Balvenie Doublewood, 12 yo, 40%

30 September

Tasted in the cramped but friendly and appropriate surroundings of the Balvenie Castle ticket/souvenir booth.

Honey, vanilla and oak. That's about it, really. Oh, and a little sherry. Fine, as far as it goes.

Rosebank 21 yo Special Release 1990, 53.8%

29 September

Nose: clean honey, very alluring.
Mouth: incredible smoothness and complexity. Less obviously floral than the 12 yo Flora and Fauna, but there's still something remarkably fresh, clear and meadow-like about it.
Finish: long, lovely. Citrus and herbs.

A lot going on in this one; something different with each sip. Outstanding.

Craigellachie 20 yo Single Cask Berry Brothers. Bottled 1991. 55.8%

29 September

Grassy, unassuming nose. Cereal, cream, and a crisp sweetness on the palate. Very faint floral notes. Light and smooth-ish. Although geographically Speyside, this is much closer to a lowland style malt. Not a patch on Rosebank, though.

Hanyu 'King of Hearts' bottled 1986, 55.4%

Smoke and sherry on the nose- reminiscent of the Karuizawas.

Rich and hefty on the mouth; sweet toffee. Some peat lingering underneath. There's something a little harsh in there, too. But overall- it's good.

Glenrothes 21 yo. Whisky Castle Cask collection, 54%

Sherry, of course. Clean tasting, very smooth. A grower- the full orchard fruit complexity takes about a standard Highlander Inn measure to develop.

Very good.

Glendronach 12 yo 43%

Good news- the current bottling is more or less as I remember the circa 1995 bottling. This was the whisky that first hooked me into single malts.

There's barley and restrained sherry in pleasant, even harmony. Lovely peppery/gingery finish.

Even allowing for sentimental attachment, very nice indeed.

Autumn Speyside Whisky Festival 2012

This was my third dedicated 'whisky trip' to Scotland, but the first since I've started recording these notes, and the first time to a whisky 'festival'. Previous visits entailed driving around the countryside doing distillery tours. On the last trip there were three of us (one not particularly keen on whisky) and it was all interspersed with walking/kayaking and some general sightseeing. This time, just with A, it was a more serious whisky-focussed affair.

For now I've just listed all the whiskies I sampled, for which I made any kind of note- however brief- and where they were tasted. I'll gradually add new entries over the next few weeks as I transfer the notes across from my phone. Not everything is listed below: there were a handful that slipped the net and didn't get any kind of note, and I took away a bunch of sample bottles that I haven't broken into yet. The latter, at least, will get their own entries as and when they are tasted.

Frankly, by the end of the trip my never-particularly-discriminating palate was getting overloaded and the length and quality of the notes will likely diminish towards the bottom of the list.