Sauce-ages. The Future of Meat Products. Bunnahabhain & Lagavulin - Feis Ile Day two

Hello deer! 

Having spent a great couple of days on Jura, experiencing the island to its fullest (including a three hour bus tour- something we didn’t think possible on an island with just one road, but boy was it informative and fun) it was time to head back to an island we’ve spent a lot more time on: Islay.

Arriving at Port Askaig it seemed only sensible to visit the pair of distilleries which sit just around the corner from Islay’s second port, Caol Ila and Bunnahabhain. We popped in to the former, for a quick hello with the chaps there and to take in that wonderful view back across the Sound of Islay to the Paps of Jura, a must for anyone visiting the island.

If only we’d had our speedboat again, instead of driving back up the hill, along the road and down again, we could have simply nipped around the corner to Bunnahabhain, who were having their Open Day.

Always good value, it has been a wonderful place to hang out over the past few years with some excellent events (last year’s caber tossing even made the back page of our limited edition newspaper, The Daily Cargo, which came with our recent Cutty Sark release), this year proved no different, offering a small stall holders market, band, events and a bar serving a slushie-style cocktail. A nice turn of pace during the week.

Before the event really kicked in, we took some time to sit down with Andrew Brown, the distillery manager at Bunnahabhain. A local chap, he’s worked there for over 20 years and is now the man in charge of making the spirit. Andrew kindly took an hour out of his busy schedule to give us a highly informative lowdown about the history of the distillery, casks, flavour, spirit quality and, of course, a dram or two...

Bunnahabhain – 35 year old – 1971 – 750 bottles only – 44.9% abv – bottle no. 123 – 70cl

Nose: Sweet coconut, vanilla, blood oranges and spices. Creamy with banana notes and soft caramel.

Palate: Dry, but very malty, with dry menthol, fresh mint, buttered toast, cornflakes, liquorice root and some rose notes.

Finish: A light dryness, very fruity with kiwi and peaches and cream. The blood orange from the nose comes back at the death.

Overall: We’d go as far as to say, this is the best Bunnahabhain we’ve had in a long time. Two others were two bottling from Speciality Drinks, sister casks filled on the same day in 1979 (our review from the start of this century can be found here). All of these are really lovely drams, sadly all now long gone...

As is now tradition, Bunnahabhain also have their own festival bottling out. This year it is a 10 year old from a sherry butt and it’s a huge hitter, coming in at 60.1% abv...

Bunnahabhain – Sgeul Na Mara  – 10 Years Old – 606 bottles – 60.1 % abv – 70cl

Nose: Slated caramel, ginger cake and butterscotch. It opens up with water to reveal stewed fruits and a tangy, mandarin note.

Palate: Initially, it is drying with layers of sherry and liquorice, moist oak and stewed apple. With water, it opens up in to more tinned pineapple and the bananas, which we’ve come to love this distillery for.

Finish: The finish gives both green and red apple skins and a big hit of dry oak.

Overall:  A big hitting whisky which needs water to fully open up, but when it does, you won’t be disappointed.

After leaving Bunnahabhain, we took the high road across the island to Port Ellen and onwards up to Ardbeg, our resting place for the next couple of nights. En route, there was time to pop in and see our old friend David Wood, now the Brand Home Manager for both Caol Ila and Lagavulin distilleries, where we were able to share a dram of the excellent Lagavulin festival bottling with him...

Lagavulin – 18 Years Old - Feis Ile 2013 – 3000 bottles – 51% abv – 70cl

Nose: Surely this can’t be right… Earl Grey tea? Yes, there in all its glory is a stupendously fragrant bergamot note, backdropped with all the hallmarks of a classic Lagavulin: sappy woodsmoke, carbolic soap, a rich sherry oakiness and hints of Playdoh and almond marzipan.  Sensational.  

Palate: Again, a fragrant Earl Grey note continues, with a sweet, slightly stewed tea note, wonderfully rounded smoke and a lighter, spicy richness.  It has big similarities to the 16yo, but has an additional power and complexity to it. 

Finish: Lingering wood smoke and fragrant top notes. 

Overall: Another outstanding Feis bottling from Lagavulin, who set the bar stupidly high for themselves nowadays, this delivers... and then some. Some armchair whisky anoraks and Twitterers (or 'Twats' as we like to call them) have been critical about the fact that Lagavulin have discontinued the tradition of releasing a festival single cask, but this whisky squarely bats any criticism back and the larger outturn at least offers a wider global audience a chance to grab a bottle at a sensible (non-grossly inflated-auction) price.

