Side by side: a flight of Indie Glen Ord

Glen Ord is one of the three distilleries which are sold as Diageo's Singleton brand. There haven't been many distillery bottlings but indie releases are readily available.

Let's try four...

First let's find out a little more:

Build in 1838 by the local laird Thomas MacKenzie the distillery at Muir of Ord was leased out to a succession of owners who ran it with varying degrees of success. Dundee-based blenders Jas Watson took charge in 1896 and expanded the site before selling it on to Dewar’s in 1923.

Two years later was absorbed into the greater DCL (and then Diageo) estate. It is one of only three distilleries alongside Springbank and Roseisle who malt all of their own barley.

In 1961 the original floor maltings were replaced with Saladin boxes, then in 1968  large drum maltings was built which today produces malt for all of Diageo’s northern plants, Talisker and, on occasion, makes heavily peated malt for Islay.

Glen Ord is famous for it's clear wort, long fermentation, a high cut point and copper rich distillation which gives a very grassy new make. Hot water in the shell and tube condensers extends the contact time between vapour and copper with the actual condensing takes place in after-coolers. 

Whilst not readily available as a single malt, Diageo uses Glen Ord as it's Asian triplet for the Singleton bottlings. Europe gets Dufftown and North America get Glendullan.

Indie bottlings are readily available and here I'm trying two from James Eadie and two from Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers' Càrn Mòr range.

Dram	2011 9yo Small Batch casks: 313939, 313519 & 313524 James Eadie	2012 10yo Casks 800173 & 800238 Càrn Mòr Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers	2012 9yo Càrn Mòr Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers	2013 9yo Single Cask #362231 James Eadie
Characteristics	FF & 2 x RF Ex-bourbon hogsheads 46% ABV, NCF, Natural colour 1,118 bottles	1yr Wasted Degrees Porter Cask 54.5% ABV, NCF, Natural colour 428 bottles	Ruby Port Finish 47.5% ABV, NCF, Natural colour 890 bottles	FF Oloroso Butt 57.3% ABV, NCF, Natural colour 575 bottles
Bottler notes	None	Bursts of orange marmalade with salted caramel and a hint of honeycomb on the finish.	Sweet and tangy red berries, homemade redcurrant jelly and oat cakes.	None
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin legs.	Orange gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, take a while to bead up and fall as slow thin oily legs.	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin legs.	Bronze in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, take an age to bead up and fall as slow thin legs.
Nose	Fresh cut grass, orchard fruit: apples, pears & apricots; a some peanut skin and a little floral perfume. Lemon bonbon notes offer a lovely citrus note.	A little more intense - the grass and orchard fruit and still here but the Porter finish has added a little hoppiness, some orange and a hint of toffee.	The grassy note has all but gone on this one, the fruit has turned a little more red berry like. There's still some peanut hints and a little toffee.	The grassy notes, peanut and orchard fruit have gone, the oloroso has taken over: thick red berry notes, dates, figs and black cherries. There's an interesting vinegar note, some toffee and cinnamon spice hints.
Palate	Lovely sweet arrival, with lemon zest, honey and a little minerality. There's some pear and apricot notes, more honey and a lovely drying icing sugar note. The citrus turns a little sour with grapefruit notes as the liquid disappears. Yummy!	Thick dry arrival a little spicy. There's a definite hoppy beer note but not as pronounced as some beer finished drams I've tried recently. Dark chocolate, orange marmalade, nutty toffee and a little coffee.	Thick fruity arrival: red berries and some orchard fruit little dry icing sugar. As soon as the liquid has gone the mouth is left dry wanting more! Digestive biscuits spring to mind! A few more sips and the port comes through a little more - berries and cherries.	Thick sweet arrival, spicy sherry bomb notes to start: ginger, blueberry jam, black cherries and a little dark chocolate. There's an instant dryness, some flat cola, dates and a lovely chocolate gingers note.
Finish	Short, sweet and dry with a citrus and a little ginger spice.	Lingering dry chocolate, nuts, toffee and more dryness!	Lingering dry icing sugar, berries and some nut notes.	Medium length, dry spicy and Christmassy.
Overall	The James Eadie Small Batch nicely sums up the Glen Ord distillery character: grass, orchard fruit, citrus and a little minerality. What's not to like? The Càrn Mòr Porter Cask retains some of the character but adds a big chunk of ABV and a layer of complexity with dark chocolate and toffee. The balance is just right - not too much beer influence - the dryness you get from some Porters is very evident. Nice! The Càrn Mòr Ruby Port finish impact is interesting: whilst the port influence is small, the distillery character has all but gone. The colour doesn't suggest port, the nose and palate hint at it - very strange dram! Whilst there's no dunnage mustiness, the James Eadie Oloroso, is a sherry bomb. One of those that could really be from anywhere - all the distillery character has gone. But it's still a really nice dram, lots of complex fruit layers, spice and dryness. On a side note I do like the brief (Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers) or non existent (James Eadie) tasting notes which accompany these bottlings - Indie bottlers are all about giving you distillery whisky to explore yourself, they don't have huge marketing departments to author fantasies and take award winning photos - just buy it and drink it!

Huge thanks to @WhiskyResource for the Càrn Mòr and James Eadie Oloroso samples!