Highland Park ‘Sigurd’ (43%, OB, 2013)
One of these silly NAS ‘Warrior’ releases for travel retail. It feels like there’s more of these Viking things than there are episodes of Friends by now. Said to be composed of predominantly sherry seasoned European oak casks. Colour: gold. Indeed, there’s a nice and simple leafy sherry aroma to begin. Some chocolate, tobacco, Dundee cake, sweet sultana notes and a little caffe latte. Simple but perfectly inoffensive. Mouth: There’s a nice soft note of dry, sooty peat that has something of this old school heathery Highland Park peat about it. Also black coffee, bitter marmalade and pine resin. Pretty good. Finish: medium, some robust bitter chocolate, winter spices, toasty tannin and some spiced dark fruits. Comments: It’s a perfectly nice drop of Highland Park, but for NAS at circa £150 a bottle it’s also something of a piss take. Dear Edrington, at the very least please up the ABV a few notches.
SGP: 552 - 84 points.

Highland Park 2007/2018 (53.7%, Duncan Taylor for Malt Whisky Hong Kong, cask #5022603, sherry octave finish, 103 bottles)
One of these funny small cask finishes from Duncan Taylor. I rather like the label on this one. Colour: reddish amber. Nose: the sherry is rather assertive at first, but it’s clean and pretty cohesive which is good news. It doesn’t ‘feel’ like a finish which is always good sign I think. In fact it’s rather elegant and leafy with these notes of damp earth, soft tobaccos, bitter chocolate and mushroom soup. Some hints of celery salts, plum wine and hessian cloth. Very enjoyable and surprisingly soft. With water: even more leafy now and developing a slightly menthol edge like mint leaf and eucalyptus. Still this nice bitter chocolate note. Mouth: you feel the wood technology a little more on arrival with these kind of peppery and spicy pencil shaving notes. Although, it’s also still quite earthy and chocolatey just with added notes of black coffee, soot and cherries. Get’s slightly meaty as well with notes of black pepper and beef teriyaki. Quite an interesting wee dram. With water: still pretty cohesive with water and maintaining this peppery, meaty and spicy quality. Although the pencil shavings are also still present. Finish: good length, rather earthy, spicy, sooty and with glimmers of cereal. The mushrooms are also back. Comments: A funny one. The finish has worked reasonably well I think, there are some slightly jarring woody moments but the overall cohesion manages to tread a careful knife edge and there’s plenty of entertaining flavours to enjoy. Although, not sure how much of the Highland Park character made it through? Still, should satisfy the sherry coveters amongst you.
SGP: 462 - 87 points.

Orkney 15 yo 2003/2018 (50%, Hunter Laing ‘Old Malt Cask’, hogshead, 343 bottles)
Colour: straw. Nose: typical with these lovely notes of fabric, wet rocks, canvass, sandalwood and chalk. Rubbed lemon peels, bath salts, some rather brittle minerals and a generally flustered coastal quality. Pure, classic and very good. With water: seawater, lemon juice, linens, floral scented air fresheners and beach pebbles. Mouth: sweeter than the nose suggests with some sort of gloopy, sweetened children’s medicines,  barley sugars, lemon water, herbal infusions, medical tinctures and clay. With water: nicely chalky, saline, touches of mead, hessian, cooking oils and gorse flowers. Finish: good length, lemony, mineral oils, sourdough, yeasty, biscuity and hints of camphor and hessian. Comments: typically excellent, clean, distillate-forward modern HP. You’re left wondering why it’s always up to the indys to offer us this wonderfully natural and unvarnished style?
SGP: 462 - 87 points.

