Raiding The Club's Cellar

This month's line up

For the leap day tasting on February 29th, Martin went burrowing around club stocks and selected six bottles that have been sitting on the shelf for long enough. The extra part of the theme was that they were all from independent bottlers, too.

Glen Scotia 9yo

We started off in Campbeltown with a 9yo Glen Scotia, bottled for the Southport Whisky Club having been picked out for them by the distillery's master distiller. This unpeated expression had the sort of spicy, peppery notes that are a theme of Glen Scotia whiskies. Adding a bit of water changed the game, and brought out a real creaminess too. Indeed, we felt as though it needed a bit of water.

A nice, long finish and hints of apples and pears as well. Mostly people really enjoyed this in the room. It was a chunky old thing first off at 57.1% and was £58.

North Star Dalmunach

We went to Speyside next and a newer name on the whisky scene, Dalmunach. This began distillation in 2014 as Pernod Ricard's answer to Diageo's similarly big, shiny and new facility at Roseisle. The output mainly goes into the company's blends such as Chivas, so it's relatively rare to spot a bottling in the wild. The one we had was from independent bottler North Star. and was a 6yo fully matured in a ruby port cask.

That port maturation gave it a remarkable colour, almost like a glass of Ribena. It was big on the nose too with definite hints of cola, but on the palate arguably didn't even really taste much like whisky at all. Very spirity we felt, and more like a Cognac. Worth trying once but not everyone was convinced. It was 56.4% and cost £54.

Bunnahabhain 5yo

Off to Islay for dram number three and a Bunnahabhain. This was a 5yo, bottled by the legendary Cadenhead's as part of their club membership scheme.

This was spicy! Very nice, you wouldn't peg it for a young, cask strength whisky (it was 59.6%), and it was much more drinkable than that. It was a bit "angry with water" but at the same time had a smoky finish, and had an element of being light at the same time. We paid £50 for this.

After a break for half-time and a chance to recharge our glasses downstairs at the bar of the Britons Protection, it was on to the second part of the tasting and dram number four.

Glentauchers 20yo

We were back to Speyside for a Glentauchers, bottled by Bartels, known for their brands such as Highland Laird. At 20 years old we had high hopes for this one, Glentauchers being a favourite distillery of many club members, so much so that we even did one of our club bottlings of the stuff.

This was subtle and creamy at first, and for some it was maybe even - whisper it, softly - a little bit plain. But others thought it absolutely superb. As one member commented "if you don't like that, what on earth are you doing here?". So the room in general certainly gave it two thumbs up. It was 53.2% and cost us £62,

Linkwood 13yo

For number five we went to another distillery normally used in blends, this was a 13yo Linkwood, owned by Diageo and more often tasted as part of Johnnie Walker. We had a bottling from Thompson Bros, run by brothers Philip and Simon who are based in Dornoch in the Highlands, where they run their bottling brand along with a micro-distillery and bar.

This smelt terrific, like cream soda. It was light and floral and very drinkable. Others felt it had a little bit of artificial sweetener about it, almost reminiscent of aspartame. This cost £71.50 and was 54.6%.

Glen Elgin 11yo

For the sixth and final dram of the evening, we stayed in Speyside once again for Glen Elgin and a bottling from James Eadie, an old brand that was revived by the family in 2015. 

We had an 11yo matured in a first fill Madeira hogshead. It was 59.1% but if anything tasted even stronger. A bit spicy at the back, and certainly worked well with water. The finish lasted and lasted, and didn't fade. This cost £60.

Which brought us to the dram of the night voting. All the whiskies got at least one vote, a sign of a tasting of great strength in depth. But the clear winner was the Glentauchers, dram four, which picked up no fewer than 19 votes. Tied for second were drams one and three, the Glen Scotia and Bunnahabhain,

Thanks to Martin for putting on such a great tasting, all club members and those from the waiting list for joining us, and to the Britons for hosting us once again.