Saturday, January 5, 2019
Glenmorangie, Port Dundas, McCrae/Balvenie, GlenDronach, Whisky Review
Lets see if I’m willing to continuously record my whisky drinking. If I end up giving scores or opinions, do keep in mind that those scores are primarily based on my own preferences and everyone’s interests and tastes differ so YMMV.
Most of what I’ll be posting are either single casks and/or special editions so procurement options are going to be limited at best. Non-existent on average.
In no particular order:
Glenmorangie Spios (Annual release 10 Rye Cask Finish):
While I’m still a fan of Glenmorangie’s Special editions, this one didn’t particularly strike me as interesting on the palate as some others did (ahoy there Companta!). Somewhat of a strange mix between single malt and american rye with neither having dominance. Quite drinkable and easy though. Smells way better than it tastes to me.
https://www.klwines.com/p/i?i=1344733
Score: N/A
Port Dundas Single Grain 36 y/o Single Cask:
Holy Shit! This stuff is amazing. Who the hell can even say that’s grain!? Can I use that as a cologne? It smells of ALL THAT IS MAN! This stuff is better than good. Smoky (barrel, not peat) , spicy, beautiful. Par excellence. On extremely short list of whiskeys that I can be happy drinking rest of my life if I could.
https://www.klwines.com/p/i?i=1192854
Score: N/A
John McCrae 22 Single cask (Spooned Balvenie):
Beautiful stuff, unlike a lot of Balvenie’s regular expressions this is pure version, no dark sherry influence or rum casks, but also no funk that typical fresh Balvenie bottles have (that dissipates in 24 to 48 hours after opening). Clean, light, beautiful.
https://www.klwines.com/p/i?i=1330635
Score: N/A
GlenDronach 12 (regular stuff):
Ah GlenDronach 12… ScotchNoob ( https://scotchnoob.c … ch-12-year-original/ ) sings you plenty of praises which are beyond whatever I’m able to spew onto the page. Regardless,, a wonderful workhorse sherry bomb 12 y/o, arguably better than Macallan 12 for half the price. One of the few members of “fantastic-under-$50” club (with whisky prices rising, probably not for long). Cheap, great, very sherry. Try it, stock it onto your shelf. Makes for fantastic crowd-pleasing single malt, a poor-man’s Macallan if you will that won’t break the bank for those that need to entertain more uncouth acquaintances or bring a bottle somewhere. Hell, drink it yourself too!
https://www.klwines.com/p/i?i=620112
Score: N/A