Nowadays this practice is more common than you may know (‘real’ sherry casks are expensive), but it’s rarely mentioned as such. I really appreciate this kind of transparency.

Tim already raved about this one.

Port Ellen 27 yo 1983 (55,7%, Signatory Vintage 2010, cask #231, 501 btl.)

Nose: like an embering fire on a beach, that you’ve just fuelled with some diesel oil. Smokey and coastal. Sweet hints of almonds, or even better, almond butter cookies. Some wax and lemon. Hints of overripe fruits, could this be the wine influence? Quite medicinal as well. Really high-end. Water makes it a bit more feminine, with a tiny hint of vanilla, more wax and hints of fruity wine. Pretty awesome. Mouth: big and compact, peaty, sweet and salty at the same time. Pepper and citrus. Lots of iodine. Grows sharper over time. Very explosive. Here as well, water lifts the sweeter notes, mutes the peat and highlights some zesty citrus. Finish: peppery and grassy hints, fading on sweet peat smoke.

Don’t be fooled by the wine treatment, this is an exceptional Port Ellen that compromises very little. It’s great to play around with water and watch it switch between its monstruous peat side and its feminine vanilla side.

Not exactly cheap though: around € 190. Available from most international shops. Master of Malt also sells samples.

Score: 93/100

Glenesk 25 yo 1983 (55,7%, Duncan Taylor 2009, sherry cask #4931, 294 btl.)

Nose: very rubbery and huge notes of Maggi (herbal extract for making soup). Chicken stock. Dried peas. Muesli. Hay. Ferns? Very organic. A bit of sulphur as well. Water brings out hints of wet cardboard and other moist things. Mouth: pungent and very herbal. Lots of pine resin. Big pepper. Bitter orange peel. Espresso. Dark tea. Hints of salty butter. A few drops of water add chocolaty sherry notes, but not enough to really sparkle through. Finish: spicy, mashy and grassy.

I don’t think I’ve ever come across something like this. I’m not sure what to think of it. It’s quite harsh and certainly not my definition of an enjoyable dram. I hope one day I’ll find a Glenesk that I really like… Around € 110.

Score: 65/100

Brora 30yo (55,7%, OB 2007,
6th Edition, 2958 btl.)

Nose: what did you expect? Farmy! Soft peat smoke and charcoal but also cows, manure and interesting notes of goat cheese. Horse saddle leather. Tobacco. Fresh sea breeze. Sharper notes of balm, hay, a bit of yeast… Fern forest. Camphor. Not very fruity, although I pick up soft yellow apple and citrus. Water makes it rounder and brings out a hint of vanilla sweetness. Truly unique. Mouth: very powerful and immediately maritime, with a briney hint of liquorice. Quite dry and oily. A sharp hint of mustard. Much more peated and smoked now. Takes water very well, with added notes of apple, lemon pie and ginger. Finish: long, hints of liquorice, bonfire smoke and pepper.

I can’t stop loving this one, and the 2004 edition is even better. A powerful peaty palate and a complex, balanced nose. If you’re serious about whisky, Brora 30yo is something you should have tasted. Still available, around € 275.

Score: 94/100

Port Ellen 26 yo 1982 (55,7%, Old Bothwell 2009, cask #2473)

Nose: a bit dirty I’m afraid. Maybe not real sulphur but something like plastics and cooked cabbage. Cask #2545 didn’t have this at all, but overall it’s not too bad. It goes out of focus after a few minutes. Now there’s liquorice and gunpowder (great), quite some leather too. More smoke than cask #2545, more wood as well. Beefy notes, some tobacco and nice forest fruits. Mouth: sweeter than the other cask, with a sort of honey coating around the peaty center. Just as peppery though (not unlike a punchy Talisker). Much more on dried fruits and sherry. Getting more salty in the end with hints of grapefruit, but the bitterness is much better under control here. Finish: very long, the saltiness disappears slowly and the fruitiness takes over.  

I guess the oak type can be identified as a refill sherry cask. Don’t mind the dirty notes, as long as you don’t compare it directly to other whisky, you’ll easily get over it. Or maybe you simply like that particular profile. The good side of the sherry coin is the fruitiness and the lack of bitter notes. Around € 150.

Score: 87/100

ps/ No need to tell you this, but preferences and opinions may differ of course. Both releases were a huge hit at the Spirits in the Sky festival and practically the whole stock has been sold. It seems a lot of people liked them even more than I did. Check The Bonding Dram if you want one of the last bottles.

It’s very rare to find fino-matured Bunnahabhain bottlings. I know of one other 1976 release in the Murray McDavid Mission series last year (probably a sister cask?)

Bunnahabhain 32y 1976 (55,7%, The Whisky Agency 2008, Shark series, 300 btl.)

Nose: dry-sweet. Nicely floral and fruity. Guava, apple, tangerine. Some notes of wax. Pollen. Fresh sea breeze. Not extremely expressive, but still rather complex and delicate. Mouth: medium-sweet attack, starting on fruit (oranges), with some spices (cloves). Walnuts. After a while, getting drier with notes of tonic and even aspirine. Not entirely balanced, I would say. Grapefruit and more oak.

Good whisky, but the bitterness prevents it from being a real winner. Around € 150.

Score: 85/100

Laphroaig 10 yo Cask strength
(55,7%, OB 2007)

Nose: lovely deep smoke with tarry notes and lots of phenol. Balanced with sweet vanilla, a bit of brown sugar and some fruity notes. Medicinal. Seaweed. A bit of lemon, burried somewhere underneath. Mouth: powerful start, very robust and quite peppery. The best ashtray ever! Becomes sweeter (toffee, caramel) with a salty edge. Finish: long and hot. Phenols again. Smoky with a hint of gasoline.

This is very very good whisky. Among the best standard bottlings on the market. This punchy classic is a must-have for every Islay enthousiast. Around € 45.

Score:

 A small note: Laphroaig announced that they will release different batches of the 10yo CS in the future. So instead of trying to reproduce the same flavour profile over and over again, they will allow some variations in the profile and the alcohol volume. It seems to become trendy to do this (Lagavulin 12yo, Springbank 1997, Aberlour A’bunadh…), and one of the reasons may be that it may convince enthousiasts to buy all the different batches and see how they compare. Edition n°1 will be bottled shortly.