Tasting Notes
Cask No. 36.234: Curiouser and curiouser
Dried Fruits & Spices | Speyside | 15 years old | Cask type: Muscat Rivesaltes
This spent nine years in ex-bourbon wood before encountering this first fill muscat de rivesaltes barrique. The nose was curious but fun – coconut wafers, candied nuts, salted caramel fudge and an entire universe of syrupy fruits (pineapple, pomegranate, rhubarb and ginger jam). The palate, notwithstanding a lick of ginger and coffee, was fundamentally sweet, sweet, sweet, conjuring candyfloss, dates, boozy cherries and Lithuanian candy mushrooms (grybai). With water the nose got "curiouser and curiouser" – sherry trifle, candied orange peel, amaretto, lanolin, eucalyptus and singed wood. The palate, almost liqueur-like in its sweet core, had maple syrup, Turkish delight, ice cream, juicy peach, and chocolate and walnut cake.
Cask No. 95.113: Popcorn in bloom
Ripe Fruits & Honey | Speyside | 16 years old | Cask type: Tawny port
The nose began as though we had burst open a bag of buttery popcorn with raspberry jam on top, followed by chopped pea shoots, redcurrants, cherry blossom and stewed apples. Full of red berries, the palate was jammy too, served alongside vanilla ice cream, lemon zest and chopped cashew nuts with a pinch of black pepper. Water introduced thick-cut marmalade to the nose, along with additional depth from pain aux raisins, burnt honeycomb and beeswax. We enjoyed the contrast in the palate, finishing much lighter with parma violets in cream soda, kiwi and mango. After 13 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, we transferred this to a first fill tawny port barrique for the remainder of its maturation.