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December
2013
Ten
Great Years of Malt Maniacs Awards
or
"MMA 2013 Unplugged - The Inside Story" |
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It's that time of
year again!
Judging is completed, their results have been submitted and our
official scorecard published announcing this year's lucky
winners so it's time to sit back and relax? Well, not really for
me as my next task was to put together my annual 'behind the
scenes' report of this year's complete process. It is available
as a (pdf) link on our official website Awards Page, but just
for a change I'm also putting the whole content online here this
year, so welcome to MMA 2013 - Unplugged:
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MMA – A little history
The Maniacs first discussed holding an
independent, amateur whisky competition back in 2003 which was an
era of very few other competitions and certainly no 100% amateur
ones of any great scale.
The fundamental rules were to be:
·
No entry fee
·
100% Amateur
·
100% blind
Of course, back in 2003 The Maniacs collective
was much smaller than it is today with just twelve members and
none were from whisky’s professional ranks but MMA was born and
that first year saw 61 entries being submitted with nine judges
taking part.
For the record three gold medals were awarded
that year to Talisker 21y 1981-2002 OB, Brora 30y OB bottled 2002
and Ardbeg 21y ‘committee bottling’ with the overall Supreme
Winner being the Talisker.
Since then our Supreme Winners have been:
·
2003 Talisker
(21y, 1981-2002, OB)
·
2004 Brora
(30y, bottled 2003, 55.7%, OB)
·
2005 Laphroaig
(31y, 1974-2005, 49.7%, OB for LMDW)
·
2006 Yamazaki
(1984-2005, 56%, OB)
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2007 Laphroaig
(27y, 1980-2007, 57.4%, OB)
·
2008 Lagavulin
(21y, 1985-2007, 56.5%, OB)
·
2009 Karuizawa
(1972-2008, 65%, No.1 Drinks)
·
2010 Glendronach
(38y, 1972-2010, Cask 700, 49.5%, OB for Taiwan)
·
2011 Glendronach
(39y, 1972-2011, Cask 712,Oloroso Sherry Butt, 49.9%, OB)
·
2012 Glendronach
(40y, 1972-2012, Cask 713, Oloroso Sherry Butt, 50.2%, OB for
LMDW)
Today in 2013 our fundamental rules haven’t
changed and even though our collective has grown to 31 members
including five professionals, we still uphold our traditional
values as entrants pay no entry fee other than having to send us
one bottle of each whisky they choose to submit. Our judges are
chosen only from our amateur members who each have to pay for
their own sample bottles (we use only new glass bottles to prevent
any contamination) and their own postage to receive the samples.
The competition also remains 100% blind as judges only receive a
series of numbered samples and have to rely purely on their noses,
palates and eyes without knowing anything about the whiskies, not
even abv. We even impose what we call a ‘radio silence’ upon
judges as they aren’t allowed to discuss any aspects of MMA or
judging during the competition. The benefits of this are that each
judge has the ability to work at their own speed, in their own
environment and typically spend much more time with each sample
than they would in a ‘professional’ competition held centrally at
a single location over just a few days.
In 2011 when Malt Maniac Krishna Nukala flew
over to Germany to help with the filling weekend he was still
enthusing about that 2010 winner; Glendronach 1972 as he commented
“That cask 700 was superb, surely they can’t match it and do it
again this year?” which indeed they managed with the superb
39y Cask 712. Then 2012 Saw a titanic battle for the Ultra-Premium
Supreme Winner with the Glendronach Cask 713 and sister cask to
the 2011 winner once again answering Krishna’s question of
“Surely they can’t do it again, can they?”
So what about MMA 2013?
