New Year, New Home!

 

The line-up

Our 2025 programme of tastings got off to a bit of a different start for a couple of reasons. The first was a week's delay due to a previous booking at our new venue, meaning our January tasting actually took place on the first Thursday in February.

North British 18yo

But I've already given away the second. After spending most of our decade-plus history at the Britons Protection (longer serving members might recall our earliest days in the Lass O'Gowrie then the Castle, but these memories are understandably hazy), events at the start of January meant Star Pubs/Heineken finally took control of the place following a long battle. Changes afoot there, not least the departure of the whisky stocks that made it such an attractive place for us for so long, meant we were briefly homeless.

In stepped another Manchester landmark, the Seven Oaks in Chinatown. Their upstairs room is an ideal size for us, and so that's where we assembled for Martin to take us through six assorted bottles raided from the club's stocks.

The Holyrood

We started off with a single cask grain, an 18-year-old from North British aged in a refill sherry cask and bottled by Douglas Laing under their Old Particular brand. This had a sort of leather, waxy type vibe about it, the sort of smell you get when buffing up your car (I was taking others' word for this, I'm afraid my poor old Ford has never had a buffing, at least not from me). On the palate we got some toffee at the end, butterscotch too. Not too vanilla-y, as some grains can be.

This was good, although at our table we weren't quite sure it was worth the £67 we paid for it back in 2022. Others raved it about it though, declaring it "surprisingly good". Other tasting notes included struck matches and sulphur. It was 48.4%.

SMWS Tullibardine

Dram two went to the other end of the age scale, and a very young whisky from Edinburgh's new Holyrood distillery, which says it's the first in the Scottish capital for a century. Set up by Canadians in an old railway building, the distillery has a reputation for experimenting, and has employed an ex-distiller from Macallan to help them realise what they want to achieve.

We weren't so keen on the nose here - cheese and sweaty socks - but it was totally different when you actually drank it. Very creamy and interesting. We'd like to try more of their stuff, but not necessarily this precise expression again. It was 49.8% and cost us £70 including postage.

Arran 16yo

As someone commented on seeing the line-up of bottles at the start of the evening, "it's always a good night when you see one of these," gesturing at the familiar Scotch Malt Whisky Society livery of dram three. This expression - Blindfolds and Pipettes, 28.95 - was a 10-year-old Tullibardine.

This was straightforward and very good, we felt. Understated but chewy. Not especially memorable on the nose but it had a super long aftertaste, with distinct flavours of apple crumble, custard and a honeyed sweetness. There were mixed views on whether adding water did all that much for it. This bottle was £70 for SMWS members and it was 59%.

Aultmore

After a half-time break to recharge our glasses downstairs in our new surroundings, it was back for another trio of whiskies.

And we kicked off part two on the Isle of Arran, with a distillery exclusive 16-year-old single cask from 2022. We weren't quite sure what the cask was, although it could have been Sauternes, or fino - it was certainly very pale for something which had been aged for that long. 

It was very nice all round though, and Arran is a popular distillery among many club members who felt this particular expression helped the liquid shine. It was £95, which was perhaps a little at the top end of what we'd pay for it. The strength was 58%.

Glen Scotia

To another club for whisky five, this time the Cadenhead's Club and a 15-year-old Aultmore, the result of a vatting of several casks. This had an incredible nose and looked great too: it made you (or at least me) instantly want to drink it. 

And indeed, it lived up to expectations. Very nice, with classical old Speyside flavours, including dates and sticky toffee pudding. A great all-rounder and a favourite so far for many in the room. This was £70 and 54.8%.

Martin had a bit of peat lined up for us to finish with. A Glen Scotia bottled for Callander, this was matured in fresh bourbon then PX casks. My notes here indicate that it was billed as heavily peated, but didn't really taste all that peated, indeed I wrote "is it really peated at all?" so clearly this was causing some debate. More of a soft hint of smoke than anything else.

This was really delicious though. That hint of smoke brought to mind smoky bacon and Frazzles. "Stunning" and "terrific" were among the comments. Incredible value too, as we paid £59 for it back in 2021. It was 52.9%.

That brought us to the dram of the night voting, and despite a strong challenge from the Glen Scotia, the Cadenhead's Club Aultmore got the most votes with 13. In third place was the Arran.

Thanks to Martin for putting together our new home and this great line up of drams, and to all at the Seven Oaks for giving us such a warm welcome!

