Glenrothes 1989/1996 (60%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society #30.9, 279 bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: more austerity than George Osborne (I'm sure I've made this joke only around 10 or 20 times on Whiskyfun so far) focussed solely on barley water, crushed water biscuits, cooling wort, vase water, flower stems and grass. Very attractive in its purity, but we're entering an era where the distillates weren't necessarily up to withstanding this kind of bare naked wood. Remains steadfastly petrolic, raw ingredient driven and charmingly simple and direct. With water: disappears slightly, becoming more fragile, floral and grassy. Mouth: raw barley distillate, chalk, putty, flower pollens, ink, a tiny measure of honey and some crushed oatmeal. With water: not too great with water, becomes a little flabby and lactic, although still perfectly fine. Finish: surprisingly long, on soda bread, milk bottle sweets, condensed milk, barley sugars - overall a little sweeter than expected. Comments: fine, but not sure why such casks were ever selected for bottling on their own. Pure blend fodder really.
SGP: 451 - 78 points. 

Glenrothes 30 yo 1966/1997 (62.2%, The Bottlers, cask #15260)
Colour: orangey gold. Nose: understandably a little tight and compact at this hefty ABV. But still, some gorgeous threads of honey, flower nectar and sandalwood come through. A wonderful sense of older style Glenrothes distillate without any cloak of sherry. After that there's soft waxes, pollens and slightly overripe green fruits. I suspect water will work here… With water: yes, a stunning green and yellow fruitiness. Fruits, teas, honeys, wood saps, mineral oils and intricate spices. Manages to be both powerful and complex, one of those drams that you can really go to town with using a pipette and multiple stages of dilution. Mouth: massive at full strength, and I would say probably too hot. Although, it is still very much on spices honeys, wood saps, pine resins and light herbal notes. Still rather narrow and peppery at full strength. With water: outstanding power and mouth-filling texture. Olive oils, medicinal ointments, herbal liqueurs, resins and things like turmeric, lanolin and an increasing camphor and tea tree oil quality. Finish: long, peppery and showing a drying mix of saps, flowers, waxes and touches of mint and fennel. Comments: a very unusual but excellent profile. Perhaps not the easiest style of malt, but unquestionably a fascinating and truly old school malt whisky - definitely one for your geekiest malt friends. These old bottlings by The Bottlers never disappoint.
SGP: 562 - 90 points. 

Glen Spey 25yo 1990/2016 (48.1%, OB 'Casks of Distinction', cask #2540, hogshead, 204 bottles)
Colour: bright straw. Nose: surprisingly lovely and characterful. Rather a lot of warm apple pie with custard, honeycomb, pollen, tinned fruit salad juices and even some very soft and supple waxy notes. This impression of well-matured, fruity Speyside malt from good refill wood. An easy and very welcoming style that's almost impossible to be against. With water: gets a little sharper, fresher and narrower, goes more towards green acidity, mirabelle, white pepper and mineral notes such as flints and chalk. Mouth: a tad more 'standard' on arrival. Breakfast cereals dusted with icing sugar, light hessian, canvass, lemon barely water, oatcakes with butter, some fresh green herbs. Classical and easy, but starting to loose definition. With water: conversely, I think it improves quite a bit with water. Develops these pleasing notes of fresh white bread, pumpkin seed, lanolin, parsley and barley water. Finish: medium and back on plain cereals, breads, seeds and light peppery notes. Comments: I think it's a perfectly lovely wee dram, although you need one glass to nose neat and one glass to sip with reduction. I also think that there's just no getting away from the fact that Glen Spey isn't that exciting a make.
SGP: 451 - 85 points.

Glen Spey 14 yo 2008/2022 (54.8%, Watt Whisky, ex-Islay cask finish, 267 bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: freshly milled grist, oatcakes with salty butter, some very delicately smoked teas and rather a lot of putty and plain cereals. Very raw and natural with the Islay peat influence being on the gentle side. With water: gets chalkier and flintier, towards some rather bone dry white wines. Mouth: very sooty and mashy, notes of sweet and slightly smoky wort, oily tool box rags, paraffin, shoe polish and ink. The peat certainly adds a pretty interesting dimension, blind you might say an Ardmore, but not one that has been matured in an ex-Laphroaig cask - ironically. With water: more shoe polish, more soot, more camphor and a slightly earthy smokiness. Finish: medium, on gentle dry ashy smoke, bitter lemon and buttery cereals. Comments: It's a totally different beast from the CoD, and I think we were right to place it afterwards, but I like it just as much. A fun one to confound friends when poured blind.
SGP: 463 - 85 points.

