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NWO Cask of Distinction blind tasting

Writer's picture: S&PS&P

Updated: Sep 28, 2024

Alright so this the deal. We need to deserve that final dram of Lagavulin 27 year old. We’ll say each dram gets 10 points, 2 for distillery, 2 for cask type, 2 for abv, 2 for the age, and 2 for region. If we nail it we get both points, if we are close enough 1 point, if we’re way off 0 points. For 6 drams thats a total of 60 available points. If we can hit 40 points we’ll say we deserve to challenge that whisky goblin protecting the precious Lag.


Dram 1: The Star Candle


👃🏻 nice smoky caramel, really nice nose


👅 what a beaut. It’s got dark balsamic vinegar notes, with barrel notes, little salty, what a gorgeous dram haha. Nice bitter chocolatey notes. Hmm I’ve had lots of laddie valiants like this. Maybe an old school laddie. Or Benrinnes I’ve had like this too. Some kind of red wine cask. Age 20+ for sure. This reminds me of the old Carn Mor cask celebration releases. I wouldnt be surprised with a fortified wine but guessing not fortified. Proof isn’t super high, 48-52. I am a huge fan of this type of scotch. It’s very cask driven so could be a number of distilleries but usually this type is unpeated laddie or Benrinnes that I’ve had so I’ll stick with that. 93/94


Reveal: 1995 Highland Park G&M cask 1323 59% 15y 461 bottles. Refill sherry butt.


Post reveal comments: aaaaah I should’ve gotten Highland Park. When I said the Cask Celebration ones I was think of the two Highland Parks although they significantly older. This is off to a bad start haha. 2/10 points.


Dram 2: The Health Potion


👃🏻 oh thats beautiful. Loads of syrupy nuts, walnuts, pecans, pancakes covered in maple surup, and loads of oak. This is pancakes at the log cabin SMWS name. For sure some kind of PX cask. Wisp of smoke


👅 oh thats awesome stuff. Nutty, sweet, toasty, oaky. Maple syrup. This has to be pretty old 25+. Its so refined and the oak comes through very nice. The proof isnt crazy. I doubt its above 50, i think more 46-48. This is a championship dram. Pretty thick. Wow I really hope this is affordable haha. Really hard to guess the distillery. Its kinda Glendro-y. Kinda Bunna-y. Maybe an old Glenfarclas? Dusty Aberlour? Certainly sherried or at least some kind of fortified wine. It’s got a little minerality that I think is unique. Maybe a Highland Park? Old Pulteney? Or yea let’s just go with Bunna. Idk. Haha it’s delicious and if affordable/findable I will be stocking it. 92.


Reveal: 2003-2021 Highland Park Octave Cask 5030943 53.8% 1/89 bottles. Sherry Octave Finish


Post reveal comments: a bit better guess haha. Back to back HPs! Octave cask fooled me on the age. Also screwed up the ABV pretty bad. This drank so easy though I thought for sure under 50. Anyway we’ve got 5/10 points on this one.


Dram 3: The Poison


👃🏻 honey, malty, straw. Little citrus.


👅 good feel. Melony notes, honey, straw. This is a fun little oddbally one. I wanna say Benrinnes again haha. Hmm theres a little industrial note could also be Glen Scotia, Tobermory. There’s not a ton of single malts like this though. Could be an older single grain with the cardboard notes gone. Like 30+ year old single grain. Lower proof for sure, I’m thinking 44-47% here. Could be something european. Could also be a big dusty, this has old school single malt vibes. Refill cask. I like it. Score 77.


Reveal: 2003-2014 Balblair OB 1st release 46%


Post-reveal comments: Was not thinking Balblair. Very nice. 6/10 points


Dram 4: The Mana Potion


👃🏻 apples. Honey. Malty. Tart.


👅 apples, salty, tart. Thinking some kind of speyside here. Strathisla, glenfiddich. Very nice well done although standard. A nice layer of oak comes through. Could be an apple forward Highland like Pulteney or Tomatin. Feels great. Score 88. Proof around 53%. Its gotta have some age to it like 15-18y. The oak comes through nicely and it’s well integrated. This is just a well done orchardy single malt.


Reveal: Longmorn OMC 24 year 1/206 55.1%


Post reveal comments: Longmorn makes sense. 8/10 point guess, basically just the distillery I didn’t get.


Dram 5: The Tome


👃🏻 loads of honeycomb toasted oak, honey nut cherrios. Smells thick very aromatic. Lovely nose


👅 oh wow suuuuuper honeycomb forward. Malty. Feels great, thick. This must be some kind of old school malt. Only scotches I’ve had this rich would be Bunna, Deanston, and Mortlach. Has to have some age to it. Likely bourbon cask. Very delicious dram. Lots of toasty notes. Score 93. ABV 48-52%.


Reveal: Mannochmore Infrequent Flyers cask 804802 15 year 54.5% Barolo hogshead

Post reveal comments: that makes sense, this is exactly like the other really good Mannochmores I’ve had. This might actually be findable and affordable! Will be on the hunt. 4/10 score.


Dram 6: The Cross


👃🏻 vegetal, buckwheat honey, mineral. Wet rocks


👅 oh thats gorgeous. Its minerally, earthy, sweet (dates?), wet rocks. I’ll be damned if this isnt old school Bowmore. This is the only one out of the whole tasting where I’m feeling confident about the distillery. This is damn delicious. I would drink this all day haha. Except its probably not cheap. I’ll say 20y, 46-49%, aged in refill sherry. Score 93.


Reveal: 1991-2018 Balblair OB 3rd release 46%

Post reveal comments: blah. Haha I mean awesome dram but blah guess. I’ve had a number of Balblairs and never anything like this. 5/10 points.


TOTAL POINTS: 30/60. Huanh huanh…..


So I don’t deserve this but here we go anyway:


Lagavulin 27 year SC Cask of Distinction 1991-2018 1/222 bottles cask 1515, 54.4%

👃🏻 wow. Oaky citrus. Like fermented lemons on a barrel. Salty. Bright. Beautiful minerality, sea side. Little peaty, little seaweed


👅 super thick, seaweed, salty sea side on a humid day, fermented lemons. Scotch doesn’t get much better than this. Score 97. This would make a great birth year bottle.


Cheers everyone!

Simon from S&P


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