Home or Away

 

The full line up

I hosted September's tasting and for a theme I chose 'Home or Away' - four whiskies either fully matured or finished in a second drink, paired for the occasion with an example of that other drink. Yes, that's eight drinks on a school night.

Wire Works and friends

To start with we had, unusually, a whisky we'd had before. The Wire Works Necessarily Evil impressed us during last year's tasting of English drams. Finished in casks which previously held stout made by Derbyshire neighbours Thornbridge, I thought it would be interesting to try the whisky again in tandem with a drop of the beer.

The whisky was the 2023 version at 51.3% bought for £67 direct from the distillery (it might be a touch cheaper if you shop around). Nice and rich, it's got a bit of coffee and sweetness about it. I was curious if any of those notes were accentuated by having the thick, treacly stout at the same time.

The original spirit is lightly peated and some thought the stout brought that out a little. But the strong, stout flavours of martime, chocolate and liqourice really ploughed through most of the subtleties. The stout, aged in bourbon barrels, is 13% and is £13 for a 375ml bottle. We got four so there was enough to go round.

Deanston with marsala

For our second whisky we went to Deanston, one of the club's favourite distilleries which we've had often over the years. It's widely known as a pioneer of organic production. As part of a range of interesting finishes lately is an expression finished in marsala casks.

Marsala has a sad reputation as cooking wine useful for not much more than boozing up your tiramisu. But that wasn't always so. British importers searching for a new port or sherry happened upon this Sicilian fortified wine in the late 18th century, and once it became Lord Nelson's favourite drink it was this and not rum which the elite officers of the Royal Navy were drinking as they took on Napoleon.

A glut of poor quality produce meant marsala lost its lustre over the years, meaning it has gradually moved from the spirits shelf to the store cupboard. There are some bottlings available made the more traditional, high-quality way, though. We had the Cantine Pellegrino Reserva 2000, barrel aged for more than 20 years. 

The Deanston was a 15-year-old, which only spent a little time in the ex-marsala casks at the end, but still long enough to pick up plenty of honey and sweetness. It's 55.2% and we got it from the distillery for £95, but again it might be a little less elsewhere. The marsala again had that honey about it, dried fruit too like apricots, although it was a bit too sweet for some. It's 19% and is £36 for a 750ml bottle.

Penderyn / carcavelos

After a half-time break and a chance to refill our beer glasses downstairs at the Britons Protection - eight drinks not enough for all of us, evidently - we moved onto not one but two old favourites.

Penderyn, the Welsh distillery, is one of the club's most frequently tasted whiskies. And an enduring independent bottler is the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. Put them together and you get the SMWS bottling Cava and Raspberry Liqueur Jelly, a six-year-old finished in first-fill barriques which previously held carcavelos.

This was a new one on everyone in the club, which was reason enough to try it. Carcavelos is a Portuguese drink, essentially a form of light port made not in Porto, but in an area to the west of Lisbon. Once quite a thriving area for production, most of it has been eaten up by urbanisation leaving just one producer remaining, itself a joint venture backed by the local council and the Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture. The wine making area in question is just 60 acres, and we had an example of the only commercially available bottling you can get, the Villa Oeiras.

This was great stuff all round. While we enjoyed the whisky, it was the carcavelos which was the night's surprise hit. Nuts, marzipan, caramel and butterscotch. Several members were straight onto their phones to pick up a bottle. We paid £25 apiece for two half-sized bottles, while the Penderyn, all of 60.2%, was £73 (for SMWS members).

Ledaig / Bourdeaux

The final pairing involved a bottle I picked up on a holiday to Mull a couple of years back. Ledaig is the original name of the Tobermory distillery and is still the brand they used for their peated expressions. I tried some in the shop there and ended up walking out with a bottle: a 10-year-old, 2020 bottling fully matured in Bourdeaux red wine casks. I was also £110 lighter, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

For something to stand up to not only that but also the plethora of other booze we'd knocked back by this stage, club member Nic of the brilliant Reserve Wines in Didsbury recommended the Chateau Picoron Le Bon Nobel. A small independent vineyard, it names all its bottlings as palindromes, which Nic accurately felt was probably about as much information as needed to be imparted at that stage of the evening.

The Ledaig was superb, the wine we enjoyed too, even though it was perhaps on a bit of a hiding to nothing at that point of the night. Some felt they'd be glad to drink it again but perhaps not quite at the the £25 price tag.

