OK so here goes my #FlightsOfFancy

#1 Aberlour-Glenlivet 19 Years Old 1995 Sauternes ~ 52.6% (Wm Cadenhead) £55

Great distillery, sweet wine finish (yum), Indie bottler, single cask, cask strength, mid-to late teens maturation – yet perfectly palateable, sweet and refreshing at cask strength – one of those rare few whiskies that despite having before, I want again and again and again.

#2 The Balvenie 40 Years Old ~ 48.5% (William Grant & Sons Ltd.) £2500

Impending 40th it was either this or a 1976 vintage. Considering Balvenie inadvertently started my whisky love affair it seems only appropriate they get this shout – plus who does old Sherry/Bourbon marriages better than David Stewart? Manuka honey anyone?

#3 Yoichi 20 Years Old ~ 52% (Nikka) £200

Hot topic – aged Japanese whisky – this one is good, very good in fact! From Nikka’s Yoichi distillery – the brainchild of Masatake Taketsuru producing a lightly peated almost Campbeltown style in an indomitably Japanese perfectionist manner.

#4 Talisker 25 Years Old 2011 ~ 45.8% (Diageo) £220

Nothing quite tastes like Talisker – I considered putting the 10 or even 18 Years Old but was feeling indulgent so here you go a full 25 Year whack at maturation and I bet it still tastes as wild as the weather on an average Isle of Skye day!

#5 Port Ellen 10 Years Old 2017 Bourbon Cask ~ 58.4% (Single Cask Sample) £priceless

Traditionally something incredibly peaty is left to the end so as not to ruin your palate – I would have to go with a Port Ellen. Still managed never to try any! Something straight from the cask at 10 Years Old – in the Warehouse (nothing can beat the atmosphere of sampling whisky in its maturation warehouse) – this would require both the reopening of Port Ellen and the 10 year maturation time so isn’t likely to happen anytime before 2027!