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#BlindDrams 5 - In and around my wheelhouse (natch), but at the same time totally monolithic with sheer phenolic power being the sole order of the day. Still - I enjoyed it muchly. Scores a 3.

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#BlindDrams 5 Taste: Continuing the theme. But more bituminous now - tarmac and felt roofing. Pickled onions. Then it's more of previous: burnt dried leaves, coal scuttle, treated bandages, Sudocream and medicinal wipes. Pretty massive stuff.

#BlindDrams 5 Nose: Ending as it should. Merci 🙂 Quite medicinally filthy. Ash, antiseptic, tinctures, cold cream, bonfire and pine needles.

#BlindDrams 4 - All working rather well here. More than enough diversions and tangents to hold my interest. Easy 3 scored.

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#BlindDrams 4 Taste: Interesting herbalness again. Sichuan pepper, verbena and plump leafy sherry. Chocolate follows, alongside gingerbread, ground anise and residual earthiness. Working.

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#BlindDrams 4 Nose: Bright and gently herbal, with lemon balm and fresh basil leaf. Sweet notes of Italian meringue and golden sugar follow, grounded by plump sultanas and a dry, crumbly digestive biscuit note. another good nose for me

#BlindDrams 3 - Really liked the nose. Palate is approaching feral. I'll split it down the middle - scores a 2

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#BlindDrams 3 Taste: Far more aggressive now. A big attack of pepper and cinnamon spiced toffee together with some palpable alcohol burn and big tannic grip. Calms - metholated oak, chocolate wafers and toffee apple. Still leaves my lips numb however. Bit OTT.

#BlindDrams 3 Nose: Golden syrup, honeycomb, caramel, nougat and cocoa nibs. Liquid Mars bar. I'll take it. Touches of char and baking soda.

#BlindDrams 2 - Rather too modern in style and too cask-driven for my tastes. Lacks restraint, ultimately landing it a score of 2

#BlindDrams 2 Taste: Modern stuff. Juicy hedgerow fruits arrive first, followed by fresh, lollipop-stick oak. The berry sweetness keeps the wood in check, but development is swift, leaving a grippy, drying oakiness and plenty of undigested sugars alongside lignering anise.

#BlindDrams 2 Nose: Wine-cask-detector now active. Opening on buttery shortbread and bourbon biscuits. Creamy notes follow, like raspberry ripple ice cream, before a gentle, savoury twist of corn on the cob

#BlindDrams 1 - Super solid opener. Most enjoyable - good delivery, thickly textured and rides the wire down fruits and creaminess. Scores a 4.

#BlindDrams 1 Taste: Unctuous and sweet on arrival, with a thick, rounded texture and just a pang of minerality. Red berries and kiwi fruits lead into pink wafer biscuits, then some active cask 'grip' before peppery spice build. Development eases into mixed-berry juice, and toffee cup-like lactose

#BlindDrams 1 Nose: Soft earthiness up front, then milky cereal with scattered dried berries. Sweet notes of nougat and airy meringue follow, before a nostalgic twist of strawberry bootlaces

#BlindDrams 5: World's most consistent whisky distillery - so anything less than a 3 means the whisky maker/bottler has fucked up. They haven't here - 3 scored

#BlindDrams 5 Taste: Totally Caol Ila with the triptych of medicine, lemon and minerality. Some milky coffee and digestive biscuits alongside preserved lemon, chiselled granite and billowing coastal smokiness. Sound...as it always is.

#BlindDrams 5 Nose: Full peat now. Medicinal - surface cleaner and calamine lotion. Some smokehouse barbeque ribs, burnt toffee, lemon balm and damp barnyard hay

#BlindDrams 4 Pin-point balance here. Excellent. Scores a 4.

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#BlindDrams 4 Taste: Perfect balance of sweet and peat. Lemon meringue pie, crisp and sour green apple...all enveloped with a combination of vegetal/coastal peat. Edges of salinity and minerality at the back palate - really sits well with the overarching sweetness.

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#BlindDrams 4 Nose: Ethereal peat wraps around green apples and wet leaves. Quite appropriately autumnal. Touches of burnt pastry cases and orange liqueurs, alongside a delicate meaty character.

#BlindDrams 3. Liked it - right until the end. But true to form - big extracted dry tannins are never going to be my thing. Score a 2.

#BlindDrams 3 Taste: Nice weight throughout the mouth. Sweet and fresh, lively fruits - redcurrants and blackberries. But quite grippy after....the syrupy fruits giving way to the cask for some moisture-sucking, rather rigid tannins.

