63.39 - Poached pear tart

Submitted by Philip Storry on Mon, 04/09/2017 - 20:36

9 years old, distilled 6th December 2007, 61.1% abv, Refill Ex-Bourbon Barrel, 226 bottles, dram price A

29.228 - Cooking with driftwood

Submitted by Philip Storry on Mon, 04/09/2017 - 20:34

20 years old, distilled 26th November 1996, 50.9% abv, Refill Ex-Bourbon Hogshead, 245 bottles, dram price F

55.47 - Barrique fantastique

Submitted by Philip Storry on Mon, 04/09/2017 - 20:32

16 years old, distilled 26th September 2000, 57.3% abv, Red Wine Barrique, 245 bottles, dram price C

7.173 - Salted dark chocolate

Submitted by Philip Storry on Mon, 04/09/2017 - 20:30

26 years old, distilled 15th June 1990, 55.7% abv, First Fill French Oak Hogshead, 211 bottles, dram price G

72.53 - Light-winged dryad of the trees

Submitted by Philip Storry on Mon, 04/09/2017 - 20:27

9 years old, distilled 14th february 2008, 59.4% abv, Refill Ex-Bourbon Barrel, 207 bottles, dram price A

The nose has honeycomb, lemon, pears, and vanilla. The mouthfeel is thin with no cling. The body has old dusty balsa wood, then a hit of lemon and some cinnamon spice. The finish is short - vanilla and cinnamon with hints of lemon.

71.46 - Youthful cockiness

Submitted by Philip Storry on Mon, 04/09/2017 - 20:24

9 years old, distilled 30th January 2008, 60.1% abv, Refill Ex-Bourbon Barrel, 237 bottles, dram price A

Exotic Cargo - Batch 1

Submitted by Philip Storry on Mon, 04/09/2017 - 20:21

10 years old, No distillation date, 50.0% abv, First Fill Spanish Oak Ex-Sherry Hogsheads, 1937 bottles, dram price A

SMWS Outturn 256 - Exotic Cargo

Submitted by Philip Storry on Mon, 04/09/2017 - 20:05

Another month, another outturn. It's the same old story. Some interesting cask finishes, a good range of flavour profiles, and some excellent whiskies.

Oh, and the SMWS's second ever blended malt.

And boy, did that ever cause some fuss amongst the traditionalists!

So let's get it out of the way - I have no problem with the Scotch Malt Whisky Society creating a blended malt. We've bottled Irish, Japanese, American and Welsh whiskies. We've bottled grain whiskies. We've bottle Armagnac, cognac, rum, gin, cider brandy. For those who are complaining that this is "not what the Society is about" - these casks were Scottish Malt Whisky when they were blended. It's not a Single Malt Whisky Society.

I've long believed that the SMWS should do interesting things that help whisky drinkers broaden their experiences and challenge their preconceptions. So I'm a fairly happy bunny.

If you're not a sherried whisky fan, you're going to hate it. For the rest of us, it's a good whisky. In a blind tasting, nobody would be complaining that it's a blended malt. (I suspect it would do quite well.)

So, way from the hubbub and drama - how were the other drams?

Lots of spice on this list. My favourite was the Auchentoshan, followed by the Linkwood and the Exotic Cargo itself.

There were plenty of decent whiskies, but nothing else really stood out for me. Not all lists can be packed with brilliance, but this one's certainly got plenty of decent whiskies to drink.

I'm hoping that the Society will follow up the Exotic Cargo with a bourbon-cask based blend. But I think that will take a while!

(Oh, I said that it was their second ever blended whisky... Technically their first was a dram called The Last Drop. It was made by combining the dregs of many open bottles into a blend. The result was... something that happened, and which nobody is in a rush to repeat. Not terrible. Not brilliant. Not worth repeating.)

SMWS Outturn 256