Ardbeg 10 yo (46%, OB, 1 litre 'For Duty Free Sale Only', L22244ML14 52)
  I find the L codes rather muddling sometimes, given this is one of the old foil caps that spin, I would guess this is a 2002 rotation? I'm sure there are many L code warlocks out there who will give us a more accurate reading… Colour: pale white wine. Nose: this reeks of early 90s Ardbeg, and is exactly how I remember the 10yo from those years when I was tourguiding at the distillery. Lots of sharp, chiselled peat smoke, lemon rinds in brine, smoky grist and wort aromas and yeasty tangs. Gorgeous distillate, that does something more intriguing with peat smoke than just pure ash and seawater. Mouth: deeply fat, tarry and full of seawater, tarred rope, iodine and wet pebbles. Mineral salts and softer, slightly herbal-accented peat smoke underneath. Some preserved lemons too! Finish: long, salty, tarry and full of gutsy, fattened peat smoke! Comments: not all the early batches were terrific, and in fact I think there's arguably higher average quality and consistency in the 10yo today, but this one is a total winner. I had a 2003 bottling at 89, but this one edges it I feel. Feels only right to bring this one along with me this weekend… 
SGP: 367 - 90 points.

Ardbeg 22 yo 2000/2022 (53.4%, The Whisky Exchange 'Celebrating 50 Years', barrel, 243 bottles)
There's a new and extremely impressive set of bottlings out from The Whisky Exchange celebrating the fact that Sukhinder and Rajbir have been selling fine bevvy since they were in short trousers. Other casks in this parcel have been generally excellent if occasionally on the woody side in my experience, but let's see… Colour: gold. Nose: a little tight at first, on some dusty oak, smoked mushrooms and then these very lovely olive oil and tar resin combinations, also fir wood and other resinous and aromatic things. The peat feels as though it has begun that lovely sub-dividing journey into many smaller, tertiary complexities. With water: putty, wormwood, old ointments, furniture waxes and that oh so classical tarred rope. Mouth: wonderfully on pine wood resins, natural tar extracts, green herbal liqueurs and things like dried mint, eucalyptus and smoked herbs. Blind you might even think of a particularly heavy Talisker with all these nicely assertive peppery and coastal aspects that come through secondarily. With water: still on herbs, peppery notes and tar, but with more peat and wood spice together now. Camphor and hessian touches too start to emerge. Extremely good! Finish: long, spicy, tarry and full of these wood oils, resins and herbal extracts. Comments: excellent, probably my favourite of this parcel of barrels thus far. And rather a different take on Ardbeg which is fun. 
SGP: 566 - 91 points. 

Ardbeg 10 yo 1999/2009 (57.5%, Chieftains Choice for German Chieftains Society, cask #114, barrel, 228 bottles)
Colour: pale straw. Nose: superbly briny, limey and lemony! Also charred grapefruits, crisp peat and bonfire smokes, smoked sea salt and pure tar! With water: old hessian cloth, lapsing souchong tea, iodine and cough syrup! Stunning purity and power. Mouth: like drinking kiln smoke eau de vie! Wonderfully dense and tarry smoke with smoked oysters, soy sauce and black olive paste. Recalls some similarly aged 70s distilled Ardbegs. Becoming increasingly medicinal and tarry with time. With water: lots of salted liquorice, seawater, camphor and even more tarry rope vibes! Old creel nets and pickling juices mixed with lemon oil! Finish: very long and densely on pure tar, kiln peat smoke, raw seawater and lemon juice. Comments: deadly! 
SGP: 467 - 92 points.

