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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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July 14, 2021 |
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Celebrating Bastille Day
with a few Glen Moray |
We could have had French whiskies but we went for some Glen Moray instead, since it's French group La Martiniquaise that bought the distillery and the brand from another French group, Glenmorangie Ltd, around ten years ago or a little more. Ha, the French. I believe the reputation of Glen Moray has improved, although the name always had its unapologetic aficionados. All you had to do was to avoid some of the really strange early wine finishings. |
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Glen Moray 10 yo 'Fired Oak' (40%, OB, +/-2020) 
This baby's said to have been inspired by bourbon. What a funny idea. It's been finished in heavily charred American oak, not too sure if they've pushed it to alligator-grade burning. Oh and no chardonnay this time (WF 79). Colour: straw. Nose: absolutely not the sweetness and mellowness of bourbon, no caramel, no toffee, no big vanilla, no popcorn and no coconut or even rye-y touches, rather a very dry grassy and rooty combination, with a little fresh ginger and turmeric, then bags of autumn leaves and rather walnut skins. A little Campari. Mouth: same feeling, it is not sweet and rounded, rather on heavyish cinnamon and bitter herbs before it would, indeed, become a little more vanilla-ed, with some citrus. Some sawdust, pencil shavings, more grass. Finish: not that short but grassy. Pears. Comments: pretty okay. The price remains rather budgety (S.!) Not a bad drop at all.
SGP:351 - 78 points. |
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Glen Moray 12 yo 2008/2020 (49.5%, Fadandel.dk, 1st fill oloroso quarter cask, cask #28B, 135 bottles) 
Colour: light gold. Nose: very nutty sherry, with a mix of walnut cake and chicory coffee. Some toffee too, touch of muscovado, a pinch of ground clove, and a little ras el hanout. That's all very fine and very well, this has been well made, with modern (albeit good) wood technology. Mouth: rich, spicy, very good if you like deep walnut liqueur and, indeed ras el hanout. More toffee and butterscotch too, fudge, café latte, even touches of garam masala. All is well. Finish: long, with even more walnuts, green ones this time, and a little curry perhaps. Comments: feels mike some charring's been going on, which seems to have worked extremely well.
SGP:461 - 86 points. |
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Glen Moray 12 yo 2007/2020 (53.6%, Golden Cask, bourbon, cask #CM258, 204 bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: this one's all natural, totally spirit-driven, and really rather on grist and porridge, leaven bread, sourdough, wet plaster… Apples in the background. With water: more of all that, with perhaps more fruits, rather around shy ones, starfruits, gooseberries, greengages… Mouth (neat): very solid malt, on grapefruits, beer, bread and touches of yeast. Viva la nature! With water: surely less complex than the ex-oloroso, which is normal, but there's something very honest to this, something very… yeah, natural. Finish: same. Medium length, green fruits and bread doughs. Comments: it does not quite bring the house down, but I enjoy this style and appreciate the honesty in here. If you see what I mean…
SGP:441 - 85 points. |
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Glen Moray 2007/2019 (46%, Scyfion Choice, Foursquare finish, 97 bottles)
There's a lot of literature on the back label but I'm afraid it's written in Cyrillic, since this is an Ukrainian bottling. Let's try this wee mixed (not sham) marriage… Colour: straw. Nose: the whisky's kept the upper hand, which is all that counts in my book. Ale, baguette and leaven bread, touch of butter, then apple pie, damson tarte, and then indeed notes of rum, rather around bananas flambéed and just rum baba. Blends well but to be honest, good malt whisky and Foursquare are not, in my book, complete strangers to each other. I mean philosophically. Mouth: a tad tenser and bitterer perhaps, with a faint feeling of toothpaste (mint, eucalyptus), then good well-behaved fruits, around apples and green bananas. Finish: long, on similar notes, with some unexpected touches of salt in the aftertaste. This one plays with your lips. Comments: a very excellent wee variant.
