News-Antique.com - Feb 04,2008 - A HISTORY OF VINTAGE WHISKY & HISTORY OF SINGLE MALT WHISKY
Star rating
* Average
** Decent, if simple.
*** Very Good.
**** Excellent.
***** Simply the best.
HIGHLAND PARK
Highland Park 12-year old
A gorgeous, honeyed combination of heather root, sweet spices, fruit peel/marmalade and a drift of peat smoke. A seductive dram that mixes butter tablet, dried herbs and heather-honey, all bound together by that wispy peat smoke. ****(*)
Highland Park 18-year-old 43% ABV
Soft, with dried fruit, butter tablet and sherry. Silky smooth, rich and complex. Slightly sweeter than the 12-yar-old, with some chocolate, heather, polished wood and Moorish spices. Complex and rewarding. *****
PULTENEY
Old Pulteney 12-year-old
Huge nose of oilskins, leather/wax, peach and coconut chocolate. Coats the mouth and has great weight. Mellows into honeycomb, ripe peach and a salty tang on the finish. ****
Old Pulteney 15-year-old 60% ABV
Rich leather/beeswax nose with a touch of prune. Sweeter than the 12-year-old, but just as unctuous with that signature ozone prickle. ***(*)
CLYNELISH
Clynelish 14-year-old
Perfumed but robust nose, with waxed jackets/honeycomb, seashells, a hint of peat and sea breeze. Sweet Moroccan spices. A wonderful mix of beeswax, sea-spray and mellow, ripe fruit. Superb. ****
Brora 21-year-old 56.9% ABV
That beeswax still comes through, but there is more peat smoke/autumn bonfires. A chewy start, then a volley of lightly smoked flavours: sweet spices, oil, heather, lanolin and sea breeze. ****(*)
GLENMORANGIE
Glenmorangie 10-year-old
The benchmark distillery style: pear drops, light orange and citrus fruit, light spice and a crisp note. Delicate but with a good, smooth and soft body. ***
Glenmorangie 15-year-old finished in new wood 43% ABV
Crème Brûlée, orange peel and vanilla. Light spice and a hint of sooty wood. A mix of bracing air and vanilla on the finish. ***(*)
Glenmorangie Cellar 13 aged in first-fill casks
A fragrant nose with apple blossom, fresh pear, ozone and lemon icing. Soft and long, with a great mix of blossom-like top notes, a creamy palate and a salty tang on the end. Brilliant. ****
Finishes all 43% ABV
Port wood (****) has touches of anise, red fruit spices and a long rosehip syrup finish; Sherry Wood (***) has full-on oloroso notes, tending to nut and spice with some cake mix and pear; and Madeira Wood (****) is a fascinating mix of dried mushroom, spice and charred wood ending with a salty tang
