The 80s (Feb 25-27, 2011)

[Ganga]

Bourbon casked Macallan can be very good but you have to leave your expectations at the door. You can't be looking for that big sherry bomb that Macallan has so heavily groomed as its representation.

[Ganga]

So I was digging through the bottles in my care and came across a Glen Garioch 87, 8. And then I found a second one. Bottles are @ 43%. #1 has about 60% gone and #2 is only about 1/3 gone. Here comes a comparison for you.

[Willie JJ]

Golden Cask MacDuff 22yo 55% 1984-06, 225 bottles

Nose: Loads of cereal notes. Malty toffee with apple and cinammon.
Palate: The toffee follows through onto the palate, but it's topped with crunchy demerara sugar.
Finish: Bursts of spice, cinammon and cardomum in amongst the sugar.
Comment: Loads of fun. MacDuff is a bit underrated I think.

[Willie JJ]

Sticking with Speyside for 1983. A wee visit to Glenkeith.

[Ganga]

Glen Garioch 8
1987
43%

glencairn
Color: amber
Nose: perfume (kind of that mixed in the deparment store), some light pepper and grains
Palate: much less perfume, strong old straw, old wood
Finish: short, dispersed perfume (so not as unpleasant)

[Spirit of Islay]

Evening all ! My first offering of the night......

Expression - Bladnoch 18yo Cognac Finish
Year - 1988
Age - 18yo
ABV - 53.5%
Cask / Bottle No. - 2643 / 1 of 234
Colour - Golden Syrup
Nose - Very sweet almost honeyed , eventually green apples appear , then malt and cut grass .
Palate - incredibly sweet , not a lot of "Bladnoch" left , too much time in the cognac cask me thinks......
Finish - Long sweet and touch grapey
Comments - Distilled September 1988 , Bottled January 2007 , Finished for over 2 years in a Cognac Cask . Not a bad dram but......not a lot of Bladnoch left in the taste though i must say i haven't tried Cognac so i have no idea what it tastes like .

[Ganga]

I've usually been underwhelmed by MacDuff but I think this is because my exposure has been to younger ones and especially ones that have seen the "wine".

[Ganga]

Cheers G. Whisky sounds wonderful if not as much of the Bladnoch character as you want. I get apples, malt, grass in Bladnoch that hasn't been cognac matured. The sweetness and grape I would think is the cognac talking.

PS. opened up chat.

[Ganga]

bottle #2
Glen Garioch 8
1987
43%

glencairn
Color: amber
Nose: more floral with just a touch of perfuminess, cracked barley, hay
Palate: strongly floral but not quite perfumey, bed of ground grains, light pepper
Finish: moderate, doughy

This is quite a bit better than bottle #1. Will have to revisit this with a couple of people to see if others distinguish a difference.

[Spirit of Islay]

Expression - Bruichladdich Sinnsear "Forefathers"
Year - 1988
Age - 15yo
ABV - 50%
Cask / Bottle No. - Ex-Bourbon / 733 of 1000
Colour - Ripe Barley
Nose - a very fresh dram , green fruits(apples , pears) , lemon , fresh meadows .
Palate - lovely and smooth across the palate , loads of lemon , green fruits with a touch of fudge and vanilla .
Finish - long , lemon and fudge .
Comments - Distilled 11/02/1988 , bottled 22/11/2003 . Is this a perfect Laddie ? Damn close......

[Ganga]

Sounds like a superb Laddie. I really enjoy the tall 21 from the prior owners.

Up next will be Benriach 1986, peated and finished in PX. But I'm going to let it sit for 30 minutes.

Willie, you lost in 83?

[Willie JJ]

Hey gordon.

[pkt77242]

Expression - Bruichladdich Sinnsear "Forefathers"
Year - 1988
Age - 15yo
ABV - 50%
Cask / Bottle No. - Ex-Bourbon / 733 of 1000
Colour - Ripe Barley
Nose - a very fresh dram , green fruits(apples , pears) , lemon , fresh meadows .
Palate - lovely and smooth across the palate , loads of lemon , green fruits with a touch of fudge and vanilla .
Finish - long , lemon and fudge .
Comments - Distilled 11/02/1988 , bottled 22/11/2003 . Is this a perfect Laddie ? Damn close......

Now that sounds amazing.

[Willie JJ]

I was lost in 1983 Ganga

Glen Keith 1983 43% OB

Nose: Classy. I've had some rough Glen Keith and some lovely stuff and the nose on this indicates the latter. Very floral with lovely hints of smoke and oily malt.
Palate: The floral theme continues like chewing a sweet flowerbed with a small peat fire nearby. Really lovely.
Finish: The gentle spices sizzle along for ages.
Comment: This is a beautifully balanced malt. I wish I had a lot of it.

[pkt77242]

Sounds like a superb Laddie. I really enjoy the tall 21 from the prior owners.

Up next will be Benriach 1986, peated and finished in PX. But I'm going to let it sit for 30 minutes.

Willie, you lost in 83?

Already going to the plowedriach?

[Willie JJ]

Is that you pulling out the obscure Laddies Gordon

[Ganga]

Sounds like a superb Laddie. I really enjoy the tall 21 from the prior owners.

Up next will be Benriach 1986, peated and finished in PX. But I'm going to let it sit for 30 minutes.

Willie, you lost in 83?

