A chameleon-like shifting from briney and smoky to soft and sweet to fruity and sour. While eclectic, I cannot call it disjointed. The transitions between personalities is seamless, and the experience whole. I’ve never had anything quite like Clynelish, and I think it’s an experience that any serious malt drinker should have.
This is dessert whisky, and no bones about it. While the GlenDronach house style (meaty/oily) is missing here, this is still one robust, flavor-filled escapade of a whisky. Sweet to the point of cloying, but excellently balanced by a grapey acidity and fruity complexity. Truly a pleasure, especially for a lover of dessert wines.
Unfortunately, Oak Cross just didn’t gel for me. The individual notes are interesting – truly the first time I’ve identified clove notes so clearly – but they do not combine harmoniously. While I would recommend anyone interested in the alchemy of wood and spirit give this dram a serious contemplation, I can’t suggest buying a bottle untasted.
Bank Note blended scotch from the Morrison family is 1 liter of blended scotch for $20. That’s cheaper than… well, just about everything else. Given the current market conditions, at that price, it -should- taste like garbage. It doesn’t.
A blended scotch whisky will soon be launched after being successfully funded on crowdsourced startup birthplace Kickstarter…. At any rate, your money is better spent on a product from a passionate small-business venture like SIA than on yet another bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label. Go SIA!
Despite its faults this could easily serve as a “third round” scotch or sacrificial bottle for undiscerning visitors. I would say this particular bottle is worth exactly $26. Right on, Mr. Trader Joe.
Around this time of year I get a lot of emails from people asking for gift suggestions. So, I’ve worked up a handy little chart for anyone who wants to gift something “slightly better” than last year’s gift.
…that makes it my “desert island” whisky book, and the one I would recommend anchor any whisky lover’s library. If Dave Broom’s World Atlas of Whisky were a dram, I would definitely award it with a “Must Have” rating.
An interesting one. It has almost no presence in the nose, but shows really nice body on the tongue. It isn’t until the finish that the flavors really come to life. Seems odd to skip the smelling and tasting stages to get to the good stuff, but there it is.
Ok, fine, it’s really not that bad. It has some nice floral elements in the nose, a straightforward flavor, and not too much bitterness on the finish. For $30, you could certainly do worse, but I feel that for a little more money, one could enjoy a wide variety of single-malts that shine in their own ways.