As usual our competition is split into three
categories based upon typical price of the entries; Daily Drams is
for whiskies up to a price of €50. Premium category is for
whiskies priced from €51 to €150 and
Ultra-Premium category for whiskies over €150. Within each
category we offer up to five ‘Awards’ comprising Supreme Winner
(the entry with the highest average points total across all
judges’ scorecards, then Best Sherried Whisky, Best Peated Whisky,
Best Natural Cask and a Thumbs Up award for an entry which we
believe deserves a special mention. Now,
without further ado welcome to the
Award-winning entries of MMA 2013:
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Ultra-Premium
category
Supreme Winner
Karuizawa 1973-2013, No.1 Drinks, cask
No.1607, 67.7%
What some of our judges said:
Robert Karlsson “Wow, taste is so intense.
Lots of wood, all the spices and so big on sherry influence.
Quite excellent indeed and a pure-bred sherry monster.” 92
points.
Krishna Nukala “….. Leaves with stunning
burst of fire crackers!” 92 points.
Keith Wood “I love the mixture of solid, rich
aromas and flavours, a great” 90 points.
Overall MMA score; 91 points |
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Ultra-Premium; Best Sherried Whisky
Glenfarclas Family Casks, 1989-2012, cask
No.11046, 56.6% abv, OB for TSMC Taiwan to celebrate the 176th
Anniversary of Glenfarclas distillery
What
some of our judges said:
Krishna
Nukala “Lots of complexity, very smooth and spicy long finish”
91 points.
Robert
Karlsson “Really big and bad sherry monster here. Well not so
bad, absolutely no off notes. Excellent stuff.” 91 points.
Keith
Wood “Delightful on nose and palate. Nothing out of place, rich,
dark, slightly dry.” 91 points.
Overall MMA score; 90 points
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Ultra-Premium; Best
Natural Cask Whisky
Karuizawa 1983-2012, No.1 Drinks for LMDW
“Cocktail Series”, Hogshead, cask No.8597, 62.1%abv
What some of our judges said:
Krishna Nukala “Brilliant palate; a sugar
volcano explosion” 92 points.
Robert Karlsson “Very powerful, strong!
Wonderful fruits and so intense. This is a seriously good dram.”
92 points.
Keith Wood “Deliciously intense” 91 points.
Tim Puett “Tons of fire here, it’s a hot one
with some citrus” 86 points.
Overall MMA score; 88 points |
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Ultra-Premium; Best Peated Whisky
BenRiach 1985-2012, 27y, (OB), Peated /
Virgin American Oak, cask No.7188, 48.9%abv
What
some of our judges said:
Tim
Puett “Finish just keeps on going, very nice.” 92 points.
Krishna
Nukala “Ah! Now something very interesting! Rich fruits, lovely
floral notes like gardenia in the rear. Succulent sweetish honey
notes” 89 points.
Keith
Wood “Was that really dandelion & burdock towards the end?
Certainly mildly herbal, I Love it.” 89 points.
Robert
Karlsson “Needs a little time to open up and does so rather
well.” 87 points.
Overall MMA score; 87 points |
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Ultra-Premium; Thumbs-Up Award
Teeling
Whiskey Company, 21y Vintage Reserve, single malt Irish whiskey,
46% abv
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What some of our judges said:
Robert Karlsson “This is a really special
(and tasty) whisky. Wonder what it can be. I want a case!” 92
points.
Oliver Klimek “Wonderfully fruity but also
light and fragrant. The finish is enormously long.” 90 points.
Keith Wood “Aromatic, floral, gentle & smooth
on nose, then again on palate. A real star.” 89 points.
Krishna Nukala “Phenolic and fruit
combination. Very sweet and more phenols on palate. Lovely spicy
and sweet finish.” 87 points.
Tim Puett “Smells like biting into a gumdrop.
Finish introduces herbal and grassy notes.” 86 points.
Overall MMA score; 87 points.
Premium
category
Supreme Winner |
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Kavalan Solist, Sherry cask No. S060821049,
57.8%abv
What some of our judges said:
Robert Karlsson “Taste is also, wow! What on
earth is this? Huge complexity on so many things, leather,
coffee, dried fruits, cherry kernels, still round and
attractive. So special. What an experience to drink this one. I
love it.” 94 points.
Krishna Nukala “Brilliant, delicious and
spicy” 93 points.
