, mango jam, and one of those very rare Alsatian late-harvest Rieslings, such as the one Zind-Humbrecht once did on the Grand Cru Brand, a few yards away from Whiskyfun Towers. Well I think it was a Brand; what a wine! And what a Neisson! Mouth: incredibly rich and yet kind of lifted, even refreshing. Jams, pralines, salted fudge, liquorice, tar, luwak coffee, mangos… Finish: good caramel and some rancio. Comments: the nose is extraordinary, the palate of the highest order. Worth every penny – and I don’t even know about the price (that doesn’t make any sense, S.)
SGP:652 - 92 points.

Savanna 9 yo 2010/2020 (55%, OB, La Réunion, cask #1055, 804 bottles)
Savanna, from the French island of La Réunion near Madagascar, has gained much traction in recent years, largely thanks, I believe, to La Maison du Whisky. They do various esterifications, not too sure about this one, which is said to be an ‘unshared cask’. Is that really ‘unshared’? Or ‘uncharred’? Whatever, let’s try the baby… Colour: gold. Nose: classic high-ester Savanna, probably even more on green and black olives than any other rum, including the Jamaicans. Some salty petrol (old shipwreck), tyres, damp cardboard, old magazines… It is really very singular. A touch of burnt raisin, it’s true that this one was matured in Armagnac casks (not simply finished). With water: olives up, green liquorice, and much more varnish. That’s funny, varnish usually rather comes with the first sniffs. No? Mouth (neat): huge, extremely olive-y, totally in line with the nose. Tar and olive juice. With water: same, but bitterer. Isn’t tar always bitter? Finish: long bitter, dry, ashy. Sucking a bicycle inner tube. Comments: I like it really a lot, it’s a rum unlike any other. It’s just that the Neisson would have crushed any rum that would have followed it anyway.
SGP:363 - 86 points.

Aberlour 18 yo 2002/2020 (62.4%, OB, cask #2575, 263 bottles)
This new baby has got the dark brown, almost mahogany colour of the very early batches of A’bunadh. It should be a proper sherry bomb à l’ancienne. Colour: mahogany. Nose: splendid, full of Havana tobacco, soy sauce, bouillons, crude chocolate, tar and liquorice (with moderation), miso, walnut wine, espresso, perhaps a wee bit of beef jerky, or rather Grisons meat, some cherry juice, and echoes of a great old Bourgogne from the Côte de Nuits. Your choice, be my guest, there’s even peonies. Ultra-classic high-sherry malt. With water: there, marrow, game, black cigars, very old Port, natural tar liqueur, coffee, crushed rocks, patchouli, earths… An amazing nose that tells you many long stories, but do not use an amplifying glass please. Mouth (neat): immediate pleasures, on liquorice, walnut liqueur, chocolate and coffee, plus a tiny mentholated touch. Superb, and I suppose meaty flavours will come out once it’s been H2O-ised. Now it’s not even brutal at 62% plus, or is it me? With water: no, it’s doesn’t actually become very meaty, it would rather gear towards more coffee and raw chocolate, which is just as great. I love it. Notes of bitter herbs, rocket salad perhaps… It’s just perfectly dry. Finish: long, a tad more on soups and bouillons this time. I cannot not mention umami, and indeed use the word savoury. A feeling of burnt wood and cigar in the aftertaste. Comments: up there with the best old Glendronachs, older-era Macallans - when they were still insisting on using oaken sherry casks - and indeed Aberlours (the cubes, remember?)
SGP:462 - 92 points.

Blair Athol 13 yo 2005/2019 (57.3%, Lady Of The Glen, cask #3657A, PX Octave, 65 bottles)
Colour: orangey gold. Nose: rather shy to begin, some notes of bracken, ferns and canvass. Wee touches of graphite oil and spicy orange cocktail bitters too. But generally it feels a little closed, let’s proceed with water… With water: still rather quiet, some sultana, cooking apples mid bake, a little golden syrup and wee earthiness. Mouth: PX indeed, with lots of cupboard spices, clove studded orange peel, varnished hardwoods, pine resin, pencil shavings and oily toolbox rags - verging on hessian. Some bitter herbs too. It’s a very modern style but clean and well executed. With water: at its best now I would say, a very juicy spiciness, richer notes of freshly baked bread chunks dipped in olive oil, spice mix like Dukkah, salted almonds and various glazed pastries. A wee tension between sweet and salty which works well. Finish: medium, still prickling with spices, cinnamon, cloves, cumin and paprika. A little treacle and some bitter blood orange. Comments: Everything was kind of quietly tiptoeing along until the diluted palate really took off. I would say skip straight to the pipette for this one…
SGP: 561 - 84 points.

