Communicating with smoke signals
When: 19th February 2026
Where: Thirsty
Host: Elliott_Drinks_Whisky with the reveal by Thom from Thirsty
The blind format seems to work very well for flight night. It is definitely more fun for me when I’m going in blind as well, but I imagine in future there’ll be a mix of single and double blind flights. Just like our first attempt at this, before Christmas, I started by nosing everything, then going in to taste whisky #1, followed by another round of nosing. After tasting whisky 2, I nosed all again and went back to #1, before going back to #2. Then it was onto #3 for a nose and taste, before going back again through the others. I don’t think everyone followed the same routine as me, nor would I expect or want them to. My hopes for the evening were that people would enjoy the whiskies and the freedom of not knowing exactly what they were drinking, regardless of whether they guessed anything correctly, or even wanted to play that game at all!
This time, each line-up slot was 1 of 5 from a shortlist, and I presented each shortlist with facts about the different bottles’ production, origin and style in an attempt to give my guests information to guess what they had infront of them. Each slot’s shortlist was made up of whiskies of increasing ABV so that the lower end of slot 1 was down at 40%, and the upper end of slot 3 was above 60%, but the smoke levels ranged from light to heavy within each shortlist. That was the bit I found hardest about presenting the shortlists, conveying what amount of smoke one might expect from the bottles – basing a light, medium, heavy ranking on reviews, tasting notes, and my previous experiences with these distilleries. I can’t comment on the 12 bottles we didn’t try, but I think I got 2 out of the 3 we actually ended up with ranked appropriately, and the one I felt I got wrong was guessed correctly by the most people anyway, so I don’t think anyone felt too misled.
I also made one notable mistake in the presentation of the event, at the end, when taking the ‘favourite bottle’ vote: we revealed the bottles’ identities first! You may see why I regret that in a short while, and why I will absolutely be taking the vote before the reveal in future. At the end of this review, I’ll give a breakdown on the guess hit-rate as well as the voting.
The Whisky
(Click on the images to buy a bottle)
Johnnie Walker – Black Ruby
Blended Scotch Whisky – 40%
Yes, you’re seeing that right, bottle 1 was a Johnnie Walker. And why shouldn’t it be! Diageo’s Johnnie Walker is the biggest-selling Scotch whisky brand in the world, so it’s certainly worthy of a line-up place at any time based on perceived worldwide standing. And with this being a blind flight experience, including this in the first slot shortlist provided a good talking point around the room. It actually being what we were drinking also then provides a wonderful test of people’s preconceptions, having had to form an opinion of the whisky without knowing what it was.
This expression specifically is something interesting, the first core release from their new master blender, Dr Emma Walker. She tweaked the standard Black Label formula (which gets its smoke notes from a dose of Caol Ila) by including Roseisle whisky and selecting casks across the recipe from frutier casks with red wine and sherry finishes.
I initially found what I felt was a major grain component in this glass, so I was looking at the blends in the shortlist. It also didn’t punch with smoke; those notes came later in the evening when returning here, although they were still soft.
Notes: 👃🏻Gingery, baking spice, effervescent, celery, toast, car oil/fuel, balloon 👄Biscuity cereal, stale beer, caramel, bitter, light berries, jammy.
Cooper’s Choice – Highland Park 2015
Single Cask, Single Malt Scotch Whisky – 50%
Vintage Malt Whisky Company have been around since the early 90s. Their portfolio contains an impressive number of single malt and blended brands, plus they own Islay’s first rum distillery. A lot of their single malt brands are from anonymous distilleries, but they also have their Cooper’s Choice range: a homage to the work of the cooper, finishing and maturing their single cask releases in creative ways. This expression has also earned an entry into their Golden Cut collection, which they say is reserved only for the most characterful casks – that might explain why it was my favourite of the night.
Coming to this after the Johnnie Walker I was bowled over by the comparative level of ashy notes in my mouth, especially considering that I hadn’t clocked them on the nose. Over time, and after the 3rd whisky as well, I began to notice more of the salt. For me, this was not what I believed I expected from Highland Park whiskies: I didn’t find any floral honey smoke – it was fresher and darker. Perhaps this perception-shifting quality is why it earned that Golden Cut badge.
Notes: 👃🏻Ice cream soda, char, buttery, salty, hot heating element, Guinness cake 👄Ashy, alcohol, gin/tonic, lime, dark chocolate, wet tarmac, salt, slight salted fish, little mint.
Cask Masters – Ardmore 8yo
Single Cask, Single Malt Scotch Whisky – 57.1%
Bottle 3 seemed to be where a lot of people found the most smoke. It was another independently bottled, single cask, single malt Scotch whisky with a wine finish – this time a fortified wine though. Ardmore is a large, Suntory-owned distillery, known for being a major component in their Teacher’s blend. While there are Ardmore own-bottlings, it’s far more usual to see it released by independents.
This Cask Masters label belongs to Brave New Spirits (like our Whisky Heroes bottle we included for Burns Night last month) and, similar to the previous Cooper’s Choice releases, focuses on the effect that wood can have, or be made to have, on a whisky. This expression was finished in a first-fill Madeira cask, and I felt from the off that I could pick up on that; I had this one tentatively circled on the shortlist from my initial nose. This ‘meat and sweet’ style of peated whisky is something I love, and I do tend to associate it with sticky wine finishes.
Notes: 👃🏻Chocolate orange, pate, beer, butterscotch, roast beef, dusty, chips 👄Bitter wine, bready, bacon crisps, toffee, ashy, boiled sweets.
The Winner
Vote Winner: Bottle #3 – Madeira finished Ardmore
Unfulfilled Wishes: We missed out on any super heavy smokers this time
A pretty strong vote win for the Ardmore (3:2 versus the other whiskies), and at an event where the aim was to go back and forth, and see how things change, it can’t be confused with that lingering concern that the last whisky wins because it’s what people can remember. With no votes for Johnnie (I wonder if that would have been different had we not revealed it), the rest went to the Highland Park, which, as I wrote, was my favourite too. However, that wasn’t the same pattern seen in the correct guesses: over half of the room correctly guessed whisky 2, with the others each getting guessed by 3 people. And, 4 people guessed two slots correctly! I think all of those stats point to an impressive result for us as a group. I guessed 1 correctly, and I’m happy I could whittle the first selection down to a blend, but ultimately I picked the wrong one.
The picture above was a candid I took at the end: half of one table already following the reveal and finishing of glasses, the remainder still in conversation, discussion and moving freely on. This event definitely fits the model of what I aim to be putting on – there will be more blind flights (some double, some single) to come, for sure.