Stands Out

SMWS Cask No. 3.184
Islay
61.0% ABV
Distilled October 1996
$115
US Allocation: 60 bottles
December 2012 Outturn Release

What the SMWS Says:
This nose was complex – perfumed smoke, candles, black tea, vinegar on coal and buckets of brine – but sweet (barley sugars, sherbet lemons, cinnamon sweets, pineapple cake) and floral (lavender, geranium, jasmine). The taste swung from sweet (Edinburgh Rock) to savoury (smoked pork loin, honey glazed ham); also charcoal and witch hazel. The reduced nose had fragrant vanilla, lemon, roses, soap and White Linen perfume sprayed on driftwood. Flavours now danced around the tongue with leaps of liquorice, lavender and lemon, whirls of white pepper, arabesques of ash and high kicks of coal. 1779 distillery at the centre of whisky island.

Drinking tip: Perfect ceilidh dram – or as a reward for some other strenuous achievement

What Richard Says:
Nose: A very nice brined smokiness and Big Red chewing gum. Water makes it more fruity and floral.
Palate: Smoky, honey sweetness, a little vanilla, and astringent.
Finish: Old polished wood furniture. Water tames to wood and makes it a little more peppery.
Comments: This is all around very nice Islay. It has nice smoke and brine notes with a depth and complexity that will keep you coming back.
Rating: Stands Out

Review sample provided courtesy of the SMWSA and is available to society members through their website or 800.990.1991.

SMWS Cask No. G9.1
Grain
57.8% ABV
Distilled September 2000
$100
US Allocation: 48 bottles
December 2012 Outturn Release

What the SMWS Says:
The nose balanced toffee, marzipan, glace cherries and lemon puff biscuits against some spritzy, slightly acidic sherbet; we also found waxed paper, hazelnuts, greenery and geraniums. The unreduced palate had sharp, tropical fruits and lemon peel; also new wood and then something spicy and savoury. The reduced nose suggested peaches, cheesecake, woodland paths and a ruined castle by a lily-pad loch – quite a landscape. The reduced palate seemed a reasonable mixture of sweetness and astringency – a sweet and sour melange of toffee, pineapple, green sappy wood with some white pepper spicy heat in the finish. Captain Haddock’s favourite dram, apparently.

Drinking tip: While watching (or reading) Tintin

What Richard Says:
Nose: Brown butter, marzipan, and fresh baked scones. Water makes the nose very green. Lots of fresh grass, wet forest floors, and your mom’s flower garden before the flowers bloom.
Palate: Ooooh yum! At only 11 years this is one tasty grain. Richer that you wold expect. Lots of polished wood and spicy peppers (black and white). Water adds a little lemon zest.
Finish: Dry with lots of fresh cut raw wood. The finish is my least favorite part. I guess you will just have to keep drinking it. 😉
Comments: Very lovely. You don’t often get access to single grain scotches and they are usually really good or really bad. This is a good one.
Rating: Stands Out

Review sample provided courtesy of the SMWSA and is available to society members through their website or 800.990.1991.

SMWS Cask No. 48.26
Speyside, Spey
50.5% ABV
Distilled March 1988
$155
US Allocation: 120 bottles
December 2012 Outturn Release

What the SMWS Says:
Distinctly floral to start – jasmine, lilac – with earthy, ‘mushroom grow-bag’ notes behind. We were reminded of a wild garden, but the heavy scents balanced by emerging lemon sherbets – and this citric note also modifies the sweet taste, with traces of paprika. Fresher and more Speyside-like with water, but still earthy, with a whiff of smouldering leaves, and a fresh note of ‘lemon-scented fabric-softener’. The taste is soft, sweet and quaffable; rounded and centre-palate – ‘mashed strawberries with black pepper’ – with a medium length finish. This remote distillery overlooks the Haughs of Cromdale, where once a battle was fought, and its make is not currently bottled by its owner.

Drinking tip: Whilst watching someone else gardening

What Richard Says:
Nose: Cherry hard candies, heather, and sauteed mushrooms.
Palate: Lightly sweet reminding me of mixed berries followed by a pinch of cayenne pepper. Water opens up more flavors of orange peel and Ouzo.
Finish: Black pepper and old oak.
Comments: Lovely, very drinkable, but not terribly complex. I really did enjoy this dram but it was a bit of a one trick pony.
Rating: Stands Out

Review sample provided courtesy of the SMWSA and is available to society members through their website or 800.990.1991.

SMWSA Cask No. 29.104
Islay
58.2% ABV
Distilled October 1990
$140
US Allocation: 120 bottles
Winter 2012 Outturn Release

What the SMWSA Says:
A big nose with lots going on. Carbolic soap, sticking plasters, treacle, hot smoked salmon, burnt heather and liquorice root added to the the anticipation. Then a youthful woody spiciness together with jerk chicken sauce (rosemary, thyme, cloves, honey). The palate was massive with concentrated flavors and bitter woodiness. Water brought out prunes, raisins, lemon juice and old camp fires. A musky aroma accompanied some lighter floral notes. A brief hint of struck matches to taste gave way to tannins, burnt heather, liquorice sticks and lots of sweetness. It benefited from some water t calm it down. Of the three Kildalton distilleries, this is the one closest to Port Ellen.

Drinking tip: When you aren’t planning on sampling another whisky that evening

What Richard Says:
Nose: Burnt rubber and iodine with hints of peat. There’s also a meaty backbone that’s almost discernible right before the alcohol overwhelms it.
Palate: A quick hit of sweetness from dried fruits that plays at the beginning and end of the palate but plays hide and seek while you’re rolling it around in your mouth. It’s viscous to the point of almost being chewy.
Finish: Refreshingly smoky? A peat smoke breath mint? It sounds crazy but that’s what it’s like. Long after all this fades away it leaves you will light woodiness.
Comments: This is a complex malt that reveals itself in an iterative way. You can’t take one pass at it. Spend time with it. Explore it and you will be rewarded.
Rating: Stands Out

Review sample provided courtesy of the SMWSA and is available to society members through their website or 800.990.1991.