Ardbeg 25 yo 1976/2002 (53.5%, OB, for Velier, Single Cask, sherry butt, cask #2396, 492 bottles)
I have great memories of when about half a pallet of the now fabled 1972 single cask for Velier came back from Italy to the distillery. Fun was had. Colour: amber. Nose: pure tar, old rope and iodine! If you distilled 1970s Ardbeg you might get 1976 Ardbeg… what makes these bottlings so special is that immense distillate paired with some sublime and outstanding salty old sherry casks. Really focussed on the most intense salted Dutch liquorice, polished shoe leather, salted treacle, umami peat smoke billowing from the kiln and aniseed distillate with tiny notes of paprika and smoked fennel. The power, concentration and immensity are just amazing. With water: it adds a fruitiness now with dried citrus peels and spiced marmalades, smoked dark teas, camphor, fir wood resins and eucalyptus mixed with black olive brine. Mouth: dense, tarry, feels like the texture of hessian in the mouth, an almost granular combination of smoked sea salt crystals and peat ashes. Menthol extracts, wormwood, natural tar, seawater and smoked mead. So much going on and with such fantastic power and precision of flavour. The saltiness combined with the deep and raw peat flavour is breathtaking. With water: a totally glorious, cohesive whole. All flavours and satellite aspects of this profile fuse into one perfect blob of '70s sherried Ardbeg'. Finish: hugely long, on salted almonds and walnuts, anchovy paste, black olive, further tar extracts, bitter dark chocolate with smoked sea salt and the finest cured meats. A masterpiece in sherry and peat, with an aftertaste that glows with crystallised citrus fruits and smoked teas. Comments: A whisky where so much is happening simultaneously that it is really impossible to pin it all down and provide more than a collection of cluttered snapshots of what is happening. I would argue that these single casks from Ardbeg helped to alter the direction and pace of whisky culture; tasting this again now, it's not hard to understand why. Monumental, swaggering and utterly brilliant whisky. 
SGP: 567 - 94 points.  

Ardbeg 30 yo 1975/2006 (40.9%, OB, cask #4699, bourbon, 121 bottles)
Colour: gold. Nose: the naturally low abv reveals a lot of the undercarriage of this historic distillate here. Many softer things that feel like they had a lot to do with peat smoke in the distant past, things like bergamot, lightly smoked teas, wintergreen, cough syrups and some very fragile ancient herbal liqueurs. Also dried rose petals oddly enough. One of the most delicate 'old' Ardbegs I would say. Mouth: again, very much of delicate herbal ointments, medicines and liqueurs. Some tea tree oil, camphor and suggestions of resinous fir woods and a rather extractive hint of peat. Finish: medium, lightly peaty, sappy, still very herbal and teaish with some wee leathery touches in the aftertaste. Comments: probably would have benefitted from being bottled around 10 years earlier. I wonder, was this one of those casks that got 'visited' rather regularly in the warehouse by - ahem - 'tourguides'…? 
SGP: 455 - 86 points. 

Ardbeg 29 yo 1975/2005 (44.7%, OB for Islay Festival 2005, cask #4719, ex-fino hogshead, 188 bottles)
I remember very well this one came out as a pair with an ex-oloroso 1975, I think I preferred this one at the time, but I don't have the Oloroso to hand to compare. Colour: deep gold. Nose: I am sure this has evolved since bottling. I do not recall it being this syrupy and herbal and rather liqueurish. Stunning notes of salted almonds and liquorice, an oily vibe to these ancient peat notes, lemon verbena and eucalyptus! Stunning and with beautiful poise and concentration. Mouth: wonderfully salty, herbal and cohesive on arrival. Like some old gentian eau de vie mixed with green Chartreuse. Putty, pine wood oils and camphor galore! There's a simplicity in some ways, but when the flavours are this glorious and this direct and beautiful, that's an asset. Finish: long and fantastically salty, herbal, resinous and tarry! Comments: probably a little more 'evolved' than I remember it after being freshly bottled. A stunningly salty, Fino-accented old Ardbeg. 
SGP: 367 - 92 points. 

Ardbeg 31 yo 1974/2005 (51.8%, OB for UK, cask #2751, bourbon, 141 bottles)
Colour: deep gold. Nose: I am sure all these old OB single casks from these years are evolving positively in glass. The sense I have, once again, is of greater concentration and alignment around these stunning herbal, tar resin and liqueur qualities. This one brings to mind much, much older bottlings of peated malts from decades previous, such as 1940s bottled 10yo Highland Park for example, with these deeply tarry, earthy and stunning complex peat aromatics. With water: gains remarkable complexity with impressions of shoe and metal polishes, soy sauce, umami seasonings, tarred wood and touches of peach and grapefruit. Mouth: the earlier Provenance bottling but plus extra layers of syrupy peat, pepper, wormwood and tar liqueur. Iodine, tiny sooty notes, earthy wood smoke and camphor. Huge whisky and totally stunning! With water: still hugely punchy, resinous and salty, but also fattier now and more decisively on menthol tobacco, camphor and pepper. Finish: long, hugely tarry and salty, with a kind of drying, waxy peat that glows in the aftertaste. Comments: at times rather brutal or even monolithic, but this is a deadly serious and utterly magnificent old Ardbeg that's still a smouldering athlete at 31 years. 
SGP: 368 - 93 points. 

