Glen Moray isn’t a mainstay in most maltheads whisky cabinets, for the simple reason that most of its considerable annual production of 3.3 million liters goes into the Label 5 and the Sir Edwards blends as well as the Glen Turner malt blend (vatted malt), owned by La Martiniquaise, and the brand itself – once part of The Glenmorangie group, was sold off by LVMH four years after buying Glenmorangie.
There are several official bottlings: The NAS classic, a 10 years old Chardonnay Cask, a 12 years old, a 16 years old, a 25 Port Wood finish and a 30 year old. This writer has yet to taste any of the official bottlings, as they are not imported to Israel (Although Glen Turner is).
Photo Credit: whiskymizuwari.blogspot.com
The SMWS has bottled over 100 casks of Glen Moray, and I came across one of them in an SMWS sample meeting I had with Yoav of the Whisky Gospel blog. I must admit to liking the Society’s new “clan” system, and would put this 29 year old squarely into the “Old and Dignified” clan.
Glen Moray 29 – Scotch Malt Whisky Society Single Cask 35.103 (58.8% ABV, NCF, NC)
Color: Gold, slow tiny beads rolling slowly down the glass.
Nose: Malt, cream, cereal, lemon dishwashing detergent (not in an unpleasant way), open fields, fresh mountain air. Notes of sage and freshly cut tree branches. Four drops of water bring out clove and sweet spices and cuts down the fresh scents detected in the neat whisky.
Palate: Bitter lemon, candied citrus peel, honey with lemon, allspice and nutmeg in a somewhat chewy delivery.
Linger: Oak, lemon and orange flavored Strepsils lozenges. The spice lingers on and on, leaving a tingle on the sides of the tongue.
Conclusion
This is a beautiful expression of a well chosen cask. despite almost three decades in oak, the whisky isn’t oaky, and those notes are met mainly in the finish. This is a refill sherry butt, but the sherry influence is almost unnoticeable.