That brought us to the dram of the night voting. Amidst trying to host the tasting I've realised I didn't actually note down the scores on the doors, but pairing three - the Penderyn and carcavelos - was the overwhelming winner. An unforgettable triumph for Wales and Portugal!

Thanks to all club members who made this another sold out tasting, and to everyone at the Britons for hosting us once again.

Bang For Your Buck

This month's line up

For May's tasting, there was a welcome return for Anna who presented a line up of best 'bang for your buck' whiskies currently on the market, a timely tasting considering not only the cost of living crisis, but also the general inflationary pressures on whisky prices too. Anna was out to show us that there remains all kinds of great stuff out there at reasonable prices if you know where to look.

Compass Box

Most of the drinks came from independent bottlers, and dram number one was the work of one of the club's favourites, Compass Box, the London-based blender and bottler. We were drinking Orchard House, a blend (of which the biggest component was Clynelish) with a definite fruit and apple vibe from the label onwards.

There was no doubt about the apple straight from the nose, green apples especially. We also got some peanut butter, and perhaps a faint bit of smoke on the palate, too. The finish was nice and long. It's 46% and you can pick it up for about £41 from the usual online retailers. 

Kilchoman SB3

Dram number two took us to Islay and Kilchoman, and a small batch distillery bottling. It's number three in Kilchoman's small batch series, and features a combination of bourbon and Oloroso aged Kilchoman, along with some much stronger Sauternes cask, to create a bottling at 49.1%.

This was sweet before it got peaty. Apples again and other sweet notes, making for a lovely combination with the smoke which grew on the palate. "I'd buy that" said more than one club member. It's £52. Cheap at the price, we felt.

Petrichor Galore

Back to the indie bottlers for dram three, and a whisky from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. This one was called Petrichor Galore (petrichor being the smell of rain, a new one on me!) and was bottle 63.81, the 63 standing for Glentauchers.

This was intense and "sherry tastic" with toffee another tasting note that we got. "This makes me violently happy" someone said. As well it might, at just £53.20 (for members, and sadly it's all since gone), it was an extremely strong 66.3%. Great value as well as being an excellent drop. Not sure about the smell of rain, though.

IF Knockdhu

After a half-time break to recharge our beer glasses downstairs at the Britons Protection, we returned for whisky four. The indie bottler this time was Infrequent Flyers, a brand run by ex-BenRiach man Alistair Walker, which aims to showcase some rarer single malts at affordable prices. On this occasion it was a Knockdhu, a Speyside distillery which normally produces whisky under the name anCnoc to avoid confusion with Knockando up the road.

Another superb drink, this. Lots of marzipan and almond as the key tasting notes. A really easy drinker, too, remarkable considering its strength of 58.9% (so perhaps we should reclassify it as a 'dangerously' easy drinker). It's £52.90.

North Star Chaos

As a measure of how strong the last two were, there was a bit of surprise that whisky number five was "only" 50%! A North Star bottling from its Chaos range, asking the question 'do port and peat go well together?' being an Islay whisky mostly aged in ruby port octaves.

It's assumed the liquid in this bottling is a Caol Ila, but as someone commented, "if it's a Caol Ila, the delivery van has crashed with an Ardbeg". This was very floral, and savoury. Again great value at £50.

Highland Laird

All too soon it was the last dram of the night, and bottling under name Highland Laird, owned by family-run bottler Bartels. This was a 9-year-old Macduff with plenty of big strength again, at 65.4%. The colour was particularly notable, it was fully matured in first fill sherry casks.

This was another superb whisky, and there were lots of phones out to buy a bottle (including mine) at the excellent price of £48. There are still some available, too, so it's well worth getting one before they're all gone. As a sidenote, after the bottle I ordered went walkabout after an issue with the courier, full marks to Bartels for sending me another! Great customer service and a business well worth supporting.

There was plenty of support for the Highland Laird in the dram of the night voting, but it narrowly lost a three-way battle with the Knockdhu and - this month's winner - the SMWS Glentauchers.

Thanks to Anna for such a great selection of whiskies, and to all club members and their guests for attending another successful tasting. And, as ever, thanks to the Britons for hosting us so well once again.

There they all are

Rage Against The Maltchine

 

We went through the drams on Zoom

July's tasting was called Rage Against The Maltchine - a chance to try two different expressions from three lesser known distilleries.