Probably Orkney’s Finest 16 yo 2003/2019 (48.4%, Douglas Laing ‘Old Particular’, refill hogshead, 371 bottles)
Let’s see what the other side of the Laing family has to offer… Colour: straw. Nose: We’re in a very similar ballpark with these initial notes of fabric, wet rocks and linens. Here there’s also lemon barley water, heather honey and a globally more rounded and sweeter nose. More malty sinew and richness which makes it a tad more approachable and easy I’d say. Mouth: lovely consistency with the nose. Autolytic, biscuity, yeasty, malty and lemony. Wonderfully rich and textured, notes of olive oil, fresh bread, dried herbs and salted honey. Finish: long and fragrant with notes of bouquet garni, miso, various broths, seasonings and light mineral and medical qualities. Comments: There’s an added layer of richness and sweetness here that just elevates it above its sibling cask a notch in my book.
SGP: 562 - 88 points.

Highland Park 15 yo 2003/2019 (58.2%, OB for ‘Wu Dram Clan Whisky Society’, cask #6162, 1st fill Spanish oak sherry butt, 628 bottles)
Colour: deep amber. Nose: it’s one of these very ‘Edrington’ sherry casks, which is to say a rather beefy and punchy initial nose full of soy sauce, star anise, cloves and black tea. Powerful, drying, bitter chocolatey and pretty direct. Although, given time, it does yield some more subtle notes of jasmine, cola cubes, stodgy Guinness cake and strong herbal teas. With water: chilli infused dark chocolate, salted caramel, beef stock, Maggi and an intriguing mix of coal dust and incense. Mouth: again this sense of strong and rather tannic black teas, herbal bitters, green Chartreuse, ointments, salty liquorice, five spice and some bassy damp earth notes and tobacco. With water: gets a tad more gamey and generally meatier, more bready, some figs in syrup, bitter coffee, wood spices and mentholated vapour rubs. Finish: good length, rather herbal, bitter, dark chocolate, more menthol notes and some cherry throat sweets. Comments: As I’ve said before with these official single casks, this is very good, but also rather difficult at times, like the whisky is pushing pack. Also, I feel like there are three identifiable and quite distinct types of HP in today’s market. The more natural, refill/distillate style mostly offered by the indys; these rather intense but technically very good official single sherry casks; and the lighter, more variable and occasionally wishy washy NAS / lower strength official bottlings. Discuss?
SGP: 672 - 87 points.

Highland Park 28 yo 1988/2017 (49.6%, Cadenhead, Port Hogshead since 2007, 222 bottles)
10 years in a Port hogshead, so more of a double maturation than a finish. Colour: light gold. Nose: oooh but this is lovely, acacia honey, fragrant sandalwood, herbal liqueurs, gentle medical embrocations, aged mead, quince and some underlying exotic fruits manifest as mango chutney and ripe guava. No hint of any jarring cask hopping, this is a beautiful and harmonious nose. Mouth: equally superb! Herbal infusions, exotic fruit teas, camphor, more aged mead, salted honey, ripe exotic fruits, mango, papaya, lime, lychee jam and quince jelly. This is really superb! Goes on with more classical old HP notes of waxes, hessian, camphor, soft herbal peat and medical ointments. Also a shimmering coastal note in the background. Who could be against this? Finish: long, wonderfully thick, rich and honeyed, still thrillingly luscious, jellied and lightly spicy. Comments: What is this delicious and fiendish madness? Whatever cask trickery has gone on here, it’s worked a treat. Although, what’s terrific is that this just feels like beautiful, concentrated and luscious aged Highland Park, you don’t really feel any overt wood at all. Anyway, totally splendid whisky, a great surprise.
SGP: 762 -  91 points.

