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| Hi, you're in the Archives, June 2026 - Part 2 |
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June 21, 2026 |
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A small bag of cat-approved rums
Chosen at random by the feline collective of Château WF, ever ready to send our samples flying with a well-aimed swipe of a paw. The little rascals really are a menace. Well then, Perle has picked a cachaça, and a white one at that… |
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Prata Alambique Magnifica 2 yo (38%, Cadenhead, Brazil, Cachaça, Malternatives Release, +/-2020) 
We do have some of these oddities lurking in our stock, by the way we had already tried some Sapucaia Velha by Cadenhead. Colour: white. Nose: we rather like this, it’s extremely tarry, very much on engine oil, brine, olives, with touches of acetone… Mouth: sweeter on the palate, we get the impression it may have been given a little boost in that department, but we still find the olive brine, only sweeter. A pity that we’re no longer quite in line with the very handsome nose. That said, there’s more and more lemon liqueur coming through and that, we rather like. Finish: fairly long, sweet, lemony and saline. A touch of smoked ham. Comments: a very pretty cachaça, although it probably needs some ice to tame the sweetness a little.
SGP:572 - 80 points. |
Soba is quite a little minx too… |
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Renaissance 2016/2024 ‘Bordeaux Clouded Leopard’ (66.5%, OB, Taiwan, cask #19136, 90 bottles) 
Five years in regular cask then four years in Léoville-Poyferré, not a bad Saint-Julien for sure, although we have never found any direct relationship between the classification of a wine and the quality of the rum or whisky subsequently finished in its casks. Colour: dark copper. Nose: plums aplenty, peppered into the bargain, and covered with a layer of molasses and fir honey. There’s a certain umeshu side to it, but also... Moutai. Quite a lot of pencil shavings as well. With water: fir wood, charcoal, leather and pumpernickel. Mouth (neat): very rich, somewhere between rum, whisky and cabernet, heavily marked by spices but, much to my surprise, the whole thing works rather well. A sort of blood orange liqueur. With water: hugely excessive, but consequently rather entertaining. Finish: good length, with soft and fragrant spices, orange blossom honey, then back to plums and liquorice. Comments: the whole thing is fairly extravagant but, for that very reason, thoroughly enjoyable.
SGP:751 - 83 points. |
And now for P’tit Noir’s pick... |
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Tahiti 2017/2023 (57%, S.B.S., French Polynesia, bourbon cask, cask #1423, 277 bottles) 
A molasses-and-column-still spirit, so this is not a French rum in the traditional agricole style. It is very probably Manutea, of which we have already tasted a 2017 that had been genuinely good despite a rather odd finishing regime (WF 81). Colour: white wine. Nose: fairly lemony, built upon a rather light and somewhat grassy base. There are a few echoes of the cachaça from earlier. With water: no major changes. A light style, with delicate touches of anisette. Mouth (neat): carrots, celery and lime. Quite amusing. With water: we find the root vegetables again, followed by a touch of sweetness. Finish: much the same impressions. A little Fanta in the aftertaste. Comments: of course we are always pleased to taste rum from Tahiti, but this version strikes us as a little... inoffensive. We know it can be better than this.
SGP:541 - 76 points. |
And now it’s Tigrou’s turn… |
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Papalin 5 yo ‘High Esters Overproof’ (57%, Velier, Jamaica, 2025) 
A blend of three Jamaicans, ranging from very low to very high ester counts. Colour: gold. Nose: we find that ‘Saturday morning at Ikea’ side once again, with fresh wood, glue, acetone, melamine and, thankfully, none of those meatballs they supposedly make from customers who never managed to find the exit. Seriously though, lovely lemon and lovely angelica. With water: lemon and celery. Mouth (neat): really good, fresh, lemony, almost peaty, with touches of dill and oregano, followed by a drop of diesel fuel, so wonderfully typical. With water: two or three little olives come out to say hello. Finish: fairly long, fresh, with a lovely presence without ever becoming too much. Comments: serve this to your friends who have yet to taste serious Jamaican rum. Or Hampden, for that matter.
SGP:552 - 85 points. |
And now it’s the turn of the fifth and final feline: little Dolphy, aka P’tit Blanc et Noir. |
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Cuban Rum 33 yo 1992/2025 (59.8%, The Antelope, cask #9207)
What a lovely colour this rum has, and for that matter, why do old Cuban rums always seem to display such beautiful hues? Don’t tell me they were adjusting them before filling the casks? Colour: copper amber. Nose: the most wonderful old coffee liqueur, walnuts, then dried mushrooms, morels, horn of plenty mushrooms... With water: a surprisingly amontillado-like side emerges. Damp earth, mushrooms, walnuts, truffle... Mouth (neat): indeed, it is a little sweet and liqueur-like on the palate, rather coffee-infused in truth, but it works very well. A lovely duet of coffee and molasses, with an unexpected saline edge. With water: more on molasses and ginger, becoming increasingly reminiscent of a homemade infused rum. Finish: pepper, honey and liquorice. Comments: genuinely very pretty, and even more so with two or three ice cubes, although we are drifting slightly into the territory of spiced rums, which tempers my enthusiasm just a little.
