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Third Annual Whisky Hill Dram Jam

Friday May 3, 2002


We straggled up around 10:30 am to coffee, Powerbars and of course the day's skalk.  Mine was one of my all time favorite drams brought by FX:

  1. Linkwood 11 yo, 10/84-6/96, 59.5%, Glenhaven

    200 mg B-1 /  1:00 pm

    This was a little tough after such a late night, but with a wee bit of water the day was off.  We walked around the corner for lunch then packed the car - which was a tricky exercise since we were hauling my set of dramming glasses, suitcases, bedding, and many bottles of malt whisky.  Nano arrived just before 2 pm and we were on the road at 2:07 heading towards Whisky Hill.  The day was beautiful and the 450-mile trip was a blast.  We spent the time rehashing past tastings:  (Ardbeggeddons, WHDJs, and Ulf's Macallan vertical), FOAFing expeditions, embarrassing overindulgence events, FEIS ILE planning and other whisky related topics. We arrived at Whisky Hill around 8:30 pm and were greeted by Tom and his "mystery guest": 

S'tan! MOK is IN the house!   Excellent!

FX is astounded...  he said this was an impossibility.  He immediately swallows 300 mg of B-1.  Then more...

Here is the agenda for Whisky Hill Dram Jam 3

We begin the dramming in earnest - Springers are the agenda for the evening.  We'll be back with an update later...  there are mountains of drams to explore!

300 mg B-1 /  8:45 pm

  1. 1965 Springbank Local Barley, Cask 1965/9, Bottle 22, 52.4%

    This was our welcome dram to Whisky Hill, one of the PLOWED standards.  This weekend is going to rock big time.  Tom throws some of the 3" Buffalo pepper pizzas and we proceed to the traditional PLOWED ritual of the 

    Lipping of the Local Barley
     

  2. 1966 Springbank Local Barley, Cask 1966/481, Bottle 17, 55.1%

  3. Springbank 12 yo, 46% (one of the end releases), distillery

    300 mg B-1 / 10:30 pm

  4. Moidart 25 yo, 46%, Cadenhead's

    head to head with

  5. Moidart 30 yo, 46%, Cadenhead's

    At this point the 3" thick lasagna-style pizza from Buffalo is ready and we eat heartily around 10 pm.

  6. Springbank - over 29 yo, 1965, 53.4%, Milroys
    Another stunning dram from Milroys. 

    Nano crashes at about 11:15 pm - still recovering from a cold but with 8 drams under his belt.

  7. Springbank No. 3 Bond, 57%, Bottled at Cadenhead's in London on 4/2/02
        This is Cadenhead's version of their "living cask" - they have one of these small casks at each of their stores in London, Edinburgh, and Campbeltown.  Dave and I bought these in London immediately after we tasted a dram at the shop.  It's a vatting of much older Springbank than the No. 3 Bonds we brought back from Edinburgh and Campeltown in 2000 (we were told the last malt added to the cask was a 25  year old).  Wonderfully perfect older Springer profile - at cask strength it didn't need water at all.  Huge, fruity, vanilla, with a wonderful mouthfeel and astounding long finish.  I really wish I had drained the cask - at 20 BP for 35 cl it's a steal.    

    Tom goes down - it's midnight...  but he's way ahead of us since he started dramming around 5 pm when they got back from ROC... he wandered away muttering something about S'tan making him start dramming too early.  I look the table over and discover there aren't any undrammed Springers left, so I open his springer cabinet and start digging out a selection of tremendous drams

  8. Springbank 100, 50% light-dark, distillery

  9. Springbank 33 yo, 5/67-2/02, 41.4%, OMC

    300 mg B-1 /  12:05 am

  10. Springbank 34 yo, 12/65-1/01, 47.8%, OMC

    12:44 am - S'tan does his first ever face-plant onto the table from a sitting. No position.  No permanent drammage...  S'tan bids us goodnight...  then changes his mind and pours a hearty dram of Springer Bond No. 3 declaring he's alive again!

  11. Springbank 12 yo old  black label, 46%, (light)

  12. Springbank 21 46%, distillery (375 ml)

    1:15 am - After another near face-plant on the table by S'tan he bids us g'night and walks away muttering incoherently....  he seemed to like the Bond No. 3.  FX and I plan to ask him what his last dram of the night was tomorrow morning.  Looks like we're both skipping purgatory.

  13. Springbank 25 yo, 46%, distillery (375 ml silver/gold label)

    300 mg B-1 /  2:25 am

  14. Springbank 27 yo, 12/19/69, 54%, Signatory

    FX and I work on the Issues page of the website adding new definitions for bad whisky, expanding skalk by requesting gaelic translations for a series of PLOWED skalks, mouth vatting, and speculation about what drams S'tan wouldn't dram. 

  15. Springbank 12 yo , 1979, 46%, distillery

  16. Springbank 15 yo, 46%, distillery (old black label)

  17. Springbank 12 yo Rum Cask, 1989-4/2002, 54.6%
    I really like this dram this time I tasted it.  See last evaluation. where I was "skeptical". Rich, full malt, young but very tasty and balanced. Hot but not too hot as to distract.  Doesn't need water, but water did help by opening it up and smoothing some of the edges.  but my palate is also destroyed so I'll check this out again tomorrow and water it down to the standard springer bottle strength of 46%.

    4:00 am - FX goes down ...
    300 mg B-1 / 4:15 am 

  18. Springbank 32 yo, 1964, 51.5%, Adelphi
    4:50 am - The final dram of the evening - perfect way to end Springbank Day at WHDJ.  Complex, sweet malty candied palate, another perfect lingering springer finish.  Thanks again Tom and all - what a great collection of Springers...  and there are at least a dozen or more left untouched on the shelf.  Sounds like I know what tomorrow's skalk will be.

Ok, the B-1 total for Friday was 1,700 mg over the course of 16 hours.  This is more than I probably should have taken since the % DA is 20,000 for 300 mg.    This means I exceeded the recommended daily allowance by 113,333 times.  On the other hand I felt great upon waking after a mere 5 hours sleep.  I am lowering the dosage for Saturday though in the name of science.

Here are photos from the official kickoff of WHDJ 3

Saturday May 4, 2002

NANO's Writeup of this debauch on MaltMadness


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last update on 5/4/02