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Last September saw 8 stunning mystery whiskies tasted blind at Regional Wines. They were an eclectic set - generally big and broody, a mixture of peat and unpeated, old and young and they kept people guessing to the very end.  In the spirit of mystery spirit - here’s my cryptic write up of the whiskies - see if you can match the tasting notes to the whiskies! Answers on a postcard - or email to john@regionalwines.co.nz The lineup… 1) Glen Garioch 17yo Renaissance 3rd Chapter 50.8% 2) Signatory Clynelish 1995 22yo 56.3%3) Dalmore King Alexander III 46%4) Old Particular Craigellachie The Elements 2006 12yo 54.3%5) Benromach 2010 Peat Smoke Sherry Cask Matured 59.9%6) Ballechin Straight From The Cask Ex Sherry 2007 / 2018 #18 61% (available in store)7) Benromach 2008 Batch #1 Cask Strength 57.9%8) Glenfarclas 105 1`L 60% - with PX added. a) We find ourselves in the dusty workshop of a tormented artist. The floor is strewn with off-cuts of oak, pine and balsa from an installation he has just finished after many years, and which he has freshly oiled with linseed to make it glisten. An unfinished marble sculpture stands in one corner and a canvas and easel in another. A bowl of waxy apples, melons and potatoes is the only sign of life and is the inspiration for a still life oil painting that is slowly taking shape. Our artist applies chalk to his hands and pick up a stone cutter, dowses the marble in water and attacks it with the blade - hewing off a lump of wet stone. Taking a step back, he wonders if he’s taken off too much, the sculpture looking slightly uneven... but there’s no going back at this stage…b) Lord Aldmore enjoys nothing more than a blind tea tasting - but cup number seven of the lineup has got him totally stumped. He checks his notes to see what he’s tasted thus far - Jasmine, English Breakfast, Indian Chai and Rooibos, and spits out the tea in his mouth (finding that he tastes so much better when he doesn’t actually swallow). He beckons to his valet for a refill of tricky number seven and as the servant tops him up, the smell of his leather gloves and freshly dubbined shoes is a momentary distraction, but he quickly refocusses. Diving back into the tea he catches a hint of tinned fruit and laughs to himself at how obvious it now suddenly is. He relaxes back into his armchair and writes down Twining’s mango and strawberry fruit tea - ha! It will take more than that to catch out this professional… c) It’s the Pepsi challenge and 8 colas of different descriptions, price points and quality have been lined up for you to taste. As you work your way through them, marvelling at the striking difference between essentially 8 of the same drink you find that one stands out as your favourite. Its big and sweet and there’s something about it you just can't quite put your finger on. You mark down your answers and as the drinks are revealed you are hit by the revelation that your favourite was actually Doctor Pepper. Gosh - how on earth did you fail to spot it! d) Meet Ben, he lives at home by himself. He likes to start the day with a hearty breakfast. Weetabix with lashings of soft brown sugar, Marmite and cheese on toast followed by maple smoked bacon that he fries with a pinch of paprika (he's got an odd palate) and which he washes down with a cup of strong tannic tea. Then it's a quick rolly with only the finest fresh tobacco (lit from a match) before he dresses for work and leaves the house. On this particular day that we get to meet Ben, as he leaves for work, he is greeted by workmen who are out re-tarmacing the road. He stops and inhales a big lung full of coal tar fumes and then spots his appalling neighbour who is also leaving for work, and who, rather annoyingly, is also called Ben. He pretends not to see him but neighbour Ben spots him and runs over for a chat … e) Ben really doesn't like neighbour Ben, he thinks he's cheap and nasty to put it bluntly and lowers the standing of the neighborhood. He wears cotton and synthetic blend suits, smokes cheap cigarettes and smells of burnt toast. As neighbour Ben runs over, Ben spots a carnation in his buttonhole which is next to what looks like a custard stain - how typical. What really annoys Ben about neighbour Ben is that, for all his failings, everyone seems to love him. Somehow his crude charms make everyone smile and, what's more, he's super successful with the ladies… Ben knows he's got more pedigree, but pedigree counts for nothing these days. f) It's Christmas day, lunch has been dispatched and after a few hours In front  of the tele, thoughts are turning to the next meal. Aunt Edna's turkey wrapped in smoked bacon with butter stuffed under the skin was exceptional, but as Phyllis starts cutting her ham, she knows she can steal her thunder. As usual, she's spent over three weeks lovingly basting it, rubbing it with salt and adorning it with cloves, however, this year she's gone the extra yards by injecting it with sherry and adding a final caramel glaze. As she watches it glisten in the light she's confident she going to give Edna's turkey a good stuffing this year… g)Farmer Craig watched the stubble in his barley field burn. It was time to try a new crop, wheat, or corn perhaps, he wasn't sure, but he would need to decide soon as the departing geese he’d seen this morning were a sure sign of the onset of winter and Spring would soon be upon him. The smell was amazing and as the fire roared close to the orchard with its orange, apricot and apple trees, the sweet odour of citrus fused with various essential oils in a heady medley. The next day it would be a slog clearing away the burnt scrub, but for now, he would enjoy the pleasant attack on his senses as it the fire roared into the setting sun. h) As The Great Glendini walked the tightrope, his balance was impeccable and the crowd oohed and ahhed with genuine enthusiasm. Only moments before, he had juggled with a variety of different sized fruit, from lemons, stone fruit and apples, to giant melons only moments after having placed his assistant in an oak box and sawing her in half. Despite his greatness - the feats of daring, sleight of hand and genuine skill - it was fair to say it was a slightly odd routine, and somehow the sum of its whole was never quite the sum of its parts... 

