Caperdonich 32 yo 1970/2002 (53.6%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 38.11)
Colour: deep gold. Nose: we have struck beehive! This magnificent combination of exotic woods full of resins, many honeys (both runny and more crystallised in presentation) and a wealth of yellow, green and a few dried exotic fruits as well. Taken together it's really in the same vein as those classic 1972 Caperdonichs; a profile that, I would add, remains slightly yet definitely distinct from its sibling: Glen Grant. Continues, with tiger balm, touches of eucalyptus, flower nectars and further rich and resinous qualities. With water: aromatically it develops much more in the way of dried herbs and flowers, cedar wood boxes full of unlit cigars, old pine wood and camphor. Mouth: terrific arrival! A lorry full of fruit molasses, antique furniture and several cubic metres of beeswax has just overturned and crashed into a giant beehive. Indeed, the palate is several notches waxier, glycerol and fat than the nose suggested. Really drilling into this waxed hessian, old waxed cloth jacket and sheep wool oil territory. With water: mead, very old cider brandy, strop leather, sandalwood and circling back to a deep and profound mix of pure honeycomb and beeswax. Finish: long, glowing with more of those luscious yellow and green fruits, in the form of preserves and syrups, then soft peppery and waxy qualities into the aftertaste. Comments: absolutely top class, perhaps not as purely luscious as some of the 1972s, but I feel these 1970s had something 'extra' about them in terms of density, power and texture that makes them almost more interesting.
SGP: 651 - 92 points.

Caperdonich 31 yo 1967/1998 (48.8%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 38.6, 'Muscovado, Sugar and Friar's Balsam')
I made the tricky decision to do this one after the older, higher ABV bottling on the assumption that this would be something of a sherry bomb. Let's put this questionable judgement to the test... Colour: deep reddish mahogany. Nose: hoho, it's different for sure, this in fact a glass of very old Enmore! Seriously, this is dominated by fresh brown breads, treacle, date molasses, medicinal herbs and embrocations, also Blackjack sweeties (maybe a UK thing?), sweet liquorice and bramble wine. One of those old spirits that converges on rum, as well as other ideas with fade in and out, such as very old Armagnac and Fins Bois cognac. Now we have a whole punnet of raspberries, drenched in kirsch and dark chocolate. One of those whiskies were many tiny aromas and modulations of profile continue to emerge. Mouth: thankfully, this holds its own against the 1970. This is once again going towards old demerara rum, with these treacle and medicine combinations, but into the bargain goes old bruised cider apples, miso paste, black olive, salted caramel and sweet pipe tobacco. Add in some creme de menthe, walnut wine and beautiful bitter herbal qualities. Finish: long, perfectly bitter, full of freshly baked brown bread, espresso, spiced dark winter ales, star anise and liquorice root. Comments: poles apart, and probably as much about the sherry cask as about the Caperdonich, but it holds its own against the magnificent 1970, even if the latter is more my speed by a single point. This is still an extremely lush and moreish sherry bomb, where the softer cask strength seems to perfectly balance the more bitter herbal and earthy/bready components of the profile and make the whole rather terrifyingly quaffable.
SGP: 462 - 91 points.

Bowmore 1964 (43%, OB for Soffiantino in Italy, circa mid-1980s)
A sort of proto-Black Bowmore, at least in terms of liquid, if not quite branding... Colour: bright mahogany. Nose: obviously, this is amazing. Let's just get that out of the way quickly. But what's pretty interesting, and what strikes me first, is that this feels quite different from the later OB Black Bowmore 1964s. There is a lighter, more playful profile going on here, probably due to the relative youth and lower ABV, but I thought it worth commenting on. A humbling beautiful fusion of dried exotic fruits, coal smoke, soot and damp dunnage earth, sack cloth, mulling spices, medicinal herbs and green walnut liqueur. It also develops a really beautiful salinity that goes towards the best VORS oloroso money can buy! Then freshly roasted coffee beans and Maggi. Quite stupendous stuff. Mouth: like so many of these bottlings, it just devastates even at only 43%. In fact, it's really the density and texture in the mouth that is so impressive. It carries over all these flavours of peat, medicine, salty feelings and dark plus exotic fruit but supercharges them with an immense impression of weight and texture. The fruit profile truly is beautiful now as well. Simultaneously deeply earthy, richly peaty, resinous, tarry, slightly meaty and popping with these bursts of crystalised exotic fruits and tiny hints of lemon, star fruit, yellow plum and baked apple. We had better stop here, I'm sure you get the drift. Finish: long, and again quite deeply peaty, glowing with dry, peppery, thick peat ember qualities, kumquat, orange rind, dried mango and more superbly salty old dry sherry impressions. Herbal bitters and Claquesin in the aftertaste! Comments: exactly as good as you either remember, hope or imagine.
SGP: 666 - 94 points.

Bowmore 1969/1978 '15th Anniversary Monica Brothers' (58%, OB for Fecchio & Frasa, cask #6636, sherry cask, 300 bottles)
Most of the casks in this series have been absolutely devastating, world class drams. No notes on WF for this wee baby yet, let's see if it stacks up with the likes of 1969 #6635 (WF95), or 1969 #6639 (WF96) ... Colour: white wine. Nose: an almost otherworldly freshness. Arguably closer to the sea than being... in the sea! A literal distillation of all that is good, noble and evocative about the west coast of Scotland: beach sand, pebbles, seashells, rock pools, seaweed, chalk, brine etc. All balanced by some dazzling notes of lemons, grapefruits and limes. Then it starts to get a little grassy as well, gorse flower, actual grass and lemongrass. Beyond that: lovage, chive, pure seawater and natural tar extracts. A totally sublime precision paired with breathtaking evocative power. With water: several levels upwards again. Hard to describe, other than to say it retains all this immense coastal character but starts to incorporate the land and the farmyard as well. Earther tones emerge, sheep wool characteristics, hessian, old wooden malt bins, caraway, roasted asparagus, shoe leather. Too many things to keep track of let alone record. Mouth: utterly astonishing power, salinity and freshness; literal sunshine in a glass, but at the same time also literal petrol in a glass! More thrillingly bright and green grassy qualities, white flowers, squid ink, miso, seawater, fresh citrus juices and a Samurai sword made of pure, bone-dry peat smoke, goes swishing past. When you get to this level in whisky, you rather lose all control when it comes to tasting notes. With water: everything as before, but it seems to move outwards in all directions, becoming simultaneously fatter, sweeter, saltier, oilier, peatier, more coastal, more farmy and more fruity all at the same time. It's not so much that it has a flavour profile, rather that you may have to go exploring and chose to focus on one area or direction of flavour at a time. Taken as a whole, it's almost too much. Finish: simply stunnning, emotional and compelling whisky that ends with some kind of poetry written in citrus and seawater. Comments: how long will such bottles exist before they're all drunk or evaporated and oxidised away? What was this like to drink when it was freshly bottled? What cumulation of actual ingredients and process created this insane profile in the first place? Whiskies of this power and such dominating personality just leave you scratching your head I'm afraid. Not that I'd have it any other way.
SGP: 565 - 95 points. Maybe 96. I am not to be trusted with these mad bottlings I'm afraid.