Whisky Tasting : Best of the Best

 And so it comes around again, our yearly what did we like drinking, and let's have more of those session. Obviously it's spiced up a bit with haggis and dinner, dragged back down again by a piper, and confused by the increasingly poorly enunciating ode to the haggis. 

Talisker 11yo special release 2022 55.1%

• N: bacon, dry, salt, sweet, peat, pears, bourbon, lemon, melons
• P: mint, chewing gum, big peaty, smokey, salty, spicy, coastal
• F: med-long, pepper, salt

8/10 for me, it came last with 8.32, which seemed a little unfair. but there we go.

Kavalan Solist NC2 PX 57.1% 

• N: caramel, sherry, Armagnac,  pickled onions, very sweet
• P: big sherry, sweet, xmas cake, chewy, sour cherry, tannic, liquorice
• F: long, big

9/10. well that was a bit good. Came 5th, 8.68

Hazelburn 15yo Sherrywood 55.8% 

 

• N: caramel, sherry, dry, salted caramel, pencil shavings, rubber, butterscotch
  
• P: sulphur, complex, sherry, chewy, syrupy, astringent
  
• F: med

7/10 as a long time fan of hazleburn this wasn't as good as I was hoping. Oh well, it came 6th (8.67)

Glenallachie 14yo Whisky Galore 57.8% 21st anniversary

• N: green apples, musty, sweet, rubber, citrus, brown sugar
  
• P:sherry, big, brown sugar, strong, dry
  
• F: long,huge

9.5/10 when i originally had this I don't think I rated it, but umm, I might have been wrong... came 3rd 8.87

Mystery: Glendronach Batch 11

• N: egg caramel, sherry, silage, bourbon, less sherry on nose, sulphur
  
• P: sulphur, eggs
  
• F: warm, long

10/10. Yes, I liked this, a lot. Came 4th 8.79, but for me had all the complexity, all the sherry, all good. 

Glentauchers 10yo 64.3% Blackadder raw cask 2012

• N: caramel egg cremes, creamy, sherry, rubber, sweet, bakewell tart,
  
• P: citrus lemon, big bourbon, caramel, sweet, liquorice
  
• F: long, big

9.5/10 again, this ticked a fair number of boxes for me. And apparently for everyone else, came 1st, 9.16

Caol Ila 11yo Blackadder 58.1% 23.8.2012-10.2023 sherry finish

• N: sweet, salt, bacon, coastal, medicinal iodine
  
• P: salty bacon, smoky, well balanced between dry and sweet
  
• F:v long, rubber, salt, liquorice

9/10. I may already have a bottle of this. Came 2nd, 9.14

 As you'd expect from a Best of the Best, fair number of high scoring drams there. And any tasting where we have two Blackadder's can't be bad. 

Slainte!