Sunday 23 February 2014

9.80 A rocking chair dram

Information

Distillery: Glen Grant
Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 20
Distilled: 1992
Bottled: 2012
Strength: 49.5%.
Cask Code: 9.80 A rocking chair dram
Cask Type: Refill ex-bourbon barrel

A bunch of like minded whisky bloggers decided to do a bottle share for the Scotch Malt Whisky Society's "Whisky for a year" which involves getting sent out a new bottle every month for the full year, and by sharing the cost among us we were all able to get a share of each bottle to try at a relatively low cost. This allows to experience even more whisky from the society than before.

The fellow bloggers and tweeters are:

Gal (@galg) from Whisky Israel
Yoav (@yoavgel) from Whisky Gospel
Ben (@ben_cops) from Bens Whisky Blog
Tom (@TomsWhisky) from Tom's Whisky Reviews
Jon (@dvdbloke) from Scotch and Sci-fi
Matt (@mattveira) from Guildford Whisky Blog
Adrian (@mynameisgone) from Whisky Chronicle
Ansgar Speller (@ansgarspeller) from Loving Whisky
Thomas Speller (@thomas_speller) from Whisky Speller

Nose: Tinned peaches and creamy strawberry milkshake. Lots of sour apple coming through, like the the Apple Sourz shot drink you get. Apple Jack sweets. Strawberry Jam on toast. The oak is prominent as well with oodles of coconut and vanilla as you might expect. Some more chewy chocolatey caramel elements like Twix Bars and topped off with pecan nuts. A little wood char smoke is there as well.

Palate: Less fruity than I expected in the mouth but where it is lacking in fruit it makes up in wood spice. Coconut Snowballs with a jammy middle. That tangy sour apple is there as well.

Finish: Long and lingering turning a little dry with spiced apples and a touch of lime.

121.64 Maggie Thatcher at the funfair

Information
Distillery: Arran
Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 14
Distilled: 1998
Bottled: 2012
Strength: 54.5%.
Cask Code: 121.64 Maggie Thatcher at the funfair
Cask Type: Refill ex-bourbon barrel

Nose: Very fresh and malty with home cooked barley broth soup. The fruit coming through here are banana, raspberry, some tangerine but that orangey note continuing with some vanilla into some summery orange sorbet ice cream. There is a young woody note of pencils, but strangely more the smell you get when you chew a new pencil. There is a yeasty element that is like new beer fermenting.

Palate: Sweet fruits, malty with that orange sorbet.

Finish:  Long with the sorbet again, finished with liquorice and aniseed.