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| Hi, you're in the Archives, August 2026 - Part 2 |
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August 19, 2026 |
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A trio of Dailuaine
What can we tell you about Dailuaine, other than that Charles Doig was heavily involved in its construction? I know this because we have a period engraving of the distillery plans at WF headquarters… Right, let’s do a proper little vertical… (Bovril) |
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Dailuaine 5 yo 2020/2025 (61%, The Whisky Exchange, Zodiac: Taurus, first-fill Pedro Ximenez, cask # 312947, 489 bottles) 
What’s good when you come across malts this young is that they teach you that the Distillery was active fairly recently. Yep. Colour: full gold. Nose: we should have guessed this was going to be lovely, otherwise they wouldn’t have bottled it at this rather unsellable age (no ten, no deal). Very lovely touches of Bovril, roots, gentian, old balsamic vinegar, and more palo cortado than PX. Or let’s say ‘cream’, and we’re talking high-standard ‘cream’ here, because those do exist. Then some cured ham. With water: the mushrooms are pushing their way out of the neck! The other day I tasted an extraordinary porcini candyfloss that this reminds me of. An absolute killer. Mouth (neat): rich indeed, almost on mushroom and leek broth, then ginger and an umami side that just keeps growing. Orange marmalade keeps watch over the whole thing. With water: excellent, but increasingly on Williams pear eau-de-vie. That’s youth, it never lies. Finish: long, on candied pear, eau-de-vie, and dried bolete powder, an extraordinary condiment. Comments: absolutely excellent. At five years old!
SGP:562 - 87 points. |
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Dailuaine 13 yo 2013/2026 (5.1%, Dràm Mor, Portuguese red wine finish, cask #302722, 282 bottles) 
Red wine is of course a little frightening (Duero/Douro?), but we know that at Dràm Mor they know how to handle this kind of slightly dodgy business, don’t we? Colour: apricot. Nose: we could almost call this a rosé whisky, what with all those raspberries, peonies and redcurrants showing off, rather in the manner of a crémant or champagne rosé. What’s quite crazy is that none of it clashes, at least not so far. With water: rye bread and ground barley are holding their ground, but there are indeed some dried fruits, especially the apricot already mentioned. Mouth (neat): proper rosé whisky, I swear. Black pepper, pink peppercorns, artichoke and red pepper, stalks, skins… With water: a few notes of fruit sweets, strawberries, blackcurrants, raspberries… Plus some curious notes of agave syrup. Finish: long, more on a slightly improbable duo of aubergine and blackcurrant, with some pleasantly tart blood orange in the signature. Comments: we feared the worst, but it works.
SGP:661 - 84 points. |
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Dailuaine 23 yo 2002/2025 (57%, The Whisky Blues, 1st fill bourbon barrel, cask #29, 211 bottles) 
These labels are still as beautiful as ever and still remind me just as much of Klek, the mad drummer from Angine de Poitrine. Colour: pale gold. Nose: here comes the fatness, the sulphur (sulphur from the distillate), the shoe polish, also bitter orange and wonderful whiffs of fresh hay stuffed with flowers. Behind all that, cement, grist, plaster, chalk. With water: it gets even tighter, on slate, paraffin and herbs, but it works perfectly. Mouth (neat): perfect! Lemon, chalk, mandarin, grey pepper, basta cosi. With water: very beautiful, precise to the millimetre, just rubbery enough, and packed with clays and rather tart citrus fruits. Finish: long, fresh and fat at the same time, very much on citron, even slightly soapy ‘in a good way’. Comments: a mixture of explosiveness and almost Calvinistic seriousness. Perhaps slightly intellectual, as we sometimes say without the slightest restraint… when we don’t know what else to say. Seriously, this is excellent.
