Glenburgie 27 yo 1995/2022 (57.7%, Signatory Vintage for Wu Dram Clan 3rd Anniversary, cask #6668, hogshead, 193 bottles)
What is the Wu Dram Clan tartan I wonder…? Colour: pale gold. Nose: a tad shy at first, but gives a sense of syrupy texture that I love in these mid-age Speysiders. Opens gently with melon, hints of lemon balm and delicate beeswax. Further impressions of sweet flower nectars and runny honey. Very classy! With water: on cedar and sandalwoods, dried flowers, possible with honey and crystallised fruits. Mouth: tight, very fruity and on rich, sweet cereals such as caramelised porridge oats, honey flapjack and fruity-heavy muesli. Great balance of fruity sweetness and deeper, thicker waxier impressions. Rather nicely peppery and warming too. With water: indeed, the whole becomes a tad drier and the fruits are more dried and crystallised in style, alongside that there's a leathery note and some weightier tobacco leaf and mustard powder vibes. Finish: good length, rich, warming and peppery with lemon rind, sweet cereals, soft waxes and dried flowers. Comments: extremely good and extremely classy Glenburgie, I love the weightier and more texture components which add a lot of pleasure.
SGP: 651 - 89 points.

Glenburgie 27 yo 1995/2022 (58.4%, Lady Of The Glen, cask #6721, hogshead, 218 bottles)
On paper, this should be pretty similar… Colour: pale gold. Nose: similar indeed, but I find this one dustier, waxier and generally a tad drier and more austere. Going towards earthier tones, some rolling tobacco and things like gorse flower and desiccated coconut. With water: the wood gathers a tad more pace now with some juniper and ground ginger, but also some nice herbal touches and honey liqueur notes. Mouth: more wood influence in this one, but it manifests wonderfully as coconut milk, eucalyptus and more assertive mentholated notes and resinous fir wood. There's still a nice level of fruitiness though, it's more confined to green fruits such as tart gooseberry and baked apple with custard. With water: big and thick, lots of pollens, crystallised honey, camphor and wood spice. Finish: good length, again the wood just hitting the upper threshold for me, but remains big, fat and impressively rich. Comments: I think I prefer the fruitier aspects of the Signatory cask by a single notch, but this is still big, hearty and pleasurable old Glenburgie.
SGP: 561 - 88 points.

Glendronach 12 yo (43%, OB, sherry, 1980s)
Let's try to be quick with this one… Colour: mahogany. Nose: stunningly fruity and vibrant old sherry, full of prunes, figs, plums and sweet raisins and sultanas. All underpinned by a soft, mulchy earthy and tobacco quality. Sheer class and totally pure, clean, vibrant old school sherry greatness. Mouth: same feeling of super clean and wonderfully rich old style sherry, a slight tang of balsamic acidity, salted almonds, pickled walnuts and further impressions of herbal liqueurs. All the while full of the same dark fruits stewed in old Armagnac. Finish: long, very gently salty, still on many walnuts, bodega funk, game meats and full on rancio. Comments: none!
SGP: 661 - 92 points.

Glendronach 26 yo 1993/2019 (51.1%, OB for The Whisky Exchange 20th Anniversary, cask #6853, PX sherry puncheon, 722 bottles)
Colour: amber. Nose: it's a slightly more contemporary sherry profile now, in that you feel the wood a little more clearly, but also it's earthier, drier and more towards things like Guinness cake, chocolate sauce, gamey notes and spiced dark fruits. I would say within that style it is still pretty brilliant and holds up well against the 12yo. With water: duskier and sootier now I'd say, but still with some lovely plummy fruitiness that also includes pomegranate molasses and liquorice. Mouth: really excellent, not at all in the cloying style of some of the other PX casks from these vintages, instead this is all about soft stewed dark fruits, sultanas, fruit liqueurs, old cigar humidor and damp pipe tobaccos. Still with many of these earthier qualities and more over chocolatey notes as on the nose. Superb! With water: perfect balance of dark fruits, leather earthy notes, a touch of salty dark chocolate and more of these lovely rancio and tobacco vibes. Finish: long, perfectly bitter, herbal, earthy and with a nicely resinous touch. Comments: this one already seems to have been very well received in various quarters, I don't buck the trend, it's a terrific cask.
SGP: 562 - 91 points.

