Best of the best whisky tasting, it's been an unusual year with a limited number of tastings, compounded by a limited selection of whisky coming into the country.
So for the tasting we had 7 whiskies, and a welcome dram (Adelphi blend)
Macallan 15yo 43% [March winner]
- N: aniseed, fruit, earthy, oak, marmalade, sweet caramelised sugar
- P: egg and cream lollies, sweet, dry, lemon, short, watery
- F: short-med, not spicy
7/10. I didn't think much of the Macallan's at the tasting, and this was adequate at best. Came 8th (even the intro dram beat it) on 7.58
GlenAllachie 10yo Batch #4 02/09/20 56.1%
- N: parma violets, sweet, banana, candied cherries
- P: warm, honey, lovely mouthfeel, cough medicine, incr. alc., sweet
- F: med-long
9/10 I loved it at the tasting, and loved it at BotB. Came 2= with 8.82
Mystery: Benromach Port Pipe 26yo d.1992 49.3%
- N: musty, ozone, damp, peat, iodine, sweet, aged?
- P: warm honey, stops quickly, brine
- F: short
6/10 very disappointing whisky, boring and flavour fell away very quickly. 6th, 7.72
Bunnahabhain 18yo 46.3%
- N: caramel, burnt sugar, sweet, rubber, salty, sulphur
- P: nothing, watery, salty, bland
- F: nothing but hint of sulphur
5/10 very disappointing. 5th, 8.22
Lagavulin 12yo Special Release 2019 refill USA cask strength
- N: peaty, iodine, bacon, salt, rubber, campfire, oak, dry
- P: sweet, supporating wound, medicinal, complex, lemon
- F: long, bacon, warm
9/10 Fantastic whisky. Came 4th with 8.34
Caol Ila Signatory 10yo 2010 60.3%
- N: bacon, iodine, peat, burnt red wine, sweet, rubber, sulphur
- P: strong salt, bacon, sweet smoke, honey, sherry
- F: long, bg
8/10 nice whisky. came 1st with 9.24
Longrow Red 10yo 52.5%i
- N: salt, sweet, caramel, toffee, banana, hokey pokey
- P: delicate, honey, lemon, sweet, oily, salt
- F: med-long, tasty
8/10 nice whisky, came 2= 8.82
Overall, not great. And I think that reflects the lack of whiskies that are making it to NZ at the moment. You'd expect for a BotB that the lowest rating would be an 8. Not the case here, although if you are going to have a Macallan tasting we learnt that will increase cost of a tasting without increasing quality of the whisky...
B