SGP:561 - 89 points. |
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August 18, 2026 |
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Here is our monthly trio of Clynelish,
plus three strange bonuses |
It seems to me that last month, in July, we declared, admittedly in a somewhat peremptory fashion, that we wanted to taste some new Clynelish, or at any rate Clynelishes we had not yet tried, every month. Or something along those lines. Now August is already well under way, so it is high time we put our money where our mouth is. Off we go… |
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Clynelish 8 yo 2018/2026 (50%, The Cooper’s Choice, Golden Cut Collection, bourbon, cask #303893, 360 bottles)
We’ve already tasted some magnificent Clynelish from Cooper’s Choice/Vintage Malts Whisky Co. including a 1983/1996 whose only flaw was that it had been bottled at 40% vol. Or a 1971/2002 Cooper’s which, incidentally, was our 20,000th whisky two years ago. By the way, this is the youngest Clynelish we’ve tasted so far, let’s try to see whether the famous ‘black gunge’ was indeed present in the receiver… Colour: pale gold. Nose: precise, with as much candle wax as cider apples, then grapefruit and black radish. Touches of mandarins in brine. With water: chalk and liquorice wood come charging in. Mouth (neat): powerful, waxy but, once again, also full of tart fruits, with a texture that cannot help but remind us of Talisker. This isn’t the first time that’s happened. With water: even more so, although naturally without the peat, but with plenty of salted lemon. Those little mandarins in brine are back as well. Finish: long and much saltier than most Clynelish I’ve tasted, it seems to me. Apart from ‘Old’ Clynelish, of course. Comments: very impressive for an 8-year-old.
SGP:462 - 88 points. |
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Clynelish 12 yo 2013/2026 (51.8%, James Eadie, Distilleries of Great Britain & Ireland, recharred hogshead, cask # 327401, 355 bottles)
A recharred hogshead, possibly from Cambus Cooperage, Diageo’s cooperage unit that had replaced the old grain distillery. We’d visited it with the Malt Maniacs, and it had been very, very impressive. Colour: white wine. Nose: it’s naturally close, but fruitier and more vanilla-driven, with a slight feeling of IPA, pear, but also mandarin and pollen. A little liquid shoe polish and a touch of celery. Very nice indeed. With water: chalk and twigs. Classic. Mouth (neat): this time it falls into line with the 2018, only earthier, sharper, livelier, but less salty. With water: ah perfect, once again. I don’t know why, but yet again I’m thinking of Talisker. Perhaps because, in theory, the malted barley should come from the same maltings? (Ord). Finish: perfect. Rooty, powerful, still very textured. Lovely pepper. Comments: frankly, between both and as they say in Inverness, when it comes to quality, it’s six of one and half a dozen of the other.
SGP:461 - 88 points. |
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Clynelish 12 yo 2013/2026 (54.5%, Lady of the Glen, hogshead, cask 231584, 295 bottles)
I think it’s brilliant to see independent Clynelish once again displaying the distillery’s name, rather than ‘The Cats’ Favourite Secret Highland’ and other such funny and sometimes even entertaining nonsense that was made compulsory for a while. But of course, nobody was fooled… And naturally, the risk here is that this baby will be virtually identical to the previous ones, but is that really a risk? Colour: full gold. Nose: what the colour was already suggesting, this is rather more coated in vanilla and fudge, even orange liqueur, but we know this style suits Clynelish perfectly well. All the more so since the little wild apples and candle wax are expressing themselves freely. With water: a little fresher than the others, at any rate a little less coated than the James E., but we’re talking about the thickness of a pencil line here, as we say. Mouth (neat): yet another perfect young Clynelish, this time we find a few touches of violet-flavoured liquorice on top of everything else, wax, cider, clementines, small shellfish, a little peppermint… With water: another little marvel, classic Clynelish, fresh, with slightly earthy fruits, citrus, a salty touch and, naturally, wax. Finish: perfect, a little more floral at this stage. Apples roasted with thyme honey, or something along those lines. Saltier aftertaste. Comments: now, has anyone ever tried making Clynelish-scented candles? In any case, I regret to inform you that I like all three of these young Clynelishes equally and couldn’t possibly score them differently. That’s the problem with hyper-focused line-ups, but what can you do…