Inchgower F&F

Each of the three distilleries is owned by spirits giant Diageo and their output mostly used in blends, so seeing them in their own right is a relative rarity. The main exceptions are for the company's Flora and Fauna range, which it uses to showcase several of its hidden gems, and a range of bottlings done by independents. So, for this tasting, we had three pairings of an F&F versus an indie to see which came out on top.

We started off with Inchgower, a Speyside that is a key component of Bell's. The F&F was a delicate dram, very nice, fruity and a bit salty as well. It was clear to see why it has been used for so long in a major blend, as we felt it had a little bit of everything and could accentuate other flavours really well. Or, as someone put it, "it's the whisky equivalent of Spanx". It's about £50 and is 43%.

Inchgower SMWS

Up against it was an Inchgower from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, a bottling called Depth of Flavour. There was certainly a family resemblance on the nose. Like the last one but a bit more, well, "more-r" as someone suggested.

A little bit of water brought the pears out, along with a general fruitiness and a slightly tropical sense of banana. Most drinkers in the club seemed to think this was a bit better but, seeing as it was a cask strength SMWS and members generally prefer the high octane stuff, this wasn't exactly surprising.

The SMWS bottling was £61, and in the little mini vote of the two Inchgowers it won out 16-7.

Teaninch F&F

The next pairing was from the Teaninch distillery, a Highland which comes from a large facility in Ross. We started off with the 10-year-old F&F expression. There were cereal notes on the nose. Quite nice if a bit forgettable. As we got down to drinking it, we felt it was a bit sweeter than expected, but more of an orientation dram than anything else.

Not as good when you added water either. There were bits of barley sugar, a dryness, and a subtle and delicate creaminess going on, although even for the members who are fans of the more subtle drams this was on the delicate side. It didn't get a huge amount of love overall. £43 better spent elsewhere, we felt.

Teaninch Mey Selections

Next we had a 12-year-old independent bottling under the Mey Selections label. Oaky and dry, this was definitely better. There was something going on in the background on the nose but we couldn't quite put our finger on what. There was much more to get your teeth into on the palate though.

Cask strength for sure, and perhaps a bit too much of an alcoholic taste for some, there were some questions about whether it was really from the same distillery. One comment was: "One came out of the tap, the other was definitely whisky." It was 54% and £90, and although this got a general thumbs up, there was also agreement the price tag was a bit steep.

However, the Mey bottling beat the F&F by no fewer than 22 votes to 1!

Glenlossie F&F

Our last duo was from Glenlossie, a Speyside from close to Elgin. Much of it ends up in Haig Gold, a brand name which was particularly popular back in the 1970s. As for today's 10-year-old F&F bottling, this was great on the nose for a few of us, although some felt it was a bit 'meh' with less going on. Almost a bit reminiscent of the first Teaninch we tried, pleasant enough but a little nondescript.

It revealed itself a bit more after a couple of sips, so there was perhaps more going on than at first glance. Others also felt it was probably the strongest of the three F&F bottlings. It's £49.

The rival independent was a 22-year-old Carn Mor, under its Celebration of the Cask banner. This was certainly more popular, although a tougher choice than the other pairings because both it and number five were good in their own way.

Glenlossie Carn Mor

Leather and boot polish here, and a peppery flavour. It's 53.3% and £150: great but perhaps not three times as great as the F&F one we'd just had. Notwithstanding the price, the indie still took this round by 14 votes to 9 - the closest run battle of the evening.

In the overall dram of the night voting, dram 2, the SMWS Inchgower, took the title with eight votes, ahead of the Carn Mor which got six. And, as if all that voting wasn't enough, we found time for a tiny bit more democracy to finish the evening. In the overall consideration of Diageo v the Rest of the World, it was just two votes for the corporate Maltchine and 21 for Rage!

Thanks to Adam for co-ordinating the tasting and everyone who presented whiskies and took part. Another successful Zoom tasting.

The 2020 Christmas Party

 

Another Zoom tasting!

One of our annual traditions at Manchester Whisky Club is the Christmas party. In the past this has usually involved a big get-together at the Britons Protection, often involving the leftover whiskies from the year's tastings. This year, as with most things, we had to do it remotely on Zoom. But thanks to some wonderful organising from host Adam and the rest of the committee, we had a great night of entertainment and a range of whiskies to try.

Hazelburn 13yo

Everyone had a few small surprise samples to try along with the main line-up for the tasting, with the little bits leftover from bottles we tried earlier in the year, so we'd all had the chance to drink something in advance of the opening dram.