Keith Wood “Heavy, rich, massive, dry,
toasted, earthy. Just enormous.” 87 points.
Overall MMA score; 91 points |
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Premium; Best Sherried Whisky
Glendronach,
1994-2012, 18y, Oloroso sherry butt, Cask No.68, 56.6%, OB for
Kenny Hsu Taiwan
What some of our judges said:
Krishna Nukala “On the palate it’s like a
rich dessert, loooong sweet finish.” 92 points.
Robert Karlsson “Thick sherry inspired taste
here. Orangey, rich. Dates, raisins. Some spent matches in the
aftertaste also. Big whisky for sure.” 89 points.
Keith Wood “Wow - intense, lightly toasted,
lots of dark fruits, wood, very dark chocolate, maybe even a
hint of coffee? This certainly packs a punch.” 87 points.
Overall MMA score; 89 points |
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Premium; Best Natural Cask Whisky
Clynelish, BBR
for LMDW, 1996-2013, Cask No.6421, 57.1%
What
some of our judges said:
Robert
Karlsson “Complex promising nose. Very special taste here I'd
say. ” 90 points.
Krishna
Nukala “Excellent palate. Very sweet and spicy.” 88 points.
Tim
Puett “Warming all the way to the back of the mouth.” 86 points.
Keith
Wood “Nice light fruitiness. Creamy custard? Some pepperiness.
Lovely aperitif or summer dram.” 84 points.
Overall MMA score; 85 points |
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Premium; Best Peated Whisky
Amrut, bottled 2013, Cask No.BA18/2013,
Blackadder “Raw Cask”, 63%
What
some of our judges said:
Robert
Karlsson “Taste immediately on a rather excellent berried
smokiness. Round, sweet, sooty and so drinkable.” 91 points.
Tim
Puett “Deep smoke and sweet alfalfa hay.” 91 points.
Krishna
Nukala “Excellent smoke with phenols.” 88 points.
Keith
Wood “Mouth-filling, rich and herbal Exotic fruitiness. Earthy,
solid. I like.” 86 points.
Overall MMA score; 89 points |
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Premium; Thumbs-Up Award
Celtique Connexion, “Islay”, 1999-2013,
“Celtic Whisky Compagnie (Jean Donnay), 46%
What
some of our judges said:
Robert
Karlsson “Intriguing, very interesting and tasty.” 91 points.
Krishna
Nukala “Brilliantly smoky with lots of complexities.” 91 points.
Oliver
Klimek “A combination of peat and sweet wine that actually works
is a rare beast. This one is truly remarkable.“ 90 points.
Keith
Wood “Wonderfully deep yet delicate.” 88 points.
Overall
MMA score; 88 points
Awarded the Thumbs-Up Medal for excellent quality at a very
affordable price. |
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Daily
Drams
category
Supreme Winner |
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Aberlour A’Bunadh, Batch 45, OB, Oloroso
sherry butts, 60.2%
What
some of our judges said:
Tim
Puett “Love it, warm, lingering.” 92 points.
Krishna
Nukala “I get that intoxicating floral notes of Naga malli -
Cannon Ball Flower.” 90 points.
Robert
Karlsson “Wow, quite a mouthful this one. Huge on dark fruits,
the whole compote. Faultless and evil, not for the faint of
heart.” 87 points.
Keith
Wood “Very nice after-dinner treat.” 87 points.
Overall MMA score; 87 points |
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Daily Drams; Best Sherried Whisky
Glendronach, 2002-2013, 10y, OB for The
Whisky Fair, PX Sherry Puncheon, cask No.710, 52.8%
What some of our judges said:
Krishna Nukala “Lovely palate. Full bodied,
spicy and sweet. Excellent long and spicy finish with whiff of
smoke in the end.” 90 points.
Robert Karlsson “Quite some liquorice in the
taste, rather intense spices and mandarins again. Raisins in the
aftertaste. Big taste, considerably bigger than the nose I'd
say.” 86 points.
