Talisker Berry Bros. & Rudd 1974 – 2001, Cask 6268, 43%

Comment: This rare baby is surprisingly powerful at 43% with a cherry-like sherry influence, gunpowder sulphur and loads of plums. Altogether a smaller version of the BBR Talisker 1972 – really good and unique with quite some spiciness.

Score: 91

Talisker 50 y.o. ‚Secret Stills 01.01‘ G&M (Gordon & Macphail), 1955 – 2005, Sherry Cask 1312, 45%

Comment: Deep dark plummy notes (jam of ripe dark fruits), peppery spice, brooding but also balanced at the same time, mainly on maraschino cherry, coal and red dark grapes. Polished mahogani and a maritime character join the complex nose right from the start. However, it keeps changing, now we have ginger bread, milk chocolate cookie, even vanilla and toffee in the foreground. This legend tastes much smoother than expected, high class without too much of a chili catch. It goes on with whiffs of humidor, coffee, matches and christmas cake. The grand finale is ultralong on great sherry and coal dust, gunpowder-sulphur and dark fruit.

Score: 92+

Old Pulteney OB 17 y.o., 46%

Comment: This is the younger brother of the „World’s Greatest Whisky 2012“ according to Jim Murray – my sample of the actual winner (21 y.o.) is under way, but I had the 21 at our stand in Munich two years ago, I scored it at ’90-‚ then. Not a bad dram at all, but it didn’t change my whisky world. Funny, not many people wanted to give it a try then. That might have changed by now.

Its younger brother at 17 years is equally as fine and very recommendable. The nose reveals Marshmallows, moss, berries (gooseberry, cassis), apricots, apples and passionfruit and seems nicely fresh. Flowery and smoky elements join in as well. I tastes like its nose and shows great roundness – an absolutely convincing dram!

Score: 89

Ardmore 18 y.o. Dewar Rattray 1992, 46,8%

Comment: Great Speyside elements mostly on hay and dried flowers and a lot of lemony notes meet just the right amount of smoke and peat that can be taken by the rather fragile distillate. Honey and ginger whiffs add to the mix. Two worlds colliding, not bad, but a bit mind-boggling.

Score: 87-

Arran 15 y.o., The Maltman 1996, Sauternes Cask, 46%

Comment: Donald Harts new series of independent bottlings has hit the markets. My first specimen of these drams is this Arran, a very creamy and fat dram, mostly built on primary notes. It might not be the most complex one, but it is darn good, especially when the Sauternes/Barsac sweet wine is talking (Chateau Climens Cask). A worthwhile Arran.

Score: 88+

Cooley 10 y.o. Dewar Rattray 2000, 46%

Comment: Very typical Irish Whiskey with a lot of class. Grass, vanilla, lemon, soft fruitiness and gummibears without any edges. Very smooth.

Score: 87+

Ben Nevis 13 y.o. Dewar Rattray 1996, Sherry Cask, 58,2%

Comment: Displays this wonderful Ben Nevis character made of forest floor notes, Curry, chocolate and so much more – my winner of that night because it is real Single Malt – no other distillery can produce drams like this. If you like Ben Nevis and cask strength, go for it.

Score: 90

Longmorn 30 y.o. G&M, 43% (bottled ca. 2009)

Comment: These old Sherry Cask Gordon & Macphail bottlings never disappoint. If only they were a bit stronger in abv… however, with some distilleries like Macallan or Strathisla it doesn’t matter, these whiskies already convince at 40% or 43%. This Longmorn is no exception, but it could have scored three points higher with a bit more intensity. I am getting Haribo ‚Saftbären‘ gummibears (again, sorry!) and fine well-integrated Sherry at first, also Cassis and loads of dark fruits – like a compote. The taste satisfies with berries, dusty books, dark wood and the notes from above in a round and sweet way and the right amount of bitterness in between. One for sipping all night.

Score: 90+

Photo: L. Langer (link) - Thanks! His shop is worth a visit!

It was a hard day, so I need a bit of a treat. Mmmmh, let’s go for Islay power, an Ardbeg. But a special one: How about a bottling from the good old days, complex, but bottled at young age…the choices get narrower – maybe even at cask strength … and sherried … extremely hard to find. As I go through my samples I suddenly hold this nice specimen in my hand:

Ardbeg 13 y.o. Gordon & Macphail for Intertrade, 26 June 1975 – 13 July 1988, 543 btl., 75cl, 54,2%

This might save my day. I remember it as very powerful and pleasantly sulphury – in its very own style. As I am pouring the reddish-ambered liquid there is an astonishing viscosity visible. The aroma quicky fills the room, wow, the peaty cavalry comes through. Let’s see if it turns out well (the day and the Ardbeg) …

Nose: Close to perfection, I could smell this forever. Islay freshness at first. The elegance of Sherry traces (dark fruits, dark European oak) meets the raw peat-iodine-sulphur-combo (gunpowder-cavalry again), but all that in great complexity and depth, not only on primary in-your-face notes. Whatever you look for in an Islay Whisky is there! And more: fine tobacco, high-end chocolate, pepper and spice and roasted coffee as well, but nothing is disjointed or bitter – all aromas blow into the same horn, so to speak. OBF (Old bottle flavour)  rounds off this killer.

Palate: Oh my God. It is as good as I feared it to be. Full on, but also elegant and round – this malt builds a bridge between these opposites. Maybe it is the ‚in-between-age‘. All is there again with a slightly dry entry. Flints, peat, sulphur, iodine, gunpowder, Sherry, dark fruit, spicy chocolate, tires, malt, Culatello ham and fine wood build a tower on the mid-palate. No water!

Finish: Let’s play ’spot the weakness‘. It might not have the longest and most sustaining of all finishes, but it still is quite long and really impressive. It is a simplified copy of the nose that comes in waves like at the Southern coast of its natural mother. Jolly good.

Score: 94-

Comment: Great great Ardbeg, and I love the medium-age effect in this one. It has made my day! Thank God it was a 4cl-sample: 2 cl left for me to savour without taking stupid notes .

Macallan G&M 10 y.o. G&M, 70° (red letters, probably distilled in the 1960ies)

Nose: Very elegant profile (not weak at all, but less obtrusive and fat than the younger versions – this thin lady wants to be discovered) with lemon and orange zest, humidor, pepper, faint earthy peat smoke, sweet malt (but less sweet than in younger ages), vanilla pudding, dark fruits, traces of Sherry and the European oak (Quercus robur). I also get apples, hay, coal and a whiff of ginger. Again, perfectly round and balanced.

Palate: Medium-dry and slightly sweet, thin like a needle yet loaded with aromas which are just dotted onto the palatal canvas, definitely not a „in-your-face“ style.  You have to concentrate hard not to miss the complexity because of the ‚light-loaded‘ character (this is no contradiction!). All notes from the nose show up discretely. Drink this Mac in big sips.

Finish: Malt, haystack and dried flowers, earthy peat tingles, dark oak ad fruits. Medium length.

Score: 90-

Comment: This one reminds me of the brighter versions of the 1962 – and the distillery character is clearly there. In a nutshell it is light and summer breezy, but definitely high class – for those looking for understatement and finesse. It needs a little work, but then it rocks. For lovers of powerful drams it is just highly drinkable without leaving too much of an impression concerning the primary notes. Use it as an aperitif, an afternoon malt or put it early in a tasting session.