SGP:741 - 84 points. |
For the last one, we'll take matters into our own hands, as the cats are, after all, doing whatever they fancy and paying no attention to the brief. |
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HPDN 2000/2023 ‘LROK’ (48.6%, Precious Liquors for The Auld Alliance, Jamaica, cask #86, 219 bottles) 
There we are, a respectable yet moderate ester count, high-quality people involved throughout, everything ought to go swimmingly... Colour: gold. Nose: classic light ammonia, shellfish, diesel fuel, pickled gherkins in brine, and ultra-ripe mangoes that are almost oily in their intensity. You have to like that sort of thing; we absolutely adore it. Mouth: oh splendid, ash-full shampoo (in a boy scout sort of fashion) and coconut milk, those ever-present extreme mangoes, some Trockenbeerenauslese riesling, and very saline oysters. The shampoo note never quite disappears, which adds an extra layer of roughness for enthusiasts who, like us, have already tasted a fair few barrowloads of Hampdens of every possible persuasion. Finish: long, saline, lemony and still slightly soapy. Comments: some might say there’s a tiny flaw here, but it’s like a beauty spot on an actress’s nose, it adds character.
SGP:553 - 88 points. |
We agree that the whole cat business made very little sense, but I've noticed that many enthusiasts of fine spirits are also great lovers of cats! |
 Check the index of all rums we've tasted
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June 19, 2026 |
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WF's Little Duos,
today young Bladnoch
for the summer |
We can all agree that whether Bladnoch is really a summer malt remains open to debate, especially when it’s been seasoned in a rather assertive wine cask. Let’s see what we’ve got in the pipeline… |
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Bladnoch 8 yo ‘American oak red wine’ (46,7%, OB, The Galloway Collection, double cask, 2025)
We can dream of a situation where these red wine-finished whiskies might kill two birds with one stone and solve the sluggish sales of both categories at once. Yeah, right... Colour: bronze amber. Nose: I sometimes say they handle red wine finishings better than they did twenty years ago, and here is the proof, even if we are drifting more towards plum preserves, or Vieille Prune, fig jam, and strawberry and apricot conserve dusted with cinnamon. What really matters, though, is that we avoid that overt red-berry profile, or... Beaujolais. Beyond that, we find speculoos and gingerbread. Mouth: fairly rich, with dried fruits and Christmas spices conjuring up thoughts of Stollen and, well, Christmas cake. I readily admit we seem to be a little out of sync with the seasons. A touch of bitter almond and Jägermeister, otherwise much the same preserves as on the nose. Finish: fairly long, with the bitters gradually taking command, rather in the style of Italian bitters, amaro, Montenegro and the like. Comments: certainly not a summer malt, very far from it indeed, but we do find it genuinely good.
SGP:651 - 85 points. |
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Bladnoch 7 yo 2018/2025 (58.8%, OB for Quaich Bar, oloroso hogshead, cask #735, 319 bottles)
A bottling released to celebrate Singapore's 60th anniversary. We have already tasted some excellent ones from this series, it must be said. Colour: amber. Nose: here we are in a very similar style, gloriously jammy, packed with dried fruits and Christmas pastry specialities, to the point where we might almost have guessed PX rather than oloroso. With water: a slight earthy edge emerges, alongside those inevitable walnut wines and walnut liqueurs. Now that's properly 'oloroso'. Mouth (neat): a full wheelbarrow of sultanas, just lightly dusted with pepper. Somewhat in the style of Dalmore's 'amoroso-ed' bottlings, with oranges quietly waiting in the wings. With water: the citrus fruits step forward, much to our delight. Oranges above all, including Seville oranges. A slender slice of cake studded with glacé cherries... our entire youth in a nutshell, isn't it. Finish: fairly long, rounded and rich, yet still lively enough, thanks to those oranges. Comments: a slight preference for this little beauty.
SGP:651 - 86 points. |
Merry Christmas! Sorry, I mean happy summer! (At least in the Northern Hemisphere, ha...) |
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June 18, 2026 |
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Due to the current heatwave, there will be no tasting session today.