Keith Wood “Lovely palate after a slow
starting nose. I love the smooth, rich creaminess.” 86 points.
Overall MMA score; 86 points |
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Daily Drams; Best Natural Cask Whisky
Springbank, 12y Cask Strength,
OB, 50.3%
What
some of our judges said:
Robert
Karlsson “Compact and well-composed, elegant dried fruits, nice
fresh malty sweetness. Good clean spices.” 90 points.
Krishna
Nukala “Lovely sweet and smooth whisky.” 87 points.
Keith
Wood “Peated? Not quite but it is nice and earthy with floral
tendencies.” 87 points.
Tim
Puett “Jujubes, gumdrops, bubblegum, lingering …..” 86 points.
Overall MMA score; 86 points |
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Daily Drams; Best Peated Whisky & Thumbs-Up Award
BenRiach, Curiositas, 10y,
OB, 46%
What
some of our judges said:
Robert
Karlsson “Powerful dark sooty taste. Big oomph, fresh citrus
fruits in the aftertaste. Seriously tasty beast here.” 91
points.
Oliver
Klimek “Extremely complex and medicinal nose, burnt rubber, dry
peat and phenols dancing on your palate.” 88 points.
Keith
Wood “Smoky raspberries. Nice & light with lovely mild peaty
smoke.” 86 points.
Krishna
Nukala “Smoky, syrupy and lots of spices with green peppers.” 83
points.
Tim
Puett “Leaves me wanting more.” 83 points.
Overall MMA score; 86 points
I believe this is
the first time one whisky has ever won two awards within the
same MMA competition. BenRiach Curiositas was awarded Thumbs Up
for exceptional quality at a fantastic price. |
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MMA should be considered to be two
competitions all rolled into one; firstly and primarily we have
the actual Awards which I have just detailed above. All except
the Thumbs-Up Awards are decided upon highest average scores
across all judges within each category. The Supreme Winners are
the outright highest scoring whiskies, then Best Sherried,
Natural and Peated are the highest scoring entries by cask and
whisky type. The scores do play a part in our Thumbs-Up Awards,
but perhaps more importantly we consider other parameters like
value for money and consistency of quality.
Secondly, we award a series of medals to
recognise the overall quality of entries; any entry managing an
average score of 90 points or more across all judges will
receive a gold medal which means that, in our opinion, these are
exceptionally outstanding whiskies. 85-89 Points will receive
silver medals which confirm that, again in our opinion, these
are excellent and highly recommendable whiskies. Any which gain
80-84 points receive bronze medals and are acknowledged as good
everyday drams.
This year we have awarded four Gold Medals
which, along with our Silver and Bronze Medals are detailed in
our official MMA 2013 Judges’ Scorecard:

Our official scorecard showing all MMA scores and also
individual scores from each judge:





Inside MMA 2013; Scoring & judging
I was recently asked if we impose any
specific judging method or criteria on our MMA judges, perhaps
like the repartition system of, for example a 25/25/25/25 split
of scores between attributes like appearance, nose, palate &
finish … etc.
We prefer not to impose such criteria, or for
that matter any specific judging criteria other than keeping
everything totally blind. Each of our judges, although amateur,
is highly experienced in whisky tasting and already has their
own tried and tested methods of scoring and most have already
scored hundreds, if not thousands of whiskies in our online
database; The Malt Monitor. Of course this means that there is
an emphasis on personal preference, but judging and scoring is
always subjective and will vary a little between individuals, so
this is exactly why we utilise a panel of 10-12 judges for MMA
and take an average score across the board from all those
submitted.
Here’s what a couple of
our members replied when asked about their own scoring criteria:
"I
for one do never use 'repartitions' (such as 25/25/25/25)
because I've never managed to find one that would work with all
whiskies. I tend to think that 'proportions' between nose and
palate, for example, change with styles and, above all, with the
whiskies' ages."
Serge Valentin.
