Long awaited Cadenhead tasting consisting of 7 different bottles. Let the war tasting begin...
Why Cadenheads?.. Just two facts to mention:
1. It's the oldest Scottish independent bottler founded in 1842 in Aberdeen. We have plenty of distilleries being younger than these guys.
2. In 1972 Mitchell's family came into possession, you might have heard something about Springbank distillery they also own :)
So let's go:
Glen Moray 17 yo CA 55.8% - freshly cut grass, lemongrass and grapes in the nose. Palate is quite agressive, spicy, with hints of bread and malt. Grassy bitterness in the aftertaste. It's not bad at all, though there is no breakthrough in neither component. Score = 21 20 21 21, 83/100!
Benriach 19 yo CA 47.1% - aroma of pear lollipop :) apart from that you also get menthol and creaminess. The body is fruity and minty. Quite pleasant malt I should say. Score = 22 21 21 21, 85/100!
Glen Spey 19 yo CA 58.5% - well, some milky and grassy notes in the nose. Palate is spicy and bittery, aftertaste is short. You can still call it a malt, though from 19 yo I was expecting a bit more... Score = 20 20 20 20, 80/100!
Glenlossie 21 yo CA 56.1% - freshly cut green grass, summer meadow, honey and pollen.. Wow! Palate is on honey, lemons, malt and seeds. Mint in the aftertaste. Just lovely, that's a malt I definitely want to return to! Score = 22 22 22 23, 89/100!
Glen Garioch 23 yo CA 54.4% - vanilla and dried apples in the nose. After a while some leather notes appear. Not an easy malt at all, I managed to make friends with it only after 30 minutes. Taste is on fruits, nuts, oak, leather and earth. After long speculation I'd go into higher score: 22 22 22 22, 88/100!
Linkwood 28 yo CA 58.4% - have you ever met a Linkwood that's not Linkwood at all? Here it is. Lemons, salted butter and autumn leaves in the nose. The taste is sharp and oily, you get again some sea water, oak and liquorice. Matured in Campbelltown? Shall I call it Linkbank? Or Springwood? :) Score = 22 22 22 22, 88/100!
Glenlivet 42 yo CA 40.2% - touch of lollipops, oils, precious wood, marzipans, beautiful nose! Reminds me of Glenlivet 1974 GM. The taste is very calm, all on semitones and nuances. Light menthol in the aftertaste. It's a kind of whisky you can take both for thinking and for drinking, it will be good in both cases. Would not be so fair to compare it with cask strength malts anyway. Score = 23 21 22 23, 89/100!
Conclusions: if we remove Glenlivet 42 yo from the contest my top-3 would be Glenlossie, Linkwood and Glen Garioch. All of the are wonderfully made and possibly worth your attention.
No comments:
Post a Comment