I was on the reserve list for the tasting as I'd mucked around, and wasn't that sure I wanted to pay $100 for a tasting. It seemed a little steep for me, but figured let's leave it in the glands of the gods - and in the end I had a call tues morning to say I had a place if I wanted it. I took it.
The tasting was for Adelphi Bottlers , and was a repeat of one early in the year (which i'd also missed out on) run by Sales Manager Alex Bruce (related to the Robert character...) which received rave reviews from our whisky guru Daniel. Adelphi are independent bottlers, so they select casks that interest them and then bottle that cask (100-700 bottles), meaning their whiskies are unique and interesting examples.
Adelphi Private Stock Blended whisky 40% It's worth repeating that, this is a blend of apparently 3-4 whiskies. The nose gave hints of socks, bananas, muscatels and was interesting. The palate: christmas cake, salty, with a longish finish. Gave this a 7/10. Which is better than quite a few single malts ...
Glen Scotia 13yo Cask#434 1992-2006 66.8% 186 bottles Crickey 66.8% gives a bit of a kick! Nose was big, aggressive, band-aids, anaethestic. Palate: sweet and strong, very hot, hint of raspberries, menthol. Finish huge but smooth, although I noted it hurt my tongue! 9/10.
Caol Ila 25yo cask#685 1982-2007 225 bottles 57.9% Nose: salt, strong, medicinal. Palate: sweet, but a bit empty, salty. Finish long and very dry. 7.5/10
Dalmore 17yo 59.7% cask#7327 1990-2006 590 bottles OMG I loved this. Nose: lovely, high alc.; intense, hint of Springbank?, complex, sherry and walnut. Palate: awesome (hmmm, useful description that!), chocolate sour, smoke, oranges? finish: huge, jaffa, long, hint of sulphur? 9.5/10 possibly 10/10.
Glen Elgin 16yo 55.1% 1991-2007 cask#2599 566 bottles Quite rare to see a single malt Glen Elgin as most gets taken for blends by White Horse Whisky. Nose: light syrup, very light cognac, ?soap?. Palate: very light and a short salty finish. Light and tasty whisky. 7.5/10
Inchgower 26yo 59.8% 1980-2007 233 bottles cask#14155 (can't find a link for this on their website). Nose: perfect, woody, glue-bitter, reminded me colour and nose of Edradour/Brora. Palate: solid, old. Didn't deliver on the promise of the nose. Finish, mid dry, hot. I'd look out for more Inchgower as there is superb potential there, but this one only got an 8/10 from me.
The Whisky that cannot be named. 50yo Speyside 54.3% 1953-2003 cask#1668 I'll go into more detail below, but: nose: sweet fruit, caramel, coconut (strong), vanilla. Palate: old, lager (good quality one), smoke, incredibly complex finish: med, soft, changes, THC. 10/10.
That last one is the $1500 NZ bottle. It was incredible, first sip or two not much happened, then the complexity began to explode. each sip, each hold in the mouth and another flavour began. i have no idea if it's worth $1500 as I haven't had anything else in that price range before, but I would suggest it probably is. The THC overtones were amusing and quite noticeable, which may also be the 'lager' notes I picked up on (the two are similar). the reason it can't be named is some distilleries who sell Adelphi their casks don't want to be linked, which if the flavour is sooo different to the house blend makes some sense. Daniel mentioned that very old Glenfarclas is known to have THC overtones, and the two dominant theories are a Glenfarclas or the Macallan.
I am really pleased I went to the tasting. I was pissed by the end of it (6 cask strengths whiskies will do that), but I've had a $1500 bottle, and everything else was $180+. Aside from the blend, which as I said was excellent, and only NZ $45 a bottle (UKP 15-17). I came very very close to getting a bottle of Dalmore which was superb, instead picking up a blend as Nick and I had realised neither of us a low alc bottle of whisky :) and putting that order in won me the dregs (2-4 nips) of the Dalmore. So all worked out for me.
Slainte!
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