SGP:551 - 88 points. |
Bonus: we found the next baby lurking in the Clynelish box, and we’re going to taste it for the first time. That’s the kind of thing that can happen when you file everything alphabetically… |
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Chain Pier 5 yo 2019/2025 (54.5%, Hogshead Imports, virgin oak barrel, 259 bottles) 
Here’s an experimental micro-distillery from John Crabbie that only operated in 2018 and 2019 and produced, just imagine, 39 casks in total. I had heard of it, but of course I’d never had the opportunity to taste it before… Colour: gold. Nose: little lemon sweets, lemon balm and lemongrass, baking soda, meringues, angelica… Well, none of this is bad at all, and it even holds its own after those wonderful young Clynelishes. At least for now… With water: the fresh wood comes to the fore. An Ikea warehouse, as we sometimes say. Mouth (neat): it’s good, but on the palate it’s really very wood-driven, coconut and vanilla, and I would never have said this was Scottish. I might even have thought it was grain whisky or some very adventurous young bourbon. With water: curiously, it recovers somewhat, with the citrus returning, along with curry, and even masala. Finish: same. Comments: above all, it’s great fun. There are some very lovely sides to it, others that leave us rather puzzled, including the woodiness, which is far too excessive for us.
SGP:650 - 77 points. |
Would you believe it, there was a second one… |
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Chain Pier 6 yo 2019 (58.9%, Tri Carragh, 2nd fill red wine octave finish, 86 bottles)
Everything we love, octaves, red wine, finishings… But careful, this is second-fill, so you never know… Colour: white wine (amusing for red wine). Nose: my heart is torn. On the one hand there are little red berries, on the other it’s much less woody than the previous one. And there’s some lovely muesli. Right, let’s dig a little deeper… With water: three tonnes of porridge, turnips and raw carrots. Mouth (neat): very strange, but great fun. Tonnes of nutmeg, coffee dregs, chickpeas, dried ceps… Talk about something unusual! With water: the mushrooms take over, and what’s more, they’re very salty. But where on earth is all this coming from? Finish: very long, spicy and salty, in a style we’ve never encountered in malt whisky before and probably never will again. Comments: these two babies, and they really are babies, are impossible to tell apart in terms of quality, we’d need the codes and we simply don’t have them. Okay, one extra point for the dried cep powder, given what the stuff costs...
SGP:451 - 78 points. |
But wait, there was another strange thing in the Clynelish box (which sits, would you imagine that, just before the Cragganmore and Craigellachie box…) |
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Crafty 3 yo 2022/2025 (60.2%, Fadandel, 1st fill oloroso octave, cask #PC0011, 75 bottles)
It’s probably good to know that Crafty was the original name of the Galloway Distillery in the Lowlands, and that consequently, whiskies bearing the name ‘Crafty’ are extremely rare. I don’t think we’re going to create a ‘Crafty’ section in our index, that wouldn’t be terribly useful, what do you think? Colour: full gold. Nose: this is much more classic than the Chain Piers, rounded, rich, well defined, very much on orange cakes and chocolate, Jaffa Cakes, orange blossom Turkish delight, nutmeg and all that. With water: closer to barley, but also rye, millet… Mouth (neat): I find this very good, there’s peppered chocolate, roasted lupin tea (very good), toasted buckwheat too, walnut cake, touches of ginger… With water: this one isn’t very Scottish in style either, you’d think you were in California instead. Lemony spices, sandalwood, incense, cardamom etc. In other words, a whisky for Armistead Maupin’s characters. Finish: lovely, long, spicy, almost oriental this time. Fig cakes. Comments: this stuff is really good! But the name, well, they should have asked a decent communications agency for advice. Crafty? Sounds like a cartoon for two-to-five-year-olds, doesn’t it?