"Regarding
the scores to be allotted to appearance, nose, palate etc... I
strongly feel that it will not work out. Scoring for appearance
is definitely ruled out for me. Even if points were to be given
to each parameter; how many points would you allocate to
appearance, how many to nose, how many to palate, how many to
finish and the last dimension which is most important for me;
how many to overall feeling and impression?"
Krishna Nukala.
"I
too disagree with the 25/25/25/25 scoring process as to me it so
limits the range of scores for particular items. I usually have
a first impression of score after the initial nose/taste…..and
then I might adjust once I have had a few more noses/tastes. But
I usually fall within a few points of my initial impression. If
I am at all conflicted, I will mark it for a re-taste. But this
is based upon what I recall from what I have liked and disliked
before."
David Wankel
Finally on this topic, I’m affording the last word to one of our
professional members;
"Like
you, my scores are founded on experience, and based on overall
flavour (aroma, taste,
mouth-feel, finish); but unlike you, I
never publish my scores!" Charles Maclean.
Inside MMA 2013; A few general thoughts
Once scores have been submitted and judges
learn what the entries actually were, there is obviously much
discussion as the ‘radio silence’ is lifted. Here are just a
couple of those comments:
"I scored three young Amruts very high (for
me), and it is definitely one I'm going to follow for now on. I
really liked those high strength Amrut BA's and the OB! I liked
the Kavalans too." Tim Puett.
"Do we see the resurrection of the 'standard'
10, 12 15 or 18y distillery bottlings?"
Michel van Meersbergen.
"I am impressed by
how well Amrut and Kavalan did. They have three bottles each
with 87+ points."
Oliver Klimek, then Oliver continued by
offering a comment about the younger Glendronach entries this
year;
"these are pretty excellent so we can expect some good later
vintages in the future."
Inside MMA 2013; Logistics
and timeline
MMA
has two defining dates; firstly 1 st
December, or as near as possible to the 1st
which is when we aim to release
the results. Secondly what we call the filling weekend which is
when we pour the entries into judges’ sample bottles and, by
definition this is also the deadline for receipt of entries.
This
all sounds easy, right? Well, not quite because we have other
considerations too; who will judge this year? Sample bottles
need to be ordered, invitations to participate have to be sent
out, entries have to be received, stored, catalogued and
numbered …. And so on ….
MMA
2013 began for me in late July as I put together our letter of
invitation to prospective entrants, but this year things burst
into life a wee bit earlier than usual as I was contacted in
June by two (new to MMA) distillers wishing to enter this year,
in fact I received entries from one before my letter of
invitation had even been sent out.
The
filling weekend date was set for the last weekend in September
so we have our deadline which means by early August the first
invitation was mailed out and, as often happens this created the
first mini whisky rush with various entries arriving
within a few days then, nothing. In those first ten days or so
entries quickly reached double figures then everything went
quiet. Of course, August is the main holiday season and everyone
was enjoying sun, surf and sand rather than sitting at their
desks thinking of whisky. What about judges for 2013? There goes
another plea; "Dear Maniacs, who’d like to subject their noses,
palates and livers to sampling up to 200 whiskies in no more
than six weeks?" Yes, that’s what being a judge amounts to. By
the time samples have been filled, packed, posted, delivered and
received the typical time left for judging is 4-6 weeks
depending upon postage times.
Poor
Krishna, I thought German customs were difficult, but it seems
Mumbai are on another level where everything goes in, but
nothing comes out, even after three weeks of waiting!
Speaking of customs, last year our super-efficient and rather
over-zealous German customs did their utmost to wreak havoc onto
MMA as they showed their expertise with google in attempting to
find values of entries so they could charge me what they
considered to be the correct Duty. On one occasion they even
sent me away whilst they spent 24 hours googling ……. Welcome to
2013 and The Cunning Plan; let’s confuse German
Customs by not using them and have non-EU entries sent to a
different country with a more relaxed attitude, then forward
them to me within the EU.
It
worked! Not a single Euro cent paid in Duty, except of
course (!) for the single parcel which just happened to be the
one sent directly to me in Germany as it was a late entry with
time constraints. I still think if they hadn’t seen me at all
this year they’d probably have sent me a letter asking why.