Ardmore 24 yo 1997/2022 (53.7%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 66.217 'Cliche, but who cares?', refill hogshead with 1st fill oloroso hogshead finish, 259 bottles)
Colour: deep gold. Nose: the sherry is nicely discreet, and works quite well with that light Ardmore smokiness to create notes of tobacco leaf, ginger liqueur and slightly dusty old medicine cabinets. I also get some smoked teas and old furniture wax. Nothing at all cloying or disjointed so far. With water: the smoke is clearer now, a very nice wispy, dry and gentle peat note with a little mint leaf and camphor. Mouth: we aren't left in doubt this is from the era when Ardmore was Ardmore, which is to say moderately peated somewhere between Springbank and Talisker, and distilled using direct coal firing - as opposed to steam and then filled into ex-Laphroaig barrels! Anyway, this is lovely. Lots of salted treacle, damp leaves, earthy black teas as well as lapsing souchong, crystallised citrus rinds and things like putty, mineral oil and strop leather. With water: nicely sooty, smoky, spicy and still with these nicely Ardmorish herbal peat and dry medicinal tones. Finish: medium length, a little tarry, a slightly bigger peat note and lovely dry smokiness in the after taste. Comments: this is a really nice parcel of casks. I think these batches of Ardmore really show a true 'direct fired' distillate character when compared to later batches. Probably still pretty underrated in my book. Oh, and a very respectful and nicely handled finish by the SMWS, kudos to Mr Campbell.
SGP: 464 - 88 points.

Ardmore 24 yo 1997/2022 (56%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 66.226 'Citrus-marinated beef and fruit kebabs', refill hogshead with 1st fill oloroso sherry hogshead finish, 258 bottles)
Colour: pale amber. Nose: very similar but there's a clear and more assertive sherry influence here, lovely salty and gamey sherry notes with slated almonds, toasted walnuts and then some very typical Ardmore sooty and medicinal combinations. With water: very precise now, only salty bodega earthiness, tobacco leaf, unlit cigar and cough medicines, great stuff! Mouth: a lovely fusion of salty, earthy and slightly spicy sherry with a nice undertone of dry, earthy and herbal peat smoke. Lots of camphor, some pickled chillis and cupboard spices such as clove and ginger. You do feel the wood a little from the finish I think, but it remains well integrated and there's still plenty of Ardmore character on display here. Reminiscent of some rather old school Highland Park in some respects. With water: really wonderful fusion of sherry and peat here, subtle, clean and wonderfully balanced between saltiness, spices, herbal medicinal notes and dry peat. Finish: long, very slightly tarry, still with this nervous, resinous and salty sherry in the background and herbal peat in the aftertaste. Comments: this one really worked very well, great finish and great overall cohesion.
SGP: 564 - 90 points.

Bunnahabhain 1989/2015 (43.4%, Berry Brothers, cask #5738, hogshead, 115 bottles)
A bottle that was given to me and comes with my name on the front. I can't remember why a number of good whisky folk were kindly gifted these by Berry's, but I decided to crack mine at my wedding recently. Colour: pale straw. Nose: lovely, typical and slightly soft old Bunnahabhain. Which is to say, lots of green fruits, fresh barley, a subtle waxiness, peanut brittle and waxy lemon rinds. I also find a slightly more pronounced medicinal streak than usual in these batches. Slightly herbal too - lovely nose. Mouth: indeed, rather herbal now. Lots of herbal tea, bergamot, wintergreen and impressions of herbal cough syrup and old liqueurs - 1940s Drambuie anyone? Otherwise a few wee roots and earthier tones with a slight coastal edge. Finish: medium, ever so slightly sappy and minty with those same rootier and slightly vegetal notes. Comments: I love the nose, the palate is tad on the soft side, but the overall feeling is of old Bunnahabhain flavoured glugging juice. I'm a sucker for these lovely herbal and medical touches.
SGP: 462 - 86 points.