SGP:571 - 83 points. |
That reminds me, while we’re on the subject of craft, are there still any casks of Loch Ewe kicking around Scotland? Right, this little session has gone seriously off-piste, but it has made us want to add a few improbable and unknown whiskies to our traditional sessions from time to time. Goodness knows, there are myriads of them in our stocks, and while the alphabetical approach makes absolutely no sense in terms of styles, it does at least have the merit of amusing… the humble taster. Right, we’ll see how it goes, see you. |
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August 17, 2026 |
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A small trio of new holy Glendronach |
The branding of dear Glendronach is getting closer and closer to Macallan, with, for example, these NAS ‘Rooms’ that do rather bring to mind the big brand’s own NAS releases (Harmony, A Night Wherever…) On the other hand, rather like at Tamdhu, the sherry here should be more classical, closer to what the large brand we have just been mentioning so insistently used to be some thirty years ago. Well, when it’s sherry, naturally. |
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Glendronach ‘The Sevillian Room’ (43%, OB, House Edition, 2026) 
Pure sherry, with a combination of PX, oloroso and palo cortado. We just hope this room in Seville is a room with a view and somewhat removed from the hordes of tourists. Colour: full gold. Nose: old walnuts and shoe polish, raisins, dried figs and triple sec. It could hardly be more classical than this, while for now, the modest 43% is holding the fort rather well. Mouth: a little spicy and modern, with nutmeg, cinnamon and a little sawdust. Some orange liqueur comes along to rescue the whole thing somewhat, but we remain a little too close to freshly seasoned wood. Finish: quite long, more peppery, with more nocino. May I remind you that nocino is Italian, not Spanish, and even less Andalusian. Comments: I found the nose better than the palate, which is a little young and ‘pumped up’ with sherry, but this is still a very, very good young whisky.
SGP:461 - 82 points. |
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Glendronach ‘The Venetian Room’ (46%, OB, House Edition, 2026)
I’m not sure whether the real theme of this new collection is overtourism, perhaps not after all. Here we have PX, oloroso and amarone, so some seriously bodybuilt Italian red wine, which makes this more Italian-Spanish than truly Venetian. Anyway, amarone is from Verona, not Venice, or so it seems to me… Colour: onion skin. Nose: the Sevillian, plus some red wine made from partially dried grapes, which is precisely what amarone is. Truth be told, it’s not bad at all, coherent, gentle but not schmalzy so far. Very PX dulce in the end. Mouth: all of this is fairly rich, whith fortified wine, it doesn’t integrate too badly with the malt, despite these notes of tomato (and leaves) and a slightly peppery bitterness, rather close to grape stalks. Finish: quite long, rich, spicy. Peppery raisins. Comments: we cannot really say this has the lightness and elegance of Venice, unless you find in this amusing little juice something slightly… Bellini-like. The Sevillian was a little more coherent for me.
SGP:461 - 80 points. |
It’s amusing, all these very clerical colours, you’d think we were at a conclave in the Vatican, wouldn’t you? |
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Glendronach 14 yo ‘Boynsmill House’ (46.8%, OB, 2026)
Oloroso, PX, then a claret finish, so red Bordeaux I imagine, which means blackcurrants and bell pepper, we suppose. Right, let’s hold tight… Incidentally, this bottle celebrates the 200th anniversary of Glendronach’s original ‘house’, a bit like their own Easter Elchies, if you will. Right, red Bordeaux and malt, that’s without a safety net… Colour: good news, it isn’t pink, just apricot. Nose: this is rounder than the others, without any excess of cabernet or merlot, with some lovely pink-orange liqueur and a few touches of candied cherry, but once again, nothing excessive. No overbearing grape stalks, pips or skins, nor any blackberries, blackcurrants or raspberries. In short, a very pleasant nose. Mouth: well played! We all know just how antithetical red Bordeaux casks are to malt whisky, but here it works rather well, with a little chilli, bitter orange, pepper, and the proverbial tomato leaf. Pink peppercorns. Finish: same. Blackcurrant buds and grey pepper. Comments: this kind of strange composition generally struggles to reach 85 points on our humble little rating scale, but we’re not very far off here, even if it does creak a little here and there.