Dornoch 5 yo 2017/2022 (58.3%, OB, cask #2, 1st fill bourbon octave, 91 bottles)
Colour: gold. Nose: very slightly fudgey at first nosing, with things like marshmallow spread on brown bread, Ovaltine, milk chocolate and milky coffee with brown sugar. Also crushed digestive biscuit and malt extract. Big raw ingredient vibes, but also a big voice from the cask too. Gets a little fruitier in time, with mashed banana and sultana - so, banana bread really. With water: the oak becomes a little louder and grippier with ginger powder, wood spices and then plain cereals. Mouth: pretty spicy and a bit punchy on arrival, the wood takes the upper hand here. Lots of toasted breads and roasted cereals on display, some big notes of chocolate malt and brown ales. With water: H2O helps quite a bit here, bringing out fresher, grassier and greener notes. It still remains pretty peppery and warm, but I think balance is more or less restored with water. One of those whiskies to nose neat and sip reduced. Finish: medium, ever so slightly sappy, some nice flowers and pollens, and a slightly mentholic aftertaste. Comments: very fine and already with some clear Dornoch DNA on display, but probably a little too oak-heavy for my preference.
SGP: 461 - 85 points. 

Dornoch 4 yo 2018/2023 (57.9%, OB, cask #129, 75 bottles)
Colour: gold. Nose: a different story, this is much fruitier and feels straight away more syrupy with these nice textural vibes of slightly overripe fruits and honey. Also ginger in syrup, apricot and a subtle note of mint tea. An excellent, fruity wee youngster. With water: spearmint, eucalyptus, juicy fruit chewing gum and coconut milk. Some kind of very stealth pina colada. Mouth: the difference here is that while the wood is still clearly rather punchy, the fatness and general gloopy, fruity thickness of the distillate is what comes out on top. Lots of green fruits, matcha, citrus curds, sweetened olive oil and also waxes and cannabis resin. I also get quite a lot of bananas in this one but rather green ones and some nice notes of pineapple and coconut too. With water: peppery and juicy all at once, some dried mango, guava, pollens, white pepper and grape must. Finish: good length, with plenty soft wood spices, crystallised honey, tea tree oil and dried mint one again. Comments: like most of these customer casks, this is undoubtedly a rather oak-forward dram in many ways. However, with this one there is a very strong feeling of a distillate really hitting its stride. What's more, this is a charismatic 4yo that would simply crush many a homogenised 10-15yo any day of the week. Really rewards water and patience, and probably my favourite of the Dornoch single casks that I could try thus far.
SGP: 661 - 90 points.

Cragganmore 31 yo 1972/2003 (51.5%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society #37.22 'Orange Blossom')
Colour: pale gold. Nose: the expected honeys but with a delicate herbaceousness and softer notes of sandalwood, white pepper and lanolin. Some camphor, beeswax, dried mint and olive oil. Lovely, but just a little on the gentle or shy side. With water: a little more defined with some firm notes of pine needles, more beeswax and hessian. Mouth: very typical 'old Speyside' in style. Honeys, pollens, subtle waxes, little oily qualities and some slightly more weighty things like camphor and putty again. Very nice, but just a little 'broad brush stroke' within this otherwise lovely profile. With water: honey on soda bread, eucalyptus, dried mint and fruit teas. Finish: medium, lightly peppery, waxy and honeyed. Comments: an excellent old whisky, but just feels a little 'generalised', as in generic old Speyside flavour, rather than specifically anything to do with Cragganmore I suppose. And it also feels as though it is lacking a little fruitiness. Still, we're quibbling a bit, this is still a very pleasurable old and old style whisky.
SGP: 551 - 87 points.

