Snowed in at home, our Director of Whisky Creation, Dr. Bill, began dreaming of this whisky. His goal was to capture the snug and magical feeling of sitting in front of the fireplace as snow blankets the world outside. In pursuit of rich, radiant taste and wintery aroma, he finished the 13-year-old single malt in Marsala wine casks from Sicily.
Glenmorangie whisky
Appearance
This dram is a darker orange and gold colour, with a very viscous swirl line and thick syrupy legs.
Nose
Straight away on the nose is plenty of wood, with a mixture of pomegranate, cranberries, a lovely dustiness. Blood orange zest with molasses come next, and it’s definitely leaning towards zesty spices.
More time and it really is becoming spicy, at 46% ABV it’s fizzy up my nostrils too. Black cherries, black and red liquorice, raisins, and damp leaf litter.
Palate
The mouthfeel isn’t watery, it’s a little oily, and yes there’s plenty of dark fruits. Raisins, cloves, figs, and real minced meat pie filling. The longer the whisky sits in the mouth the spices really ramp up, dark chocolate with dandelion and burdock.
More time and a sweetness joins the party, it has a nice roundedness about it actually. Apricots, icing sugar, and vanilla custard, glide through, white and black pepper play off of each other too, and bitter lemon too.
Finish
The finish is long side of medium in length for me, and the spices continue to push forward, it’s a lovely chest warming dram, and a hip flask full would be the perfect accompaniment on a crisp autumn or winter walk.
My thoughts
This is the 2nd Glenmorangie dram iv’e tasted in as many days, after not trying anything from them since their Millennium Malt, which i very much enjoyed two bottles of back in the day. A good whisky friend sent out generous samples of this and the Spios, and i enjoyed the Spios, but the price was on the high side for me, how does this bottle do.
Well i have to say i preferred this to the Spios, there’re more rounded and deeper flavours in this whisky. It comes across higher than it’s actual ABV, and is fizzy up the nose, the mouthfeel is also slightly thicker than the Spios.
I actually really enjoyed this whisky, and a bottle comes in at £75 – £80, which for whisky that’s at least 13 years old in these times isn’t too bad. To be honest, if i found a bottle discounted somewhere i’d be tempted to buy it, and if someone bought me one, i’d enjoy it.
A big thank you goes out to my whisky friend Paul – @MaltWhitson on Twitter, for sending out these sample. Follow Paul and indeed us on Twitter using the buttons below.
Bottle image – The Whisky Wash.
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