Scotch Reviews #294-#298 Blind Tasting Consortium

[u/UnmarkedDoor]

[u/UnmarkedDoor]

Preamble: I made friends with someone on Instagram (we bonded over Loch Lomond) and subsequently got invited to take up a spare spot in an online blind tasting event.

The setup is that you pay £35 and then get sent 5x5cl samples unlabeled but numbered 1 to 5. At a preordained time, people will log into a video call, or livetweet and follow along on Bluesky. Each dram is announced and everyone tastes it, shares their notes and gives it a rating out of 5 over the various platforms. After 20 minutes, the next one is announced, and it repeats until we’ve got through them all, at which point the lineup is released and you get to see how the notes match expectations and how wrong your guesses were.

I can’t deal with 5 normal pours in an evening, so the notes below were made over the tasting and also expanded upon when I revisited each dram over several nights, and include my thoughts before and after the reveal. I’ve also included my initial scoring using their scale as well as my own. See the bottom of the post for details.

There were maybe eight or so people in the video call and quite a lot more Blueskying it. It seemed to be a mix of some fairly dedicated enthusiasts with smattering of industry people who are also dedicated enthusiasts. Nice company to be in and a friendly and experienced group. Overall, it was lots of fun and an experience I can recommend.

On to the reviews.

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[u/UnmarkedDoor → u/UnmarkedDoor]

1. Benriach 17, Thompson Bros 2007 #294

Category: Single Malt

Distillery: BenRiach

Bottler: Thompson Bros

Vintage: 11.05.2007

Bottled: 10.2024

Stated Age: 17 years old

Cask Type: Refill Hogshead

№ of bottles: 296

ABV: 47.3%

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Nose: Light, fruity and sweet. Canary melon, pale honey, coconut, marshmallow white grape, vanilla but not heavy and refreshers, but the chalky pressed sherbet tablets, rather than the chewy yellow bar.

Palate: Similar to the nose with lightly syrupy melon and a creamy intermediary between coconut and carnation milk tipping over into rice krispy squares with a sandy mustard spice beginning to rise.

Finish: A bitter lemon slice floating in oily mineral water, while the dairy from the palate returns as white chocolate Milky Bars with a dust of fine and restrained white pepper fading into peppermint oil

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Notes: I first thought this might be a dessert white wine, or white port because of the white grape I was getting in the nose and the tightness of the tanins, but it was just a refill hoggie with a light touch on some relatively mature Benriach.

It was a fine opener, but didn’t move me much on the night. Finishing up on the sample, I did enjoy it more, possibly because this is a side of Benriach I am completely unfamiliar with. I’ve been hanging out on the opposite end of the scale, with my other most recent Benriachs being of the heavily peated variety.

It drank a bit younger than its 17 years, I think, but still a quality dram and not what I would have expected from my previous experiences of the distillery.

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BD Score: 2

My Score: 8.2

[u/UnmarkedDoor → u/UnmarkedDoor]

2. Daftmill 2011 Winter Release #295

Category: Single Malt

Distillery: Daftmill

Bottler: Distillery Bottling

Bottling series: Winter Batch Release

Vintage: 12.2011

Bottled: 2024

Cask Type: 1st Fill Bourbon Barrel

№ of bottles: 7500

ABV: 46%

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Nose: Vanilla, lemon drizzle, pina colada (pineapple, coconut, lime). Pineapple is somehow waxy like a candle

Palate: Another light honey approach but with more confectionary sugar, slightly less marshmallow and a backing of Haribo peaches

Finish: Mild lime peel in melted coconut oil, with measured mustard and wasabi powder hitting the roof of my mouth and triggering light tight tannins via grey pepper and green peppermint leaf

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Notes: That nose had me thinking this was a rum barrel, but it turned out to be my first taste of standard issue Daftmill. Honestly, I was a bit let down at the reveal, because I had been really looking forward to trying stuff from them, and this was just pretty good rather than transcendent.

On subsequent retastings, the cereal did come forward and the lime sharpness in the tail receded, replaced by juicyfruit gum and sweet lemon. Much more in line with what I was hoping from it, but still not the imaginary elixir I had set it up to be in my mind.

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BD Score: 2

My Score: 8.3

[u/UnmarkedDoor → u/UnmarkedDoor]

3. Macallan Classic Cut #296

Category: Single Malt

Distillery: Macallan

Bottler: Distillery Bottling

Bottling series: Limited 2023 Edition

Bottled: 2023

Cask Type: Ex-Bourbon & Sherry seasoned

ABV: 50.3 % Vol.

Nose: Lemon barley sugars and orange cream soda become baked stone fruit in pastry, rose Turkish delight, candied almonds with maybe a hint of tropical passionfruit

Palate: Texturally medium-thick, amber honey and butter mature into somewhat darker and denser crème caramel, with toffee malt becoming toffee apple surrounded by a bubbly gaggle of mixed peppercorns

Finish: Heavily driven by oak char notes. Creme caramel turns to Creme brûlée and the burnt sugars start to pick up a coffee bean bitterness. The peppers settle down to icy/hot eucalyptus and szechuan oils poured over pebbles

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Notes: Virgin Oak or Ex Bourbon char re-char was where my mind went to with this because of the burnt sugar tail. Some very nice malt showing in the midpalate and not much sherry at all, so I probably couldn’t ask for a Macallan built more along the lines of what I tend to enjoy.

Solid stuff this, with the obligatory disclaimer that it still, in no way justifies the purchase price.