SGP:561 - 83 points. |
Well, these wine-boosted NAS are probably not terribly indispensable, but I find they’re getting better and better at making them. Anyway, at the rate things are going in Bordeaux, they’ll soon be doing cask seasoning just like in Jerez. |
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August 16, 2026 |
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A word of caution
Let me please remind you that my humble assessments of any spirits are done from the point of view of a malt whisky enthusiast who, what's more, is aboslutely not an expert in rum, brandy, tequila, vodka, gin or any other spirits. Thank you – and peace! |
Another little bag of Armagnacs
After last week’s cognacs, here come the armagnacs again on WF. And this time, I promise we’re not going to do it ‘vertically’…
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Domaine d’Aurensan ‘Les 10’ (43.9%, OB, Ténarèze, 2026)
The ten grape varieties authorised in Armagnac assembled into a single bottling, that really is a first and rather reminds us of what a few rare Champagne houses are doing, Drappier for example. But we’re not here to talk about Champagne… To be complete, those varieties are the very rare (in Armagnac) Plant de graisse, Meslier St François, Mauzac blanc, Mauzac rosé, Clairette de Gascogne, Jurançon blanc, and of course Ugni blanc, Colombard, Baco and Folle blanche. That does make ten… Colour: amber. Nose: the bitters and marcs are dominating proceedings, amaros, marc de Bourgogne, small berries, fruit skins, zests, herbs and flowers… Truth be told, this is almost more marc d’Armagnac than ‘fine’, but then again, aren’t we in Ténarèze? Mouth: increasingly on the marc side, with fresh fruit, liquorice, pips and stalks, lemon-mint, and quite simply herbs. A very faint resinous side, young fir needles… Finish: it retreats a little towards the skins, pips and stalks, but as lovers of marc, we can only appreciate this greatly. Comments: it’s distinctive, unusual, a little wild and certainly very rustic, but it’s terrific, even if we have to intellectualise the whole thing a little bit. But were the grapes destemmed or not?
SGP:371 - 88 points. |
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Couzard-Lassalle 20 yo 2005/2026 (49.5%, Darroze, armagnac.de, Bas-armagnac, cask #R116)
Couzard-Lassalle is the other name for Lous Pibous, and sadly this is their very last vintage! And 100% folle blanche. Colour: full gold. Nose: it kicks off with oils, waxes, and even a little fresh rubber, rather like a malt whisky. Indeed. Then come varnishes, glues, fresh paint, rather as in a young bourbon. Indeed. And finally, the apricots and peaches arrive, together with prunes, plums and service-tree berries… Mouth: it’s all happening on the palate, developing at breakneck speed towards grapefruit, melon skin, jasmine tea, jujubes and pine nuts. This is a vigorous, terroir-driven armagnac, certainly not some drawing-room tipple. Finish: it loosens up, becoming more citrusy, more on oranges of all kinds, with even a few echoes of Martinique. Right, maw-tinique. Comments: some serious chewiness in this Lous Pibous/Couzard Lassalle which, as we used to say back in the day, takes no prisoners.
SGP:461 - 89 points. |
The little Aurensan put up one hell of a fight! Right, let’s carry on… |
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Domaine Pouy 25 yo 1998/2025 (57.9%, L’Encantada, Piacere Rinato/Pietramore, Ténarèze, cask #99)
Some ugni blanc and colombard, probably in perfect symbiosis. And above all, Ténarèze. Colour: full gold. Nose: we’re extremely close to the Couzard-Lassalle. Lovely tension, lovely fatness, plenty of texture on the nose. With water: little mints, camphor, paraffin oil, almond milk… Mouth (neat): same elements, with an even more pronounced varnish-and-glue side. Zests, bitter almonds, fir needles, buds, kirsch… With water: figs, pine-nut tea and, above all, a massive whack of wood glue come charging in, it’s almost a little ‘too much’. It reminds me of the wild cherry and morello cherry eaux-de-vie from Marcel Windholtz in Ribeauvillé, top distiller in Alsace. Finish: long, rustic, bitter, almost rubbery. Comments: I think this really is a Ténarèze for die-hard fanatics of the extreme de la muerte.
