Wardhead 19 yo 1997 Impressive Cask Whisky-e Ltd 51.1% vs Wardhead 19 yo 1997 Big Fish Whisk-e Ltd 51.3%
Wardhead is of course teaspooned Glenfiddich.
Wardhead 19 yo 1997 Impressive Cask Whisky-e Ltd 51.1%
What’s impressive is the freshness and crisp malty nose, with entirely natural ‘naked’ scents of yeasty dough, wet white clay, butter and pollen. Plenty of greenness to it – leaf clippings and chlorophyll, plant sap and green fruit. Barley sugar and vanilla pods. Touches of wasabi and white tea. Somewhat raw. That said its a rounded profile that tends to softness despite its mineral aspects, not one of those precise and chiselled whiskies in the style of a sharp Glen Garioch or Clynelish. 84 pts.
Wardhead 19 yo 1997 Big Fish Whisk-e Ltd 51.3%
It’s virtually the same whisky, only perhaps more strident, which gives a touch more brightness. Still full of light oils, but a whittled down yeast and mineral clay by just a notch. Otherwise its hard pressed to tell any difference – this is perhaps somewhat more raw with leaf juices, biting green sap, hot minerals and mustard. Might prefer the first. And still doubly impressed this came out of Dufftown. 82 pts.
Whiskyrific RSS
- Springbank 32 yo 1966 / 1998 #499 55.1%
- Millburn 36 yo 1969 / 2005 Douglas Laing #DL2152 50% vs Glenburgie 40 yo 1963 / 2003 Signatory #4751 56.4%
- Ben Nevis 23 yo 1996 / 2019 Single Malts of Scotland for the Nectar #536 51.3% vs A Speyside Distillery 32 yo 1989 / 2022 Thompson Bros 51.4%
- Brora 22 yo 1972 / 1995 Rare Malts 61.1% vs Brora 22 yo 1972 / 1995 Rare Malts 58.7%
- Talimburg 19 yo 1986 / 2005 The Whisky Fair #1485 45.9% vs Talisker 20 yo 1981 / 2002 62%
- Caol Ila 12 yo Bulloch Lade for Zenith 43% vs Caol Ila 30 yo 1979 / 2010 Berry Bros #4604/5 55.6%
- Clynelish 29 yo 1965 Whyte & Whyte 52.1%
- Brora 21 yo 1982 / 2003 Signatory #416 58.4% vs Clynelish 27 yo 1982 / 2009 Synch Eli Daily Dram 46%
- Dornoch 5 yo 2017 / 2023 #46 ‘Jasper Broers’ 57.9% vs Shizuoka ‘private cask’ 2017 / 2022 #2017-108 61%
- Clynelish 26 yo 1993 / 2020 Carn Mor #11215 52.7% vs Bowmore 17 yo 2004 /2021 SMWS 3.327 ‘Siren’s Song’ 57.1%
whiskyrific 