After settling into our Islay accommodation (more on that tomorrow...) we received a visit from our good friends at Master of Malt. Here on their own annual trip, with bags full of goodies, they were en route to iPed2013... International Port Ellen Day 2013. Hosted by @MaltWhiskyBar this has seen some astonishing tastings in the past, including this one (here) from 2011, where every single official Port Ellen release was available to try. 

This time around, Jon Beach led the assembled Port Ellen-ites through a number of indie bottlings in a variety of locations, including outside the maltings, the Oa lighthouse and a sneaky peek into the old malt kiln buildings, now home to an unofficial gym of weightlifting equipment. The distillery may be well and truly dismantled and gone forever, but its liquid legacy remains very much in the hearts (and mouths) of whisky aficionados.    

Islay Odyssey - Day Five: Des Lynham's Time Travelling Swedish Mercedes

So little time! It's hard to believe that our time on this great island is nearing an end already.  But Friday brings lots of places to visit and drams to catch up on.

Our first port of call is Bunnahabhain and their pier side open day.  Last year, the distillery open day was a little waterlogged and chilly, but not this time around.  Bathed in sunlight, the place looked exceptionally rustic, coupled with the mini highland games, laid out on the lawns to the back of the distillery.

Caskstrength opted for a little display of gentlemanly prowess by having a go at the caber tossing.  Not one to be outdone, Harrison threw first and made a total dog's dinner of the thing, with the angle of the fallen caber looking more like a badly pitched tent pole.  Ridley however used a fairly uncommon throw  based on similar principles to that of the Duckworth-Lewis Method, involving weather systems, trajectory and alcoholic beverage consumption.  It would prove to be a triumphant move and a despondent and defeated Harrison slunk off to find a consolation whisky.  Fortunately, a dram of Bunna' 18yo was located, alongside a tasty cup of freshly flash-fried local scallops.

Our time at the distillery was limited so we popped over to Bruichladdich for a catch up and a try of their  festival release, Nostalgia -   a big bold beast distilled in 1992 and matured in a Barolo cask, with rich dark fruity overtones and a touch of dryness.  


Our next whistle stop visit was over at Kilchoman for a little snack (soup of the day and a tuna roll always fix a hangover) and a dram of the new Machir Bay release.  This release has been buzzing amongst other Feis goers so we thought it high time we gave it a try.

Kilchoman - Machir Bay - NAS - 46%

Nose: Smoke and toasted marshmallow intertwined with hints of vanilla, elderflower and spearmint.

Palate: Delicate for a smoky whisky with cream cheese softness, underpinned with banana milkshake and smoke.

Finish: Warming, long and lingering with vanilla pods and spices.

Overall: One of the best whiskies we've tried on this trip, it belies its age and, at less than £40 a bottle, could well become a session whisky for peated single malt lover.

A short while later and feeling refreshed and revitalised, we decided to spend the evening exploring the island's rich history of illicit distillation, particularly retracing the long lost distilleries of the southern shore- all will be revealed in our next post! 

Some Terrific Taylors

Since we reviewed Duncan Taylor's Blackbull 40yo earlier this year, we've really started to take notice of just how many good bottlings the company are turning out - on a very regular basis too.

The last 3 are no exceptions either. The Rare Auld range represent the pinnacle of Duncan Taylor stocks, with many of the releases bottled at around 30 years, from across Speyside, the Highlands and Islay.

We recently got stuck into a Cardhu, a Bunnahabhain and an intriguingly titled 'Iconic Speyside'. Now what could that be, we wonder...

Duncan Taylor - Rare Auld Collection - Bunnahabhain - Distilled 1979 - 32 yo - 47.1% Cask No: 38408

Nose: Notes of dried coconut, some hints of aromatic dry vermouth, soft brown sugar, some bonfire toffee and a distinct nuttiness.

Palate: Very sweet on the first sip, but calms down after a few minutes in the glass. Again, notes of brown sugar, some slightly zesty grapefruit and soft toffee, almost reminiscent of an aged dessert wine. A true dessert whisky perhaps?

Finish: lingering notes of toffee, chopped hazelnuts and swathes of vanilla'y oak on the death.

Overall: Highly enjoyable - especially sweet, so not to everyone's tastes, but right up our street.

