Of malt whisky, cider and other drinkables. Carpe aqua vitae.
From a sherry hogshead, one of 264 bottles. A dreg, and it has been open for a while, so there may have been loss of aroma and flavour.
Nose: Apricots, baked apple (but no cinnamon). With a little water it provides a hint of smoke and cloves or even aniseed.
Palate: Faint smoke, heather honey, heather, spice (allspice and cloves), and peaches.
We visited my parents on Sunday and this was temptingly placed on the kitchen counter, so I grabbed the opportunity to write tasting notes for it. My mum was quite pleased with the purchase, complaining only that it seemed to disappear very quickly.
Nose: Orange peel, juniper berries, pine needles, surprisingly little smoke. Only with water does the smoke manifest, as well as green apples and (smoked) meat.
Palate: Warm peat smoke, salty sea, tar, orange, spice. With quite a bit of water I also get apples and spicy sponge cake.
Comments: I will definitely buy a bottle if I get the chance.
These notes should have been written a year ago. The bottle has been opened for longer than that, and the level has been below half for at least that, so take that into account when reading these tasting notes.
Caperdonich bottled by Duncan Taylor, distilled November 1972, bottled April 2007, bottle 141 of 198, cask number 7435, 55.6%.
Nose: Peach and honeydew melon, oregano. After a while some apple.
Palate: Apples and oranges, cinnamon, juniper (wood, not berries).
Comments: As expected, it’s past its best, and is a good example of the fact that saving that last dreg from that fantastic bottle is not really a good idea, unless you decant into a suitable sample bottle. This much air with this wee drop of whisky almost invariably goes wrong. Still, this is a cracking dram.