SGP:361 - 87 points. |
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Baron Gaston Legrand 1986/2026 (47.1%, Grape of the Art, Bas-armagnac, cask #32)
Some baco and ugni blanc. By the way, psst, you’ve forgotten a zero in the price of this +/- 40-year-old armagnac, haven’t you? I mean, €135? What would the shoddiest of Scottish distilleries do in these circumstances? Why yes, bang, €1,350. Injustice rule this world, I tell you… Colour: full gold. Nose: this is the style of armagnac that comes rather close to cognac, with peaches in syrup, milk chocolate, very gentle honeys, herbal teas (rosehip, camomile) and a wee trail of exotic fruits, heading towards tinned mangoes. It’s lovely, not extravagant, but very elegant. Mouth: excellent, once again a little cognac-esque, with green tea, apple and peach peelings, herbal teas, then increasingly buds, leaves, herbs… Truth be told, it becomes a little dry but remains elegant. The wood is a little more noticeable, gentian, liquorice wood, hojicha… Finish: medium in length, drying out a little, towards wood glue and conifer buds. Comments: excellent, but perhaps it would be better to avoid the finish, which, let’s admit it, is a very tricky thing to do. Our powers remain rather limited, you see.
SGP:451 - 88 points. |
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Domaine Ludon 26 yo 1998/2026 (51%, L’Encantada, Piacere Rinato/Pietramore, Bas-armagnac, cask #178) 
Pure folle blanche here. We have deep hopes, let that be said… Colour: full gold. Nose: ah, here comes the fruit. Mirabelles, peaches, apricots, all ultra-ripe and coated with a little varnish and kirsch. This is the folle blanche expressing itself in full. With water: oh, this is beautiful, thuja wood, argan oil, prickly pear liqueur, blood orange… Mouth (neat): an incredible cavalcade of essences and juices, rose, orange blossom, liquorice… this really is very beautiful. With water: of course. Oranges peeled down to the flesh, accompanied by rose liqueur, violet and olive oil. Killer stuff. Finish: same. Very beautiful. Comments: a much clearer line here, purer, easier. We like things easy at Château WF, let that be said. As Angus would say, we’re not masochists.
SGP:551 - 90 points. |
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Veuve Goudoulin 85 yo (41.6%, OB, barrique #1, +/-2022)
Not too sure if and when this was bottled, it was probably vatted later on, but surely, we couldn’t resist an armagnac that’s even older (and less coloured) than the president of the United States, could we? Colour: amber. Nose: this old-school armagnac style is actually magnificent, despite being somewhat old-fashioned, even downright antiquated. Cocoa butter, old Meursault, incense and rosewood, cinnamon, ‘discreet’ rosewater, soft caramels… This really is a journey back in time. Mouth: it’s a little woody and soapy (and it loses quite a few points here), but it isn’t really fragile, it’s simply very woody. On the other hand, there are some very lovely spices centred around cinnamon and cumin. Finish: quite long, very bitter, resinous, but with a rather tremendous kind of elegance. Comments: this is a rather fragile old thing, no doubt well past its glory days (let’s say the Jimi Hendrix era), but moving and laden with history. Please, let’s remain magnanimous.
SGP:261 - 85 points. |
More new armagnacs coming very soon, including, imagine, some from those rare varietals we mentioned hereabove… |
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Best spirits Serge tried those weeks, 90+ points only
Domaine Ludon 26 yo 1998/2026 (51%, L’Encantada, Piacere Rinato/Pietramore, Bas-armagnac, cask #178)
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