Another solera session, trying anything Scottish


December 8, 2025

Another solera session, trying anything Scottish

The headline is a bit of a mess, I’ll readily admit… But in any case, today’s line-up might be a bit of a mess too.

Long John ‘Special Reserve’ (OB, blended Scotch, +/-1970)

Long John was a colossal brand in France back when, well, back when we were just beginning to taste (a somewhat inflated term) our very first whiskies. It went rather well with Coca-Cola at the time, but this round we shall try it neat, as though it were a 1972 Brora. Well, you get the drift… Colour: gold. Nose: light, gently roasted and toasty, not entirely innocuous, one wonders if there wasn’t a splash of Ben Nevis hidden in this humble assembly. Whiffs of shoe polish, damp cardboard and yellowing magazines. Mouth: here comes much more oomph, with broths, old citrus and herbal liqueurs, a touch of peat, something rooty, saline edges… And probably a smidgen of OBE. I wouldn’t dare claim I recall the old Long Johns as if it were yesterday, but if we hastened to drown them in Coca-Cola—then the very emblem of American cultural imperialism (what we’d now call soft power)—it wasn’t entirely without reason. Finish: rather long, with pleasing bitterness, brine, bouillon and a trace of mead. Comments: quite the surprise, shall we say, but then many blends from that era do tend to startle us these days. Long live OBE!
SGP:462 - 83 points.

Culzean Castle (40%, Prestonfield House for National Trust of Scotland, Scotch Whisky, +/-1990)

A tourist trinket (so, us) from the forerunners of Signatory. In short, Signatory. Note that there’s now a single malt named ‘Culzean Castle’ and that this earlier version gave no clue as to whether it was a blend or a malt. Colour: white wine. Nose: apples, pears, a touch of barley and something akin to Tennent’s lager (back then, there were bikini-clad ladies on the cans – guaranteed hit). All in all, a rather likeable nose. Mouth: seriously, this is good – fruity, malty, uncomplicated, but as they say, it did the job. No need to go charging after these at auction. Finish: not very long, slightly salty, but that’s probably the OBE doing its thing, the aftertaste is most pleasantly liquoricy. Comments: a nice surprise. The sort of wee bottle of whisky you’ve had gathering dust at the back of the shelf for decades, and when you finally dare to open it, well, it’s better than you feared. A rather elegant way to master spacetime (eh?)
SGP:452 - 79 points.

Blended Scotch 1980/2025 (47.1%, WhiskyBusiness for HM The King of Bhutan, 100 bottles)

These old blends can harbour many wonders, all the more so when they’re intended for such royalty! We do in fact have, resting somewhere on the shelves of Château WF, a Bhutanese whisky from Gelephu that had been bottled for His Majesty’s coronation silver jubilee – we really ought to crack it open one of these days. Colour: amber. Nose: yes, this is very lovely indeed, on genuine pâtissier’s praline, with a wee touch of vegetal mastic and pistachio oil, some fine quality green tea, and a few hints of kirsch-laced marzipan—the sort of things to which resistance is utterly futile. Mouth: if this truly is a blend with any meaningful proportion of grain whisky, then I must be the official whisky advisor to both Putin and Trump. You see the odds… At any rate, it’s splendid, on chlorophyll, mastic and oranges, with a stylistic purity one seldom finds in malts of this age. One’s leaning towards ‘C.’ Finish: rather long, creamier and waxier, even more squarely in the style of ‘C.’ No grain whisky is truly detectable, but then you’ll tell me that’s precisely the function of grain whisky—not to be detectable, ever since ‘Islington’. Check the Web or any AI slop. Comments: that’s the charm of these slightly unlikely bottlings, to unveil unsuspected surprises (pleonasm alert, S.)
SGP:651 - 90 points.

Blended Scotch 24 yo 1999/2023 (44.1%, Hogshead Imports, refill sherry butt, 329 bottles)

It’s always the same conundrum when a blend or blended malt ticks every single malt box—vintage, single cask detail, and a bottle count straight from the single cask playbook: is it truly ‘blended’, and more to the point, could one demonstrate that fact to Her Majesty’s customs without breaking into a sweat? Let’s not dwell… Colour: bronze gold. Nose: nothing is impossible, and here we’re rather in apple juice territory, but laced with heather honey and dried figs, then a little nougat and a dollop of marzipan. Truth be told, it’s fairly tight and focused, although a certain lightness of touch might indeed whisper the presence of grain whisky in the mix. Or perhaps not. Mouth: very pleasant, rather fresh, on gentle ales, orange juice, honey and a splash of cider. This may not be Botticelli, granted, but it’s good. Finish: medium in length, turning more towards herbal infusions and delicate teas. Comments: perhaps not quite as thrilling as the hypothetical reunion of Led Zeppelin, but still a jolly good dram.
SGP:531 - 84 points.

