Starting with an excellent Dailuaine (41.56) , 51.9%, older at 22 years than other recent SMWS Dailuaine bottlings, but once again from a Bourbon refill cask - a summer dram Phil suggests, light certainly but well worth supping at any time of year, as to the "Rabbit in soured cream sauce" as the bottling is titled - well the SMWS tasting panel do like imaginative and. The SMWS newsletter suggested that the 37.54 "A contradictory dram" was from the first distillery in Dufftown to get a license - which would be Mortlach, but that's distillery 76, so clearly the writer had been over-dramming that night! Or maybe that was the contradiction. It turns out to be a 27yo Cragganmore, and a good one too, more body to it than the Dailuaine, not sure of the coconut on the nose, but certainly on the initial palate. And so to Strathisla (58.14 - "Ye olde sweetie shoppe"), 57.8%, the best Malt of the day for me - again a bourbon refill, and mocks the distillery's own effort (though I've not tasted that since the bottle's been changed). Despite the high ABV, it did not require water, and for once I could see where the title came from. My final malt of the tasting was the Glen Scotia (93.55) 13yo, fairly mild peating for the SMWS bottlings from that distillery, though at 61.4%, I found it needed water, though my taste buds are not as imaginative as those of the SMWS tasting panel, as "Lamb kebab with apples and peppers" didn't come to mind.
This was interrupted by a round of 24.122, a 16yo ex-bourbon Macallan from a previous Outturn provided by Phil to back up his comments on the 24.124 - the ex-Sherry Macallan that I'd tasted at the Preview - being rather thin for a Macallan. I see his point, but the 24.122 is for me a much better dram anyway.
So for the final dram of the G3.4 - "Pride of Bengal", a very pale refill bourbon hogshead, 27yo Caledonian single grain at 57.5% - proving yet again that single grain can more than hold its own with the best malts. Lots of flavours in there and I can see some of the Indian theme suggested in the tasting notes.keeping the dram in the mouth for a few seconds it mixes with saliva to produce a thicker consistency, this is a very interesting dram which requires further investigation, I have to have a bottle of this one. Star of the show.
Finally, research into an old bottling of Glengoyne from Port Pipes - I have the remains (about a third of a bottle) of 123.7, a 10yo that was distilled April 2001, with an Outturn of 779 bottles, so I thought there might be a good chance of there being some left. Although I'd clearly been impressed enough on first tasting to get a bottle, I remember being disappointed on opening it, and had left it for a while. Clearly one of those bottles that benefits from being opened for some time, as when I cam back to it - big improvement. No 123.7 at Greville Street, but they had an unopened bottle of 123.6 - a 7yo from Port Pipes with a similarly large outturn. Not too impressed on first taste, but will have to come back to it to see if it develops like 123.7.