Ardbeg 31 yo 1974/2005 (52.1%, OB for Oddbins, cask #2752, bourbon, 133 bottles)
After I finished at Ardbeg for the summer in 2006, I came back to Glasgow and worked at Oddbins - where there were still bottles of this one on the shelf and managers scratching their heads about how on earth they were going to sell them. Oddbins is another name that holds a very special place in my heart with many great memories of my time there - case of Super Bock anyone…? Colour: deep gold. Nose: a saltier one! Pure, vivid coastal freshness, with smoked sea salt, wet driftwood and beach bonfire smoke drifting all throughout. Quite amazing the distinct separation between these two sibling casks. With water: amazing evolution, towards tarmac and pickled shellfish stuffed into the pocket of a mothballed old Harris Tweed jacket - sorry, I came over all SMWS there! Mouth: funny how it cleaves closer to its sibling here, with these wonderfully syrupy herbal tones, cough medicines, aniseed, fennel, old tar liqueurs and iodine drops. Molten salted liquorice with gentian eau de vie! Huge whisky, once again! With water: settles into bog standard, huge 70s Ardbeg brilliance. Tars, concentrated and peppery peat, wood smoke and various herbal ointments, liqueurs and smoked teas. Finish: in the words of George Harrison: long, long, long! With many hessian, medicines, tar and sooty peat notes. Comments: I prefer its sibling's more profound, no nonsense power and precision, but this is still high flying, glorious old Ardbeg. 
SGP: 467 - 92 points. 

Ardbeg 32 yo 1974/2006 (54.5%, OB for Germany, cask #3326, bourbon, 110 bottles)
Colour: deep gold. Nose: a level even higher. Once again intense power and precision, but also bringing in those utterly gorgeous syrupy and herbal liqueur qualities by the warehouse load. Brimming with notes of spearmint, eucalyptus, dried out old tar liqueur, iodine, mothballs, roof pitch, salted almonds and hot brake pads! Rather dazzles your nostrils with 'Ardbeggy stuff'. There's also feelings of stunning aged dry whites such as chenins or rieslings. And let's not forget hessian and some gloriously pure and subdivided old peat smoke. With water: crystallised citrus fruits, smoked olive oil, putty, shoe polish and more of these outstandingly sharp and chiselled dry white wine vibes. Mouth: immediate, mind melting and orgasmic. Staggeringly salty and with an intensely powerful combination of peat and tar. Some kind of peat molasses with lemony kipper juice, pure iodine and lashings of camphor, lamp oil and earthy peat smoke once again. One of those whiskies you could spend all day just listing ideas of flavours as they pop into your brain. With water: a deep, resinous and highly complex smokiness that involves many kinds of smoked tea, dried herbal notes, umami seasonings such as Maggi, iodine again - more of everything really. Did I mention tar? This whisky has well and truly grabbed the wheel - where the hell are the anti-maltoporn brigade! Finish: outrageously and almost embarrassingly long, salty, tarry, immensely peaty and utterly perfect! Comments: there are experiences to be had at the KitKatClub or the Berghain that are less extreme than this. A whisky that is almost more about the sheer force of physical experience than just flavour. 
SGP: 478 - 94 points. 

