As I rapidly approach 500 tasting notes I took the time to reflect on some of the more interesting and colorful notes that I have written.   My first reaction when I reread many of them was to ask myself if I was drinking at the time I wrote that? My second reaction was to remember that I was most definitely drinking at the time and there is no doubt some of the better notes (better in the sense of memorable at least) came later in the “longer” tasting sessions.   As I have discussed before my approach to tasting whisky is quite loose and unstructured (which makes whisky to whisky comparisons totally unfair so I no longer “score” whiskies) but I think that randomness helps me create an expression, or to be honest to recreate or borrow an expression from elsewhere. Anyway here are some of my favorites from last 18 months or so along with the whisky I was tasting at the time I was inspired:

Weymss The Hive 12 year old: “more honey than Winnie the Pooh’s poos.”

Longmorn 16 year old: “tastes like a curlywurly had a baby with pencil”

Blaue Maus Single Cask: “Smelled like the alleyway between a bakery and greengrocers shop”

GlenDronach PX Puncheon: “a Spanish bar fight … after drinking you feel like you have been smashed in the face with a sherry bottle”

Crown Royal Maple: “It smells like the inside of Mrs Butterworth's laundry basket”

Buck Bourbon: “Like Toy Story 3 this one is a little predictable and woody”

Colonel EH Taylor Rye: “indian food and cucumbers”

Adnams Spirit of Broadside: “reminded me of the menswear section in a department store”

Knockando Master Reserve 21 year old: “like eating a Rolo while sniffing sherry”

Drambuie: “chewing a pencil that had been dipped in sugar and cough syrup”