Blair Athol 21 yo ‘Batch 5’ (51.5%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company)
Colour: gold. Nose: another one that feels rather slow and shy, only here it unfolds very gently towards pollens and runny honey. Heather flowers, tea biscuits, geraniums and potting shed earthiness. All very easy and enjoyable. With water:  greener, wet leaves, moss, crisp green apple, gooseberry and a touch of menthol tobacco. Mouth: dried than expected but in a nice way that’s rather nervous and lean, lots of peppery warmth, light spices, ginger biscuits, nutmeg, vanilla sponge and some light herbal teas. With water: a firmer palate now, richer, lots of fresh breads, wee medical touches, fir wood, bitter herbs, grassy olive oil and nettle tea. Finish: good length, nicely bitter, green bitter herbs, bouillon, strong green tea and bitter lemon. Comments: Perhaps a notch too bitter in the finish but this is otherwise a very fine and sippable drop of Blair Athol. Hard to imagine any whisky aficionado being against this kind of profile.
SGP: 461 - 85 points.

Blair Athol 20 yo 1995/2016 (51.8%, Douglas McGibbon for The Whisky Vault, cask #11163, sherry butt, 180 bottles)
Douglas McGibbon is a subsidiary of Douglas Laing. At least, it used to be, I have lost track of which Laing owns which thing nowadays. Colour: light amber. Nose: a generous style of sherry that’s laden with caramel, soft toffee chews, milk chocolate and golden syrup. Also things like freshly baked banana bread, pecan pie, toffee apple - this will certainly appeal if you have a sweet tooth (or nostril). Given time some lighter earthier and tobacco tones come through which adds a necessary balance. With water: cocoa nibs, mocha, generally slightly drier but still rather chocolatey. A few pollens and honeycomb now too. Mouth: surprisingly robust and punchy. Smoked chipotle, dark chocolate sauce, mole and paprika. Almost like some kind of smoky Mexican hot sauce in some ways. Also a damp dunnage earthiness, hessian sackcloth and things like miso and soy sauce. Quite a gear shift from the nose. With water: still rather warm and punchy with this smoked chilli vibe. Black coffee, herbal bitters, coal scuttle dust and ink. Some black pepper too. Finish: long, peppery, full of warm chilli, smoked paprika, hessian and espresso. Comments: A whisky of two halves, which in some ways makes it slightly imbalanced, but the overall effect is very fun and both parts are excellent in their own right.
SGP: 572 - 86 points.

Blair Athol 22 yo 1995/2018 (57.7%, The First Editions, cask #14656, sherry butt, 234 bottles)
This one is coming from Hunter Laing, so probably a similar or sibling parcel of casks originally. Colour: deep gold. Nose: similar focus on sweetness, but here it’s rather more along the lines of tinned fruits in syrup. Apricots, peaches, nectarines etc. Also yellow plums, lychee and some simple marmalade along with a little stem ginger in syrup. With water: fruity muesli, dried apricots and brown bread with a scraping of Nutella. Mouth: again pretty big on arrival and still some ideas of smoky red chillies and paprika, but it’s a tad more cohesive and balanced her. I also get stewed dark fruits, bitter chocolate, black coffee and some rather strong porter beer. Rye bread and banana chips in trail mix. With water: indeed, spicy, bready, drying, earthy, peppery, nicely bitter and slightly sooty. Really quite a ‘big’ whisky. Finish: long, leathery, lots of game and vegetable broths, herbal infusions, cocktail bitters, black pepper, cocoa and miso. Comments: Gets increasingly complex and quite assertive this one. The extra balance on display gives it the edge in my book, a very classy kind of sherry.
SGP: 562 - 88 points.

Loch Lomond 13 yo 2006/2019 (56.8%, OB for The Whisky Exchange 20th Anniversary, cask #196, refill bourbon, 266 bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: a peated one! Bags of crushed aspirin, wet plaster, a kind of ‘damp’ smokiness, sooty chimneys, steel wool and carbolic acidity - like peaty wash. There’s also lemon juice, hessian and umami. With water: clear and vividly smoky, clean, ashy, briny and citric. Mouth: nicely sooty and smoky, the impression of freshly kilned malt and warm, smoky grist. Natural tar, herbal cough medicines, iodine drops and squid ink with a splash of soy sauce. Unusual there’s no denying, but they it wouldn’t be Loch Lomond… With water: rather fermentary in style now, like some kind of peated sourdough starter drizzled with lemon juice, Gueuze beer, tart acidity and a rather petrolic, gravely minerality. Finish: long, tarry, sharply citric, sooty, peaty and still rather focussed on the raw ingredients. Comments: Very good and pretty left-field peated whisky. Some parts remain a little too unlikely for my tastes but it’s probably quite a fun session dram with pals.
SGP: 467 - 83 points.

Inchmoan 12 yo 2007/2019 (54.9%, OB for The Whisky Exchange 20th Anniversary, cask #96,    refill hogshead, 289 bottles)
Another peaty make from the world’s wackiest still room… Colour: pale straw. Nose: a gentler smoke but also richer and more directly farmyard in style. Peppery, sooty, chalky, lightly medical with an olive oil like fatness about it. With water: sandalwood, camphor, sheep wool and aniseed. Probably a little straighter and more classical once diluted. Mouth: oily peat, smoked peppered mackerel, smoked oatmeal, game meats and herbal toothpaste - also rather unusual to say the least. Some kind of peated limoncello mixed with pumpkinseed oil and marzipan! With water: that kind of carbolic acidity again, coal tar soap, lanolin, miso, liquid smoke, antiseptic and preserved lemons. Finish: long and on medicines, wood embers, salted liquorice and hessian. Comments: I like this one a little more than the Loch Lomond, but it still has something ‘unusual’ about it.
SGP: 466 - 84 points.

