132.4 Rich, brooding and suggestive (Karuizawa 17 year old)

Distillery: Karuizawa
Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 17
Distilled: 1996
Bottled: 2013
Strength: 61.7%.
Cask Code: 132.4 Rich, brooding and suggestive
Cask Type: Refill ex sherry butt.

Following on from a year ago when I reviewed the utterly outstanding 28 year old Karuizawa from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society - http://stilldramming.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/1321-secret-moonlit-garden-dram.html - I have also been hoarding 132.2, 132.3, 132.4 and have just recently received 132.5 from my friend in Australia, and have been quietly working my way through drinking them. With .2 and .4 nearly finished I figured I better put some notes up.

Nose: Big and fruity and much like its older brother 132.2 this could blindly be mistaken for an ex-bourbon with oodles of vanillins, and coconut and what feels more like American oak influence on this butt rather than European oak. Lemon sherbet sweets and baked and salted pineapple. Baked pears with custard. Some sharp cranberry and unripe strawberries. Some delicate smoke coming through not unlike a light Bowmore level of peating, and Cuban cigars. Milk chocolate and cocoa butter. A little lavender just like 132.2 continues the Bowmore comparisons here. Dutch caramel wafers add a further thick and rich sweetness to it. Some treacle and liquorice.

Palate: Fudge and butter scotch. Spice comes through in cinnamon buns, and fennel seeds continue the aniseedy/liquorice elements.

Finish: Floral and dry dusty which is almost Rosebank-like. Nectarines and mandarins.

132.2 Stunning panorama of exotic fruits (Karuizawa 22 year old)

Distillery: Karuizawa
Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 22
Distilled: 1991
Bottled: 2013
Strength: 62.4%.
Cask Code: 132.2 Stunning panorama of exotic fruits
Cask Type: Refill ex sherry butt.

Following on from a year ago when I reviewed the utterly outstanding 28 year old Karuizawa from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society - http://stilldramming.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/1321-secret-moonlit-garden-dram.html - I have also been hoarding 132.2, 132.3, 132.4 and have just recently received 132.5 from my friend in Australia, and have been quietly working my way through drinking them. With .2 and .4 nearly finished I figured I better put some notes up.

Nose: The first thing that comes to me is a green note which is like Jalapeno peppers and tomato salsa, and this carries through in a slight apple vinegar like note. The green apple continues but bruised and sliced with a waxiness. A little mango and passion fruit boosts up the fruitiness with just a touch of lemon. There is white chocolate and almond Toblerone. Some lavender comes through with rose water giving some nice Turkish delight connotations. The sherry influence here is light here. This is much more delicate affair then the 28 year old, and it tends to fall apart a little with water.

Palate: Tart and lively with 62.4% of course with some of those tropical fruits served up alongside vanilla and coconut ice cream, and a bite of oak.

Finish: Plenty of oak in the finish and I now feel like I have been sipping an ex-bourbon dram again. Some strawberry milkshake to finish.

Nikka from the barrel - Japanese Blended Whisky

Distillery: Nikka
Bottling: From the barrel
Age: NAS
Distilled: N/A
Bottled: N/A
Strength: 51.4%

Nose: Things open up instantly with lots of orange and cinnamon candles, and peeling tangerines at halloween. Eating Edinburgh castle rock and a raspberry ripple cone. Coconut ice cream with raspberry sauce, popcorn, butterscotch, and a little sulphury note by way of school pencil rubbers coming through. Barbeque meats with brown sauce.

Palate: In the mouth it is sweet, syrupy and chewy with the orange flavour out a packet of boiled travel sweets. This continues with orange Lucozade. Some soft marshmallow and a little menthol which hints at a touch of sherry element in there? It becomes more savoury as it goes.

Finish: Orange (suprise), long, syrupy and sugary. A little BBQ smoke coming through, paprika and chocolate cranberry.

Clynelish 1990 - 23 year old (Adelphi)

Distillery: Clynelish
Bottling: Adelphi
Age: 23
Distilled: 1990
Bottled: 2013
Strength: 54.8%.
Cask Number: 3233

Nose: Red apple, pear drops and strawberry sherbets. The strawberry continues with Campino sweets and the apple continues with toffee apples, and then with apple pie, vanilla ice cream and a bit of butter shortbread served on the plate as well. Some Snowballs from Gregg's with the coconut and a bit of jam in the middle. Yum. I'm eating all of this in an old fashioned dining room with lots of freshly polished wood with pledge.

Palate: Creamy, soft and rounded. White chocolate, a little treacle, honeyed and waxy.

Finish: Medium long with a dry apple cider, ginger root, coriander seeds, and chocolate covered hazelnuts.

70.2 - Balblair 1980 (Scotch Malt Whisky Society)

Distillery: Balblair
Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 10
Distilled: Dec 1980
Bottled: Sep 1990
Strength: 54.8%.
Cask Code: 70.2

Nose: Peanut butter and Peanut M&Ms. Unripe banana and orange rind. I am finding the nose very closed on this so I am adding a little water which brings out the vanilla, honeydew melon, mango and passion fruit which are those tropical notes I expect with Balblair. Some dairy fudge, olive oil, and a sharpness of green Jalapeno peppers.

Palate: Lightly tropical, creamy with some sharp wood. Olives again but in brine.

Finish: Long but quite oaky and tannic dominant. Drying with a sherbet citric fruits.

Laphroaig LP4 (Elements of Islay)

Distillery: Laphroaig
Bottling: Elements of Islay
Age: NAS
Distilled: N/A
Bottled: N/A
Strength: 54.8%.

Nose: Big and phenolic with sherry influence giving some richness to the youthful peat. Eating Christmas cake in a hospital corridor. Spicy with vanilla, coriander seeds and cinnamon. After eight chocolate mints, black tea, flump marshmallows. Savoury and sweet coming together - ham and pineapple. Burning embers on a well burned camp fire, salted beef jerky. Baked beans in tomato sauce. Red apple, cherry coke, hand soap. Coal sheds. Peat bogs.

Palate: Soil and earth, with chocolate and coffee. Black forest gateau, with peaches.

Finish: Long and medicinal, esprsso, cough syrup, fennel, cherry and strawberry.