We got going with a 13-year-old from Hazelburn, a brand used by the Springbank distillery in Campbeltown. This was an unpeated expression, matured in Oloroso sherry casks. And that sherry certainly came across when we tried it, with a real Christmas cake sort of feel about it. There was also a definite toffee thing going on as well, so all very appropriate for the time of the year.

Someone suggested a bit of water helped smooth things out a bit. Certainly sweet and bold. It was £54 when available (it no longer is, the run of 9,000 bottles has long gone) and it's 47.4%.

James Eadie Benrinnes

The next whisky was a Benrinnes from independent bottler James Eadie. Again 13 years old, this was finished in a bual Madeira hogshead, but it had a much more limited run of 311 bottles, again all now sold.

And no wonder, because it was really very nice indeed. Fairly subtle on the nose but then big and buttery in the mouth, it had a spicy thing going on, maybe cardamom, and also pear drops. It was good value too at £49, and it was 56.1%.

WB Blair Athol

One of the club's favourite independent bottlers is Whiskybroker, run by Martin Armstrong, and we had one of their bottlings for the third dram of the night. It was a Blair Athol released last summer, which quite a few of the club members took the opportunity of buying at the time. Sharing the wealth with those who missed out first time around, Adam presented us with the red wine-finished 10-year-old.

You could really tell the red wine a mile off with this one. It helped give the whisky a very distinctive flavour which lingered very pleasingly, too. As is always the case with Whiskybroker, an excellent value bottle at £50, and it was 56.5%. This went down very well indeed.

SMWS 37.96

Next up we had a dram from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. This was number 37.96, named 'Cinnamon Semolina Pudding' that was a 13-year-old from Cragganmore on Speyside. This had most of its ageing in an ex-bourbon hogshead before finishing in first fill Pedro Ximenez sherry.

And once again it was strong and sweet and smooth, tasting all of its 58.7%. But it also definitely had something interesting with the texture, which is presumably where the SMWS tasters got that 'semolina' reference from. It was part of the October 2017 outturn by the SMWS, and at the time was £56 for members.

Caol Ila 9yo

To finish, as we often do, it was off to Islay for a taste of something peaty. It was a 9-year-old Caol Ila, produced by The Whisky Exchange in 2019 for The Whisky Show, to honour their 20th anniversary. It was fully matured in refill sherry.

It certainly gave us a big blast of peat. The sherry gave it a lingering finish and it was definitely a complex whisky. We thought that, if anything, it might have done from a little extra time in the wood to really bring out more of the flavours.

Amidst all this, Adam kept us all going with a range of quizzes, and thank you to him and everyone who took part, for another successful lockdown tasting.

The dram of the night, mustn't forget that, actually apparently I did because I can't find the results anywhere, so they may well be lost in the mists of time. But for what it's worth my vote would be for the Whiskybroker Blair Athol!

August Tasting: Raiding The Club's Reserves

 

August's line up of samples

Our August remote tasting, the first under Greater Manchester's renewed Covid restrictions, found us sampling a range of drams taken from the club's stocks. No particular theme, but an opportunity to try some excellent whiskies which the club had kept aside for a rainy day like this.

Story of the Spaniard

We did this one blind, revealing the bottles after tasting each whisky. And the first whisky of the night was fresh, with a sort of grassy or organic-type vibe about it. Not as sweet as some whiskies, with a spiciness and a sort of white wine-type crispness on the nose. Some said this wasn't particularly special on the nose but tasted better, and someone thought it was a bit heavy in the end.

It turned out to be a blend, a no age statement one at that, from Compass Box and called The Story of the Spaniard. Inspired by working on a whisky with The Spaniard bar in New York, this is built around whisky drawn from sherry and Spanish red wine casks (so that was wine we could pick up, just the wrong colour). A very pleasant start to the night though. It's 43% and is still available for £52.

Madeira Cask Project

Next we had a much sweeter nose to contend with for dram number two. There maybe wasn't too much else on the nose, though, with a subtle, even menthol type smell. There was much more to go at on the palate, with a particular rush of sweetness at the very end. Adding a bit of water brought out that menthol that much more, along with the likes of liqourice or even nail polish remover (not sure what this actually tastes like, but it takes all sorts).

Some in the club suspected a lightly peated Islay, but it was in fact a Speyside. Not just a Speyside, but a Glen Moray, a distillery recently branching out from its reputation as a purveyor of highly affordable, entry-level whiskies that you can pick up in the supermarket. This was a 13-year-old which had spent all its life in madeira casks, hence the name Madeira Cask Project. It's 46.3% and £62 if you can find a bottle. Closing comments on this included "yummy" and "really good".

