Haven’t formally tried OP12 since the year 2010 (WF 81). Shame on me. Colour: pale gold. Nose: nicely coastal at first, then more floral and fruity. Quite a lot of damp crush chalk, clay, beach sand, then elder flowers and grapefruits. There’s some sourness to this but that’s a clear asset here. Mashed turnips and potatoes. Mouth: really coastal indeed, and in a way, close to some Clynelishes, minus the waxiness. Lemons, a little brine, more chalk, touches of salt, and a little ground white pepper. 40% vol. aren’t much, but I think the distillate’s fat enough to stand heavy reduction. Finish: medium, on just the same flavours, without any abrupt ending. Saltier aftertaste. Comments: very good. I could go one point higher, easily. Even two.
Colour: gold. Nose: extremely close to the 12, just even chalkier – and less fruity. Our old Tweed jacket that’s seen many rains, hessian, a little engine oil, soot, black earth, and in the background, some green bananas. Great nose, as far as the style is concerned, but it tends to whisper a bit low. Mouth: oh wow! Pepper, grass juice, seawater, lemon juice, turmeric, orange peel, paraffin, pumpkin seeds, wakame (one of the greatest edible seaweeds)… This, I enjoy really a lot. Finish: superb, but a tad short. Cutting a Frank Zappa tune before the end of the guitar solo. Grassy/bitter aftertaste. Comments: you should be given the option to add a few Euros to be allowed to buy it at a higher strength. Other than that, I find this recent batch pretty fantastic and more brilliant than older ones.
Ah, there, a forty-six! I believe this is the one that got the kiss of death. I mean, in my own little book. Having said that, I was having it at WF 87 back in 2009… Oh and it seems that it’s not quite available anymore, am I wrong? Perhaps in Wick? Colour: gold. Nose: indeed it’s very pretty, and particularly firm, with citrons, wet beach sand, beeswax, muesli, cider apples, angelica, eucalyptus, and a little moss. Complex, stylish, and kind of wild. Mouth: a slightly rounder version of the 17, with a little more honey and raisins, then something slightly prickly that reminds me of Schweppes Lemon. You know, Uma Thurman’s favourite. Finish: rather long, with some green pepper and a bittersweet ending. Pickled fruits. Comments: I think I liked the 17 better, for it was more distillate-driven, but it remains (remained?) a pretty perfect malt.
We may be expecting something totally distillate-driven here… Colour: white wine. Nose: sunflower oil, chalk, menthol, aniseed, thuja wood, teak oil, green tea (a can of gunpowder tea), then more custard. Very ‘accurate’, I would say. With water: sweeter fruits come out, ripe gooseberries, cranberries, pears… I’m not finding much coastalness this time. Mouth (neat): tastes young, with sweet pears and apples ruling the show, before more vanilla, grapefruit and pepper start to pop out. A little too new-make-y for my taste, perhaps… (make up your mind, S., don’t you want them distillate-driven?) With water: better, because the herbs are coming back, together with some soft seaweed and, at last, a little seawater. Finish: medium, saltier, lemony. Green apples and Dr. Pepper in the aftertaste. Comments: perhaps just a few more years? Even if one of the Hhds was older?