Glen Scotia 1992 GM bottled 2009

It doesn't seem surprising to me that 'strong bitter citrus' and acetone can hide the taste of malt.

I applaud you for the excellent detail you give in your review showing the differences in tastings over differing intervals of time. This is a much fuller, more comprehensive, and, ultimately, more useful picture than is given in most reviews which reveal only a single 'snapshot in time' of the whisky. Please, if you feel called to do so, continue to give this rich level of time-development information.

Thanks @Victor for your comments, yes I plan to continue to provide tasting notes over time because I'm conscious that whiskies do change after opening and I want to know, at least for my own records, how they change.

One thing I'll be working on though, is getting the word count down to something more appropriate without losing too much detail! I might give two time points only in the body of the review (1 week, 1 month) and follow up with subsequent or intermediate time point summaries in the comments for anyone interested.

@sysemdown, yes, I think that you could 'burn out' as a reviewer if all of your reviews ran to this length. It is a challenge to give a good time-picture of whiskies, because it requires an enormous amount of time and observation, a very good memory, and maybe more patience than most whisky-lovers possess. If I were to standardize time reviews, which I have not yet, I would probably review at three points: 1) within a week of opening, 2)after three months of the bottle opened, and 3)after 8 months of the bottle opened. These intervals are based on my observations of typical intervals of common taste changes. They don't account for some of the more long-term change intervals, which can take place on occasion at one and even two years time.

@systemdown, very detailed and precise review. The time development plays a major role in whisky reviewing and is often overlooked. What you could try is a method I tried for a vertical tasting first : aerating - you can fill your Whisky in little bottles and aerate them in a large decanter for several days; it is fascinating: i had five bottles; 1st filled with Whisky from freshly opened bottle; 2nd Bottle with Whisky aerated for three days; 3rd with aerated for six days, 4th bottle with whisky aerated for 18 days and 5th bottle with whisky aerated for 35 days. The results are stunning and you can have all the bottles at the same time to compare directly...

Brilliant review my friend! As has been said I do love the way that you have given different time references with how the whisky has evolved and changed. I am sorely tempted to do the same thing as I feel that gives a much better review. Once again AWESOME!!!

@Victor I can see where you're coming from RE: tasting during the first week (to allow the whisky to open up a little and get over "bottle shock") and then at 3 months, but 8 months would be a stretch I think given how warm and humid it is here in Brisbane.

From anecdotal evidence and my own experience it seems to me that my whiskies are oxidising faster here than for other people in cooler climes, even with minimal air in a bottle. I would perhaps keep a little whisky aside beyond 6 months but only to see how badly it has faired and these days would definitely not intend to keep a whisky beyond 6 months if I can help it unless it's decanted into a much smaller bottle and filled to the brim.

It's something I'll be testing though, to see if there's a pattern to the duration that a whisky has been open (and the ratio of air to whisky involved) when a whisky starts to develop distinct off-notes due to oxidisation because I haven't approached this rigorously and I'm really curious to try.

@maltster I like your approach with a tasting flight of the same whisky at different intervals! I will definitely try this. I feel so far from what I've experienced that the more subtle, complex and multi-faceted whiskies will suffer greater over shorter durations than their less complex counterparts e.g. a Bruichladdich Infinity I had the pleasure of opening once suffered greatly and very quickly, compared to a straightforward, non complex dram like a stock Glenlivet. I'm sure an "extreme" example like Octomore would also fair well over a greater duration given it has less to "lose" if you know what I mean and subtle changes will be masked.

I work in the research sector and whenever I start getting into topics involving whisky I can't help but think "there's a research paper in this!" - any chemists here?

@SquidgyAsh thanks mate. It takes a lot of dedication and a lot of dramming to taste a whisky several times! And with "fresh" senses each time and no peaking at previous notes or scores to make it as fair and impartial as possible. I even have calendar entries now that go something like: "Dalmore 4 weeks tasting" and "decant Glen Scotia" so I don't miss anything that I have to do. If only I worked this hard at my day job =D Look forward to a "time-course" review of yours - a Bourbon maybe, that would be real interesting!

@Systemdown that does sound extremely tough, but it might be bloody fun to do that with the next bottle of bourbon I get. Like you said going into it eyes wide shut each time is going to be really hard haha! Again AWESOME review!

@systemdown, my suggestion of 8 months as a whisky re-tasting interval is an empirical observation based on my experience in this particular location with it's peculiar climate: cool-cold winter and a hot humid summer. For me, here, the reason for that particular time is that I have seen a lot of whisky changes in the 5 to 7 months after-bottle-opened period. 8 months is the near side of the end of that period. Specific climate and storage conditions no doubt make a difference in the rates at which these changes take place.