Whisky Tasting: 25 years of Daniel, part 2

 Regular readers will remember this years' 25 years of Daniel tasting, woohoo we got a second go at the dram. 

So our regular, now enhanced, cabal of four turned up to drink to the great man...this time down in the trenches with us...

Cadenhead Bunnahabhain '89 28yo 43.8% b1/3/2018; bourbon hogshead

• N: grassy, honey suckle, pineapple, wine, bourbon, lemonade
• P: lager, lemon, light, green tea
• F: long peppery, gentle salt, warming

8.5/10 I'm beginning to realise that Neil maybe right and that I like Bunnahabhain. This seems a good thing. Came 8th with 8.0 [story on why there's 8 later]

Adelphi Linkwood 1993 25yo 50.4% Bourbon cask #4469

• N: bourbon, warm, strong, salt/meths, effervescent lemon, floor polish
• P: fruit, ginger, spicy
• F: pepper, long

8/10 interesting and I like Linkwood, but not as great as I hoped. Came 6th with 8.07

Laphroaig 25yo 48.9% 2017 bourbon 2nd fill oloroso

• N: peat, bacon, salt, delicate, vinegar, smokey
• P: salt, bacon, asphalt, methanol
• F: medium, smokey

8/10 Other times I've had the 25yo Laphroaig I've rated it higher. Oh well. 4th 8.9

Longrow 21yo 46% [mystery]

• N: rubber, egg, sulphur, sweet vanilla, sherry, lanolin
• P: sulphur, burnt ash, socks, 
• F: short

7/10 lacking in complexity and possibly missed a trick by being 46%. 7th, 8.01

Adelphi Bowmore 1994 25yo 54.2% refill sherry #554

• N: caramel, salt, toffee, cream, yummy, vanilla.
• P: warm, honey, peat, ash, bread, sweet
• F: long and peppery

9.5/10 again, anyone else bottling Bowmore is onto winners :) superb stuff. Came 3rd, 9.1

Adelphi Glen Keith 1995 23yo 60.5% refill bourbon #8512

• N: banana, sweet, ash, vanilla, PVA glue, violets, peat, sherbert
• P: sweet, aniseed, lemonade
• F: hot, med-long

6/10 not a fan of this, nose promised a lot not much delivered tho. However I was in the minority - came 5th, 8.67. 

Adelphi Mortlach 1993 25yo 56% refill sherry #4469

• N: sherry, sweet, old, complex, cinnamon
• P: complex, sherry, old, xmas cake
• F: long, sweet

9.5/10 hey it's a Mortlach, and an old one. Of course I'd like it. Ticked all the Mortlach boxes of meaty sherry complexity. Everyone else finally got their crap sorted and agreed with me, came 2nd 9.47.

so the 8th dram? All the dregs from Best of the Best into a teapot dram. This came first with 9.92. 

-b

Whisky Tasting: Best of the Best 2020

 Another year, another best of the best. Admittedly tastings were a bit haphazard and disrupted for some reason, but we still got through a reasonable amount of whisky. 

Due to the reduced number of tastings we had two mystery drams for the tasting.

Ardbeg Uigeadail 54.2% [Mystery]

• N sweet, peat, salt, rubber, earthy, medicinal, aniseed, chlorine, pear drops
• P peat, sweet, tasty, dry, ash, oily, hot, creosote
• F long dry

9/10 I liked this a lot, although it came last with 8.1 on the night. 

Benriach Batch 16 Pedro Ximenez Butt #6924 56.2% 21.2.2005-2019 13yo

• N sweet, tobacco, toffee, sherry, turkish delight
• P warm honey, sweet, odd sick taste   
• F short, almost bitter finish

7/10 not grabbing me. disappointing for a benriach. Came 5th on the night 8.54.

Glendronach SC 25yo oloroso #1416 51.2% 23/3/1993-2019 [mystery]

• N fried egg, sherry, marshmallow, dry, raisins, burnt caramel
• P warm, leather polish, aged smooth, dry, sherry, raisins, complex
• F long, warm, complex

10/10 not a huge surprise I liked this :) it came 4th on the night, 8.70

Glendronach 23yo 1995 52.5% PX puncheon

• N light, sherry, nectaries, fried egg
• P  sherry, xmas cake, not subtle, tannins, treacle
• F medium

8/10 bit of a disappointment, in a qualified way, i don't think it had anywhere near the complexity of the previous dram. but everyone else liked it, 2nd 9.09

Amrut Greedy Angel 8yo 50% Chairman's Reserve unpeated Indian with peated scottish barley

• N sweet, bourbon, citrus, linseed, latex, canvas
• P sweet, hint of bourbon, spiky, fighty, vigorous
• F med - long

8.5/10 interesting, good etc, just over shadowed by some of the others in this tasting. came 6th 8.4

Smokehead High Voltage 22.01.2020 58%

• N salt, rubber, bacon, peat iodine
• P sweet, smoky, sherry, bacon   
• F long, sweet

9/10 great dram, and great value for money. Came 3rd, 8.7.

Amrut Portonova Batch 22 62.1%

• N caramel, sweet, old, complex, amazing, eggs, sulphur, candied oranges
• P honey, complex, aged, smooth leather 
• F superb, long

10/10 This was amazing. And not cheap. Came 1st 9.32

Great line-up, all whiskies i'd be happy to have in the cupboard. 

Slainte...