We apologise, but no refunds will be given. |
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June 17, 2026 |
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WF's Little Duos, today
old bottlings of Springbank
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We obviously cannot leave this miserable blog entirely devoid of Springbank for too long. The latest expressions seem to be rather under the radar, at least to me, but thank goodness we still have a vast collection of older releases that we have yet to taste. Let’s just say that, given the choice between trying an original Testarossa and the latest electric contraption that looks like an iron designed by a short-sighted, colour-blind intern, we do not hesitate for very long… That’s right, the Luce. But even today, Springbank is no Luce, granted. At all. Love them. |
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Springbank 15 yo (46%, OB, black label, early 1990s)
It has to be said that batches of the 15-year-old have always been extraordinarily variable. Between the pure, streamlined versions and others saturated with rather unruly sherry, there were worlds. Our archives range from WF 78 to WF 91, just to give you an idea... With Springbank, colour has always mattered greatly, given that the use of caramel was invariably homeopathic, if not entirely absent. Broadly speaking, with younger bottlings such as this one, the paler batches tend to be preferable, except perhaps for the 12 100 proof versions... Well yes, it is all rather complicated, so let us forget about that. Colour: chardonnay. Already a piece of good news. Nose: fresh butter and wax, morning air, paraffin, modelling clay and wakame salad. There we are... Mouth: limestone, white pepper, focaccia, chalk and green apple, plus a small oyster. Hints of mineral sulphur too, not to be confused with the sulphur of wine casks, imparted by matches and candles. Finish: fairly long, becoming saltier, more nervous, fermentary and mineral, with slightly under-ripe apples followed by green pepper. Comments: we have made this a quick one, but frankly it is very good indeed, even if it may not quite be Broadway class. Broadway in Campbeltown?
SGP:462 - 87 points. |
Now on to the legendary vintages… |
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Springbank 1966/1987 (59.9%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, #27.5) 
Just imagine, only the fifth Springbank ever released by the SMWS. Needless to say, this is not the sort of bottle one finds under a horse’s hoof, as we say... Colour: gold. Nose: absolutely loaded with metal polish, shoe polish and even tractor engine oil (tractor engine oil?) before moving on to barley porridge, farmhouse cider and a great loaf of freshly baked bread. Unlike most official 1966s, including the celebrated Local Barleys, this is not a Springbank shaped by sherry, quite the opposite in fact. That makes it rather moving, truth be told... With water: the magic of Springbank unfolds without the slightest hesitation. Chalk, lemon, fermenting notes, various waxes, carbolineum, petrichor... Mouth (neat): astonishing freshness, as though it had been distilled the day before yesterday and bottled this morning (I know, watch bottle shock). Magnificent chalk, ale, this morning’s butter croissant (excuse my Frenchness), bitters, artichoke, aubergine, waxes and, above all, lemons, which always seem remarkably at home in Campbeltown. And naturally, all those peppers... With water: simply superb. Finish: incredibly lively, razor-sharp, lemony and possessed of absolute class. Comments: here you are practically standing alongside the distillery workers in the still house, listening to Time is on my Side or Keep on Running on the radio while paying attention to the new make. Not much maturation influence perhaps, but a truly seminal distillate, bolstered by a magnificent texture into the bargain.
SGP:463 - 94 points. |
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June 16, 2026 |
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WF's Little Duos,
Pointless tastings:
two official Glenfarclas |
“Pointless” in the sense that here are two Glenfarclas that are old in every respect, and whose bottles have become both difficult and expensive to track down. In short, you could call this a selfish tasting, and you’d be absolutely right… |
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Glenfarclas 46 yo 1954/2000 (43%, OB, 1193 bottles)
You will note that we find a certain charm in bottling strengths of 43% for bottles and vintages this old, after all it was more or less the norm for a very long time. Colour: deep gold. Nose: but my word, this is beautiful, by thunder! Dried figs are reigning supreme, accompanied by a little meadow honey and very slight chalky touches. It is not tremendously complex, but here that is precisely what gives the whole its charm, it remains compact, immediate, obvious, even when scents of honeysuckle begin to creep in. What beauty, it brings back memories of the 21 year olds, the likes of the ‘Giaccones’… Mouth: oh my, this is far more complex on the palate than it was on the nose, we have a veritable maelstrom of camphory, resinous, honeyed things, with dried fruits of every description, but also little candied citrus fruits that keep the whole more or less in the stratosphere. Very impressive indeed. Finish: almost long, in any case on similar notes, before moving onto earthier territories and, should I add, a hint of smoke as was common in post-war Speysiders. A few peppers of utterly mad elegance in the aftertaste. Comments: at 100 proof, this would be nudging 95. Easily.