Highland Park 20 yo 1975/1995 (55.2%, Adelphi)
Colour: pale straw. Nose: a lovely herbal sweetness to begin, rather like some syrupy cough medicine, then touches of fabrics, bath salts, lemon peel, white flowers, waxes and beach pebbles. Medical tinctures, dried seaweed and bouillon stock. Fresh, fragrant and really excellent. Not unlike some of these more contemporary refill matured HPs only with an added layer of waxy texture and depth. With water: really doubles down on these citrus and medical notes with a more herbal and lean waxiness. Also a light whiff of metallic peat. Mouth: superb arrival, all on salted heather honey, waxes, mint tea, lemon cordial, white stone fruits and notes of ripe melon, cough drops and chalk. With water: almost like pure spiced mead now. Salty, spicy, herbal, medical; some kind of pure ramen broth. The peat is getting louder with water now as well. Dry, coastal, bitterly herbal and with a few notes of fragrant teas such as bergamot and chamomile. Finish: Long, saline, waxy, herbal and sooty. Comments: It’s fascinating to see the similarities between this and the refill matured 2003s from the Laings we tried earlier in this session. The key difference is texture, depth and fatness of distillate. These older style HPs just have that extra weight and usually a more pronounced thread of peat running through them. This one was really terrific.
SGP: 463 - 91 points.

Highland Park 18 yo 1972/1991 (56%, Dun Eideann, cask #9017, sherry, 120 bottles)
A loftily regarded old bottling series from Signatory which featured many stunning gems. This one also appeared in the official Signatory livery at the time as well. Colour: deep amber. Nose: a lost world. The kind of old school sherry cask that for many years held stunning, ancient sherry destined for drinking. The result is this vortex of concentrated dark fruits, aged tobaccos, earthen floored old wine cellars, mushroom powder, leaf mulch, prunes soaked in old Cognac, damson jam and all manner of sumptuous crystallised fruits.  Beyond that there’s also some beautiful dark chocolate and maraschino cherry juices. Stunning concentration and depth! With water: evolves beautifully towards more umami notes of black olive, Maggi, black pepper, beef stock and seaweed broth. Saline, meaty, bitter, herbal and fruity in perfect balance. Mouth: like the densest most syrupy dark fruit liqueurs drizzled over the the most expensive, decadent and wonderful dark chocolates. Velvety and profoundly dense in texture with an almost undulating morass of dark fruits and bitter herbal liqueurs. Add sweet dark coffee, walnut oils, exotic fruit syrups and cherry flavours cough medicines. With water: everything that’s gone before only magnified and even deeper and more complex. Call the anti-maltoporn brigade immediately if you please!  Finish: Tense, bitter, herbal, darkly fruity, earthy, spicy and thrillingly long. Comments: Anyone serious should endeavour to taste and educate themselves about these kinds of old sherried whiskies. While this style of distillate quality may soon be matched by the more ambitious distillers of today, these kinds of old style sherry casks are so rare, far harder and more obscure things to pin down. This really is an extinct profile in Scotch Whisky.
SGP: 662 - 93 points.

Brora 40 yo 1978/2019 (49.2%, OB ‘200th Anniversary’, American oak hogsheads, 1819 bottles)
Colour: gold. Nose: even after all these years the freshness and the coastal elements are what strike first. These kinds of leathery embrocations, sandalwood and crushed seashells with undercurrents of petrol, salinity, clay, heather honey and aged mead. This kind of nose is a paean to lightly peated whisky in my opinion, this beautiful diversity of layered aroma that peat breaks down into after many years is something you just don’t get with more heavily peated malts. Remains heathery and chalky but develops along lines of lemon cough drops, vapour rubs and hessian. Gorgeous, enveloping complexity that you can just nose for ever. Mouth: surprisingly full and still quite peaty. Again this rather herbal infused peat that seems to wed itself to the waxiness of the spirit - you could almost call it ‘Brora flavour’ in the same way pinot noir or mango are their own flavours. Harmonious, elegant and deeply complex spirit, one that still possesses impressive weight, texture and balance. There’s also a sweetness, warmth and leatheriness that alludes to some graceful old VT riesling. Finish: long, impressively salty, herbal, medical and showing this elegant leathery, waxy peat again. Comments: There are other undeniably more dazzling official Broras, and the price of this bottling makes these notes pretty much academic for most of us. However, it’s an irrefutable reminder of just how great this distillery and its varied styles of distillate was. There’s a freshness and a consistency of complexity across nose and palate about this whisky that would embarrass most other 40 year olds. The overall impression I’m left with is one of profound gladness that Diageo are re-starting the distillery. If they have the sense and determination to make something akin to this style again then that will be terrific news for anyone who loves great whisky.
SGP: 563 - 92 points.