Ardbeg 31 yo 1973/2004 (49.3%, OB, cask #1143, bourbon hogshead, 216 bottles)
This one was released at the distillery and it's another that I remember very clearly arriving. I remember we opened the first bottle to try it and were left pretty speechless at the time. This was in the days when about 30% of each cask would generally find its way into 'tasting stock'. Colour: bright straw. Nose: I think the 1973s always got a little lost in the 'noise' surrounding the 74s, 75s and 76s, which is a shame as I think you could say it's the fruitiest of those vintages and capable of being every bit as stunning. That's certainly the case here with gorgeous layers of seawater, grapefruit, smoked olive oil, those familiar tars and wood resins and pristinely crisp salty and mineral notes. We cannot help but think of perfectly mature, great dry white wines again. I would finally add there's a gorgeous underlying sootiness to this one as well. Mouth: the concentration and cohesion is just gorgeous and so immediate! Fat, oily, luxurious peat smoke, studded with black pepper, iodine drops, bandages, citrus fruit piths and peels, powerful notes of tar extracts and beautifully intricate herbal teas and liqueurs. A profile that feels rather like an 'old Ardbeg montage'. With time it gets tarrier, ashier, fatter and more mineral with this stunningly fresh and brittle saltiness. Finish: über long and stunning once again, with a powerful resurgence of these extremely chiselled, mineral and precise and dry white wine notes that make you think of chenin blanc or Sancerre. Comments: I'm so pleased to be able to try this one again, many great memories. And it remains indisputably a brilliant old Ardbeg that both stands apart from, and measures up to, those more celebrated later vintages. 
SGP: 467 - 93 points. 

Ardbeg 1964/1996 (40%, Gordon & MacPhail 'Connoisseur's Choice')
Let's remember, the 1960s at Ardbeg could be quite a different - although not necessarily inferior or superior - kettle of malt from the 1970s. Colour: pale amber. Nose: very much '1960s Ardbeg' in that this is a softer but rather 'darker' style of peat smoke. Quilted, deep, drying and herbal with a wonderfully resinous and salty accent from the sherry, then roots, tar, peppery phenols and softly earth tobacco notes. Some soft liquorice and smoked fennel seeds beneath all that. Even at 40% these old Ardbegs can be so impressive. Mouth: dense, sooty, peppery and drying peat smoke. Although here the 40% starts to feel slightly problematic. It is still nicely herbal, softly spicy and rooty with an undeniable 'old style Ardbeg' flavour, but perhaps just a little lacking in power. The sherry component brings some slightly fruitier notes of orange throat lozenges and smoked citrus teas. Finish: a good length with a rather treacle-y peat smoke quality, more peppery notes, a little soft waxiness and star anise. Comments: on an emotional level, this is a thing of fascinating fragility and slightly faded beauty; on a technical level it has undeniably been diminished by the bottling strength. The main thing you cannot help but wonder upon tasting these old G&M CC bottlings is: what was it like at cask strength… ? 
SGP: 554 - 89 points. 

Ardbeg 30 yo 1967/1997 (50.3%, Signatory Vintage for USA, cask #1141, oloroso sherry butt,  510 bottles)
Colour: mahogany. Nose: perfect integration of sherry and peat, which has formed a single and poetically beautiful identity that is simultaneously singular, but also immensely complex. If you wanted to really try and pick it apart you could mention such things as: root beer syrup, various medicinal herbs and roots, wormwood, camphor, sawn rosewood, furniture oils, pipe tobacco, soy sauce and an increasingly assertive, stunning salinity that involves salted almonds, salted liquorice and musty, funky dunnage earthiness. With water: cherry blossom, ancient tar liqueur, smoked sea salt studded in the darkest of chocolates - you get the picture. Mouth: a whisky that plays tricks. An immediate blast of syrupy, chocolatey, smoky sweetness, that does a screeching handbrake turn towards deeply earthy, drying notes of cured meats, tobaccos, walnut liqueur and fir wood resins. One of these perfect examples of peat existing in a myriad of sub-divided, fragmented and tertiary forms. Quite frankly, it's astonishing, it shouldn't work, or arguably even exist, and yet, here we are. With water: I don't really know what to say, just perfection. Finish: seemingly endless and verging on phantasmagoric. Comments: a philosophical whisky, put upon this earth to help you better understand beauty (ok, ok, get a grip Angus!). 
SGP: 477 - 96 points.

Glenforres 12 yo 'All Highland Malt' (43%, OB, 1980s)
Supposedly this is Edradour, from before Mr Symington took it over and 'adjusted' things for the better. Colour: pale gold. Nose: damp grains, cardboard and a suggestion of soapy dishwater. Also some plastic and plasticine impressions. Bad feelings here… Mouth: most definitely dreadful. Dishwater and detergent and hot plastic and wet cardboard. Some sweetness and some sort of mildly putrid honey in there too, but we are really reaching to find some - any - kind of redeemable feature. Finish: short in some ways, but there is just this most horrid soap in the aftertaste. Abusive and just foul. Gargling the dishwater from a Scout camp. Licking pigeon shit off a rusty Volkswagen bonnet. Comments: really, unequivocally, impressively atrocious whisky; it must take real talent to produce such a monstrosity. At times you think it isn't as bad as it is, but then it just kinds of sets in and becomes fully awful. Induces ennui to coagulate in your soul like gristle. 
SGP: 430 - 15 points. 