Kilkerran 12yo

Onto number three and the nose was unusual, with early suggestions from members including "wet carpet" and "cleaning products" with even a bit of cardboard in there somewhere. Yet despite that possibly unpromising initial blast of mustiness on the nose, once we tasted this, there was widespread enjoyment. Slightly peated, and very pleasant indeed.

The whisky hailed from Campbeltown, once a hub of the whisky industry and now certainly well onto the comeback trail, although the number of distilleries there is a fraction of those that existed in the early 20th century. This particular bottle is from the Glengyle distillery but does not appear under that name, because the rights to 'Glengyle' are held far away at Loch Lomond these days. So instead, it's bottled as Kilkerran, and this was the 12 year-old expression, one of the first of the core range released by the distillery since its 2004 reopening. At 46% and just £39, this represented great value too.

Celebrity Yurt
Indulgence

After a short break we resumed with whisky number four, and this was sweet on the nose before a big hit on the palate. Much bigger than most were expecting after the nose, to be honest. It was very peppery and tasted very strong, and that pepperiness was a complete surprise. Other comments included "sweet" and "syrupy, like golden syrup".

This was a Highland Park, bottled by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society under the name 'Celebrity Yurt Indulgence'. It was surprisingly peaty for a Highland Park. A 16 year-old from a refill Oloroso sherry butt, it tasted all of its 60.6%. We paid £85 for it from the SMWS, although it's long since out of stock.

Finlaggan Red Wine
Cask 

As is often the case with the closing dram of any tasting, it was time for the 'peat incoming' siren to go off, once we poured the last miniature into our glasses. It certainly gave off a fantastic smell for all the peat monsters in the club, of whom there are quite a few. This had a saltiness, sea water, even notes of salted fish and burnt tyres. Really very lovely indeed, some also fancied this with a bit of water too.

It was a Finlaggan, a brand created by the Vintage whisky company. So the actual origin distillery is a bit of a mystery, although we do know for sure it was on Islay somewhere. The particular bottle we were drinking was the red wine cask, which clocked in at 46%. At just over £42, another bottle offering good value.

All of which brought us to the dram of the night voting. And not for the first time, each whisky had some supporters, indicating plenty of strength in depth from this particular line up. But the winner in the end was the SMWS Celebrity Yurt Indulgence with nine votes, just ahead of the Story of the Spaniard and the Kilkerran which picked up six each.

Thanks again to all club members and guests for taking part via Zoom, and to Anna and Martin for overseeing this well-timed raid on the club's whisky stocks.

Lockdown Blind Tasting

The line up of whiskies (1-5 left to right)

Manchester Whisky Club has continued despite lockdown, with the community regularly meeting for informal Zoom-based drams. But last Thursday we took things a stage further with a blind tasting of five whiskies from the club's stocks, the miniatures having been picked up in a suitably socially-distanced fashion!

North Star Spica

It was an opportunity to try a selection of bottles which had been bought by the club but had never yet found their way into a themed tasting.

And we started with the whisky that had by far the deepest colour of the five chosen. It smelled like a heavy hitter, with a lot of toffee and sweetness, a bit like a creme brulee or a sweet pastry. Someone even suggested orange, although conceded that may have been because the sticker on the bottle was orange. It was thick and oily and really clung to the side of the glass, but the finish was short, perhaps surprisingly so all things considered.

This turned out to be a bit deceiving, in that it was a blend of just 45.2%, so not as high an ABV as many had thought. A 20-year-old bottled by independent bottler North Star, it went under the name Spica and was released in 2018 when we paid £46. It's long gone unfortunately, along with all the other whiskies we were trying, but it made for a strong start to the tasting.

Highland Laird Royal Brackla

The next whisky was very light. It didn't have much on the nose, with some members suggesting they couldn't smell much at all, while others got a spirity blast and some apple notes as well. When it came to tasting, it seemed familiar but nobody could quite put their finger on it. "Tastes like it should be a Bruichladdich but there's no peat" said someone, and we knew what they meant, but that wasn't quite on the money either.

If the first dram had been less strong than expected, the opposite was true here: 59.8% even though it didn't really drink like that. A Highland rather than an unpeated Islay, it's a 10yo single cask Royal Brackla, bottled by another independent bottler under the brand name Highland Laird. Royal Brackla is not a name seen too often as most of it goes into the Dewar's blend. We paid just £41 for this in 2017, a real bargain.