Brora 19 yo 1977/1996 (59.4%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 61.5 ‘An Islay by another name’)
Colour: gold. Nose: it’s one of these medium peated Broras where the peat is elusive and ethereal; mixed up with farmyard, medicines, seashore aspects and in this case a rather thick and profound waxiness. You just could not be nosing any other distillate. Herbal, lightly sooty, notes of canvas, oily rag, bandages and hints of pine resin. There’s also a gentle freshness of earth and damp greenery running through it - like petrichor. With water:   perfect complexity now. A sharp and tangy coastal note. Chiselled minerals, some lemon peel, camphor, herbal waxes and an undulating and wonderfully fat farmyard quality. Mouth: even with a lighter coat of peat this is still huge whisky. Powerfully, almost viscerally waxy, mineral, sooty, oily and filled with notes of polish, anthracite embers, a drying and beautifully herbal peat, salted mead, putty, medical embrocations - just totally thrilling whisky! Gets more honeyed, sweeter and almost beery with time. Some fragrant, heathery smoke and an almost petrolic mineral note. With water: broader, fatter, oilier, a more sooty smokiness and superbly mouthcoating. Time to call the anti-maltoporn brigade I feel. Finish: long, waxy and getting almost meaty while still beautifully herbal, layered and with soft flashes of peat smoke, tar, coal embers and medicines. Comments: I feel these later 1970s vintages of Brora are still underrated. You have everything here: power, structure, elegance, length, depth and complexity.
SGP: 473 - 93 points.

Fettercairn 12 yo (40%, OB, 2019)  
I’m aware Serge tried these quite recently, but I have a solo Fettercairn that is calling my name and I am more than a little curious myself. Colour: pale gold. Nose: Even at the rather miserly bottling strength this is still cries out ‘Fettercairn’ with these notes of mud, cheese rind, steel wool, mechanical oils, farmyard and root vegetables. It doesn’t sound pleasant I know, but there’s plenty of charm to admire here. Continues to develop with some rather nice notes of sunflower oil and various freshly bake breads. Mouth: a tad straighter than the nose might have suggested, although the arrival is still rather fatty and all on copper, metal polishes, turnips and touches of caraway and muesli. Some kind of fermented green tea perhaps? Finish: Medium and back to these various notes of lamp oil, pumpernickel, tea and roast root vegetables. Comments: Seriously, Fettercairn, 40%? I can’t help but feel this stubbornly bewildering yet undeniably charismatic make would benefit hugely from a bit more oomph. 
SGP: 451 - 79 points. 

Fettercairn 28 yo (42%, OB, 2018) 
Colour: gold. Nose: there’s a very pleasing syrupyness about this one initially, with a light waxiness and exotic note to boot. Although you still get wee whispers of the more upfront unusualness of the 12yo in the form of damp grains, cow shed, puddle water, bitter cereals and metal polish. Again a rather vegetal aspect too. Mouth: again this feeling of damp grains, but also tea leaves, fresh mint, asparagus, vegetable oil, some sootiness and notes of bitter ales, camphor and menthol tobaccos. Again this feels a curious mix of unusual but a little lacking in power at the same time. Finish: A tad short and on breads, ground ginger, mustard powder and cornflakes. Comments: Hard to know what to make of this. It had some very attractive moments, but I can’t shake the impression Fettercarin - in all its glorious weirdness - is a spirit that needs a higher abv. Same score as the 12 I think. 
SGP: 461 - 79 points.