Egan's Endeavour Irish Single Malt (46%, OB, -/+ 2022)
Triple distilled apparently and reportedly hailing from Tullamore Distillery. The wood recipe is also a little terrifying: virgin oak, sherry and imperial stout casks were all apparently deployed… Colour: bright straw. Nose: I actually find this rather pleasing, mashed banana mixed with breakfast cereals, a little golden syrup and some honey. Fresh and easy so far, if a little simplistic. Mouth: also surprisingly good, on this same theme of mashed banana, toasted brown bread, breakfast cereals and a little runny honey. Simple, but the ABV gives the right sense of weight and the sweetness doesn't feel intrusive or overly oak-doped. Finish: short, light, flowery and fine. Comments: to think, I had my pistols on the table for this one, as Serge would say. But actually, it's a perfectly fine and humble wee drop. I'm always wary of these hyper-retro designs, but this one is ok.
SGP: 541 - 81 points.

Teeling Small Batch (46%, OB, -/+ 2022)
Malt and grain, finished in rum casks. In Scotland would we call this a 'single blend'? Colour: bright straw. Nose: indeed, grainier and more mashy, closer to the raw ingredients and with rather a lot of beery notes, such as stout and shilling ales. Mouth: ok, I get the rum here rather assertively now. Also the grain. I find this a little challenging I'm afraid with these rum notes that spill over into acetone. Some fruitier components after a while though, which is a slight recovery. Finish: short, slightly on milky tea and more sweet rum. Comments: I find it a bit rummy and a bit grainy for my tastes I'm afraid.
SGP: 440 - 77 points.

Redbreast 12 yo (40%, OB, -/+ 2022)
A long time since I tried this one… Colour: gold. Nose: ah yes, brown bread, copper coins (old thruppeny bits in a leather coin pouch), wee whiffs of engine oil, old toolboxes, waxed jackets and then more precise notes of green and yellow fruits. A highly specific style and character that remains reassuringly distinctive here. Mouth: same feeling of distinctiveness straight away. Lots of brown bread, dark beers and grains, muddled with overripe yellow fruits, fruit salad juices and touches of mineral oil and sandalwood. I don't even mind the 40% here, as there's a sense of oiliness about the palate that carries everything just perfectly. Finish: medium, on wood saps, tobaccos, more mineral oils, metal polish and slightly sharper green fruit notes such as gooseberry. Comments: I am immediately left feeling disappointed that I don't have any other Redbreasts to try in this session. I'm also not too sure this recipe hasn't been improved in recent years. Still a benchmark and a true classic.
SGP: 540 - 87 points.

Irish Single Malt #1 13 Year Old 'Batch 3' (46.8%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company, 1726 bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: cut grass, glazed orchard fruits, pears in syrup and sharper notes of gooseberry and lemongrass. Also a nice chalky touch underneath. All very good and as expected. Mouth: easy, slightly naked and on raw cereals and hints of sweetened porridge. Still these nice grassy elements, but more floral here, some bailed hay, some linen cloth and hints of pollens. Very light and perhaps a notch simplistic. Finish: short, grassy, citric and with a feeling of citrus vitamin tablets in mineral water. Comments: dead easy and probably perfect for some kind of Irish highball type concoction, or over ice in summer? Just a bit on the simple side otherwise, but then simple is not bad thing sometimes.
SGP: 440 - 83 points.

Irish Single Malt #2 15 Year Old 'Batch 6' (50.2%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company, 1900 bottles)
Colour: straw. Nose: a firmer style, more on shoe polish, freshly malted barley, warm grist and plain porridge. But also some nice notes of crushed flower stems and lemon rind. With water: lovely, develops on honeycomb, papaya and tiny herbal touches. Very elegant. Mouth: that firmer profile translates nicely to a rounder, more honeyed affair on the palate. Lovely notes of green melon, yellow plum and gooseberry. With water: similarly juicy but with more fruity and floral abundance now. Still this nice sense of maltiness adding backbone. Finish: medium, on shoe polish, a warming peppery note and hints of young calvados and cut green apple. Comments: this is approaching my preferred style of Irish: fruits overlying cereals with charm and balance.
SGP: 541 - 85 points.

