Side by side: Battle of the Tawny Ports

I'm a sucker for Tawny Port cask finished whiskies, and if the spirit is peated you can just take my money!

In this blog I'm comparing five of my favourites, lets see which comes out on top!

I'm not going to go into any detail on what Port is - I covered it in my blog here, suffice to say it's a fortified wine!

Unsurprisingly all five of these drams are from some of my favourite distilleries: 2 from Glen Moray, 1 from Loch Lomond and 2 from Glen Scotia. There's four single casks and 1 limited edition ranging in age from 6yo to 14yo with all of them being in the mid to high 50% ABV range.

Dram	Glen Moray Peated Port 2011 6yo Single Cask #6000434	Glen Moray Peated Port 2011 9yo Single Cask #600430	Loch Lomond Peated Port 2006 13yo Single Cask #18/550-12	Glen Scotia Peated Tawny Port 14yo	Glen Scotia Peated Tawny Port 2005 14yo Single Cask #2017/413-6
Characteristics	55.6% ABV 3 year 'finish'	53.4% ABV 6 year 'finish'	53.1% ABV 18m finish	52.8% ABV 7m finish	57.8% ABV 3 year finish
Distillery notes	First fill bourbons then the first GM peated spirit to be finished, in this case in 540 litre Port Pipes. Both of these casks were from the same batch, the 9yo just has a longer finish. The 600 on the cask number means it’s a finish and makes it easily recognisable. New make casks reset to 1 each year whereas the 600 number keeps going. Distilled at the same time in 2011, 430 was released as a 6yo, 434 as a 9yo - there may be more to come as 431, 432  & 433 were Peated Port too.		Spirit from straight neck still with a wide cut (low collection strength) from 50ppm phenol. Refill American oak then 18mths 1st Fill Tawny Port Hogshead. Sweet peat and salted caramel to the fore, with cinnamon and baked apple emerging amongst raisins and golden syrup. A hint of nutmeg and clove-studded orange mellow to reveal melted brown sugar and vanilla oak spice in the finish.	Combination of 2004 and 2005 heavy peat and 2006 medium peat. Vatted together and filled into 1st fill tawny port for 7 months before bottling. Nose : Blackberry, floral notes of rose and ocean spray. Palate : Silky mouthfeel, crisp green apple, peach syrup and vanilla with a honey sweetness. Finish : Gentle peat smoke with blackcurrant, raspberry and clove spice.	Heavily Peated, Recharred American Oak Hogshead,  Tawny Port Hogshead finish.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Light gold but with a pink hew. The pinkest of the 5 drams in the flight. Swirls cling as a hairline crack, slowly bead up and fall as slow thin legs.	Mid gold, darker than the 6yo but still with a pink hew. Swirls form tiny beads which cling to the glass before falling as slow thin legs.	Burnished gold with a hint of pink in the glass, swirls cling, eventually forming beads which fall as quick thick legs.	Reddy / pink gold in the glass, swirls cling forming an inverted crown with beads eventually falling as slow thick legs.	Brown in the glass, the darkest of the five drams, swirls leave a hairline crack which beads up and falls as well space thick slow legs.
Nose	Huge earthy peat smoke notes, the ABV tickles too. This is quite a dirty dram, tyre rubber, tarmac, engine oil - very Ledaig like. Once you get past the peat the fruit is more orchard than berry on the nose.	The extra 3 years have had a huge impact on this dram, the smoke has subsided and the berry fruit has come to the fore. There's still a hint of Ledaig's dirtiness and some orchard fruit but strawberries, blackberries and raspberries are here in abundance.	Light peat smoke, orchard and berry fruit notes with a little sweet citrus. Maybe a small hint of orange zest? A little time in the glass dissipates the smoke a little and the berries shine through.	Huge peat smoke and maritime salt notes - bonfire on a beach. But this beach is on a tropical island - hints of tropical fruit - pineapple and peach. A little time in the glass and the berry notes start to come through, previously masked by the smoke, a little air reveals strawberries, raspberries and some blackberries.	The ABV hits you first on this one, then loads of thick sweet strawberry jam and old musty bookshop notes. The smoke and salinity from the 14yo is here but it's more subdued, the port cask has had more of an influence giving berry fruit notes.
Palate	Thick syrupy arrival, some peppery spice and a kick from the ABV. The peat smoke and port cask influence is very drying in the mouth - but the berry notes, missing from the nose, come through on the palate - blackberries, blackcurrants, strawberries and cherries. A few more sips and the dram gets a little drier and a little sweeter - some orchard fruit hints coming through.	Sweet chewy arrival, very moreish, huge berry notes - blackberries, raspberries and strawberries like it's younger brother but these are sweeter and punchier. There's a peppery spice in here too and a little hint of honey. Again as the liquid disappears the mouth is left dry - needing more liquid and the cycle continues!	Thick syrupy arrival, very sweet with a huge ginger spice note. The smoke arrives blanketing everything then rolls away to leave notes of dark berries - blackberries, blackcurrants & black cherries. As the liquid disappears there's a sweet citrus fizz on the tongue and a huge drying note in the mouth.	Typical oily Glen Scotia arrival, huge sweet berry fruit notes from the nose, sea salt and then a huge wave of smoke swamps everything. The berries then shine through - blackberries with little hints of strawberries then a sour grapefruit citrus note - lovely. There's a gingery spice note as the liquid disappears.	Again a thick creamy arrival, a lot more smoke on this one then loads of strawberry jam. There's plenty of dried fruit, a little liquorice and that Campbeltown seaweed saltiness. A few more sips give some dark fruit notes : date, plum, fig and black cherry - yummy! Very drying with a gingery spice.
Finish	Lingering smoke and berry notes - very drying.	Long lingering dry smoke, huge berry notes and a little peppery spice.	Long lingering sweet and sour citrus with smoke and oaky dryness.	Drying effect from the citrus, long lingering smoke and berry fruit notes in balance with a hint of the ginger spice.	Huge drying note on this one - like dry red wine. Peat smoke and salt lingering forever.
Overall	Like most drams they all benefitted from a little time in the glass to breath - I think the nose is much better after 20-30 minutes than when first poured. It was really interesting to try the two Glen Moray side by side - the same distillation matured in the same type of casks - one 3 years older than the other. The smoke had dulled a little and the port cask having more berry fruit influence. The high ABV on both of them gave a lovely thick mouthfeel with a drying note. The Loch Lomond, the lightest of the 5 drams, had a higher initial PPM but the smoke influence wasn't as high as on the other 4, there was also a citrus fizz which the other 4 didn't have - the Glen Scotia 14yo did have some sour citrus notes. This adds a layer of complexity that the other drams don't have. The Glen Scotia 14yo, my favourite dram of 2020, ticks all the boxes for me oily, salty, smoky and loads of berry fruits but when up against these other Peated Ports it doesn't quite stand out as much. The Glen Scotia single cask is a different beast altogether - some dunnage warehouse notes hint at sherry rather than a port finish. I first tried this in one of Glen Scotia's dunnage warehouses back in 2019 and it was an amazing dram, standing out for me in huge range that we tried. Sitting back now, I've finally opened the bottle I brought home, brings back those memories - so maybe my judgement is slightly clouded? The GS Single Cask is the best of the five, admittedly not by much - they are all very good drams. There is a huge difference in the length of the finishes on each of these I think longer is better if you want sweet berry notes and the Glen Moray #600430 stands out above the rest. I think it's just the Glen Scotia maritime influence that sways it for me! Forced to choose an order I would go GS #2017/413-6, GM #600430, GS 14yo, LL #18/550-12, GM #400434 but they are all YUMMY!