Caperdonich 17 yo 1994 (53,3%,
Malts of Scotland 2011, bourbon hogshead #625, 232 btl.)

Nose: fresh and youthful with clean barley, hay and pleasant estery notes (fruity but hard to pin down, pineapple or pear candy maybe). Yoghurt cake. Crisp floral notes as well. A few lightly roasted grains. Mouth: peppery at first, then growing creamier with some vanilla and apple. Again a sweet and fruity core. Lemon peel. Oak. Aniseed and liquorice. Hints of violets. Surprisingly spicy I would say. Finish: fairly long, spicy with hints of apple cores and ginger tonic.

It may not have the luscious fruitiness or honeyed thickness of older Caperdonich, and it’s difficult to say whether it has the same potential. Anyway it’s still a solid and punchy dram albeit with a naked maltiness and some strange twists. Around € 80.

Score: 83/100

Laphroaig 20 yo 1991 (53,3%, Liquid Sun 2011, sherry hogshead, 279 btl.)

Nose: impressive notes of tar and smoked meats: cecina de Léon, grison, barbecued streaky (pork belly)… nicely mixed with muted medicinal notes and gouache paint. Coal smoke. Quite sweet as well, with tobacco and some dried fruits. Blackberry jam? Nice balance. Water brings the spices out. Mouth: again very smoky and ashy, with burnt toast and plenty of liquorice, a little pepper and salt. Then the sherry comes through, still showing sweet notes of ripe dark fruits (cassis especially) and chocolate. Nice tobacco notes and espresso. Finish: long, drier, smoky and a bit salty with a little coffee. And back to the smoked bacon.

As I said, sherried Laphroaig can be really good. This one has quite an excellent combination of deep smoke and dark fruits. Recommended. Too bad the rarity makes the price heavier than I hoped for… Around € 150.

Score: 90/100

This 18 years old Glen Scotia was matured in a sherry butt and bottled by Malts of Scotland.

Glen Scotia 18 yo 1992 (53,3%, Malts of Scotland 2010, cask #429, 199 btl.)

Nose: a bit weird. Rubbery sherry, with a bunch of roasted / burnt notes (burnt pastry, hints of sulphur, burnt grass). Some mint. Red fruit as well, evolving to raspberry vinegar. Wet newspaper and dusty old fabric. I kept changing my mind about this one, it seems to change constantly. In a way it’s really ferocious, but on the other hand that makes it interesting. Mouth: punchy and rather herbal (cloves). Caramel. Quite woody. Salty liquorice. Aftertaste on roasted coffee beans and cocoa. Water doesn’t change the profile. Finish: dying quite soon, but with a nice chocolate ending.

Quite extreme… Interesting but not really a drinker’s whisky. Around € 80.

Score: 78/100
(debatable score… make that 63 or 85 depending on your mood)

It’s a 37 year-old, matured in an oloroso sherry butt.

GlenDronach 37 yo 1972 (53,3%, OB 2009 for LMdW, oloroso cask #705, 399 btl.)

Nose: pretty similar to the markethouse bottling. More red fruits (raspberry rather than blueberry / blackcurrant. Citrus as well (blood orange). Water brings out hints of exotic fruits (papaya, mango). Dark chocolate. Some toasted notes. Less oak polish than the OB. Less farmy notes, more the meaty kind of sherry. Ginger, pepper. The LMdW nose is great but compared directly with the OB, it is slightly less complex and less expressive. Mouth: still those very nice red fruits but they are almost drowned by big waves of resinous notes and mentholated oak. Chocolate coated oranges. Tobacco leaves. Getting  quite tannic and dry with a salty hint of liquorice. Finish: woody and dry but very rich with notes of tangerine and milk chocolate.

I guess 1972 already is a legendary year for GlenDronach, in the same way  BenRiach 1976 are all great. I prefer the original bottling though. Still available from La Maison du Whisky at around € 310.

Score: 89/100