#BlindDrams 3 Nose: Pleasant and interesting. Gingerbread men and a touch of sharp and crisp cider. Strawberry boot laces, touches of slapped mint leaves and wire wool.

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#BlindDrams 2 - No great shakes eitherway. Tis totally fine for me....scores a 2.

#BlindDrams 2 Taste: Good mouthcoating arrival. Active cask here - charry and spicy - together with spirit character of red berries, crisp apples, powdered lemon bonbons and pink wafer biscuits. Pokey stuff.

#BlindDrams 2 Nose: Plenty of baking spices and stewed orchard fruits - fresh and appealing. Rather perfumed with it - rose petals and potpourri together with some maltloaf

#BlindDrams 1 - no qualms at all for me. Solid. Scores 3

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#BlindDrams 1 Taste: Few overexpressed acetates here - so this has likely had some time in cask to clean up. Nevertheless, more oomph than the nose might have suggested - peppery toffee, caramel chews, plenty of cask char. Tangy fruits a good dose of polished oakiness

010

#BlindDrams 1 Nose: Pleasant grain whisky incoming. Desiccated coconut, toffee cups, popcorn. split vanilla pod, super gentle white pepper and some well-worn oakiness. Super appealing for grain-heads no doubt.

Can't See The Wood For The Whisky @clairev.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Given up trying to solve the anagram - poured the drams instead #BlindDrams

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Reposted by Matt McKay

Due to my shenanigans on Sunday, I didn't promote this new #what3whiskies terribly well. So please, take a couple of minutes to find out about @thedramble.bsky.social of @londondistilleryco.bsky.social clairevokins.substack.com/p/meet-matt-...

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#BlindDrams 5 Scores a 4. Lots going on here - and all in-check with it too. Noice. Sounds like Avril Lavigne - Complicated

#BlindDrams 5 Taste: Broad and expressive. Salted caramel, millionaire's shortbread, rose hips and Turkish Delight. Charry smoke and cinder toffee together with tart stewed red and dark berries.

#BlindDrams 5 Nose: Highly expressive. Polished teak furniture, rose petals, scorched creme caramel and candied orange peels. Salted caramel, sticky toffee pudding and fine cigars. Deep cask influence - rather dechar/rechar in character.

#BlindDrams 4 Scores a 1. Whilst well-known for my general enmity of wine casks, I'm also sadly not a fan of gristy profiles. Sounds like jazz instructor Terence Fletcher saying "Not my tempo"

#BlindDrams 4 Taste: Juniper vs barley. Unusual. And a bit gristy with it. Dried reed and flax, touches of burnt leaves, pine cones and twigs leading into sweet mentholated oakiness.

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#BlindDrams 4 Nose: Burnt juniper, orange peels and jellies. Edges of potpourri herbalness. In time, pineapple juice and freshly cut hay. Interesting.

#BlindDrams 3 Scores a 3. Perhaps it's not quite the weather for it - but everything here sits well within my usual penchants. Sounds like The Editors - Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors

#BlindDrams 3 Taste: Sweetness first - almost agave like - green, underripe orchard fruits and fruit gels. Then, a wispy, but enveloping light-touch smokiness - dry and papery, with edges of medicinalness - well-judged to sit with the sweeter elements

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#BlindDrams 3 Nose: Licks of germolene and surface cleaner sit with week-old cinders whilst lemon balm, lemon posset and meringue offer a welcome sweeter/creamier character alongside firepit toasted marshmallow.

#BlindDrams 2 Scores a 3. Taking no prisoners with the intensity here. Sounds like Shaggy - Mr Boombastic.

#BlindDrams 2 Taste: Bolder now - white pepper, cinnamon fireball heat. Crackerbread and pastry alongside apple peels and some creamier toffee. Impactful stuff - not messing

#BlindDrams 2 Nose: Earthiness - damp soil and mulch, musty cellars - all lifted by green fruits and golden barley. Coffee grounds join the party alongside cacao nibs.

#BlindDrams 1 Scores a 3. Hot and spicy but easily tempered with reduction. Sounds like a Spice Girls reunion

#BlindDrams 1 Taste: Gooseberry tartness alongside sour apples and flapjack cereals. Building cask pepperiness leads into palpable chilli bite and elements of cooling mintiness. Hot and spicy. Bit too much. Water a boon here - takes the heat out and doesn't overexpress the active wood in play.

#BlindDrams 1 Nose: Crunchy barley sugar, cooking apple, white jelly babies, sherbet fountain (with the liquorice stick), tart cases with singed pastry