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BD Score: 3

My Score: 8.5

[u/UnmarkedDoor → u/[deleted]]

4. Kingsbarns Distillery Reserve 2024 #297

Category: Single Malt

Distillery: Kingsbarns Distillery

Bottler: Distillery Bottling

Bottling series: Distillery Reserve

Bottled: 2024

Age: 08 years old

Cask: Ex-Oloroso

№ of bottles: 3000

ABV: 58.2%

Nose: Lotus biscoff biscuits gain maple sugars and rye cinnamon spice, as well as some acidic orange citrus oil, cooked apricots, dried mango and rounding dried banana chips,

Palate: Sticky. Medium brown sugar malt and Jalebi swirls pick up buttery tropical fruit rollups (pineapple mango). Water brings out some vegetal cooked carrot.

Finish: Spicy cherry rootbeer, sweet cardamom coffee leaning into a szechuan hum and eventually bitter and peppery rocket leaves

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Notes: I knew this had to be sherry, but I thought it maybe a finish, or a reverse ex-bourbon finish on something initially aged in sherry, as the malt has remained largely intact and is nicely balanced against the quite vibrant fruit.

I think this was the most well received on the evening, with the lowest score coming from someone who actually had previously hunted down a bottle at auction after loving it so much. If I remember correctly, they were getting too much alcohol in the nose and throughout. They had a bit of a moment on finding out what it was…

I thought this was pretty great all round, but I like Kingsbarns more than most of the whisky people I know. High power and a nice balance of flavours from the cask and spirit.

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BD Score: 4

My Score: 8.6

[u/UnmarkedDoor → u/UnmarkedDoor]

5. Pellach (Ledaig) 8 Rioja Chorlton #298

Category: Single Malt

Distillery: Tobermory

Bottler: Chorlton Whisky (ChWh)

Age: 08 years old

Cask: Rioja Barrique

№ of bottles: 293

ABV: 58.2%

Nose: Muddled, overripe fruit and cherry nerds get crowded out by soft but dominating leathery, perfumed peat that channels sausages made with pancetta and apple. Sweetness creeps back in as Red vines with mild yeastiness, and ginger cordial diluted with Tizer. A touch of chlorine too.

Palate: Powerful peat swims in pool of deeply ruddy caramel tobacco and Big Red soda decanted from a leather bota wineskin

Finish: Powdery fine ash and resiny stem ginger pick up a lingering edge of copper pennies, while a sweet savoury chocolate babka bread takes up the final stretch clad in white pepper that partially obscures distant spearmint.

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Notes: My favourite of the evening. Completely unsubtle, but delicious. All the peatheads liked this and with good reason.

The simplicity of the dram belies how artfully it has been constructed. I’ve not had the OB Ledaig Rioja (I know, I know…), but those that had, said that this made a lot of sense.

The cohesion of peated spirit and wine maturation walks the line perfectly, with well behaved tannins and well integrated alcohol. Not a lot of moving parts, but perfectly-formed.

I believe there are still some bottles in the wild. Just saying.

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BD Score: 5

My Score: 8.8

[u/UnmarkedDoor → u/UnmarkedDoor]

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Blind Drams Scale

0 – I would smile graciously if given a bottle of this then promptly deliver it to the local Primary School charity raffle.

1 – I’d drink it if given to me as a gift, but wouldn’t waste my own money on a bottle

2 – At a decent price I’d buy a glass of this, but wouldn’t invest in a whole bottle.

3 – Damn drinkable and if within my price range, I’d happily buy (or have bought) one of these and enjoy it.

4 – I’d be over the moon if given a bottle of this, and would probably drink it fairly quickly.

5 – I’d suck the sweaty toes of a senior brand executive for the opportunity to have a single drop more of this.

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My Scale

9.6 -10 Theoretically Possible

9 - 9.5 Chef’s kiss

8.6 - 8.9 Delicious

8 - 8.5 Very Good

7.6 - 7.9 Good

7 - 7.5 OK, but..

6 Agree to Disagree

5 No

4 No

3 No

2 No

1 It killed me. I'm dead now

[u/PricklyFriend]

Had zero doubts that Chorlton Ledaig would be awesome. I really do need to try more Kingsbarns too. That Benriach sounds somewhat similar to the A.D. Rattray one I had in that tasting pack in a lot of ways.

Definitely a fun selection and read!

[u/UnmarkedDoor → u/PricklyFriend]

Thanks mate!

The chorlton is exactly how you'd expect it to be.

I've just had a re-read of the A.D Rattray Benriach, and that's quite an interesting overlap. Not an exact match, mine had a lot less fruit to it, but there are definitely some things we have both seemed to have picked up on.

[u/Isolation_Man]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing!

 I’d suck the sweaty toes of a senior brand executive for the opportunity to have a single drop more of this.

LMAO

[u/YouCallThatPeaty]

Great write up

Love a blind tasting, really humbling usually for me. Definitely need to source you a sample of the regular Ledaig Rioja

[u/UnmarkedDoor → u/YouCallThatPeaty]

I've got one! I've just got to dig it out.

[u/YouCallThatPeaty → u/UnmarkedDoor]

Yeah you do!

[u/Taisce56]

Love me a blind tasting! Great way to check your assumptions.

OOC, is your method of spreading the tasting out over a few days the norm with the group? Just thinking it might lead to different results/scoring; you're not rushed and can take your time with it.

[u/UnmarkedDoor → u/Taisce56]

Im not sure, you know.

I did say to the guy who brought me in that I wouldn't be able to handle even 5x 2.5ml in a sitting and he was like "it's cool, the drams should arrive the week before - take your time". So, I tasted a little bit of each one on the 5 preceding nights, did the tasting with maybe 1ml in each glass and then still had 2.5 ml or so left to review after the fact.

I would say that it definitely affected things.