Already going to the plowedriach?

Why not? And tonight I'll pull it again but against the other open bottle of it. Maybe even comparison in a different glass.

[Spirit of Islay]

Expression - Bowmore Vintage 1984 L.E.
Year - 1984
Age - 17yo (i think !)
ABV - 58.8%
Cask / Bottle No. - From 6 Casks / Bott No.1173
Colour - Auburn
Nose - a whiff of peat , peppermint , a lot of peppermint......then spices and peat smoke .
Palate - Very smoky at first across the palate , sherry , peppermint again and parma violets .
Finish - not too long but a distinctive Bowmore twang to it .
Comments - Bottled exclusively for Oddbins , not a bad Bowmore , i've had a lot worse !

[Spirit of Islay]

Nowt obscure about it , excellent stuff !
Not unless you mean obscure as in not finished......

[pkt77242]

I am off to the Elmo event with my son. I will be back in a couple of hours.

[Willie JJ]

Ok 1982 now. This was particularly difficult, because for some reason I had a choice of about thirty things from 1982. Is it just me or does everyone have a lot of stuff from that year? Anyway I'm going for a Clynelish.

[Willie JJ]

Bye Sean

[Willie JJ]

Nowt obscure about it , excellent stuff !
Not unless you mean obscure as in not finished......

Yeah or obscure as in being the bottle without Jim's signature on it

It can be excellent and obscure of course. It does sound nice.

[Ganga]

See you tonight Sean.

Willie, wasn't this just about the time of the collapse in the whisky industry and several distilleries were closed. It would seem that there was a glut of whisky but now there are a bunch of single casks floating around from those closed distilleries like Port Ellen and Brora.

[Willie JJ]

I certainly have a lot of PE from that year, but I have loads of others too. The strange thing is that I don't have that much from the two or three years on either side; its just 1982.

[Spirit of Islay]

Especially for Willie an Obscure Bunnahabhain........

Expression - Berrys Own 1980 Bunnahabhain
Year - 1980
Age - 22yo
ABV - 55.6%
Cask / Bottle No. - 9064 /
Colour - Pale Gold
Nose - Very un-Bunnahabhain at first......floral.....then a touch of smoke and sweetness (fudge , confectioners sugar )
Palate - Sweet and peppery (almost Talisker like....) , rumbles across the palate very un-Bunna like . Cut grass at the end .
Finish - Long , Dry , sweet and peppery .
Comments - The most unusual Bunnahabhain i own , also a bit of a rarity , not many 1980 ones about , only every seen this one and a one for M du W .

[Willie JJ]

I love obscurity

[Ganga]

The PlowedRiach
23 yo
cask 3182
bottled 10.09
2 years in PX cask
bottle 168/314

glencairn
Color: dark toffee
Nose: figs, prunes/prune juice, cranberries, tea (I don't know enough different teas to identify), baggy of dried spices including cinnamon and nutmeg, toffee, grilled fruits (pineapple and oranges), sweet peppers, cooked apples, buried at the bottom is some dough
Palate: fig newtons, mixed nuts, grilled fruits, olive oil, salmon with that charred character from the grill and squeezed lemons, black tea (again I can't be specific), burning oil (think heating oil), pomegranites
Finish: long, satisfying. Has a lot of different fruits. Burning cooking oils.

[Ganga]

Sounds like an awesome Bunnie Gordon. Almost a cross of Bladnoch and Talisker.

[Willie JJ]

Exclusive Casks 27yo Clynelish 45.5% 1982-10, Cask 9865, Fresh European Oak Finish

Nose: Lots of fruit, spice and tannins. Really powerful and utterly fascinating, like spiced cold tea.
Palate: A bit thinner on the palate, but quite resinous and a lot like chewing a used teabag that's been sprinkled with sugar. Strangely fascinating.
Finish: It gets a lot sweeter here, with juicy fruit which then dries to a light pepper.
comment: It's all over the place with little in the way of balance, but I kinda like it.

[Spirit of Islay]

Expression - Ardbeg 17
Year - 1980 ?
Age - 17yo
ABV - 40%
Colour - Gold
Nose - Faintest peat , slight ardbeg-dine , touch vanilla , coffee and orange essence .
Palate - The lightest of peatiness mingles with a gentle iodine , smoky and orange . Hint of vanilla and creamy coffee .
Finish - Not too long , chocolate and orange Ardbeg-dineness !
Comments - very complex for a 40%er , Wonders what it would have been like at 46%/CS.......

[Ganga]

G, now I'm getting thirsty. 17 was very good.

[Willie JJ]

That sounds great Gordon. i don't seem to have any peat on the menu tonight, apart from that slightly smoky Glen Keith.

[Spirit of Islay]

Expression - Ardbeg Kildalton
Year - 1980
Age - 24yo
ABV - 57.6%
Colour - Golden Syrup
Nose - Very fresh , Lots of fruits , almost a "Fruit Cocktail" in a light syrup . A touch of creamy coffee as well .
Palate - quite peppery across the palate , apple pie and custard , again fruit syrup and coffee also wanders in .
Finish - Long , sweet , tropical fruits and incredibly pleasant !
Comments - A beautifully balanced Ardbeg that shows what the spirit is like without the peat .

[Willie JJ]

Ooh big guns. Nice one Gordon.

1981 for me now.