SGP:541 - 85 points. |
I always liked Scyfion's funny proposals, let's have more… |
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Glen Moray 2007/2019 (50%, Scyfion Choice, Areni Noir finish, 132 bottles) 
Tell me about a lousy wine enthusiast, would you believe that I had never, ever heard of Areni Noir? What I'm gathering is that it was an extremely old high-altitude Armenian varietal that's now been replanted. Sure the term 'noir' sounds a little French, but I do not think Areni Noir's ever been planted in my sometimes strange home country. Colour: onion peel, or 'partridge eye' (oeil de perdrix). Nose: the thing is, Glen Moray's no Ardbeg or Clynelish, so I would say it could take any finishing without many risks. In this case, and that's not only because of the colour, we're not that far from a rosé de Provence. So sure it smells a little vinous. With water: more than okay, it is pretty nice. Reminds me of Belgian Kriek beer, not only because of the colour. Mouth (neat): pretty good, doesn't quite feel like a premix, rather like if someone had thrown raspberries into the mash. So it remains whisky and I am not totally against this. Even if it's not my preferred style of whisky, naturally. With water: not bad at all, on the contrary. Sweet, malty, grapey. Finish: same with a peppery, also almost stalky side. Some liquorice too. Comments: I'm not saying I would choose this over Clynelish 1965, but there, it's a nice drop with a real feeling of 'some place'.
SGP:541 - 83 points. |
Perhaps some brutes by the SMWS now?... |
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Glen Moray 18 yo 2001/2020 (56.7%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, 1st fill bourbon barrel, #35.265, 'Meditation Medication', 181 bottles)
Meditation Medication, ha, I suppose that one was too good to miss and after all, both alliterations and rich rhymes do not kill anyone anymore. Colour: straw. Nose: I'm not sure we'd feel the older age, but it's got good flints, grist, chalk, weissbeer, then vanilla and 'barrel mangos'. I think it's pretty nice. With water: jelly babies, marshmallows, vanilla and orange cakes. The very spongey ones… Mouth (neat): really very good, rounder, yet tight, with a little varnish plus pear and pineapple liqueurs, and indeed rather a lot of vanilla. Foam bananas (apologies, dear SMWS). With water: swims extremely well. Fruit salad, fruit cake, jellybeans, earl grey, touch of cherry mints. Finish: of good length, sweet, fruity, bonbony. Comments: very good, very easy, very docile, very versatile.
SGP:641 - 86 points. |
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Glen Moray 24 yo 1995/2020 (53.5%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, The Gathering, 1st fill bourbon barrel, #35.259, 'Rumtopf, birnenbrot and stollen', 222 bottles)
Sweet Wotan, shouldn't they have rather named this one 'Rumtopf, Birnenbrot Und Stollen'? Hoppla… Colour: light gold. Nose: I cannot not think of Glenmorangie here. Very soft, mellow, on soft banana cream, sponge cake, Jaffa cakes, overripe apples… Really the style of a malt that hasn't got much character, without being empty at all. Pears. Those tall stills, you know (we're talking 'bout Glenmo). With water: bonbons and Grand-Marnier, with a drop of gentian spirit. Which, as you very well know, will cure anything. Mouth (neat): tighter than expected and really totally on stewed orchard fruits. Mirabelles, apples, pears, plums, peaches, etc. plus some barley syrup. With water: williams pears, mirabelles, perhaps guavas, plus light corn bread and a drop of coconut water. Finish: short to medium, rather caky and very soft. Finger biscuits dipped into real Champagne (not shampanskoye, dear Mr Putin). Comments: another relatively lighter old Glen Moray. Not mindboggling, but very good.
SGP:641 - 85 points. |
Speaking of old Glen Moray, let's have a last one… |
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Glen Moray-Glenlivet 20 yo 1977/1997 (63%, Cadenhead, Authentic Collection) 
As I sometimes say, it's reassuring to learn from the label that CAD are using oak casks and not plywood straight from Ikea or, sob, Home Depot. Colour: light gold. Nose: it was a fatter, but also a feintier spirit, more on craft beer, low wine, sour fruit juice, fermenting cherries, whey, fermenting bananas… What an adventurous nose! With water: wood glue! Not sure we should have added water, my friend. Mouth (neat): oh the good old times when quality control was done at the pub. This is really extra-wacky, sour and acidic, very fermentary, with some metallic sides and something that's just not right. Anti-rust paint? Plastic? With water: doesn't improve mucho, except that you'll find more elderberry liqueur and some dried fermented litchis. Which is all an acquired taste, I would add. Finish: medium, on something like sweet wine that started to referment – or something. Fish oil, toothpaste, paper and carbon in the aftertaste. Comments: ah the good old times of free whisky. I mean, free whisky as in free jazz. It's got something very charming, but on the other hand, let's remain honest…
SGP:462 - 70 points. |
(Thank you Pierre-Alexandre and Tim) |
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