This article is assembled from detail kindly provided from Daniel’s highly competent whiteboard notes, and with Ian & John D’s best recollections of proceedings. Scoring is from Ian and John, together with the overall group average scoring and the group’s final placing.
Many thanks to Richard Mayston for his photography.
The Book of Great Whisky Tastings
There is a book being written somewhere that will be entitled The Book of Great Whisky Tastings.
To be fair, in my experience there are not many bad whisky tastings.
However, every now and again one comes along that absolutely hits the headlines – the Springbank and associates tasting in Wellington after the 2018 Dramfest is a memorable example.
But now we have new heights! Kurt’s Dark Matter tasting – the seven Sherry Bombs Tasting to rule the world!
On our arrival, Kurt welcomed us and offered us an introductory dram. There were a dozen black Glencairn glasses on the kitchen top, so Kurt had been busy ensuring that we could not even guess the whisky from the colour. After a lot of educated – and a few less so – guesses were made, Ian shouted “Imperial” and got lucky. It was one of the G&M Imperials that was the most common way people got to try product from this demolished Speyside distillery.
The Seven Tastings Line-up.
All seven whiskies were tasted blind. What was in each glass was not revealed until the commentary, the scoring and the guesses were complete.
In glass order (the names have been added with the advantage of hindsight):
Adelphi Laudale Batch Release No 3, 12 yo, 46%
Nose: Rum & raisin, a cardboard box of stewed raisins, sage with peach and marker pen. It smells old, like a dirty barrel, a forest floor and fresh cut grass with pineapple lumps, liquorice and marshmallow.
Palette: Christmas cake with custard, thin, bitter, lemon, metallic.
Finish: Short, going tannic. Slightly bitter, tamarillo, waxy, chocolate orange and roasted coffee.
Score: John 7.4, Ian 8.5, The Group 8.92
Place: 6th
There is a book being written somewhere that will be entitled The Book of Great Whisky Tastings.
Adelphi Hororata Linkwood 11yo, 55.4% ex-sherry
Nose: Dark chocolate, coffee caramel chews. Young and feisty, with vinegar, leather, sherbet and Turkish delight, lavender, and asparagus.
Palette: Oranges, boiled sweets, dry but balanced.
Finish: Lapsang tea leaves, not fully together, young, dusty and slightly ragged.
Score: John 8.3, Ian 8.3, The Group 8.7
Place: 7th
The Whisky Barrel One Giant Leap – Deanston, 10yo 61.6%, first fill Pedro Ximenes
Nose: Stinky, marmite, dark chocolate, decomposing cabbage, potato chips, almonds, bonfire, buddha stick, earl grey tea, gun powder
Palette: Hot, better than the nose, chilli, chocolate cake, marmite, creamy
Finish: Spicy, stewed tea, sage bonbons, menthol, waxy & alcohol
Score: John 7.5, Ian 8.2, The Group 9.37
Place: 3rd
G&M Balblair 1993, 49/6% first fill puncheon
Nose: Meadow grass, apple tarts, Turkish coffee, condensed milk, brown sugar, stale chocolate, nectarines, aged ham, modelling glue,
Palette: Raw runner beans, sherry casks, pleasant plums, soft.
Finish: Huge, sweet, dry, a drinker, sticky, chocolate, PX.
Score: John 7.8, Ian 8.4, The Group 9.03
Place: 5th
Adelphi Glenrothes 8 yo 66.6% one of 315 bottles
Nose: Walnuts, plums, mahogany, bee pollen, oranges, simple and elegant.
Palette: Not very old, anaesthetic, grubby
Finish: Alcohol buzz, chocolate powder
Score: John 9.4, Ian 8.7, The Group 9.46
Place: 2nd
Adelphi Blair Athol, 21yo, 57.2%, Sherry Hogshead (The Mystery)
Nose: Dark fudge chocolate, floral, raisins, camphor, copper, an unlit cigarette, blueberry tarts, toffee apples, plum pudding
Palette: Pureed fruit pudding, Turkish delight lollies, a menthol cigarette, chocolate-covered plums.
Finish: Chewy date pudding and hospitals. Fantastic!
Scores: John 9.5, Ian 8.8, The Group 9.1
Place: 1st
Adelphi Teaninich 12yo 55.9% first fill Sherry Butt
Nose: Autumn leaves, caramel, a leather seat in a new car, cooking apples and figs, and a dirty bookcase.
Palette: Liquorice, spearmint and vine fruit.
Finish: Chewy and yummy
Scores: John 9.1, Ian 8.6, The Group 9.1
Place: 4th
The “After-Match” Function
From Ian’s notes:
Once the main proceedings were finished. Kurt offered some yummy food to soak up the alcohol and attention turned to a range of novel drams that people had brought for others to try.
Meeting in a convivial atmosphere brings out the sharing nature: there is too much whisky in the world to buy a bottle of, and each of us has only a limited exposure. It is nice to try something someone picked up in some store or on their pre-Covid travels that they think is worth a wider audience.
Pat brought a bottle of peated French whisky. It was a little synthetic to start with and a bit raw, but I liked how the peat worked with the spirit – I scored it a 7.9 but I did not make any detailed notes. The French consume a lot of whisky so it makes sense that they also have a few distilleries of their own. This was a first for me and probably for many people present – a great choice by Pat.
From Mel, a dark Adelphi Benriach 8yo 59.1% #34 to fit into proceedings: dark chocolate, Phoenix cola – score 8.5. Matt’s comment: a face full of salty raisins
From Kurt, an Adelphi Inchgower 2007 12yo 55.8% Hororata bottling. I didn’t score it but it was in the 8-8.5 region.
I poured a mystery sherried whisky which no-one seriously objected to – a 12yo Jura, from Douglas Laing, finished in PX. I would say you would be hard pushed to recognise it as a Jura.
The Wrap-Up
For someone with mobility issues, it is quite a walk up paths and stairs to Kurt’s house. It’s a more perilous trek back down the paths and stairs four-and-a-half hours later.
But the time spent in between the climb and the trek back was sublime.
And mobility issues are taken for granted after drinking a wide range of good whiskies for that long. My personal thanks to Pat for moral and physical support on the return journey.
And an enormous vote of thanks to Kurt for the event, for his organisation and especially his hospitality.
Slainte mhath