
Independent Bottlers Tasting Evening
Written and submitted by Sean M.

The samples tasted were –
- Ileach peated Islay single malt whisky (widely rumoured to be of Lagavulin origin) - NAS
- Signatory 1995 vintage Mortlach – 18YO
- Gordon & MacPhail 2004 Vintage Speymalt (of Macallan origin) – 9YO
- MacPhail’s Collection Speyside (of Glenrothes origin) – 8YO
The evening kicked off with an off-piste twist and preliminary tasting of Wild Turkey Rare Breeds. This was completely off theme and was a bottle brought along to commemorate absent friends.

The first”Independent” tasting of the evening was the MacPhail Collection Speyside from the Glenrothes distillery at 40% ABV and around £28. This had a colour of light straw with a very unappealing nose of decaying leaf fragrance, some aniseed, slightly medicinal and young. A very light taste with some sweetness and floral notes. Fortunately it tasted better than it smelled! The finish was peppery but quite short. General consensus was that this whisky was bland and lacking character - like some of our politicians (I leave a particular name out!)



So now on to the voting. This was very clear cut with the first two a unanimous decision and the final two very close to unanimous.
1st place – Ileach peated Islay Single malt
2nd place – Signatory 1995 Mortlach
3rd place – Gordon & McPhail Speymalt Macallan
4th place – McPhail Collection Speyside Glenrothes