Blended Grain 1973 NSS, 51.9 %, 52 yrs, WB296492

Did you know that Bob Ross, William Shakespeare and Christopher Reeve all died at the age of 52? So did Grace Kelly, Houdini and Frank Zappa. All credit cards have been blocked, by the way. Life is for living in the moment, for moments like this. Some seek enlightenment through meditation, some by climbing high mountains and dying, and some by sitting under the great bodhi tree and waiting to die of hunger anyway. So what do I do? The everlasting search for the meaning of life is not found in the stars, the universe, behind the moon or in great philosophers, but in liquids like this. What absurdity! But life itself is absurd and perhaps even meaningless. What does this bottle mean? It means cheap pizza again for dinner.
Nose: The nose is beautiful, with sweet sherry notes, but mature of course — about 52 years old.

It's so deep and rich, reminiscent of very old Armagnacs. There's a lot of umami here: soy sauce and other Asian sauces, as well as cooked sweet wine, such as rancio or balsamic vinegar. It's like old wood in antique churches where people have just left after intense prayer. There are a lot of sins in the air, by the way. Sins are committed in dark corners, back alleys, dark cellars and other clandestine places. Dark furniture surrounds these places: some old leather armchairs and dark thoughts everywhere, like dark fruits cooking or dark meat frying. 
Palate: Intense, rich and dense. Dark fruits that have been cooked, as well as umami sources. A sauce mage is brewing all kinds of blissful poisons, but sweet ones that are enchanting like a fairy tale. Such sweetness is paired with old Armagnac, plum juice, hints of cassis, overcooked jam, sticky toffee and well-aged rum. As for demerara or muscovado sugar, I honestly can't tell the difference. Anyway, it's dark and sweet. What a beautiful dram, what a gem! Worth abandoning every meaning of life.

Finish: Life is too short to worry about how long this will last. It's just eternal. The muscovado sugar lingers for a long time, the rum stays overnight, the balsamic vinegar doesn't want to leave at all and the soy sauce is now part of your life. The meaning of life? "Through a grimy window that I can't keep clean. Through billowing smoke that's swallowed the sun. You're nowhere to be seen.” – Anne Clark.
 

95/94/95

Glenxxxxxxx 2006 NSS, 59 %, 19yrs, WB296553

It's supposed to be a sherry hogshead; judging by the colour xth fill. A mystery malt? It's categorised as a Glenfarclas on Whiskybase. Long story short, I couldn’t solve the mystery.
Nose: Barn, with hints of burnt tyres and shoe polish. Spices, with no sweetness. Strawberry jam. Meaty, umami, mushrooms and forest floor. Sheep dung and a musty cellar. Dried apricots and perhaps peach and baked apples. Sage tea.
Palate: I'm terribly blind at blind tasting and very bad at recognising anything, so here too, I don't detect any signature or hint; it's an alien whisky. However, it's not bad; it's just sharp on the palate.

It's peppery, full of character, wild and a bit harsh, but rich. In the background, the stallion is still there. Wild stallions. There's some sweet tea, but it's infused with lots of herbs: rosemary, thyme and lovage. Sage and orange seeds.
Finish: Medium-long, about 40 seconds. It's warming with a hint of peel and freshly squeezed orange juice that's been squeezed a bit too much. Kitchen herbs and rocket with lamb stew under a full moon. Speaking of, ‘Mystery creates wonder, and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand’. —Neil Armstrong
 

87/89/88