Our final stop of the night at Whisky Live was at the Bowmore stand. As with Laphroaig and Caol Ila, we really couldn’t leave an event like this without seeing what Bowmore had to offer.

The Bowmore was lovely but not particularly memorable: the basic expressions, with all their soft smoothness, but whatever else we would have had to say about them was eclipsed by the staggering whisky we got our hands on when we tried the Ardbeg Very Young trick and got into conversation with the guys running the stall and asked them what they had under the counter.

The answer was a truly amazing bottle of whisky. Hand drawn from the cask that morning by the chief taster at Glen Garioch (who was there doling it out) they had a single small bottle from a single cask of 1971 Glen Garioch. His verdict was ‘this one’s ready’. Ours was ‘blimey!’. This was the single smoothest whisky I have ever tasted. It slipped down so easily that it practically only consisted of the nose and the finish. These were beautiful. If this ever hits the open market, I expect it will cost a lot of money, but if you ever get the chance to get your hands on a dram, take it, sit back and savour.

Mmmmmmmmmmm.