Glen Moray Single Casks

You can't win them all and unfortunately I did win in the ballot for the Glen Moray @TweetTasting back in January, I can't really complain as I get lucky on quite a few of them!

I have lots of great whisky friends and a great mate of mine @jwbassman_ saved half his samples and sent them up! Thanks in no small part to @GlenMorayGCoull for the generous sample sizes he supplied!

Another fantastic photo from John!

Each of these were single cask, cask strength experimental(?) drams which will one day appear as Bottle Your Own casks in the @GlenMorayDist Visitor's Centre.

So what were the drams - and more importantly what did I think of them?

First up was the 1998 Glen Moray PX Finish

Age: 19
ABV : 47.2%
Cask: 99913
Maturation: 15.5 years bourbon cask & 3 years 4 months in an ex Pedro Ximenez sherry butt

My thoughts: Yellow gold colour, gravity defying swirls eventually running to slow fat legs. Initial nose sweet honey!
Nose: Chocolate orange dominates, loads of currents, raisins, honey and a hint of spice. There's also home pears in here, slightly warmed and smothered in honey!
Palate: Quite thick, oily, warming, lots of spicy orange, more of the dried fruit, pears and apples.
Finish: Long and spicy, there's ginger and orange going on with that lovely warming feeling from the palate going all the way to my belly!

 Next up was the 2002 Glen Moray Cabernet Sauvignon

Age: 15
ABV : 56.8%
Cask: 6002334
Maturation: 9 months of its maturation in Cabernet Sauvignon casks from Bordeaux

My thoughts: A lovely red tinged gold colour, gravity defying swirls again eventually running to slow fat legs. Initial nose wine and icing sugar!
Nose: A huge alcohol kick from this one, will add water late! Loads of honey, icing sugar and vanilla to start. Underneath this there's some toffee and golden syrup.
Palate: Very sweet! Layers of golden syrup and honey. Orange, chilli spice more of the icing sugar leaving a real dryness on the tongue. This one is really sickly sweet, not really my cup of tea. Opens up a little with water, strawberries on the nose and palate, but it's a sweet strawberry jam note rather than fresh strawberries. All together a little sweet for me.... Better with the water but for those with a sweet tooth!
Finish: Big kick off ginger spice finishes this off.

 Third on the list was the 2008 Glen Moray Cider Finish

Age: 9
ABV : 51.8%
Cask: 99956
Maturation: 7.7 years bourbon cask & 2 years in twice used Thistly Cross Cider casks

My thoughts: Very unusual, I've never heard of a cider finished whisky before! Very pale gold, almost Islay-esk! Again the high ABV noticeable with the swirls, slow fat legs. Initial nose sour apples!
Nose: Sour apples dominate but there's a lot here, There's a syrup note and dried fruit, reminds me of baked apples my mum used to make for pudding after a Sunday Roast! Just missing the custard!
Palate: Lots of sweet honey, very drying, hints of chocolate lime sweets? The dryness had a woody note to it which continues through to the finish. Nice!







Next up was the 2007 Glen Moray Port Finish

Age: 11
ABV : 57.1%
Cask: 20050
Maturation: 6 years bourbon cask & 5 years Tawny Port casks.

My thoughts: Deep red gold colour, swirls give slow thick legs, initial nose winey with a big kick of alcohol.
Nose: Another really sweet dram, lots of golden syrup. Some dark chocolate,  black cherries, yummy!
Palate: Very thick, mouth filling, very dry, port shows through but tastes very similar to how it smells: syrup, dark chocolate, dark cherries. But some additional fruit strawberries, red currants. Lovely dram! A little water to tame the 57.1% softens the syrup and brings out the fruit on the nose. On the palate the water reduces the sweetness again bring the fruit to the fore. This is a brilliant dram!
Finish: Very spicy, ginger and chilli, tempered a little by the water.





Final dram was the 2010 Glen Moray Peated PX Finish

Age: 8
ABV : 55.8%
Cask: 99917
Maturation: 3.5 years bourbon cask & 3 years 4 months in an ex Pedro Ximenez sherry butt

My thoughts: Lovely reddy gold colour, again gravity defying swirls eventually giving slow thin legs, initial nose smokey bacon crisps!
Nose: Wow what a nose! Smokey Bacon dominates, but with hints of red fruit, BBQ meats and some heather. YUMMY!
Palate:hick spicy, smoky, fruity it's got everything! The smoke and spice hit you straight away, BBQ spicy meats. The fruit follows along afterwards, strawberries and raspberries dominate.
Finish: A great balance of smoke, spice and fruit!

 A recent BYO I got was a Peated Port that was fantastic! Of the 5 Peated PX & Port finishes came out as favourites, the Cider & PX finishes were very good but the Cabernet Sauvignon was just too sweet for me.

Thanks very much to John for sharing the samples and Graham & the team for distilling them!