Just had a fine evening of new whisky's, all bought at the Whiskyfaction charity fundraiser for Christchurch put on recently by Regional and Whisky Galore, and therefore 100% guilt free spending and pleasure.
1st bottle = Ledaig 10yo. New one to me, a peaty dram from the isle of Mull. We all picked it as an Islay, not as ballsy as a Laphroig or an Ardbeg, but great none-the-less, possibly a bit more interesting for the added subtelty. I gave it 9 out of 10, and at under $100 a bottle that can't be bad. Again, the cheapest whisky on the night rated highest for me (ooh, we do love that ;-)
2nd = Wemyss "BBQ sauce" 18yo single cask full strength Mortlach. Yum. A bit of a rarety (one of only 576 bottles) and I just couldn't resist, especially as Wymess was one of the Sunday tastings I was booked into for Dramfest but didn't happen. Only gave it 8.5 out of 10 on the night, but that rating might well go up as I work my way through the bottle. My only issue issue is that they seem to have gone the way of the SMS with the names, which in itself isn't a problem, but it'd not exactly original, nor is the one they've given this particularly appropriate. But these guys could give SMS and Adelphi a run for their money, especially the money bit - this one was sub $150, which in itself blew me away.
3rd = BenRiach 17yo Burdundy Wine finish. Another cracker from the Ben R boys, a different whisky to anything I've got in the cabinet at the mo, hence the purchase. The Burgundy finish really comes through, but it is just that, a finish, and doesn't overpower the underlying rich Mortlach-esqe flavours. I gave it 8.5 out of 10, and again a mere snip at under $100 a bottle.
There you go. To match my performance at the Springbank tasting, I got 0 out of 7 again (for only the second time ever - and two in a row to boot!) In good company though, as Daniel also scored a big fat zero in the Springbank tasting (in fact we made exactly the same picks, having not conffered at all, and with someone else leading the tasting).
Interestingly at both these tasting the younger (and generally cheaper) drams scored the highest, with a few exceptions it was almost an exact reverse correlation between price/age and the score. The only other time we've had that was with Laphroig (and that's 'cos their older expressions are designed for fat American and Japanese businessmen who don't actually like whisky, just the fact it is expensive and they can show off about who's got the 'rarest').
Anyway, of the Springbank's at the previous tasting, the 10yo CV was the winner, in case you were interested. None of them blew me away though, which is odd because I've always been quite partial to them in the past.
At Whiskyfaction, a 11yo cask strength Adelphi Bunnahabhain took out the top honours, but sadly we drank the last of it, so the only person who got to take any away was the crazy fool who paid $300 for the remaining half bottle (they auctioned a heap of stuff off for the quake fund). Bloody awesome, if you ever come across a bottle buy one! It got a 9 from me.
A 1990 Signatory caks strength Laphroig came 2nd overall (as the 'mystery'), and that was the exception in that it was expensive and good. I gave it a 8.5 out of 10. The three above came in next, in the order I've listed them (with the Ledaig and Wymess reversed).
