Vatted peaters from the Scotchlands


July 20, 2023

Vatted peaters from the Scotchlands

It's a growing category. When we started this online madness it was all about being 'malt' maniacs, almost a counter-culture WRT the extremely dominant blended Scotch category. And twenty or thirty years later, here we are, tasting more and more… blends. What a glorious, joyful, sometimes hopeless mess indeed… Speaking of mess…

St Margaret of Scotland, stained glass, Aldeburgh church, Suffolk .

Zaubertrank 'Batch 2' (46%, Signatory Vintage and The Whisky Druid, blended malt scotch, 2022)

I thought last year's batch #1 was excellent and very smoky (P = 6). Colour: golden straw. Nose: I don't have batch #1 at hand anymore but my feeling is that this one is rather cleaner, more on lemons, oysters and seawater, with a little granny smith and a very clean peat smoke, some charcoal ashes, going towards almond milk in some way. In other words, I find it a little Caol-Ila-y. Mouth: not that similar, there might well be some peaters from the continent in there. I mean, from Scotland's mainland. A little leafier, spicier, with also more stewed fruits. Smoked bacon and Texan chili sauce. Finish: rather long, sweet yet spicy. Some kind of transcontinental barbecue sauce, no? Comments: very good, I just hate it that I hadn't kept some of Batch #1. Anyway, an excellent magic potion, perhaps a little rounder than its older brother.
SGP:656 - 85 points.

An Islay 8 yo 2014/2023 (53.3%, The Collaboration, Whisky Shop Neumarkt, first fill bourbon barrel, 247 bottles)

This is for our neighbours in Switzerland exclusively. And here we go, I had thought it would be a blended malt, but it is an unnamed single malt. Colour: white wine. Nose: very fresh, coastal, with a refined smokiness, crabs and oysters, those ashes, seaweed, lemons, touches of granny smith and fennel… With water: typically gristier, muddier and chalkier. No worries, all good things. Mouth (neat): excellently fresh, balanced, with some mint, aniseed and mezcal. Yep. And, most probably, the Paps of Jura through the windows. With water: lime and ashes plus some saltiness. We could make some Scottish margarita out of it, I suppose. Finish: still very fresh and tight, but with a little green apple liqueur, as they have in Spain (manzanita). Comments: very lovely, refreshing, extremely 'perfect'. It does not feel too young either. Bonus for the cleanliness, as always.
SGP:566 - 86 points.

Campbeltown Journey (46%, Hunter Laing, blended malt, +/-2022)

We've already tried a few other ones in this series, they were good. Possibly an opportunity to try some Glen Scotia-led blend with less oak impact (less modern re-racking/finishing) than in the recent OBs, but who knows… Colour: white wine. Nose: it's very coastal, surprisingly coastal in fact. A lot of fresh kelp on a beach, plus some fresh peaches and melons, in a pretty Bruichladdich way. A little barley syrup. Mouth: rather orange squash, pink grapefruit, IPA, then indeed peach syrup and liqueur, plus gummy bears. Finish: medium, a tad fatter and more mineral. Leafier, bitterer aftertaste, more pepper. Comments: I can't figure out if there isn't a little bit of smoke in there. Very good young drop, a little fatter without being too fat.
SGP:561 - 83 points.

St. Margaret of Scotland (54.5%, Queens & Kings, Mr Whisky, blended malt, +/-2015)

A.K.A. Margaret of Wessex. I was having this one, it was for Germany. Colour: white wine. Nose: not too far, pretty coastal too, fatter, with this pastis, aniseed and liquorice. I'm rather fond of this nose. With water: church candle; how serendipitous indeed (oh come on, S.). Mouth (neat): good! Lemongrass, tart smokiness, seawater, white pepper, touch of jenever and caraway… With water: plain lemony smokiness on top of a waxy structure. Finish: same for rather a long time. Peppery aftertaste. Comments: extremely all right, you could believe they've mingled some young Islayers and some Campbeltowners together, then added some discreet fillers.
SGP:554 - 85 points.

Sirens 'Batch 3' (50.7%, Whic, blended malt, oloroso hogshead finish, 319 bottles, 2023)

Colour: dark gold. Nose: peat smoke and sherry. Very classic combo, with some bacon, old walnuts, fireplace ashes, raw honey, raisins and coal tar. With water: earthier, with some mead, more and more shoe polish, old copper… Mouth (neat): same, word for word, plus pepper, bay leaves and leather. With water: 'smoked lemons' at the helm, plus walnut skins. Finish: long, a tad more leathery. Comments: apparently, this is another Islay + Mainland peat combo. The Zauberflöte, I mean the Zaubertrank with some more sherry.
SGP:566 - 85 points.

Last one please, let's make it an unpeated one coz we need a rest…

Tasglann 25 yo 1990/2015 (52%, OB, William Grant & Sons, Rare Cask Reserves, blended Scotch, Velier 70th Anniversary, 920 bottles)

What's inside? No ideas but one would guess that they've used William Grant stocks, so possibly Balvenie, Glenfiddich and Girvan grain, and perhaps Kinninvie as the latter started distilling right in 1990. But who knows… Colour: gold. Nose: mirabelles and quinces mean Balvenie, apples and pears mean Glenfiddich, and vanilla and coconut mean Girvan. Not too sure about what Kinninvie means. But that's all pure speculation, all we're going to say is that this is a lovely, rather straight nose. Please add croissants, custard and cinnamon rolls. No peat. With water: tiny herbs and berries making it through, that's always for the better. Mouth (neat): oranges and kumquats all over the place, pepper and cinnamon too, marmalade as well, plus a vanilla-ed thinness that may suggest that quite a lot of grain whisky was added, rather inexplicably (to us). With water: same feeling, a little too much thinness while I'm pretty sure that's the grain. Coconut is the enemy. Finish: medium, sweet, grainier yet. Orange squash. Comments: very good, naturally, but I find it surprisingly blendy (S., it IS a blend.)
SGP:631 - 83 points.