Whiskybroker Tomintoul

The advice for dram number three was that this was another high ABV, so well worth trying straight before with a little bit of water. It was nice and warm and fragrant on the nose, although it did seem to take a little bit of time to get going. The palate was where this one really stood out. Mild mannered to begin with then "really gorgeous" with toasted marshmallows and Turkish delight, along with a sort of chewy, peppery thing going on too. As someone said, "I don't want to add any water to that!"

The bottle was from another indie, the ever-popular Whiskybroker, and it was a 10yo Tomintoul. Finished in an oloroso sherry hogshead, this particular dram clocked in at 54% and was again very good value at just £44, when we bought it in 2018.

SMWS Glendronach

After a short break, it was back for the fourth whisky of the evening, and this one was quite powerful on the nose. We were getting Quavers, also pear drops, and cherries, maybe even a bit of cherry brandy. That cherry note continued onto the taste, although to be increasingly specific, there was a general view that this was the sort of artificial cherry flavouring you get, rather than actual fresh cherries. So there! Some tried it with a bit of water and this arguably gave a more rounded flavour, with a little less sweetness.

At 55.2%, the ABV was high but lower than many had thought. It was an 11yo Glendronach from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, under the name The Merchant of Alsace. Unusually for Glendronach, it wasn't sherried. We got it in March 2018 for just £56, brilliant value, although there were just 198 bottles produced. As you can see from the picture, I had drunk mine before remembering to take a photo, so you'll just have to imagine what it looked like!

Chorlton Highland Park

The final whisky seemed to be another high ABV one. Everyone (mistakenly) thought this was an Islay because there seemed to be a bit of peat in there, and others thought that it tasted even stronger with a drop of water.

This was our youngest drinking of the night, just a 9-year-old, and it was from the Orkney distillery of Highland Park rather than Islay. Bottled by local favourite Chorlton, it was a bit of a monster at 63.1% even though it didn't really taste like it. We got the bottle for £47.50 in 2018, again superb value.

Which brought us onto the voting for dram of the night. At this point my somewhat unreliable broadband (at least when it comes to extending into the garden) dropped out, but I was able to gather that the Tomintoul was the winner with eight votes!

Thanks to everyone in the club for such a great turnout for the tasting, and for Martin and Anna for co-ordinating the safe despatch of whiskies to members. Hopefully we'll be back in the Britons' Protection before long, but in the meantime, this is a good substitute.

A post-tasting chance to try the newest club bottling.

The Science of Sherry

Six whiskies and three sherries!

It was club chairman Adam's turn to lead us through January's tasting. And what a line-up he produced for us as part of his look at the science of sherry, and the particular role sherry often plays in the maturation of whisky. Yes, those are nine glasses on the (rather fetching) new club mats, six of whisky and three of sherry.

Gonzalez Byass Fino

And it was one of the sherries we began with, a 10yo Fino sherry from Gonzalez Byass. Fino is the driest and palest sherry, and along with other sherries, has featured prominently in the story of Scottish whisky for decades. The traditional popularity of sherry in Britain led to widespread availability of sherry casks, which were convenient for the whisky industry, giving many of our best-known whiskies a familiar sherry character.

The Gonzalez Byass was indeed obviously very dry, even to those of us without much sherry knowledge (sherry reached its peak popularity in the UK back in the 1970s - "around the time my nan was absolutely caning it" - as someone suggested). It was certainly distinctive, with a butteriness about it. Some drinkers liked it, some didn't. It's £40 for a 50cl bottle, and the ABV is 16%.

Deanston Fino Cask

Adam took us on to the second drink, and first whisky, of the night. And the Fino theme continued, this time with a 2006 Deanston, finished in Fino casks. It was matured for 12 years in total and this occasion the 'finish' amounted to a very decent two-and-a-half years of that time, having been in ex-bourbon casks initially. Deanston is considered a Highland distillery, although in reality it's just a short way from Stirling in central Scotland.

There was a lot going on here, with a fresh, sweet, taste. The lengthy time spent finishing in the sherry casks perhaps made it seem older than it actually was. It's true to say we liked this one very much. It's 55% and is well worth the £65 price tag.

Aberlour A'Bunadh

It was Aberlour next, for a taste of what used to be one of the best value whiskies around. I say 'used to be', because A'Bunadh, which was once available for not much over £40, will now set you back £80, much to the understandable irritation of long-term fans of this particular cask strength drop, matured in Oloroso sherry butts.