Next up: A rare auld Cardhu.

Duncan Taylor - Rare Auld Collection - Cardhu- Distilled 1984 - 26 yo - 54.4% Cask No: 2873

Nose: Classic oak ageing at its best. Vanilla notes, lots of spiced, cinnamon apple pie, lemon sherbet, cherries mascerated in cognac, furniture polish, Brazil nuts and icing sugar. Warm and inviting, not cold, hard and old.

Palate: Initially sweet, leading into a mouth coating chocolate/cocoa note (think really good quality dark chocolate, with a dusting of muscovado sugar) then, plump raisins, stepped in dark rum, some fresh lemon juice, more Brazil nuts, chocolate covered marzipan and perhaps even a slight barbecue note, although that might be from the Old El Paso taco kit we enjoyed an hour ago. Anyway, enormously open and flavoursome. Lovely stuff.

Finish: Lingering notes of dark chocolate covered nuts and those plump rum soaked raisins. Absolutely gorgeous.

Overall: This is a real find. Balanced, yet old. Open, refined, complex and super-easy to drink. Another very impressive bottling. If you're considering bottlings for your 30th birthday in a few years time, get this and open it on the big day, you'll love it. In fact, hang that idea- just buy it and open it immediately!

And finally.... the dram that dare not speaketh its name (although we suspect it begins with G) (great... big help there... eh)

Duncan Taylor - Rare Auld Collection - Iconic Speyside- Distilled 1984 - 27 yo - 54.8% Cask No: 2033

Nose: Big buttery biscuit base, (not again...) then into more of those Brazil nuts we mention above, some papier mache, notes of Copydex adhesive uncooked pork mince and the very centre of a rosebud!! Sounds absurd, but there you go... that's whisky for you. Given time, more of a digestive biscuit note develops, with a little dusting of dried ginger. It isn't a patch on the Cardhu, but certainly isn't a duffer- just weird.

Palate: A vaguely gingery note pops up first, followed by some savoury meat (honestly, this definitely isn't the Taco kit, we promise!) then into fresh double cream, some light toffee notes and a malty sweetness. Again not a patch on the Cardhu, but interesting nonetheless.

Finish: Quite a drying, lengthy finish, with hints of lavender and something quite bitter and hoppy.

Overall: A little off key if we're absolutely honest, but then compared to the Cardhu, a great many bottlings from anyone's collection would be under par.

If any of these take your fancy, check out the Duncan Taylor online store here:

Islay day 8 - If you’re gonna knead the dough, you’ve gotta bake the bread...

Friday during the Feis Ile always seems like the calm before the storm of the weekend. By that we mean Bunnahabhain hold their open day in the surroundings of the north east coastline, before the madness of Ardbeg’s Saturday event at the final fling event in Port Ellen’s Ramsay Hall. The weather had turned a little colder, but by now, we were a pair of city softies carved out of wood by the unrelenting high winds and rain, which had lashed Islay for pretty much the entire trip.

In recent years (when the weather was better) Bunnahabhain have laid on a Highland games themed event with Caber tossing, welly wanging and horseshoe throwing. But this year was a much simpler affair and main attraction was the stupendous locally caught scallops, flash fried in butter and a generous measure of Bunnahabhain 12yo. Our pal Ian Buxton was also around and delivered a fine masterclass tasting, afterwards signing copies of his bestselling book, ‘101 Whiskies To Try Before You Die’. We start to compile a list of drams to make our own 1,000,001 Drams To Try Before You Expire’ tome, but realise we’d need to have started early- from birth until our 80^th birthday, we’d need to sample 34 whiskies daily, not counting leap years.

Bunna’s special release this year was a 14yo, which had spent its final 3 years finishing in a Cognac cask (a first for the distillery) to give it an even more concentrated sweet, floral complexity. In addition to the festival, the release celebrates the 130^th anniversary of the distillery and was limited to 472 bottles.

Bunnahabhain – Feis Ile Special - 14yo – Cognac finish – 472 bottles – 59.6%

Nose: Lovely sweetened coffee and toffee notes, with vintage polished oak furniture, light cinnamon, hot cross buns and melted butter.

Palate: A very rich oily mouthfeel, with brandy marinated blood oranges, mandarins warming spices (cinnamon and a hint of clove) and a very sweet note, which balances well against the citrus flavours. With a dash of water, oak smoked ham, coupled with some dry red wine notes.

