Our trip to the Spirit of Speyside last year left us with mixed feelings about the magnificent and progressive fate of scotch, but we certainly appreciated the attitude of Glen Moray, a distillery located in Elgin (frankly ugly, but it’s not nice what’s nice, it’s nice what you like, you know): hospitality, pleasure to welcome tourists, plenty of bacon H24, whisky flights and hand-filled single casks at reasonable prices… In short, lots of heart. Today we taste the official 18 years old, matured exclusively in American Oak First fill.
N: frosted red apple, jam croissants (strawberry jam), burnt sugar, a bit of stewed fruit (apple above all). Then, shy hints of red fruits (actually growing, wild strawberries, we would say). Pastry, shortbread. Notes of wood polish. Strong but very modern hints.
P: very consistent, perhaps a little more vanilla driven compared to the nose, but the profile remains very fruity. Apple in all its forms, still cooked fruit, raisins. A sense of ‘very simple and constructed’ remains. Not unpleasant, mind you, but a bit heavy in the long run.
F: surprisingly, it gathers a bit on a slightly bitter and spicy note, of toasted wood and cinnamon. Otherwise, still a lot of apple.
It is well made, nothing can be said wrong with it: round, soft, pleasant and without doubt very full. There’s still the feeling of one-dimensionality, it hasn’t evolved, and in the long run it’s a bit boring… But let’s be clear, at 80€ it’s more than competitive, people will like it: with this cryptic and senseless closure, we’re going to rate it 85/100.
Recommended soundtrack: Wu-Tang Clan – Bells of War.