It really hits the big, rich, sherried notes of fruitcake and raisins. The ABV is 61.2%. It's arguably still worth the £80, but if you know how much it used to cost, it's possibly a little harder to justify parting with the cash. The particular bottle we drank was from batch 56, although they're up to number 63 now.

Craigellachie 10yo PX

Having experienced Fino and then Oloroso, we moved on to a third well-known variety of sherry, with Pedro Ximenex (typically known as PX, in case you ever see it on a bottle and wonder what it stands for). These are sherries with a dark, juicy, intense sweetness, and the PX casks are often in real demand for certain whiskies. The dram Adam had picked out for us was a 10yo from the Craigellachie distillery on Speyside, bottled by the independent Whiskybroker.

And this certainly was fruity, although if anything perhaps a little lighter than some club members had anticipated, and it had a bit of cocoa about it as well, along with a shortish finish. It had spent most of its maturation in a sherry butt before switching to a PX octave (a small cask holding just 50l, ensuring more of the flavour transfers to the liquid inside). It was £44 although they're all gone now, and was 54.9%.

Nectar Pedro Ximenex

Next it was back to sherry and an opportunity to try some actual PX. We had a Nectar Pedro Ximenex, so sweet according to Adam, it is officially 3.7 times sweeter than even the old recipe of Irn Bru. This particular bottle was again from Gonzalez Byass, and was 9 years old.

And the proof of that came when we got to actually try it. "Like concentrated raisin juice" as someone suggested. Certainly memorable, although not exactly a session drink. At 15% and £15 (for a full 75cl bottle this time), it's one to invest in for when the family comes round next Christmas, maybe.

Matusalem 30yo

The third and final sherry was next, and we went to a 30-year-old Oloroso from Matusalem, also a Gonzalez Byass (based at Jerez in southern Spain, the centre of the sherry producing region). The grapes here were some PX alongside Palomino, a drier variety.

It was less raisiny and sweet than the PX we'd just had, and was perhaps all the better for it. This was 20.5% and £21 for a 37.5cl bottle. At this point we held, unusually for us, a 'sherry of the night' vote, and it was the Matusalem which just edged out the Nectar PX in a close decision.

Chorlton Coig Deicheadan 17yo

Not that the evening's entertainment was over. Far from it in fact, with still three whiskies remaining to try. The first, and whisky four overall, was from Manchester-based bottlers Chorlton Whisky, in the shape of a 17yo blend called Coig Deicheadam, drawn from constituent parts including Glenturret, Macallan, Highland Park and Bunnahabhain.

We didn't think this tasted all that sherried, although seeing as we'd just had two sherries back to back, perhaps it's hardly surprising some of the sherried subtlety may have got a bit lost in comparison. And besides, the Islay flavour of the Bunnahabhain seemed to come through too. It was very tasty all the same. Sadly, it's no longer available, although when you could get it, it was 46.5% and cost £75.

SMWS 10.162 9yo

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society often features during club tastings, and tonight's SMWS bottling was 10.162, entirely from Bunnahabhain and aged 9 years, having been matured in a first fill Oloroso Hogshead cask.

Considering it's an Islay whisky and clocked in at 61.2%, this was surprisingly mild mannered. It certainly didn't taste its ABV, which was no bad thing at all. This one went down very well with the membership, although again it's no longer on sale, although we picked ours up for £63. Fans of the amusing names the SMWS gives its bottlings will want to know this particular one had the official title Big Wave Sofa. No, us neither.

Cask Islay

As is often the case, the night ended on a bit of a peat monster. The Cask Islay was this month's choice, and the Cask Strength Sherry Edition from bottler A.D. Rattray.

Considering the sherry maturation, this one was surprisingly peated. Like an ashtray in fact, was one comment. It was certainly a tasty drop if not perhaps the best one we enjoyed all evening. It's 59.9% and is £44.

And so we moved on to the traditional dram of the night voting. And we had a rare tie, with both the Aberlour A'Bunadh and SMWS bottling picking up nine votes apiece, with the Deanston next on seven. In a second round of voting, the A'Bunadh beat the SMWS 14-11. Maybe it's worth the £80, after all.

Thank you to Adam for another brilliantly selected and produced evening, as well as to all club members old and new for attending, and to the staff of the Briton's Protection for looking after us once again.