🥃 Whisky Auctioneer

Blind tasting of a sample. A difficult whisky to rate. The nose deserves a score over 90, but the taste and finish are very far below that. This bottle would last very long in my collection as I'd only endlessly sniff it.

[July, 2022] Last night we did another of these 3M-tastings (Mega-Monster-Marathon) in memoriam of good old Roland (R.I.P.) who introduced me into the wonderful world of single malt whisky: Six people, six hours and sixty drams (small measures only, because otherwise we would have ended up at the hospital). In such a setting it is neither possible nor does it make any sense to write detailed notes hence take my scores with a grain of salt. This was the menu after a "warm-up" with four private cask samples (not rated): 01) Aberlour Glenlivet 1965, 8 years old, dumpy square bottle, pale colour, 50% WB5993 ~ 90 points 02) Aberlour Glenlivet 8 years old, dumpy square bottle, dark colour, 50% WB158028 ~ 92 points 03) Springbank 1973 Samaroli Ageing Monography, 15 years, 50% WB21389 ~ 93 points 04) Caol Ila 1978 GM, casks 5347-351, 11553-564, 13 years, 63.7% WB29413 ~ 91 points 05) Slim Cowell's Personal Selection II (Glen Garioch), 1972, 15 years, 60.0% WB45342 ~ 95 points 06) Slim Cowell's Personal Selection III (Glen Garioch), 1973, 15 years, 60.5% WB146707 ~ 94 points 07) Slim Cowell's Personal Selection IV (Glen Garioch), 1975, 15 years, 56.0% WB143920 ~ 93 points 08) Glen Cawdor 1976 (Glen Garioch), Samaroli, 57.0% WB121474 ~ 92 points 09) Inchgower1974 TWA private stock, 37 years, 60.6% WB28329 ~ 92 points 10) Bowmore 1989 TWA private stock, 22 years, 43.9% WB28483 ~ 89 points 11) Caol Ila 1984 TWA private stock, 27 years, 49.5% WB34021 ~ 92 points 12) Caperdonich 1972 SV Sailing Ships, casks 7130-2, 16 years, 40% WB23773 ~ 91 points 13) Irish Single Malt 1989 TWA for TWE, 27 years, 46.8% WB108763 ~ 91 points (unusual double distillation only at Bushmills) 14) Tamnavulin 1966 TWA private stock, 44 years, 44.9% WB18650 ~ 91 points 15) Aultmore 1974 TWA private stock, 37 years, 41.2% WB28676 ~ 92 points 16) Clynelish 1972 TWA private stock, 38 years, 45.8% WB17240 ~ 95 points 17) Glenfarclas 1969 SV dumpy, casks 52-54, 20 years, 58.2% WB12666 ~ 93 points 18) Fragments Of Scotland Orkney 1977, Samaroli, bottled 1988 50% WB3972 ~ 92 points (Highland Park) 19) Old Pulteney Pure Highland Malt, GM 8 years, 40% WB151788 ~ 90 points 20) Laphroaig 10 years Cask Strength 1000ml, very first (test) batch for duty free only, 57.3% WB38563 ~ 95 points (very fruity, contains mid-70ies stuff most probably) 21) Oban 13 years The Manager's Dram, bottled 1990, 62.0% WB9873 ~ 88 points 22) Bruichladdich 1968 Stillman's Reserve, 25 years, 45% ~ 90 points 23) Macallan 1965 OB, bottled 1983, 17 years, 43% WB11236 ~ 93 points 24) Lagavulin 12 years, old green ink label, 43% WB13018 ~ 95 points (very dark colour due to high share of sherry casks) 25) Lagavulin 12 years, old white label without glass horse, 43% WB56654 ~ 93 points 26) Ben Nevis 15 years, OB bottled 1981 40% no WB id ~ 93 points 27) Talisker 1953 GM, old CC label, 24 years, 43% WB16701 ~ 92 points 28) Ardbeg 1974 GM, new map label, bottled 2003, 43% WB7855 ~ 93 points 29) Ardbeg 1974 GM, old map label, bottled 1996, 40% WB6301 ~ 92 points 30) Ardbeg 1974 GM, old map label, bottled 1994, 40% WB12156 ~ 93 points 31) Ardbeg 1974 GM, old map label, bottled 1993, 40% WB17457 ~ 93 points 32) Ardbeg 1974 GM, old map label, bottled 1991, 40% WB33242 ~ 94 points 33) Springbank 15 years, brown ceramic book, 43% WB57174 ~ 93 points 34) Bruichladdich 1965 GM, casks 5525,5530,5531, 25 years, 53.5% WB16888 ~ 90 points 35) Bruichladdich 1966 Moon Reserva Veronelli, bottled 1983, 53.5% WB14053 ~ 92 points 36) Ardbeg 1974 SSMC, cask #4377 19 years, 55.1% WB11798 ~ 94 points 37) Aberfeldy 19 years The Manager's Dram, bottled 1991, 61.3% WB26 ~ 93 points 38) Rosebank 15 years Unblended Single Malt, 75cl Zenith Italia, 50% WB3455 ~ 91 points 39) Ardbeg 1967 DL, 32 years, 185 bottles, 47.5% WB5563 ~ 90 points (unusual green colour, strange taste) 40) Brora 1971 DL OMC, 29 years, 258 bottles, 50% WB3925 ~ 96 points 41) Longmorn 1969 GM Limburg Whisky Fair, cask #3724, 38 years, 54.6% WB3697 ~ 93 points 42) Springbank 1965 Alte Tabakstube, cask MM 1980, 30 years, 53.8% WB12393 ~ 94 points 43) Ardbeg 1973 Dun Eideann, cask #3933, 17 years, 55.4% WB17211 ~ 95 points 44) Ardbeg 1972 Dun Eideann, cask #3444, 18 years, 58.9% WB22995 ~ 94 points 45) Longmorn 1972 GM, cask #1078, 38 years, 53.9% WB22210 ~ 93 points 46) Glen Garioch 1968 OB, cask #614, 29 years, 54.4% WB7312 ~ 94 points 47) Springbank 1966 OB, cask #489, bottle 157, 31 years, 52.0% WB8801 ~ 96 points 48) Talisker 1955 GM, cask #1315, 37 years, 50.4% WB23839 ~ 94 points 49) Ben Nevis 1966, OB 75cl, 26 years, 59.0% WB6306 ~ 95 points 50) Ben Nevis 1966, OB 75cl, 25 years, 59.0% WB28465 ~ 96 points 51) Bowmore 1971 Sestante, 14 years, 57.7% WB53113 (but different label) ~ 95 points 52) Bowmore 1966 DL, cask #3317, 40 years, 43.2% WB2192 ~ 97 points 53) Avonside Pure Highland Malt 1938, 33 years, sherry wood, 43% WB157130 ~ 91 points (very interesting dill herbal flavours) 54) Laphroaig 1966 SV dumpy, cask #559, bottled 1996, 48.6% WB8206 ~ 95 points 55) Laphroaig 1967 SV dumpy, cask #2957, bottled 1994, 50.1% WB3139 ~ 95 points 56) Ardbeg Over 10-years old, CA dumpy for SCOMA, 58.5% WB46394 ~ 94 points No more drams this evening! And please remember: Whisky was rather made for drinking than for herding...