Golden Brown - GlenDronach with Daniel Bruce McLaren - Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 September For $110 you'd probably expect a platter of haggis, neeps and tatties to accompany your whisky tasting, but on this occasion, it was the price that secured a seat at the table with the brown and gold Gods of whisky - whisky that most of us mere mortals will never get to taste. This was the much anticipated GlenDronach vertical spanning the 8yo Heilan through to a 27yo Single Cask, Vintage offering from the latest Batch #16 release, and pretty much everything else in between. I’m guessing It’s not often the Parliament finishes 5th at a scored tasting, but well, this was that kind of tasting. Billy Walker purchased BenRaich, Glenglasaugh and of course GlenDronach when they were rough uncut diamonds, albeit with vast warehouses of immense potential, and polished them to the top flight collectible distilleries they are today, prior to selling out in 2016. So collectible are some of these names now, that the current retail price of the 27yo from Batch #16 at around $800 would put the street value of a cask of this golden brown nectar at around $500,000 -  a true reflection of just how the whisky industry has moved in recent years. There were some fabulous idiosyncrasies surrounding this tasting and which provided plenty of food for thought whilst blindly navigating the order on the two nights. Firstly the three single cask Batch #16 releases were all over 20 years old meaning they were all distilled prior to the closing of the distillery between ‘96 and ‘01. This closure also had the rather serendipitous result of meaning that there were actually five whiskies over 20 years old at the tasting - the 21yo Parliament, the three Batch #16 releases and the 18 year old Allardice too. Say what, I hear you cry! Well, with the last bottling being from 2017, one would have to source whisky form casks dating from 1995 or ‘96, making the whisky more like a 21yo or possibly even a 22yo. Lastly, bar the Heilan, all these whiskies were aged in either PX, Oloroso or a combo or the two, providing a glorious chance to put the effects of these cask to the test. And well we did. Our presenter, Daniel Bruce McLaren had been up to his usual tricks in engineering a blind order of devious duplicity, and which saw the starting duo composed of the 22yo 1995 single cask and the 21yo Parliament. Two whiskies of a similar age and both seeing some PX - but the single cask stood out proudly, bringing depth and concentration and a few more angles to the spirit, in comparison to the remarkably slick, well rounded and top dressed Parliament. Next was our mystery, the Hazelburn 13yo Oloroso 2004/18, a Campbeltown masquerading as a Speyside under a veil of oloroso, but which was ultimately betrayed all too easily by an aura of peat. Wow that's a pretty peaty whisky for an unpeated whisky, but then, from the springbank processing line it should probably have “caution, may contain peat” written as a disclaimer somewhere on the bottle. Its ashen rose petals scraped from a dirty garage floor were the antithesis of some of the slick, well polished pieces of GlenDronach furniture amongst which it sat. Next up were the 25yo 1995 and the 27yo 1993 single casks aged in sherry anc Px casks respectively. Their appearance in the glass had gently suggested their age - but once in the palate, they screamed old and casky. Tannic, stewed fruits, molasses and gravy oozed in every direction, coating every last taste bud, but the age and oak had leveled them in some respects, and for every man finding oloroso there was a woman spotting PX. Proof perhaps that the actual oak is more important than the previous contents? Hot on the heels of the two single casks was the Allardice, which gave them a real run for their money. It finished third on the first night (pipping a single cask offering) - showing as much grunt and depth as the batch #16s, and at a fraction of the price. The next bottling could well be a 23 year old - so watch this space! And lastly, the bell curve of the tasting was completed by the 12yo. This was a welcome palate cleanser after the previous three, and just what the doctor ordered, a honey, lemon and ginger to soothe our poor palates and which even pipped the Parliament to fifth place on the first night. And so, the Batch 16 single casks certainly offered some beautifully deep and rich expressions, like reduced gravy or a bouillabaisse from Marseille that has sat on a hob for 20 years or so, slowly getting richer and richer. Often these whiskies can leave you wondering if they’ve been left in cask too long, but these were certainly not one dimensional, caramelised sherry bombs - with plenty finding interesting savoury and Umami qualities, and none showing too much tannin (which can certainly often be the case with old single cask whiskies). So in conclusion, a truly memorable tasting which was well worth the price - but one does have to wonder how much pricier these whiskies can get? Here's the scores for those who are keen... Glendronach 1990 27yo #7902 (PX Puncheon) 52.1% -10.03 Glendronach1995 22yo #3311 (PX Puncheon) 50.3% - 9.27 Glendronach 1992 25yo #127 (Sherry Butt) 50.9% - 8.77 Glendronach Allardice 18yo 46% - 8.55 Glendronach Parliament 21yo 48% - 8.23 Hazelburn 13yo Oloroso 2004/18 - 8.06 Glendronach 8yo Heilan 43% - 8.05 Glendronach 12yo 43% - 7.96