James Eadie’s Trademark X ‘100° Proof’ (57.1%, James Eadie, blended Scotch, 1,800 bottles, 2025)

Colour: full gold. Nose: there’s a lovely toasted and lightly charred edge right from the off, with roasted hazelnuts and walnuts, a lean dry sherry character, and just a flicker of mint and wood smoke lurking about. With water: plenty of Earl Grey tea and a smattering of biscuits. Why not oatcakes? Some claim they’re scentless—nonsense, I say. Mouth (neat): punchy and emphatically malty, all on lemon zest and nutty notes, with a little honey and once again that discreet smoky strand. With water: faintly floral turns, even hints of those little lavender sweets, lending it a Provençal charm that rather captures a lingering summer. Finish: long, with those floral sweets growing more assertive. Poppy, lavender, violet… Comments: we found this very good indeed, thoroughly malty, and a far cry from the usual ‘blend’, if that phrase means anything at all. The only ‘fault’ being that we were quite expecting it to be.
SGP:552 - 86 points.

Maiden’s Blend 25 yo (44.5%, Vintage Bottlers, sherry, cask #8 2025)

A blend hailing from those illustrious Edrington stocks, apparently. Generally speaking, they’re excellent. Colour: pale amber. Nose: absolutely lovely, all honey and blossoms, with a heaped tablespoon of multifloral pollen and, most notably, notes of Sauternes from a rather grand château, even showing a touch of noble rot. Or toasted, if you prefer. There’s also a little vanilla chestnut purée in there. Adorable nose indeed! Mouth: oh yes, this is excellent, with an added earthy and rooty layer we’re always fond of. Not quite gentian, but nearly—somewhere between parsnip and gentian, shall we say. Finish: fairly long, with citrus creeping in alongside black teas sweetened with honey, plus a faint trace of toffee. Very, very good. Comments: oh yes indeed, very, very good.
SGP:641 - 89 points.

Something-in-The-Water-Symbiosis-50.6-Artist-15-by-LMDW-Elixir-Distillers-blended-Islay-malt-cask-2418120292-282-bottles
Something in The Water ‘Symbiosis’ (50.6%, Artist #15 by LMDW & Elixir Distillers, blended Islay malt, cask #2418120292, 282 bottles)

Something in The Water ‘Symbiosis’ (50.6%, Artist #15 by LMDW & Elixir Distillers, blended Islay malt, cask #2418120292, 282 bottles)

A striking mixed-media piece by Radhika Surana graces this bottle, which contains a blend of peated Bunnahabhain and Caol Ila, finished in a toasted new oak barrel. According to the ever-enthusiastic bottlers, this is something of a preview of things to come from Portintruan, Elixir’s new distillery rising in Port Ellen. Interesting indeed! Colour: gold/bronze. Nose: evokes the scent of a beechwood-smoked Williams pear, which one suspects is courtesy of the new oak. There’s also a faint flicker of cologne. It’s all very clean, fresh, vibrant and positively sparkling! With water: still distinctly ‘new’, or something along those lines—clearly neither Caol Ila nor Bunnahabhain as we know them. A wander through a tropical greenhouse, I’d say. Mouth (neat): rather unorthodox, offering plenty of green tea with a hint of celery, and a ‘green’ peat that leans towards eucalyptus and even the faint whiff of bidis. And yes, salt. With water: same impressions, though now edging closer to the maritime and saline character shared by the two distilleries on the Sound of Islay. Finish: medium in length, perhaps veering towards something like green lapsang souchong, say a Champasak from Laos. That smoked Williams pear returns right at the back. Comments: we’ll be keeping a sample and, ten years from the first spirit off the stills at Portintruan, well—let’s have a proper side-by-side. Deal? In any case, this is most unusual and very much to our taste.
SGP:564 - 87 points.

It’s time to put an end to all this chaos.

(Thank you, Wouter)