Cock-and-bull trio No.1, Tamdhu, Edradour, Longmorn

October 21, 2013

Cock-and-bull trio No.1, Tamdhu, Edradour, Longmorn

We're now in very high season, new whiskies are issued every day (yeah, thrice a day) and it's becoming difficult to organise very structured sessions as I like to do, because that would mean tasting many new whiskies when they're not new at all anymore. So Instead of verticales or horizontales, we'll simply pick new whiskies at random in these sessions. You may expect some incoherence and a few inconsistencies...

Tamdhu 33 yo 1980/2013 (55,7%, The Whisky Agency, Private Stock, bourbon hogshead, 132 bottles)

Colour: gold. Nose: big and spicy, starting with notes of cedar wood, menthol and plum pie, then cigar humidor (agreed, that's partly cedar wood) and freshly sawn fruit tree, such as cherry wood. Also touches of lilies, dandelions, green bananas and mead. With water: a little wax, putty and plasticine, which works very well. The rest remains the same. Mouth (neat): very nervous, typically old Tamdhu with its half-tropical, half-western fruitiness (say mangos and peaches). Apple peelings, a little fudge and a return on ripe kiwis and gingerbread. There's a lot happening in this one. With water: excellent, Linzertorte and orange marmalade plus several herbal teas. Finish: long and zestier, which is always welcome. Lemon and tangerine liqueurs, touches of ginger. Comments: superb and it swims particularly well. Do not forget to add water! SGP:551 - 89 points.

And now something a little unlikely, an Edradour that was distilled by the previous owners (the make has much improved in recent years) and then finished in sweet white wine.

Edradour 18 yo 1993/2012 (52.7%, OB, Sauternes cask finish, cask #8/737/4, 203 bottles)

Colour: deep gold. Nose: no sulphur. This is important, because if you don't specifically ask for some 'untreated' barriques, those will reek of rotten eggs, gas or cooked cabbage and you'll have to thoroughly rinse them. No such things these days at Edradour, they use 'untreated' wine casks. So, this is all on ripe plums, pies and jams, honeycomb, apricots and various fruit jellies. Even old Edradour's usual 'dirty soapiness' (indeed, an oxymoron) doesn't show at all. So, nice nose! Withy water: a little less nice, there are whiffs of old cardboard or newspapers and quite a lot of paraffin. Mouth: a tad unlikely because the grassy/farmy malt and the sweet wine do clash a bit at first sips, but all that tends to mingle together. Peppered plum pie? It's certainly a little leathery. With water: swims much, much better on the palate than on the nose. Plenty of sweet apricots and plums. Finish: medium length. Plum jam galore! Comments: in theory, I should not like this but it's got something charmingly... unlikely. To be nosed neat and sipped reduced. A funny dram. SGP:651 - 84 points.

While we're more or less at Signatory's...

Longmorn 17 yo 1996/2013 (57.3%, Signatory Vintage for La Maison du Whisky, 1st fill sherry butt, cask #72321, 620 bottles)

Usually G&M are at it with these big phat sherried Longmorns but this time it's Signatory. Colour: coffee with red hues. Nose: it's a dry one, with a lot of coffee indeed, touches of resinous wood (thuja?), quite some cough mixture, herbs and teas (wormwood and verbena), slightly heady whiffs of flowers (peonies, lilac) and then more cognac-like notes, chocolate, prunes... In short, classic and flawless. The herbal side lifts it a bit. With water: more orange zests, leather and green tobacco. No gunpowder (since you were about to ask, weren't you!) Mouth (neat): thick, liqueury, oily and jammy. The good news is that these herbal and mentholated touches that are back make it quite fresh. Raspberry ganache, fruitcake, wee touches of mustard, lemon-Schweppes (I know, I know) and maybe a few Turkish delights. Moroccan spice mix for tagines ;-). With water: really excellent. Jams and high-end sangria. Finish: long, always very jammy. Seville oranges. Don't I detect a little rosemary in the aftertaste? Comments: perfect. And now, let's let some bottles further mature 'in glass' for a few years, to round this off. See you in 2053! SGP:551 - 90 points.