SGP:562 - 93 points. |
You’ll notice that, out of modesty, we’re keeping these tasting notes to a very reasonable length. |
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Glenfarclas 50 yo 1963/2013 (43%, OB, sherry, cask #174, 136 bottles)
Mind you, it seems that this baby was released exclusively for Hong Kong and Macau. I should add that the Family Cask 1963/2007 #4098 was superb (WF 92), so we really have very high hopes here. Indeed, despite the 43% vol. Colour: Milanese espresso. In other words, ristretto. Nose: I feared it might collapse a little after the 1954, but nothing of the sort, it is simply very different, much more marked by the sherry, the oloroso, walnut liqueur, yet always with great elegance, almost a slight charming lightness inherent to these Glenfarclas vintages. Then strawberry soup with mint and very old Grande Champagne cognac, plus a handful of fatter, juicy Corinth raisins. Mouth: my goodness! It is almost aggressive at first, in the style of some current gloomy cretins world leaders but with much more class and distinctiveness, yet that would only last a split second, then it starts firing out roasted chestnuts in abundance, liquorice lozenges, fir and chestnut honey, very old Catalan rancios, and even a few drops of Jägermeister, Unicum or Underberg that scrape your throat a little with determination yet elegance. Cheers Lars. Finish: long, more resinous, moving squarely onto fir resin, chocolate and very dark tobacco. Comments: mag-ni-fi-cent. They were lucky in Hong Kong and Macau some dozen years ago… And it seems they still are.
SGP:561 - 93 points. |
(Thank you mucho, Ian and Ryan) |
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June 15, 2026 |
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WF's Little Duos,
today Dalmore OB vs IB
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A bit like its colleague whose name begins with “Mac” and ends with “allan”, and which we’re still very fond of, not only for its contributions to the cause from the 1960s through to the 1990s, Dalmore seems to me to have been rather less under the whisky chatterati’s radar in recent years. It must be said that the brand’s development owes a great deal to its dashing Master Blender and Ambassador, the only figure in the whisky world, it seems to me, ever to have dared to coordinate his ties with his pocket squares. Not to mention, of course, pouring forty-year-old single malt onto the carpet. Anyway, there’s a fairly recent 17-year-old release, so we might as well take the opportunity to make a little head-to-head comparison… |
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Dalmore 17 yo (42%, OB, +/-2025)
Twelve years in bourbon wood, then the remainder in a selection of amoroso (cream), Apostoles (palo cortado) and Matusalem (oloroso) sherries from their partner González Byass. In parallel rather than successively, unless I'm mistaken. The only slightly curious thing is the 42%, although you'll tell me that's still better than 40%. Colour: amber. Nose: this is naturally shaped by the sherry, particularly the cream, soft, sweet and indeed rather creamy. In short, it's packed with raisins and dates, while walnut cake and tobacco are not far behind. The fresh oranges so typical of Dalmore have yet to appear, however. No doubt they'll turn up on the palate... Mouth: indeed, they do, with bitter oranges and blood oranges alike, which leaves us thoroughly delighted. Chocolate and, above all, gianduja follow, then a walnut and honey tart (an absolute killer), before some slightly singed raisins bring up the rear. There's a rather pleasing liveliness running through it all, and it never becomes remotely schmalzy, if you see what I mean. Finish: not especially short and, above all, spicier now, with peppered dark chocolate and espresso, both of which finally dispatch any lingering excess sweetness that may still have been lurking in the shadows. Aftertaste: chiefly sherry. Comments: a very handsome bottle, thoroughly Dalmorian in style and one that gives us genuine pleasure. Blast it, we forgot to mention the Jaffa cakes.
SGP:651 - 87 points. |
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Dalmore 11 yo 2012/2023 (55.6%, Hart Bros., first filled Burgundy)
There had already been an earlier 11-year-old from Hart Bros. at 55.6%, although that one had been finished in sherry wood. This time it's Burgundy, and you'll note that they don't seem inclined to reveal whether it was white or red, although in any case the colour is neither pink nor even ‘thigh of a startled nymph’. Indeed, that is an actual colour, chiefly employed by court painters during the 18th century. Colour: gold. Nose: a small touch of bell pepper and blackcurrant at first, which would seem to suggest red Burgundy, although the colour is remarkably restrained for a first-fill red wine cask. It then develops towards green pepper, thyme honey, bread dough and, quite simply, allspice. With water: plenty of caraway and cumin, along with a little bitter orange, which might lead us towards kirsch, which might lead us towards cherries, which might in turn lead us towards red Burgundy indeed. Well then, I freely admit that's rather shaky detective work. Mouth (neat): very spicy, but also loaded with bitter oranges, which knit the cask and the distillate together rather neatly. Overall, the bitterness is fairly pronounced. With water: we retreat back towards the distillate, much to our delight. Orange peel and bitter chocolate, with even a little lemon. Finish: long, brighter and more focused on citrus skins. A touch of greenness in the aftertaste, apple peelings and suchlike. Comments: I was a little worried at one point, but in the end, everything landed exactly where it ought to have done.
SGP:461 - 85 points. |
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Best spirits Serge tried those weeks, 90+ points only
Glenfarclas 46 yo 1954/2000 (43%, OB, 1193 bottles)
Glenfarclas 50 yo 1963/2013 (43%, OB, sherry, cask #174, 136 bottles)
Springbank 1966/1987 (59.9%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, #27.5)
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