Invergordon 45 y.o. Single Grain Scotch Whisky 1972 – 2018, Bourbon barrel, 49,5%

Comment: Classic flawless grain nose, on the crossroads between rum and Bourbon, very mature: vanilla sweetness, maple syrup, marzipan, well-oaky but fits in, marshmallows, Big Red chewing gum, almonds and coconut, fudge, cardamom and nutmeg, pineapple, peach, apple juice, fruit-infused tea and fruity pipe tobacco mix, catnip. On the palate, it is quite oaky and spicy at first, then it gives room to the complexity of the nose, loooong vanilla carpet all the way into the finish.

Score: 90

Ardmore 20 y.o. Mancarella 1998, Bourbon Hogshead, 51,9%

Comment: On the farmyardy side altogether with greener fermentation notes and cheese, aroma-laden coal smoke, peat, leather, yellow apple, olives, shoe shine, flowery elements too. Nice mature palate with a sweet malty backbone, peatier than the nose with my beloved flintiness. Complex and deep.

Score: 89

Dino visits Pit

Speyside Region 28 y.o. Mancarella 1989 – 2018, Bourbon cask, 93 btl., 47,6%

Comment: Very fruity (pink grapefruit, maracuja, garden fruits) and full of blossom honey. This has good maturity and balance, the wood is exactly right. Mint, chili, bloody steak, a trace of ginger and the sweetness of vanilla pastries in the nose. On the palate it delivers similarly. very soft but lacking a bit of power. However, it is so refined, I forgive – a winner, again.

Score: 90-91

Invergordon 44 y.o. Mancarella 1973 – 2018, Bourbon cask, 106 btl., 52,3%

Comment: Those Grains are winning ground in the community of whisky nerds. A profile in the middle between Rum, Scotch and Bourbon makes them very complex at higher age. This one is no exception. Clear grainy whiffs meet Barbados-Rum (coconut, pineapple, soft smoke, vanilla), demerara sugar, lime blossom, blueberries, resin, maple syrup, apple crumble with cinnamon, gingerbread and what not, an amazing Bourbon cask did ist work here. For sweet teeth and lovers of complex drams. Wow!

Score: 91+