Batch 49

This is where the skill of the blender reveals itself. Some 31 casks have been married together by Balvenie malt master David Stewart, who has used their synergistic complexities to create a nose with a story. Honeycomb, tobacco leaf, leather, sultanas, warm baking spices, fig rolls and sherbet confection. With time comes vanilla ice cream over warm stewed apples.

Thick and rich, but prickly. Rich dark fruits, caramelised pineapple and anise-spiced sticky toffee pudding studded with crystallised ginger and chilli. Randomly, hot buttered brown toast. Water brings out a slight rubbery note but also reveals Balvenie’s signature honeyed character.

Round but spicy.

Another solid expression from Tun 1509, but could do with a slight reduction in strength to dampen the heat.

Smoking cigars and munching on chilli crackers next to the dessert buffet.

Robust and prickly, promising a hefty and classically Dailuaine palate to come. There’s toasted cereal and wet draff, which with time develops into a chocolate-covered Tracker bars and juicy dried papaya.

It delivers all that the nose promises: cooked fruit – peaches, raisins and Bramley apples, tropical muesli, with some spice toward the mid-palate all carried by a soft undercurrent of delicate smoke. 

A flurry of caramelised pineapple, papaya and coconut.

A classic Dailuaine, just as good as the official 16-year-old Flora & Fauna bottling.

A pit stop during an afternoon trek through a tropical rainforest.

Surprisingly earthy, an initial blast of juicy shitake mushrooms giving way to rich fruits (Morello cherries), set honey, vanilla and sandalwood.

Full bodied, rich with dried fruits, homemade fruitcake (crisp around the edges), baked apples from the mid-palate spiked with cardamom and anise. 

Long and slightly dry.

A delightfully rich and satisfying blend of malts from Glenfarclas, Ben Nevis, Balvenie, Kininvie, Glenfiddich, Alt-a’Bhainne, Auchroisk, Glenallachie, Speyside and Macallan, plus the Westport blended malt (Glenmorangie and Glen Moray), all married together and finished in first-fill oloroso Sherry butts.  

Walking the Speyside Way after a light rain in autumn.

It’s delicate, as the youthful age would suggest, but mighty complex. Rose water, Turkish delight with a dense coating of powdery icing sugar, blackcurrant flavouring – the kind found in a Twinings herbal tea, dried lemon peel and sugared winter spices.

Pokey for its strength. It mellows slightly into red fruits, liquorice and reveals a hint of Glen Moray’s signature orchard fruit character but that spiciness dominates. 

Short.

The nose is soft and inviting but unfortunately the palate is just… boring. That’s not to mean Glen Moray’s Sherry finish is a write off. If you can’t sip it, mix it.

Used as a base for a hard iced tea – cold brew some tea (strawberry, blackcurrant or raspberry herbal tea plus an Earl Grey bag) in the fridge overnight. Pour into a jug over ice, add a good slug of whisky and a few slices of lemon and stir. Perfect for sharing at a summer BBQ.

Funky, in the butyric sense. It’s a slab of Wensleydale with apricots. Get past the cheese and you’ll be rewarded with fresh, zingy tropical fruit, all pineapples and lime zest, earthed by vanilla cream. 

A thick, creamy texture but prickly. The weight washes a torrent of fruit across the palate with pineapple and mango at the fore, helped on their way by a drying, oaky quality. Water loosens the thickness, dampens the spice and reveals sweet red apples.

Fruity, fruity, fruity.

It’s a tropical fruit bowl of a dram, weighty and rich. 

Gorging on pineapples on a desert island made of cheese.

Immediately there’s a rush of honey, hazelnuts and cereal – it’s a bowl of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes. Then gradually Jura’s distillery character emerges in the guise of freshly unwrapped sherbet lemons, orange zest and pear drops.

Thick with wood and spice through and through. It begins with dried, bitter citrus peel and banana leaf that rapidly transcends into dry liquorice, anise and black pepper. Water releases a sulphurous edge. 

Rich and round, fruity and then tannic – Assam tea and molasses – which lingers, drying the mouth. 

Bitter and woody. 

Taking five in a sauna in the centre of an Indian tea plantation.