Pintail – Mannochmore 2008 14 Years Old Tokaji Aszú Finish 55.1% ABV (The Whisky Cellar).

Tokaji Aszú, the famous highly prized Hungarian sweet wine is one of the oldest known European wines, going back to the Roman times of 300AD. These wines are deliciously floral and fruity-sweet in style typically with apricots, nectarines and ripe peaches and a touch of honey, taking the deliciously fruity-floral Mannochmore character to new heights after a 6-month long ‘finishing’ period.

Tokai Aszú Finish # 3075 (14 Years Old) | 289 bottles | 55.1% | RRP £80.00

The Whisky Cellar

Appearance

Slightly darker than mid gold, and the medium thick swirl line drops very slow thick legs. #TheWhiskyCellar

Nose

Madeira cake, wood varnish, marmalade, apricots, comes with a eucalyptus twist too. Jammy dodgers, sweet lemon jellies, and light ginger. #TheWhiskyCellar

Dry cut grass, weetabix, greengages, and green grapes too now, and white wine. #TheWhiskyCellar

Palate

Nice mouthfeel, and the palate offers more than the nose. Straight into spices, cinnamon and ginger, cumin and anise, and followed by clove and rhubarb sweetness. Marmalade comes through too, and it’s a bit of a spice monster actually. #TheWhiskyCellar

More time and it’s still very spicy for me, but sweetness is coming forward more. Cocktail cherries, dare I say pink panther wafer biscuits again, redcurrants, a little drying, and we’re into black tea, dark chocolate digestives, and dark plums. #TheWhiskyCellar

Finish

Long side of medium in length, and still nicely and boldly balanced, this is a big dram that I think improves hugely over time. It’s a mass of dark fruits, and their syrup, it tasted thick and syrupy. Espresso and oak at the very end. #TheWhiskyCellar

My thoughts

My experience with Mannochmore released by independent bottlers up to the present has been on the whole quite positive. Only one that i have tried was a little underwhelming, so i approached this bottling with an overall positive feeling.

Having tasted it, i can say that i really enjoyed this bottling. I couldn’t find anything out of place, in fact it’s very nicely balanced all the way through. I do happen to enjoy drams from Ex Tokaji wine casks, iv’e tried around 6 now, and found this cask type imparts positive characteristics to the whisky within.

It’s a yes from me, and a bottling i’d happily have in my whisky cupboard.

A big thank you goes out to @whisky_cellar, @TweetTastings, and @TheWhiskyWire for letting me take part in the tasting this bottle was a part off. For transparency, this sample was sent to me free of charge, this in no way impacts on my review of it.