Finish: Hints of soft brown sugar linger on the palate, with traces of spice and zestiness.

Overall: Although quite different to the regular release 12yo, this bottling shows how the spirit is robust enough to take on the fruity notes of the Cognac cask and remain true to the distillery’s character. Hopefully we’ll see further experiments with Cognac in future bottlings.

Being the main home to blended whisky Black Bottle, the brand was out in force for the day, but instead of just offering regular tastings, their team had taken the opportunity to have some real fun and bought in a couple of ‘Slush Puppy’ machines to give the blend a completely different vibe, you can see our reaction in the video below!

On our way back to the south of the Island, we stopped in to see Gordon at the Islay Woollen Mill, which was now fortunately repaired after the 100mph winds. Ridley got measured up for a bolt of Lagavulin tweed, enough to make a 3 –piece suit.

If you haven’t already visited the mill, it’s well worth a nose around- not only does it have one of the oldest looms in Scotland to look at, but Gordon is a wealth of knowledge on tweeds and tartans, having designed pieces for numerous feature films including Braveheart and The Spiderwick Chronicles. They’ll even sell you a length of Bruichladdich tweed, should you be crazy enough to have a turquoise suit made up!

In our next instalment, we ride a attempt to ride a bull, try to perfect a few Flamenco steps and enjoy the best of Ardbeg’s brand new and vintage releases.

Glen London Part Three: Whisky Show Day 2.

What a difference a week makes. Whilst Joel was clearly toiling this week, grappling with some stupendous whisky beasts, I was trying to make sense of just what its like to have a holiday. A Curates Egg shall we say- one moment lying on the beach, falling asleep and burning one's legs to a crisp... the next, thinking about all the great whiskies I was missing out on back home, whilst necking high strength white rum. Let's just say that i'm not particularly one for sunning myself- in fact, whilst on the beach, I realised that I had only brogues to wear- with hindsight, a totally absurd choice of footwear.

Still I'm home now and back at the second day of The Whisky Show, which I was really looking forward to.

Joel had already primed me as to what to look out for, so for the first dram of the day, the quite frankly stunning Adelphi Bunnahabhain 41 year old bottling (think a wonderful mix of fresh and dried fruits, classic sherry dryness, but not a hint of bitterness) This is certainly on my purchase list and a whisky which will surely disappear quickly after the buzz it created around the show.

So a high benchmark had been set and I drifted off to The Whisky Exchange stand in search of further perfection. Fortunately the five bottlings on offer were at the top of their game. Just how the WE find casks like this is beyond us, but keep it up chaps! I settled on a 1981 Lochside as my highlight, as modelled here by Brian Fallon of the Gaslight Anthem band.

Lochside - 1981 - Whisky Exchange bottling - Oloroso Sherry Reserve - 57.5%

Nose: Notes of waxed mahogany, overripe bananas, tropical fruits (guava and passion fruit) and rich treacle toffee.

Palate: The fruit continues into an explosion of tropical notes. It's like i'm back in the Seychelles, trying to pick fresh mango and Jack fruit from the heavily laden trees, which line every road. Add to that a touch of brittle honey comb, humbugs and cinnamon spiced notes. Superb in every way, with no holes at all.

Finish: The fruit lingers and the flavours develop beautifully, with all the resonance of a terrific old sherry cask.

Overall: Sukhinder and his team have yet again struck gold with this one. Another highlight from what's shaping up to be a premier whisky event.

After a spot of lunch (well, I was already gorged on a fine Penge Cafe Mixed Grill, so went straight for the Panacotta and toffee/Longmorn sauce) it felt right to try something a little lighter and younger. 2 whiskies sprang to mind- Glenlivet's Nadurra Triumph 1991 and the soon-to-be-released Kilchoman Winter Release. Once again, we were enticed into Connosr's Whisky Pod to review the Kilchoman (which was a pre-release caskstrength sample) and again they struck gold with full ripe fruity fresh bourbon notes, mixed with a fresh warming smokiness. With a refreshed palate (and a big slug of water) it was onto the Nadurra, which we have reviewed previously. The Triumph exclusively uses the the strain of barley taking the same name and gives another dimension of fresh fruitiness, with an additional couple of years of maturation in bourbon oak.

Glenlivet Nadurra - Triumph - 1991 distillation- Batch 0310B - bottled 3/10 - 48%

Nose: Hot buttered crumpet, Hubba Bubba bubble gum, fresh bourbon'esque fruits, lemon zest and vanilla notes. Vibrant, exciting and totally irresistible.

