Lovely oily, fruity, gently smoky and coastal with plenty of sweetness from the bourbon and sherry cask influences that work well with this distillery’s characteristic heathery smoke. 86/100
Crabbie 22 Years Old Orkney
Port Charlotte Islay Barley 2013
Smoky and coastal exactly as I expected, quite mealy and herbal in places and some sweetness and nutty nature, perhaps from the finishing? 86/100
Nc’nean Quiet Rebels Annabel
Fairly well structured, displays some youthful spirit as you would expect for 3-4 year old whisky. There was more than a hint of cardboard I associate with STR casks added to the woody element here. This has clearly been well put together from the cask selection to final product. I’d be interested to see how Nc’nean improves with age. 83/100
Oxford Rye Whisky Batch 5 Red Red Rye
Another rich and cereal led expression as I’ve come to expect from TOAD’s Rye expressions. This is up there with the best of them (possibly Batch 1). The cask combination delivers ginger beer and jammy black fruits and of course that superb colour. I’m still not convinced about the pricing of this expression though there are certainly no complaints about what is inside the bottle. 85/100
Fettercairn 16 Years Old 2nd Release 2021
Classic combination of citrus and ginger with spice and zest in harmony. 84/100
anCnoc 2009 Vintage
A delightful vintage expression from anCnoc, full of their classic honey character. The Spanish oak has imparted some leather and chocolate notes too. A worthy addition to anCnoc’s fine vintage range. 84/100
J.G. Thomson Smoky
Long, sweet and smoky and medicinal and meaty.
Overall Another superb blended malt from J.G. Thomson redolent of classic Islay notes, smoke, phenols, meaty, coastal and sherried to boot. 85/100
J.G. Thomson Rich
A superb festive expression, full of the flavours of Christmas or in other words a bit of a well-balanced sherry bomb. 85/100
J.G. Thomson Sweet
A sweet blended malt with plenty of fruit and also quite defined oak cask influence. 83/100
J.G. Thomson Bold Jamaican Rum
Again another very pleasant spirit, perhaps a little affected by the gin sample previously but this gave me a real swimming pool/chlorine vibe on the nose. Other than that slightly off note and some solventy spirit on the palate this is pretty delicious oak aged rum. Plenty of sweet sugars and tropical fruits and some nice chocolate notes from the cask. 80/100
The Whiskyphiles 