n:  Brandy Old Fashioned.

p:  Werther's Original and lemons.  Intense candied varnish and toffee sticks around for an impossibly long finish. Great stuff.

N: New cutlery. Metallic.

p:  pleather and cheerios.  dull.

French Malt Whisky

Slightly peated, triple malt, triple wood; 46.1%; Annual Release of 7 Casks, Natural color, non-chill filtered.

Matured in rare cognac, new French, and American oak casks. 

n: grassy, snuffed match, paper pulp, buttery chardonay.

t: notes of peach and straw with a bit of highland peat to add complexity; clean and fruity. Creamy butterscotch and gentle oak presence. Overall this is light and elegant and put together well, but I like my whisky to have more charcter + bite to it.

OLD MALT CASK GLEN SPEY 25 YEAR OLD 

A single cask expression from independent bottler Hunter Laing & Co. of Glasgow, this 25 year old Speyside single malt was distilled at Glen Spey distillery October 1990 and matured in a single refill hogshead HL12803. Bottled in August 2016. 1 of 95 bottles.

n: sourdough and matchsticks

p: Bitter wood. Generic grains.  Could be any decent blend.  Could be any recent under-interesting Mortlach release.

This is just really good. All kinds of mixed fruits and melons -- not heavy and overripe ones, but bright fall fruits and such. Very drinkable with just a touch of smoke, and then some grapefruit. Nice long finish with a nice sooty end.

A dozen years ago (currently March 2021) I probably would've said this is a little too bitter to get out of the B+ zone, but now it's a clear and easy A-. 

n:  Solvent on fresh cut firewood.

p:  Oatmeal and white sugar.  Generic citrus and almond. 

B-/B 

n: Coconut and paint thinner

p: Coconut and whatever.  Another decent aged grain that tastes like the majority of the rest. 

C+/B-