Glen Moray 15 Year (Berry Bros and Rudd)

 

Some of the best single cask scotches I've had as a member of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society are from Glen Moray - another distillery who has lackluster (severely so) distillery bottlings but incredibly good independently bottled varities. 

While the official distillery releases are rather blandly sweet and have mostly little depth - at least the ones I've had - nearly every independent bottle I've had has been intensely rich (albeit also sweet) and full of complexity. So when I saw this 15 year bottling from Berry Brothers and Rudd, temptation gave way. 

Here are the official notes:

The nose immediately offers notes of banana milkshake, praline ice cream, and marzipan with cherry and apricot emerging with time. Dried banana and sweet wheat both show on the palate with waves of vanilla pods, sweet oak and cereals. The finish is long giving cocoa, rice pudding and fruit salad.

Well, those are all lovely and interesting flavors. 15 years in ex-bourbon wood, bottled at 52.4%. Let's see how the cask selectors over at Berry Brothers and Rudd did with Glen Moray...

Nose: The neck pour is wet potting soil, peaches, sour mango, orange sponge cake, cooling herbs, melon. 

With some water and time, it leans more towards the sweet side: oranges, vanilla birthday cake, dried banana chips, almond oil. 

Mouthfeel: Oily, viscous. 

Palate: The neck pour is honey, custard, mango, peach, baking spice, garden herbs, banana, hints of loam. Very very rich and sweet but with sour and earthy undercurrents.

With water and time: rich honey, orange sherbet, vanilla cake, marzipan, young bananas. Towards the end of the palate, tempering bitter notes of wood spice and wet soil. 

Finish: The neck pour is a bit of a wild ride - autumn leaves, tropical candy, lemon and lime soda. 

But it settles down with a bit of water and time: sweet orange, lemon candy, vanilla extract, black pepper, old oak, and black tea. 

Verdict: Delicious and complex. The expected Glen Moray sweetness is present but it's very well balanced and exhibits a lot of depth. A good cask married to a good spirit. This is recommended if you find yourself in DC at the Berry Bros and Rudd store (or are buying online) and have a yearning for a more mature expression of a sweeter style Scotch.