Inchfad 14 yo 2005/2019 (57.2%, C Dully Selection, cask #408, bourbon hogshead, 142 bottles)
142 bottles officially for the Swiss Army I hear, so about two bottles each ;) Colour: light gold. Nose: it’s a similar ballpark of things like damp canvass, slightly greasy smoke, coal tar soap, aspirin, mineral oil and sheep wool. Although, weirdly enough as Inchfad is supposed to be one of the fully peated makes, the overall peat level feels a tad shier. With water: softer, spicier, more peppery notes, watercress, charcoal, Barbour grease, wintergreen and vapour rubs. Mouth: metal polish, olive oil, white pepper, leathery smoke and some kind of brine and tar combo. With water: sootier, leafier with these slightly mulchy, earthy notes, then salted liquorice, dry roast peanuts and ink. Finish: medium and rather ashy, along with some chalky medicinal aspects like crushed aspirin and salty porridge. Comments: This is all very fine, but I feel these Loch Lomond peated makes are a little too obscure and challenging, maybe you could call them ‘intellectual’. I think their more opulent and fruity distillates like Inchmurrin are generally more easy to get on with.
SGP: 465 - 84 points.

Inchfad 14 yo 2005/2019 (57.1%, C Dully Selection, casks #408, 411, 412, bourbon hogsheads, 142 bottles)
I assume these must be parcels of stock from these casks rather than whole hogsheads to reach this low outturn of bottles? Unless the casks themselves were rather leaky? As with most of the world’s great mysteries: the answer lies in Switzerland! Colour: bright straw. Nose: a little fresher and more ‘bucolic’ with these notes of bailed hay, meadow flowers, grass and a rather fragrant and leafy bonfire smokiness. Also the usual notes of chalk, canvass and coal dust (a theme is emerging with these peated LL makes I feel). There’s a light dressing of salinity over the whole thing that feels very fresh. With water: again these funny notes of carbon paper, ink, printer toner, vase water and cooking oils, but globally still a little more farmy and ‘full’. Mouth: something about this wee ménage à trois has worked here I think, there’s a nice richness, a more emphatic olive oil vibe and a wee thread of salty honey running throughout keeping balance. Still rather salty with notes of umami paste and black olives in brine. With water: cooking oils, camphor, cod liver oil, paraffin - very mechanical and even slightly industrial in style. Also some lemony touches emerging as well as bandages and gauze. Finish: long and with a funny notes of coffee porter and things like smoky bacon, pickled onion crisps and brine. Comments: It’s rather like if Monty Python had owned a distillery… This one is still a bit off the beaten track, but it’s a slightly classier and wittier journey than the others.
SGP: 475 - 86 points.

Secret Highland 31 yo 1987/2019 (49.6%, Whisky Nerds, cask #27, hogshead, 167 bottles)
There seems to be an ever growing number of these ‘nameless’ malts emerging these days, it’s a shame that many are very good and yet too ‘brand insecure’ to reveal their origins. Although, of course there can be other reasons too… Colour: deep gold. Nose: beautiful! A dense and thick aroma of tinned fruit syrups: apricot, peach and guava. Also dried fruits and mixed fruit teas with these wee threads of tannin. Quince, orange oils, melon, nectarine and wee notes of precious hardwoods and their resins. Mouth: a little more drying and focussed than the nose, more on tannic fruit teas, wood extracts, dried mint, old shilling ales, miso and malt extract. Rather beery and rich in fact with some nice spicy rye bread notes. Finish: good length, earthy, spicy, richly bready, more teas such as Darjeeling and Earl Grey and some mead. Comments: The nose was easily 90 material but I think the palate wasn’t quite as impressive. Quality is still very high though, a nourishing and extremely satisfying dram. Couldn’t tell you anything about the distillery though.
SGP: 651 - 88 points.

Secret Highland 36 yo 1983/2019 (46.9%, The Good Spirits & Soundwave, cask #7753, hogshead, 80 bottles)
Love the label for this one! We do seem to be living through a golden age for imaginative indy labels - especially those from Asia. Colour: gold. Nose: a beehive! Soft acacia honey, brown bread, gentle waxiness, some rich cereal tones, canvas, lanolin, miso… extremely elegant and enticing with a nice green fruitiness about it. Mouth: hey hey! Beautiful old school! This really does feel ‘highland’ in the best sense to me, all this dusty waxiness, slightly industrial mineral oil profile, metal polish, bouillon stock, gentle ointments and old school medicines, dried herbs and very gentle touches of dry peat smoke. Wonderfully resinous, rich, textural and nicely waxy. Finish: good length, focussed on beeswax polish, metal polish, light sootiness, citrus jam and ointments. Comments: Rather simple but beautifully structured and I loved the inversion where the palate was even better than the nose, which is rare at this age. I’ve heard whispers that these casks could be Clynelish but I wouldn’t be too sure if I’m honest.
SGP: 562 - 90 points.