Ballindalloch Castle 1970/1989 'Private Stock' (58.3%, Ballindalloch Castle, sherry)
While many used to think these bottlings are Glenfarclas, they are in fact Cragganmore. Colour: deep amber. Nose: an old school sherry bomb! Riddled with freshly brewed, fruity black coffee, sticky fruity loaf, Dundee cake, walnuts, pecans, marzipan dipped in the darkest of chocolate, then also things like camphor and some superb gamey meat notes. No messing about here! One of those stunning old sherry noses that is almost overpowering but saved by many juicy dark fruit aromas in the mix. With water: more lovely black coffee notes, Irish coffee in fact, then soy sauce and Maggi with balsamico mixed in for good measure - would make one hell of a salad dressing! Mouth: ah brilliant! Coffee and chocolate liqueurs, cinnamon and clove spiciness, treacle, dandelion and burdock, root beer and Buckfast! Gets also rather tarry like an ancient bottle of Clacquesin liqueur! You could add to the mix pipe tobaccos, many dark fruits stewed in old, rustic Armagnac and prune jam. Really, really great! With water: perfectly spicy, bitter, herbal and medicinal with enough of these sticky dark fruits still lingering to balance against that wall of sherry! Finish: long, perfectly bitter, herbal, tarry, mentholated and darkly fruity. Comments: one of those brilliant whiskies that just leaves you feeling giddy and rather giggly. A stunning sherry cask not doubt, but you can feel it is matched by impeccable distillate behind it.
SGP: 562 - 92 points.

Glenfarclas '105' (60%, OB, US import, mid-1990s)
Colour: pale amber. Nose: caught a little between two worlds I would say, but generally this is a lovely, slightly old school sherry profile with a lot of sticky dark fruits, freshly baked pastries and breads, touches of camphor, fennel and caraway, and some very typical notes of leather and bitter orange marmalade. With water: wonderfully earthy now, some mulchier notes of wild mushroom and tobacco leaf, also some roast peanuts and Brazil nuts. Mouth: sweeter and fruitier than modern batches, with more focussed fruits such as orange, kumquat and plum. Also more on honey and flower nectars but still with quite a big, rich earthy and spicy bedrock. With water: very nicely jammy with the perfect balance of earthiness, fruity sweetness and wood spices. Very classically sherried, even with a slightly modern tilt. Finish: good length, on softer wood spices, black tea, sultana, fruit loaf and caraway. Comments: very good. Sits between the older 8yo age stated versions and the later examples that followed this one soon after. There's some very classy sherry character in here with no part that goes to great excess or imbalance.
SGP: 561 - 88 points.

Glenfarclas 50 yo 1955/2005 'Celebrating the bicentenary of John Grant's birth' (44.4%, OB, sherry, 110 bottles)
Colour: deep mahogany. Nose: astonishing and exquisite sherry that incorporates these stunning aromas of wood resins, teas, rancio and herbs, but also manages to add into the mix a generous and remarkable fruitiness that brings freshness even to such a dark, old sherried malt. Mint, pine wood, blood orange, long aged calvados and wonderfully complex impressions of myrtle, heather, strop leather, very old balsamic and aged yellow Chartreuse. A nose of poetic beauty and great detail with just a hint of fragility that keeps everything very finely balanced. Mouth: indeed, balance is the word. A perfect meeting of wood influence, sherry influence and this terrific legacy of fatness and fruit from the Glenfarclas distillate itself. Many dark and crystallised fruits along with mulling spices, bitter chocolate, exotic fruit teas and hints of tar, camphor and old school cough medicines. Such astonishing brightness given the age and ABV, a unique style that only exists in a handful of other very old G&M bottlings - and perhaps one or two other Glenfarclas as well. Finish: long, perfectly drying, earthy and darkly fruited. With a brittle mintiness, tea tree oils, verbena and wormwood. The wood is more clearly on top here but it stays within balance and the effect is in fact quite physical on the palate and leaves this lovely mentholated and tingling sensation. Comments: one of the genuinely great, great 50 year old whiskies. Or, in fact, just one of the best of all the very old whiskies out there, full stop I'd say. Amazing that it held onto the fruits, freshness and balance all these years the way it has. I also wonder if it hasn't started to improve even further in bottle already… Anyway, a joy to have tried it.
SGP: 462 - 93 points.