Bunnahabhain 40 yo (51.6%, Masam, cask #7229, 520 bottles, 2019)
Colour: straw. Nose: rather austere and on things like clay, overripe oranges, crushed nettles and aspirin. There's a medicinal side, a green side and a rather tough mineral aspect as well. I also find wee touches of things like shoe leather and plasticine. With water: fresher, livelier and more coastal - so also more classical as well. Still some slightly rough edges, but honest and pleasurable. Mouth: big improvement! I find it far more obviously Bunnahabhain up front with these nicely salty peanut notes, salted honey, aged mead, camphor and putty. Also these nice simple green and orchard fruit vibes which I find very typically 'old Bunny'. With water: a little more peppery and dry, on sandalwood, a touch of carbolic acidity, more of these salted and dried out honey qualities, face cream and lanolin. A tiny cardboard note too. Finish: medium, drying, peppery and with a little nut oil and salinity. Comments: a tad all over the place, but the heart remains very charming and delicious old Bunna. Probably one to just pour and quaff without too much prevarication with water.
SGP: 351 - 87 points.

Glen Ord 32 yo 1972/2004 (50%, Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask, 242 bottles)
Are we expecting Diet Clynelish…? Colour: fat and almost juicy waxiness that's also shot full of honey, delicate salty traces, dried flowers, fruit teas, herbal broths and ointments. Big, old school and rather emphatically 'highland' malt whisky. Nothing 'diet' about it. With water: very focussed on waxes, oils and things like furniture polish, fir wood resins and ointments now. Mouth: pin sharp mineral salt notes, grassy olive oil, shoe polish and clay, then more of these dried flowers and pollen vibes and a big dollop of heather honey run through some porridge. Indeed the whole does become more heathery, beery and waxy given time. With water: creamier in texture, more waxes, more medicines and things like white flowers, pebbles, mineral oils and dried herbs. Finish: medium but very waxy, peppery and camphory. Comments: I say Clynelish, but really this starts to resemble old Talisker at times too with these peppery and medical waxy combinations. Gorgeous old highland malt. These old Glen Ords can really deliver.
SGP: 463 - 91 points.

Ord 20 yo 1962/1983 (92 US proof, Cadenhead 'dumpy', for USA)
A super rare bottle with a super reputation. This is the parcel of casks that also delivered the Samaroli Ord Bouquet lest we forget… Colour: gold. Nose: stunningly resinous and immediately chock full of waxes, herbs, umami seasonings, bone marrow and medical balms. Also many mentholated notes such as dried mint, eucalyptus and tea tree oil. Even starting to express medicinal tinctures such as iodine and tiny hints of mercurochrome. Then also pine needles, Barbour grease, lanolin and exotic hardwood resins. Stunning and utterly, effortlessly brilliant. And, of course, totally old school, a world away from anything that exists today. Mouth: same immediate focus on precious hardwood resins, mechanical oils, waxes, herbal liqueurs, medicinal embrocations and ointments and even a stunningly subtle saltiness. However, now there's also some dried exotic fruits in the mix and a delicate peat note as well. Just stunning and pure pleasure! Finish: perhaps not the absolute longest but this is splitting hairs. It still glows with soft waxes, herbal cough syrup, gooey exotic fruit pulp, mineral oils and wee salty and resinous notes. Comments: I've tried a few of these old Cadenhead 62 Ords now and they never fail to thrill, this one is just as stunning as expected. A rather textbook example of 'old style' in every sense. I'll dock it one point for the ever so slightly shortened finish, but otherwise…
SGP: 563 - 93 points.