Members' Choices

The full line-up

For March's tasting we made a welcome return to the Britons Protection, to try a series of six different drams picked by six of our club members.

Tim almost blew the top off the budget straight out of the gate with the opening bottle of the evening. He went for a Benromach 21-year-old, a 43% that comes in at £129.

A Speyside sherry cask, this tasted chunky and smooth. Lots of almonds in evidence we thought, certainly a hint of marzipan and, more generally, Christmas cake. "This would make a great whisky sour," someone commented, before hearing how much we spent on it, "but not at that price!" A very nice drop all the same, though.

Dan presented whisky number two, and it was something from the Fettercairn distillery. He explained he hadn't thought much of their younger expressions, but had his head turned by some of their better stuff when visiting their stand at a whisky show.

That included the 16-year-old that was in our glasses (the older ones were even better, he said, but were a little pricier than the £65 this one retails for). More sherry cask, this time a mixture of Oloroso and the more rarely seen Palo Cortado. Very good we felt, but if anything it's possible the sherry actually detracted from the whisky, as the spirit seemed to be just fine without too much of that. We were quietly impressed. It's 46.5%.

Onto whisky number three, then, and Paul produced one of his absolute favourites for us, a Glenfarclas 21.

Back to Speyside with more sherry, this time full Oloroso. Smooth, fruity, some nutmeg, and a mixture of both sweetness and sharpness. At 43% and £95, beautifully drinkable. As someone suggested, "a warm hug of a whisky." One for after Christmas dinner, perhaps.

After a half-time break, I got up to introduce my choice, a Glen Garioch. As an Aberdonian, this is just about my own local distillery.  I wanted to try it because I'd had a go at some of their standard bottlings over the years and fancied something a bit more special. I picked out this 19-year-old, a 1999 wine cask bottled in 2018, and fully matured in wine casks from Chateau Lagrange in Bordeaux (owned by Suntory, as in Glen Garioch).

Tasting notes on this included red applies, berries and ginger biscuits. This went down well, and further suggestions included Christmas cake (again) and jam (!). This was 48% and £104.

Two to go and we were off to the other end of the Highlands next, Martin taking us to the Ardnamurchan distillery on the coast overlooking Mull. One of the newer and hotly tipped distilleries around, here we had batch 07.21.05, a mix of 50% peated and 50% unpeated, and 65% bourbon casks and 35% sherry.

This was a 4-year-old and we felt it had plenty of potential, although it had perhaps been bottled a bit soon. Very drinkable and certainly one to watch. This had peat on the nose but not on the palate so much, it was quite sweet in fact.

Ian treated us for the last bottle with the fruits of a recent visit to Campbeltown. He paid tribute to Craig behind the counter in the Springbank shop for recommending the Longrow Red 15-year-old, finished for the last few years in Pinot Noir casks.

Slightly peated, we were getting toasted sesame. Sweetness was there again, including red berries. Really nice, this, and highly enjoyable all round. "Lots going on" as someone said, and no doubt one we'll be angling for an extra dram from when it comes around to the Christmas party. It was 51.4% and good value at £65.

The dram of the night voting resulted in an overwhelming victory for the Longrow! The Glenfarclas was second and the Glen Garioch third, but most of the membership cast their votes for the bottle from Campbeltown. Thanks to all members for attending, and especially those who chose and presented bottles.

Also thanks to the Britons for hosting us once again, at what is an uncertain time for what is one of the great pubs, in Manchester or anywhere else. You can read more about that and sign the petition at this link.