Palate: Rich Tea biscuit maltiness, clear apple juice, home made apple pie, with cinnamon spice and a distinct white sugar sweetness.

Finish: Further notes of red apple and sweet vanilla creme brulee linger and resonate as the palate dries.

Overall: Well worth seeking out if you are already a fan of the original Nadurra. A big feather in Glenlivet's cap for bottling this.

Our good friend Andy was also at the show, seemingly working hard on becoming the new face of Johnnie Walker Blue Label as well as Angus, now writing an entertaining blog, as ever on hand with a bag of goodies, including this very old Signatory Longmorn (waxy, simple and hugely fruity, showing no signs of old age, just the hallmarks of how great the distillery was back in the mid 60's) Also, major props to Sam 'Dr Whisky' Simmons for fighting back the jetlag and diving headlong into the lions den of great whisky. We salute you sir and welcome back to the UK.

Final stop was at the Berry Bros stand, with Doug and Rocky propping up their burgeoning bar with a number of treats. Fresh from being awarded Whisky Magazine's Independent Bottler of the Year award, they had the family silver out on display, including this highly polished gem:

Berrys' Own Selection - Invergordon Single Grain Bottling - 1971 - bottled 2010 - 47%

Nose: Bourbon notes to the max, with candied fruit, bubble gum, soft toffee and a hint of licorice spice.

Palate: Sweet Honeycomb, very floral light fruit notes (like a freshly prepared fruit salad with kiwi fruit, strawberries, mango and banana) more bourbon sweet/spice and fresh cream.

Finish: The cream dies away into a lengthy and very juicy finish.

Overall: Berry Bros have produced some sterling grain bottlings over the past couple of years and this one is right up there again. A distinct highlight in their current portfolio, which will no doubt disappear soon.

With a final dram of the specially released Whisky Show Port Ellen on the way out (think classic sherried PE, with that hint of soft smoke winding around some fruity dryness and Devon Creamery fudge) our palates were truly dazzled by what was on offer. So far, 2 out of 2 for The Whisky Show. Last year proved that despite a high ticket price, whisky enthusiasts out there are prepared to pay for quality and this year has built on those foundations.

Expect this show to be back next year, bigger than ever with another huge tranche of the finest whiskies for you to feast yourselves on. Who needs holidays eh.....

Glen London Part Two: Down At The Whisky Show At Midday

There are few occasions when I can leave my house and end up in whisky heaven within 15 mins. I’m lucky enough (although I’m sure my bank manager would disagree) to live within walking distance of the Whisky Exchange shop at Vinopolis, with Milroys Of Soho and Vintage House on Old Compton Street a mere stone’s throw away too.

But today I get to visit somewhere new. An adventure which starts with a short walk to the bus stop and 15 mins on the number 133 bus. Trundling past Elephant and Castle, over London Bridge and into The City, my destination is The Whisky Show which this year is being held at The Brewery near The Barbican.

An ominously early start of midday, especially after the exploits of last night (Diageo Special Releases followed by far too long at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society) which concluded with a late, late blog writing mission... but seven hours kip later, I was up and ready to tackle the marathon that is The Whisky Show.

Arriving for the Press and Trade period, it was a welcome sight to see litre bottles of still water being handed out before a dram had even been poured. This was clearly an event run by people with experience. And an understatement that indeed is, for the Master behind the scenes is Whisky Exchange owner Sukhinder Singh.

Wandering through the door on the dot of midday, Sukhinder was to be found hurriedly putting the finishing touches to their shop with the rest of his team and it was perfect timing as his own independent bottles were being hauled from the shelves and opened, for tastings. A d(r)am fine line up it is too, so where better to start than with the organisers very own bottles.

Karuizawa – 1981 / 2010 – The Whisky Show 2010 bottling – 60.5%

Nose: Apricots, Bovril, old books, polished wood and leather shoes. Everything you would expect from a well sherried medium-old Karuizawa. The quality of wood that this closed distillery must have been using seems phenomenal and it gives so much colour and character to the whisky.

Palate: The deep and rich dark chocolate notes fight for space on the tongue from sherry, spice and drying oak. Old cigar notes up the ante and this feels like a very old whisky, despite being only a 1981.

Finish: The apricots re-appear along with heavy cigar notes and some vanilla.