Irish Single Malt #2 16 Year Old 'Batch 5' (50.2%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company, 990 bottles)
Same distillery, so I suppose we are in for a similar experience…? Colour: pale gold. Nose: indeed this is similar, but it's even more assertive with crystallised honey, crushed flowers, pollens, soda bread and various exotic fruit juices. There's also this slightly green note that suggests New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc - which I often associate with 'Irishness' in whisky. With water: leafier and grassier, pressed flowers, dried pollen notes, vase water and lemon barley water. Mouth: sweeter, oilier in texture and more directly on tropical fruit juices, mango pulp and herbal touches such as wintergreen and marjoram. Very good! With water: becomes ever so slightly waxy with these wee touches of shoe polish, plain cereals and lightly peppery notes. Nice sense of texture and fatness about this one. Finish: good length and really doubling down on these grassy and peppery qualities. Comments: very good and feels extremely 'Irish', which feels like a stupid copout - sorry about that.
SGP: 551 - 86 points.

Teeling 15 yo 2006/2022 (57.8%, OB for The Duchess, cask #6210, virgin Amburana Brazilian hardwood, 216 bottles)
Brazilian hardwood sounds terrifying, also was it sourced sustainably? Hopefully no rainforests were further harmed in the making of this whiskey? Colour: pale gold. Nose: ha, a very funny mix of glue and coconut that immediately makes you think of rum. Seriously, pure coconut milk on the nose, perhaps with some touches of gorse flower and lemongrass too - but that could just be the suggestive power of the coconut at play! With water: the coconut cools off now, leaving more room for cereals, mashed banana and a glimmer of honey. Mouth: more coconut milk, more lemongrass, more coconut flavours, stuffing a whole Bounty bar in your mouth and washing it down with coconut water! Some hints of lime leaf, caraway and tea tree oil as well. With water: as on the nose it becomes more honeyed and cereal drive, feels like water washes away some of the more assertive oak-derived flavours. Finish: quite long, on sweetened coconut now, lime again, more honey and a bit of grippy oak spice hanging around in the aftertaste. Comments: kind of impossible to score. It would appear that Brazilian hardwood + Irish Single Malt = mild green Thai curry. I'm some people would adore this, but I find it a tad mono-dimensional, although I'm not sure it's flawed. Let's just remain boringly safe…
SGP 661 - 78 points.

Irish Single Malt 18 yo 2002 (51.7%, Club Qing 'Fairy Tale Series', cask #3354, bourbon barrel, 227 bottles)
I believe these batches are most probably Cooley. Colour: pale straw. Nose: waxed lemons, all kind of citrus fruits, bay leaf, hints of thyme and then some very classically notes of cut grass and flowers in vase water. With water: displays a touch of spearmint along with some herbal teas and white flowers. Mouth: lemon barley water, tiny notes of cough syrups and then sweet breakfast cereals with nice background notes of exotic fruit salad juices. With water: goes more towards the cereal components now, a little drier over all, more peppery and more on breads and shoe polish. Finish: medium, some nice subtle flavours of citrus and exotic fruits in the aftertaste. Comments: simple another very good early 2000s Irish single malt, just loses one or two points in the finish for me.
SGP: 541 - 86 points.

Irish Single Malt 1993 25 yo (50.8%, Club Qing 'Undine Reserve', barrel, 119 bottles)
Love the label on this one. Colour: pale gold. Nose: it's one of those ones where the exotic fruits have gone almost into hyper-overripeness and start to take an estery and funky vibe that makes you think of some kind of Irish diet-Hampden! Only here you are reminded of the origins by layers of sweet flower honey and tiny notes of shoe leather and waxiness too. Quite stunning! With water: wonderfully on crushed nettles, green and exotic fruit teas, flower honeys and mango jam! Mouth: note as exotic as on the nose, more fruit juices, waxes, orange cordial, sweet aged dessert wines, notes of coconut and cedar wood. Complex, syrupy in texture and showing a highly mature style. With water: greengage, lemons, limes, herbal jellies and pure honeycomb now. A tang of wood spice and an impression of aged honey liqueur. Finish: medium, on honey and pure exotic fruit jellies. Comments: one of those casks that seems to have gone low in volume but retained a good natural strength and displays a spectacularly concentrated profile as a result. Pure Irish fruit juice of high order!
SGP: 651 - 90 points.