Fettercairn 30 yo 1988/2019 (56.9%, Signatory Vintage for C. Dully, cask #2007, hogshead, 219 bottles)
A bottling for some notorious Swiss whisky folk who don’t seem to need sleep whenever they’re in Limburg… Colour: gold. Nose: what I love is that there’s a definite DNA between this and the officials. These notes of grease, exotic fruit syrups, horse sweat and - if I may borrow a Sergeism for a moment - wet dog. It’s just that here everything is more muscular, direct and punchy which works very well. Rye bread, herbal medicines, bitter ales, soot and roast root vegetables again. Fettercairn raw (what a frightening thought). With water: some kind of salted honey drizzled over breakfast cereals. Ginger cake, Scotch broth and hints of plasticine. Mouth: lots of putty, concrete, muesli drizzled with heather honey, some very light hints of fragrant soaps, mint leaf, caraway and crushed Brazil nuts. Sweet, spicy, unusually lactic and with some lightly extractive notes from the wood. With water: wow! opens terrifically with water. Wider, spicier, more breads, sultanas, dried fruits, some bitter herbal notes, darjeeling tea, camphor, tool boxes. Pretty excellent with water I have to say. Finish: Long, rather bitter and herbal, notes of heather, caraway, olive oil, yeast and baking soda. Comments: Switzerland: I came for the yodelling, but I stayed for the Fettercairn! Very clever selection, worth trying if you can. Although water is pretty essential with this one I’d say, I initially had it a couple of points lower when neat. 
SGP: 572 - 88 points. 

Benrinnes 15 yo 2004/2019 (54.8%, Cadenhead, Chilean red wine cask, 252 bottles)
Quite frankly, this looks terrifying… Colour: radioactive salmon. Nose: roses, litchis, raspberry jam, pot pourri, red fruit teas and things like rainbow sherbet and candy floss. Otherwise it feels oddly taut and closed. With water: some touches of bread and green pepper emerge but generally this is strange and jarring. Organoleptic dissonance. Mouth: I’m sorry but: ouch! This is just overwhelmed with jarring and bitter red wine flavours. A kind of flabby, plastic fruitiness. I really find this unpleasant and seriously imbalanced. With water: not much in the way of improvement. A kind of sickly, jammy and flabby fruitiness. Disjointed whisky. Finish: medium and on sweet jams, cloying cereals and artificial fruit notes. Comments: I’m sorry, but why bottle this? For the amusing colour? I am reminded of everything I hate about wine finishing. I know that others disagree and of course that’s fine, but this really feels like a flawed mess. 
SGP: 631 - 63 points.

Benrinnes 18 yo 2000/2019 (55.7%, Cadenhead Small Batch, 4 bourbon barrels, 618 bottles)
Colour: straw. Nose: a breath of fresh air after that wine abomination. Soft waxes, menthol vapours, sweet cereals, butter and lime curd. Very good, clean and characterful Benrinnes. With water: lovely development towards white flowers, lemon balm, more vapour rubs and sweet cereals. Mouth: rather gentle on arrival, plenty heathery honey notes, cereals, light tobacco notes, more menthol, waxed canvas and lemon tea. Unfolds rather beautifully from a shy start. With water: great texture, lightly waxy, bready, notes of pollen, mint tea, lemon peel and white pepper. Finish: good length, all on putty, mint, cereals, pollen and more fruit tea notes. Comments: straightforward, clean, simple and rather elegant Benrinnes that manages to be both light but charismatic at the same time. I’d take a miniature of this over an entire cask of that wine finish. The kind of whisky that any malt drinker could find abundant pleasure in. 
SGP: 561 - 87 points. 

Benrinnes 18 yo 2000/2019 (58.7%, Cadenhead Authentic Collection, bourbon barrel, 186 bottles)
Colour: straw. Nose: very similar territories to the Small Batch only here there’s more greenery, more ripe garden fruits, grassy notes, newspaper ink, dried banana chips, oatmeal and some bitter orange marmalade. With water: interesting development towards dried flowers, geraniums in greenhouses, potting sheds and things like clay, brown bread and a tiny hint of marshmallow. Mouth: a tad drier and leaner than the Small Batch, rather peppery, punchy, flinty and on dry cereals, dried herbs and hints of eucalyptus and hessian. Still same excellent quality though. With water: a little sweeter and more opulent now. Lime leaf, hessian, custard made with old dessert wines and hints of lamp oil. Finish: good length and on white pepper, heather honey, dry cereals, breads, dried herbs and sunflower oil. Comments: I can see why they chose this one for the single cask, rather smart as it has some notable and quite fun deviations from the Small Batch. Same quality and same score, despite the different profile. 
SGP: 461 - 87 points.