Overall: A great example of a karuizawa and a cracking way to start the show.

Now set up and ready to explore, a short wander through the stalls revealed some gems. But we’ve got two days here and I want to ease myself in. Finishing a my fact finding mission, I settle for a chat with Doctor Andrew Forrester of The Balvenie. After a short discussion a bottle caught my eye. A bottle that I’ve heard a lot about: Tun 1401.

A marriage of 4 Bourbon casks and 2 Sherry butts and containing whisky from the 1960’s, this bottle is limited to 336 and is only available to visitors on the distillery tour at Balvenie.

The Balvenie – Tun 1401 – 48.1% NAS

Nose: rich coffee, fruit cake, plums, a hint of mint and loads of strawberry jam.

Palate: Very light, with oak, vanillas and a touch of rounded, spicy sherry.

Finish: Sweet tea, digestive biscuits, smooth and long.

Overall: An absolute cracker of a whisky. Not too bad at £150, but you have to be in Dufftown and you have to take the tour to qualify. That, or buy a bottle for silly money from eBay...

Don’t take my word for it, hear it from the horses mouth.

Onward we roam, conscience of the time restrains. Conversations are cruelly cut short as valuable drinking time was being eaten away catching up with friends and gather and sharing tips on the bottles in the room.

After much cogitation, I took a visit to Adelphi, an independent bottler who I’ve heard a lot about but never really tasted. And my! What a discovery I made! Along with a host of bottles, one shone out: Bunnahabhain 41 Year Old. A mix of two sherry butts coming in at 41.2% ABV and, for today at least, has been counted as my “Whisky of the Show 2010”.

Luckily, the good chaps from Connosr were on hand to record show-gowers describing their fav dram. So, no written notes for this one I’m afraid but a video of me giving my tasting notes*

Click here for the video

Finally, it was time to try two last drams before heading home for the day (to do some real work!) and what better way to end the session that with two independent bottles of Port Ellen.

Port Ellen – 1983 – The Whisky Show 2010 bottling – 60 bottles only (yes, 60!) – 51.3% ABV

Nose: Smoke hits you with a big engine of toffee and raisins. Some salt carries the fruity elements of this single cask right to the back of the nose.

Palate: Very, very rich with dried fruit, jams and chutney. Spices from the wood give extra body to this tasty palate.

Finish: Warm and spicey with cardamom and cinnamon.

Overall: Better than the 31 YO official bottling from yesterday, this is really, really tasty!

Port Ellen – PE 3 – Elements Of Islay – NAS – 54.8% ABV

Nose: Wow, a totally different whisky to the PE above. Very little smoke, lemon sherbet and green grass.

Palate: Light vanilla spices with some oak dryness and a hint of green apple.

Finish: Clean and fresh, this doesn’t coat your mouth with earthy notes, in the way other Port Ellens do.

Overall: Okay, but not as good as the show bottling, nor the Diageo Special Release 31 Year Old. And it’s only a 50cl bottle too.

Day Two of the Great London Whisky Weekend is over, but rest assured! We shall be back tomorrow with more notes from Whisky Heaven 2010.

*wide screen monitor advised

Islay Festival 2009 - Day Eight

‘A bunch of prize tossers’

It was another early start on Friday as we had a lot of ground to cover. First up was a 9.30am tasting at Islay’s newest distillery, Kilchoman, where we were shown around by deputy manager Gavin Douglas who was filling in at short notice for Jim Swan who had been injured in an accident at home – our best wishes and hopes for a speedy recovery.

We hadn’t realised just how small Kilchoman was – it really is tiny. Small but perfectly-formed, I suppose. Gavin told us that the small stills produce only enough 45ppm spirit to fill three casks per day (a mix of fresh and refill bourbon plus some fresh sherry, although we also saw some French wine casks in the warehouse).

The warehouse was, like the rest of the distillery, small and full to bursting with barrels. The spirit we tasted was mostly 3yo from different cask types, and we all agreed that it had the potential to become seriously good whisky when it gets a bit older.

Kilchoman 2006, nearly 3yo. Matured in fresh bourbon, then re-racked into a sherry cask. 60ish %.

N: Vanilla, buttered toast, cream soda, muffins. Develops a faint TCP / bandages note with time.

P: Honey and smoke. Pretty peppery. A nice combination of sweetness and soot.

F: Becomes grassy and medicinal.