Cooley '11 yo' 1992/2019 (53.4%, Cadenhead's for Campbeltown Malts Festival, barrel)
The story here is that the cask was moved to Scotland in 2003 and, according to Irish law, the extra maturation years didn't count, which is why they bottled it as an 11 year old, even though it's closer to 27yo. Colour: pale gold. Nose: yes! Superbly syrupy and exotic with honeys, plum jam, coconut and hints of aged dessert wines. There's also exotic fruit teas and dried mango, a classically exotic and gorgeous profile. With water: sweeter and more on coconut creme brûlée, hibiscus flower, lime cordial and sweet exotic fruit pulp. Mouth: slightly mentholated, herbal, a nice waxiness about the texture and these rather fat notes of malt extract, dried and crystallised exotic fruits and sweet flower nectars. I also find a nice medicinal side such as cough syrups and wee hints of herbal ointments. Rather more robust than some other Irish malts of similar vintage - the Campbeltown microclimate perhaps? With water: juicy fruit chewing gum, flower honey and a delicate waxiness. Finish: good length, some softer notes of sweet coffee, chocolate limes and sweetened herbal teas. Comments: extremely pleasurable and totally deadly old Irish whiskey. A great and clever pick by Cadenhead for their festival.
SGP: 651 - 90 points.

Teeling 25 yo (50.7%, OB for Bresser & Timmer, cask #100132, rum cask, bottled 2021)
Colour: bright straw. Nose: acacia honey, grass and exotic fruits! Beneath that more subtle touches of shoe and metal polishes, guava jam and pineapple juice. With water: more scented and things like sandalwood and dried exotic fruits and fruit teas - some dried flowers too. Mouth: a little more oily and peppery than expected, leaner and with a mechanical side that combines well with these further notes of metal polish. Then the fruits push forward very nicely with banana chips, mango and pureed papaya. With water: superbly juicy and fruity now but still with this nicely peppery and grassy quality too. Superb! Finish: medium, slightly sappy with some resinous fir wood notes, loads  more fruits too. Comments: gorgeous, just a little extra complexity would nudge it over the 90 line.
SGP: 751 - 89 points.

Teeling 28 yo (43.7%, OB for Seek The Ultimate and Rudder, cask #10704, rum cask, bottled 2020)
Colour: white wine. Nose: grasses, gooseberry, honeysuckle and passion fruit! Then flambeed banana, exotically fruity rum cocktails and lovely aromas of crushed nettles and tropical fruit teas. Totally luscious! Mouth: sweeter than expected and more on coconut, crushed nettles, lemongrass and exotic fruit salad gunge. Simple but cohesive and gorgeously juicy and fruity! Finish: medium but still hugely fruity with a little more focus on lemons and limes. Comments: a perfect medley of exotic fruits and those more oily and mineral touches that seem the hallmark of the greatest Irish Whiskeys.
SGP: 741 - 90 points.

Teeling 28 yo (44.1%, OB for Whisky Lustre, cask #10681, rum cask, bottled 2020)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: more rum focussed but it really works with this big waft of exotic fruit juices and coconut water. Then also things like lemon verbena, lime curd and nettle tea. I even find a hint of waxiness that seems to sit alongside these more familiar metal polish impressions. A gorgeous and subtly shifting aroma that keeps everything captivating. Mouth: more big rum cocktail and exotic fruit vibes, also bandages and medicines that feel as though they have come more from the rum aspect. Lovely interplay between these aspects and then more typical flavours of crystallised and dried exotic fruits such as papaya and guava rather specifically. Finish: long, peppery, warming and full of glowing fruits. Comments: the rum component was louder here, but I actually think this is a rare occasion where it really works harmoniously with this gloriously fruity make. I also love these grassier and more nettle-y edges that are reminiscent of some great dry white wines.
SGP: 751 - 91 points.