Captain Log Day 7: After two consecutive zero points days, the team here is in awe from the organizers and they ability to find us some real weird whiskies to taste. What will today bring us?
The Answer was simple: A young sherry bomb. But once again we were led astray by the organizers and the entire collective failed guessing this one. Since it was a young sherry bomb, I didn’t want to guess a young Glenrothes (like last year) so instead I went for Aultmore 8yo 58%. Oh how wrong I was… This is the first bottling from Alisa Bay, the new workhorse Grants & Sons. distillery in Ayrshire (Lowlands region) and although it doesn’t say so directly on the bottling (probably due to some contractual limits or its being a teaspooned cask for blenders), the image and name more or less shouts it.
Malts of Scotland Alisa Bay 3 Year Old, Images Of Ayrshire Dalrymple Bridge (68.3%, 328 bottles)
Nose: Sherried nose, but it’s very relaxed with sour and sweet berries, dates, spicy with pepper. Lots of cereals, salty, probably an oloroso sherry cask. With more time in the glass, more sherry spices of nutmeg and cinnamon. Continue reading
Nose: Freshly cut grass, sweet honey with sour edge, nutty, white pepper, limestone and chalk. with time: flowers and perfume, red fruit, stronger limestone/chalk. With water: fruitier, a lot of citrus and a tad more perfume.
Nose: Initial nosing had a dirty note and subtle peat, grassy, green tomatoes and a dash of honey. On the second tasting it was less funky and had a diluted and mellowed wine’n’peat, dash of heather honey. vinegary, malty. 
Nose: Initial impression screams speyside! But we know it’s not a speysider, arggghhhh! At first it’s a bit spicy with ginger, nutty, sweet fruit (mostly red apples), a touch of red berries, toffee, dry and thin. Light honeycomb, oak wood spices. After it breaths for a while there are pink grapefruits, oranges with some soft perfume edge. With water: more grapefruits and sweeter and at last there’s some body here and it’s not so thin. 
Nose: Starts spicy with lots of ginger and honey. hints of peat and smoke. It’s a bit chewy and resinous and I feel dryness below the surface with dry, dark yet sweet honey and limestone/minerals. Slowly it gets fruity with red apples, pears, mild apricots and peaches and after a lot of time in the glass, red berries and a bit of chocolate. Further on: candied oranges. 
Nose: It’s not an aggressive nose with subtle earthy dry peat followed closely by sweet dry wine. in terms of smoke, it’s on the low side of the scale but it’s of the burnt down coals variant. Nice nose balancing nicely peat and sweet. 
Nose: Sharp and stingy at first. There’s some youth showing through with young malt and some new make notes. Not much chocolate and more of fruit sweetness, cinnamon and a bit of sulphur. 
Nose: Light smoke and sweet peat but the wine shine through with sweet fruit notes at first and then it incorporates some sour red berries, earthy red wine notes. Not many wine tannins here probably because of the short finish period. With additional time and air exposure, it’s getting sherry-like spiciness with nutmeg and cinnamon. With water: smoke is gone, but it’s sweeter with added spiciness. 
Whisky Gospel 