With the tasting finished, we motored over to Bruichladdich to say a quick hello to our friend Jo in the warehouse. We only popped in for a minute as we were running late for a lunchtime tasting at Bunnahabhain, but we still managed to fit in a bit of an exclusive: full-term sherried Octomore!

Octomore 2004 Sherry Cask, 67.1% (!!)

N: Honey and tweed, rather pleasant. A little closed, though what’s there is pretty promising.

P: Boom! Massively phenolic as expected and, unlike the other two Octomores we’ve tried, some balancing sweetness in the form of honeycomb – real Crunchie bar character. The coalsmoke and burnt wood win through, but this has real potential.

F: Hot and smoky like a roaring coal fire, but with a thread of honey that really adds to the fun. This is definitely the most interesting Octomore we’ve tried so far.

Having said our thank-yous to Jo, we jumped back into our trusty Focus and roared down to Bunnahabhain, arriving in the nick of time for our blending masterclass, which was run by blender Kirsty McCallum from Burn Stewart. This was great fun, with the tables festooned with measuring cylinders and plastic beakers as well as the expected tasting glasses (Glencairn must do bloody well out of this festival, by the way).

In the event, just as with the Nosing contest a few days before, we were rubbish and didn’t win, although Faceman got pretty close. However, the best was yet to come. It transpired that Ian Millar, master distiller and Global Brand Ambassador for Glenfiddich, was sitting at our table with some whisky mates from Dufftown.

At the end of the competition, Ian calmly plonked an incredibly old and rare Bunnahabhain on the table and announced that he’d been given it a while ago and that this seemed like a good time for it to be drunk! The room was taken aback by this very generous gesture, but recovered quickly and got stuck into what turned out to be one of the best malts we tried in the whole week.

Bunnahabhain 1976, 31yo 47.3% bottled in 208 for Falster (which seems to be a Danish hotel). Check out the amazing metal label.

N: Wow. Pure rhubarb and custard – with the emphasis on the custard. To pick a few more things at random from the swirl of lovely flavours: Green apple, apple pie, caramelised sugar, crushed almonds, pineapple cubes. Sensational.

P: Again, fabulous quality. Amazing apple crumble flavours, spice, cinnamon, clove, a hint of woodsmoke / bonfire. Blackberry pie.

F: Longer and more graceful than a supermodel’s legs. Absolutely beautiful.

Very special, heartfelt thanks to Ian Millar of Glenfiddich for an absolutely wonderful dram. This was up there with the 1968 Auld Aquaintance as the best Bunna I’ve ever tried.

We were pretty hungry after all this dramming and it was still only 2pm, so on exiting the tasting we joined the queue for a burger. There were probably 20 people ahead of us. Forty-five minutes later there were still five or so people ahead of us. After an hour we were at the front and pretty cross. It seemed that the people running the BBQ had been unable to grasp that the burgers weren’t cooking because of a lack of fuel. We watched as burgers that had been on the grill for ten minutes were turned over still raw and decided to sack it off.

Thankfully, the vegetarian Faceman had been in the queue for the spectacular scallops (actually he’d been through the queue twice in the time we were waiting for a burger) and was able to contribute a few delicious morsels. Disconsolate and still pretty hungry we trooped round to the lawn in front of Bunna’s cottages for the mini-Highland games, where we met up with our Austrian friends Eva and Jasmine and our Swiss chums Bernard and Risto.

After some fairly pathetic horseshoe throwing (none of us got more than one shoe anywhere near the pole), we moved on to the caber tossing. Joel’s massive pole was too big for him to get both hands round, so his attempts to toss it off were largely unsuccessful. Neil, on the other hand, was a natural, and he quickly proved to be a magnificent tosser of his admittedly smaller caber.

We were still hankering after a burger, so we decided to head for home by way of the Co-op for some instant BBQs. On our return to the lodge we managed to knock out some delicious scallops, a tuna steak, some chicken and half a dozen burgers in record time, and feeling suitably refuelled we headed back into Bowmore to our pre-arranged forum meet-up in the Lochside.

Duffie’s bar was heaving, but fortunately we ran into Gordon & Mel from Spirit of Islay as soon as we walked in. Willie JJ and Malcolm were also there and before long we were joined by Eva, Jasmine, Bernard and Risto. Islay ales and a couple of drams were consumed over a great chat before we headed our separate ways – it’d been a long day, not without its trials - and we needed our beauty sleep if we were going to be at our best for our big day at Ardbeg the following day...