Fahrenheit 173 - Aged Spirits

Balblair 1997 bottled 2009:
Lovely, fragrant, fruity nose with notes of vanilla, citrus and oak shavings. Sweet, fruity palate with citrus, also oaky and spicy in a nice bal­ance. Quite oaky yet fairly nice finish. (87 p)

Benriach Horizons 12 y.o. (Oloroso sherry finish, 50%):
Nice nose with notes of orange, apricot and sponge cake. Rich, fruity palate with a note of custard - clean, fresh and very nice. Sweet at first, then drying and de­velops oak. Nice spicy, oaky finish. All in all nicely bal­anced and quite more-ish. (86 p)

Benriach Solstice 15 y.o. (Port finish, peated, 50%):
Unusual nose with peat, malt and grapes. Rich but fairly dry palate, peaty and fruity with a note of mint. Dry, quite peaty finish. All in all it's in­ter­est­ing but splintered. (81 p)

Hazelburn CV (46%):
Malty, peaty nose with a note of engine oil - immature and dis­ap­point­ing. Peaty, musty, spicy palate, also fairly sweet with notes of green fruits. Fairly nice, peaty finish with oak and black pepper. (Hmm, Hazelburn isn't supposed to be peated) (80 p)

Hazelburn 12 y.o. bottled 2010 (46%):
Fragrant, very nice nose with fruity candy (Fix & Foxi chewing gum), citrus and Curaçao liqueur, also vanilla and oak. The palate is sweet with citrus, vanilla and oak, un­for­tu­nately also a bit hot and spirity. Oaky, dry, dis­ap­point­ing finish. Compared to the 2009 bottling it's quite dif­fer­ent - it's lighter (also colour-wise), has less sherry (if any) and it's not quite as nice. (86 p)

Isle of Jura Prophecy (46%):
Interesting, promising nose - peaty, malty (wholemeal bread), fruity (orange) with gin­ger­bread (signs of sherry wood). Rich, sweet palate with gin­ger­bread. Drying, de­velops spices and peat. Quite peaty finish. A little young and not particularly bal­anced but rather en­ter­tain­ing. Milder and more bal­anced with a drop water but then it's not as fun! (Thanks to Johan for the sample) (84 p)

Three new Swedish single malt whiskies
A review of Swedish single malts Box "Pioneer", Hven "Merak" and Smögen "Primör".

Five single malts from Cadenhead's
A review of Ardmore 1997, Balblair 1990, Glen Moray 1992, Strathisla 1987 and Strathmill 1995.

World whisky
A review of single malts from the Czech Republic, England, Germany, India, Sweden and Taiwain.

Six Irish whiskeys
A review of Green Spot, Yellow Spot, Tullamore Dew 12, Redbreast 12, Powers John's Lane and Midleton Barry Crockett Legacy.