http://www.weinkenner.de/2013/inchgower-1959er-cadenhead-und-1974er-whisky-agency-eine-suende-wert-26852/ Color: full gold Nose: Much creamier and spicier than the old Cadenhead, with more vanilla, lingering lemon and orange flavors, well-integrated gums, dry leather, tobacco, spicy-salty. Taste: Actively alcoholic start with slightly bitter, dry leather and wood, then large honey notes in conjunction with waxy orange and lemon jam. Add lemon balm, mint (peppermint), ginger and white pepper. Very fresh and very salty mouthfeel. Finish: Through the salty and minty Sharpness very long. The orange flavors become even creamier and more intense, otherwise like the taste. Comment: Werniger Klosterfrau Melissengeist with pickled tic-tac-orange "

Aroma . First impression: a festive cake with cream, candied fruit and berries and juicy impregnation. Then malt, apple and lemon candies, marmalade, dry wood, lacquer, honey and wax, vanilla, a little bit of minerality. With a drop of water, more fresh, lemon. The taste is rich, moderately sweet: hot pepper, vanilla, bourbon, citrus, fruit marmalade, honey, a lot of oak, ginger, in the end sheer bitterness. With water is even, citrus and bitter. The aftertaste is long, astringent, oak with spices, bourbon, honey, unripe fruit. Conclusion . An interesting, strong specimen. A fascinating aroma, but the taste a little loses: too harsh and bitter beyond measure. Without water, it is hard to drink. In general, it is not a bad thing, it is consistent. A sample of bourbon aging. The score is 90 (n23t22f23b22).

Atypical!

Very Highlands, waxy and full of acidulous fruits. Excellent.

The best Inchgower I've ever had the pleasure of trying. The bottlings from the 70s are particularly great. This Inchgower here is a true chameleon. It starts off with a warm, waxy, fruity profile and then shifts into wonderful herbal notes. A style that is hard to find these days.