Benrinnes 18 yo 1999/2017 (48.4%, Douglas Laing Old Particular, sherry butt, 253 bottles)
Colour: light amber. Nose: very lovely initial aromas of damp leaves, soft earthy tones, wine cellars, fruit tobaccos and aged mead. They always used to say Benrinnes worked best in sherry and its easy to see why in a nose like this. Some nicely drying notes of fresh brown bread, walnuts and then damson jam and rosewater. Lovely stuff. Mouth: a beautifully old school sherry. Leafy, nutty, very slightly meaty, some bitter chocolate, herbal extracts, black coffee, prunes, strawberry jam, green walnuts and more tobacco. There’s an overall lightness of touch about this one but the flavours are all perfectly pitched and harmonious with each other. Impressive! Finish: Good length, some bitter chocolate alongside more savoury notes of liquid seasonings, dried herbs, old fruit liqueurs and Dundee cake. Comments: A great wee surprise. No doubt from an impeccable, and possibly rather old, sherry cask. 
SGP: 661 - 88 points.

Glentauchers 2004/2018 (43%, Gordon & MacPhail, refill hogsheads)
Always love these licensed ‘distillery labels’ from G&M. Colour: white wine. Nose: rather autolytic and yeasty at first nosing, also with some acetic notes of white balsamic, fermenting hay and some kind of lemony goat cheese. Sounds funny but it’s actually pretty good. One of these whiskies that manages to feel bigger than its ABV. Continues with some lovely notes of trampled ferns, grasses and petrichor. Mouth: nice arrival, all on muesli, soft waxes, paper, clay, canvas, cereals and lemon jelly. Easy, yet displaying a clever complexity. The cereal profile gets bigger and more dominant with time. Finish: medium and all on buttery toast, cereals, sunflower oil, plain pistachio nuts and cornflour. Comments: The epitome of naked, easy and pure malt whisky. A perfect intro for anyone who wishes to understand the benefits of good refill wood. 
SGP: 551 - 84 points. 

Glentauchers 2011/2018 (63.4%, Whisky Illuminati ‘Solaria Series’, cask #900364, sherry butt, 150 bottles) 
A series from a newish indy bottler here in Scotland. This cask has only been partially bottled, and the rest will continue to mature until a later date. Which sounds quite fun to me. Colour: amber. Nose: a rather punchy and direct sherry. Quite modern in style with lots of red fruits, bitter chocolate, freshly brewed black coffee and maraschino cherry juices. Some soft herbal notes along with cocoa and something like Jagermeister. Surprisingly open considering the strength. With water: again rather dense and rich, all on chocolate sauce, Nutella, treacle, caramel toffee and muesli full of chopped dates and walnuts. Mouth: impressively syrupy and velvety in texture. Almost like quaffing pure chocolate sauce cut with prune eau de vie. Don’t get me wrong, there are still quite a few pangs of youth but you feel the cask and its machinations for this distillate are towards cleanliness and opulence. Rather sticky and fudgey in the mouth with notes of treacle sponge and fruit jams. With water: perhaps tad cloying now with these notes of ruby port, raspberry jam and cassis. However, it remains impressively full bodied, nutty and clean. Finish: long, chocolatey, leather and increasingly meaty with these notes of herbal broths, meat stocks and then some gingery spice in the aftertaste. Comments: There’s plenty to admire here, not least the impressive mouthfeel and texture. There’s still a few imbalances of youth but will be a fun one to follow when the next bundle of bottles come out of the cask in a few years time.
 SGP: 661 - 85 points.