cthulhu303 wrote:

Another hot afternoon at dom666's with W on the table. And a Belgian flag as tablecloth. :-)
Slightly uninspired theme: bring something you want to have the gang try. The gang of five (dom666, Psycho, kruuk2, cthulhu and Pat) brought the following:

Longmorn 1996: bottled by Berry Bros (our first BBR) for LMDW Paris, this smells like Riesling and has an Acidic mouth. Alright without water. With a splash, nose is cut too discrete, the mouth is ok, but it is tough to dose acurately: a few drops make it taste worse, more cut it down too much and only leave the alcohol. All in all, I am very glad to have had a bargain for this, as it is not something I will buy again;
Bladnoch 23: bought the previous day during a trip to Luxemburg. Still very nice and the favourite of everyone, today. Guess that is our gang venturing into RMS bottlings ignited, then;
Dalwhinnie 29: another well-known, which contradicts the theme, but well. Slightly too much alcohol for today, but has a nice bourbon taste with two drops of water. Adding water to the empty glass gives it an oil scent, unveiled by Pat. A dram for stormy weather. After talking about MJ, we come to the conclusion that JFK committed suicide;
Linkwood 26: yeeeeeaaaaaah!! What a belter. Patrick wants some;
Auchentoshan 1987: dom666: "It tastes just like it smells: formula 1 grand prix!" Indeed, burnt tyre is on the menu. This one I have tasted before and it gave the same impression: not civilised at all. Luckily, we are fed at the same time (usual lovely bread and patés) and it goes along pretty well;
Oban Double Matured: the only dram today not at cask strength. Very acrid in both nose and mouth. Iodine and dryness (of the sea? makes no sense!) Gets better with water, the sherry comes out more. Still not my pick, especially today. Of course, it might be spoilt by its glorious 6th position in line;
Talisker 57° North: we all laugh and mock when dom666 realises the bottle he has bought for Pat still has the security wires from the shop... and laugh even more when we see it is a bottle of 10 and not the 57. Fortunately, dom666 has a backup bottle of his own, so we can still try it. The first drops taste like bourbon. Then the alcohol takes over. Quite an agreeable 7th dram until it settles down and becomes a tad too invading, once more not helped by the hot weather;
Ardbeg Almost There: finally get the chance to taste that. It would be nice to try all five of those in a comparison or progression tasting, but for today, this will do. Another unsuited dram, obviously, yet still interesting. Peaty nose (duh) and extremely peaty mouth -- a little charcoal, even, although it does not quite compare with the Supernova. Explosive stuff.

Off tasting, I have a Longmorn 18 that does not go down as well as usually (weather? sequence?) but is still alright.

Hot and friendly, with some more serious discussions as well as lovely nonsense. Pat sang a little of the Brabançonne, to our astonishment. We listened to the yearly holiday compilation, which caused a few laughters and trainspotting. Had acuphens at the end: even on a quiet day, the streets are noisy when the window is open. Good times nonetheless, roll on the next one.