So, it’s
early September, no more entries received, time to send out the
post-holiday / vacation reminder which immediately solicited
responses with promises for entries…….
But what
about the whisky rush?

At this point, sadly, one
of our judges had to drop out as his job demanded he volunteer
for some extra evening work during November, then another
‘maybe’ judge confirmed his (work) diary was also too full and
he wouldn’t be able to make it. So now we have 10 left from our
original 12, but it looks like our remaining judges’ livers will
have something of a reprieve this year. Now what to do with
these …..

It’s mid-September and just two weeks to our
filling weekend, we have our 10 judges, sample bottles (and
closures) aplenty, poly-chips for packing too ……..

And a grand total of 60 entries received so
far, oops sorry, make that 59………

Then it happened;
The Whisky Rush, with every ring of the bell I could be
heard shouting "there’s whisky in them thar vans" whilst rushing
to the door. At one point our tiny cul-de-sac was jammed with
three, or was it four vans queuing to deliver.
There followed
the most manic, or was it maniacal week ever with 60 (sorry 59)
entries hastily rushing towards the 200 mark. MMA 2013 was very
much alive and well, maybe too alive and well as we very quickly
neared that 200 limit. One which we had to impose after the
infamous MMA of 2010 which received 262 entries and, quite
literally, took its toll on our judges.
By now with every
ring of the bell I could be heard screaming "Noooooo, not more
whisky in them thar vans".
Then it arrived;
Saturday 28 th
September, the official MMA 2013 filling weekend.
The
doorbell rang, it must be Oliver arriving to help? No, it was a
rather haggard-looking delivery man handing me a parcel, saying
"another one for you." Remember that broken bottle? Its
replacement arrived with just a couple of hours to spare.
For those who like "during
and after" pictures:



This only left the task of postage to be
completed and just over €1000 paid in two days for parcels to be
sent world-wide to our judges who were anticipating a rather
modest MMA 2013, little did they know.
What about the left-overs?
Our optimum
number of MMA judges each year is 10-12 and each judge can
choose between 3cl or 6cl samples. You may think choosing 6cl is
a no-brainer but when it comes to far-away judges the difference
in postage costs can be very significant, as can the attitude of
their local Customs officers as we’ve clearly seen with Krishna
this year, so a few of our judges opt for 3cl samples. This
usually means we do have a few drops, OK maybe a few cl, left
over after filling. But what do we do with these drops?
I’m happy to say
that none are wasted. Firstly, after judging is completed I
refill my own set of sample bottles so I have a complete set of
entries for future reference.

My three years (so far) of MMA as getting on
for 550 samples now sit in my study and comprise a worthy
reference of 2011-2013.
This came in useful
earlier this year when fellow Maniac Oliver Klimek and I decided
to have an evening of no compromise as we put eight Glendronach
expressions, including two MMA Supreme Champions and five Gold
Medallists from 2011 & 2012 MMA’s together in a head to head.
Finally, why not have a bit
of fun with the remaining drops so welcome again to MMA 2012

From left to right; mostly peated, totally
mixed up and mostly sherried.
Empty bottles too?

Now here’s one final thought from me:
Just in case you were
wondering about that broken bottle whose replacement arrived
with literally just a couple of hours to spare before the
deadline on the actual filling weekend?
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Errata:
Kavalan Solist, Cask No. 060821049
erroneously
listed as Cask No.S06082 in the scoresheet.
Master of Malt Undeclared Speyside 30y
erroneously
listed as 35y in the scoresheet.
Craigduff 40y, 1973/2013
erroneously
listed as 1973/2005 in the scoresheet.
84
points Bushmills 16y (OB, single malt, bourbon, port & sherry,
2013*)
erroneously
listed on scoresheet as Bushmills 10 (which achieved 81 points
and is listed further down the sheet.)
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© Copyright
2009-2013 by Keith Wood - All rights reserved - Whisky-Emporium |
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