| Single
Malt Scotch Whisky
Whisky.com's
Top 5 Speyside Malts |
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GLENFIDDICH RARE COLLECTION
AGED 40 YEARS
Colour: Garnet. Dark
marble.
Nose:
Floral. Herbaceous borders. A rose garden. Fragrant.
Honeyed. Then beeswax. Polished oak and leather armchairs.
Taste:
Oily, then creamy and sweet, arousing delicious expectations
of the white chocolate notes that can occur in a long-matured
Glenfiddich. The promise is realised, in ascending
layers of flavour. After mocha coffee and pain au
chocolat, boxes of dates. Then a teasing, bittersweet,
moment; something dark, crazy and Belgian. Chocolate
truffles in crème Anglaise. Raspberries and
redcurrants with a malt-doused vanilla ice cream.
Finish:
For all the sweet and creamy suggestions, this single
malt Scotch whisky is balanced by fruitiness and acidity.
Finally, a late, long, restrained dryness. Bitter
chocolate pralines with root ginger, burnt-tasting
caramels in front of a smoky, aromatic log fire.
Tasting Notes by Glenfiddich Distillery
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Glenfiddich Info... |
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THE BALVENIE 21 YEAR PORTWOOD
To create The Balvenie Portwood 21 Year Old,
rare 21 Year Old Balvenie - which has been matured
in traditional oak casks - is transferred to a port
cask, or pipe, which has held fine port wines. Here
it is sampled every month by The Balvenie Malt Master
to ensure that just the right amount of character
is imparted by the port casks, enhancing and developing
the single malt, whilst preserving its original characteristics.
At the 2005 International Spirits Challenge,
The Balvenie Portwood 21 Year Old was awarded a prestigious
Gold Medal.
Taste: A single malt of refinement and remarkable
character, it is creamy and silky with fruit, honey
and spice notes, and has a long and gentle nutty finish.
Tasting Notes Courtesy of The Balvenie
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THE MACALLAN 18 YEAR OLD
SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY The Macallan Sherry
Oak is exclusively matured in selected Sherry oak
casks from Jerez, Spain. This satisfyingly complex
Single Malt, matured at The Macallan distillery for
a minimum of 18 years is characterised by its rich
colour, aroma and flavour with hints of dried fruits,
spice and chocolate orange.
Colour: Light Mahogany
Nose: dried
fruits and ginger, with a hint of citrus, vanilla
and cinnamon
Palate:
Rich dried fruits, with spice, clove, orange and wood
smoke
Finish:
Full and lingering, with dried fruits and sweet toffee,
ginger and a hint of wood smoke.
Tasting Notes by The Macallan
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THE GLENLIVET 18 YEAR OLD
SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY Color:
Dark amber.
Nose:
Full. Some peat, floral notes, sherry, honey and fruit.
Body:
Firm. Quite smooth.
Palate:
Full, round, floral. Some sweetness and quite rich.
Finish:
Rich. Drying, with spice and smoke.
Comments: Elegant,
complex, oaky and fruity. An enticing bittersweet
symphony.
Tasting Notes by The Glenlivet Distillery
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CRAGGANMORE 12 YEAR OLD
SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY Nose:
Silky, elegant and rich: currant bushes, sweet fruits,
honey, cream, leather, rich malt, chestnut. Water
makes it smokier. Fruity with a savoury edge.
Palate:
Lovely weight: honey, blackberry, cooked fruits, walnut,
dried apricot. A mid- to back-palate whisky which
is robust, yet silky; meaty but elegant. The word
is complex.
Finish:
Tingle of heathery smoke binding it together.
Comment:
The most complex of the flight by some margin.
Tasting Note by Michael Jackson
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Cragganmore Info... |
Whisky.com's Top 5 Mainland Single Malts
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OBAN 14 YEAR OLD SINGLE
MALT SCOTCH WHISKY Appearance:
Olive gold.
Nose: Rich sweetness
and fruits - oranges, lemons and pears, with sea-salt
and peaty smokiness.
Body: Full, rich.
Palate: Mouth-filling
late autumn fruits - dried figs and honey-sweet spices;
followed by a smoky malty dryness.
Finish: Long, smooth-sweet
finish with oak-wood, dryness and a grain of salt.
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GLENMORANGIE 18 YEAR OLD
SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY Colour:
An attractive deep gold colour, warm and enticing.
Distinctive from the Ten Year Old, but without the
heavy darkness of some extra aged malts.
Aroma: The bouquet
is very full, round and perfumed with nutty, caramel
and vanilla overtones.
Taste: Exceptionally
smooth, 'silky' and round. Fine, fully flavoured and
subtle.
Aftertaste: With
a long, consistent aftertaste, it is delivered with
great intensity and depth.
Comments: The changes
that take place during the extra eight years of maturation
are profound. A superb after dinner dram.
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GLENGOYNE 17 YEAR OLD SINGLE
MALT SCOTCH WHISKY Appearance:
Medium gold with a rich glow.
Nose: Some sherry,
Christmas pudding. Plenty of fruit - raisins, ripe
apples and tinned oranges in syrup.
Mouthfeel: Rich,
mouth-coating.
Initial taste: Malty,
treacle, slightly nutty. Orange peel, apple compot.
Rich oak.
After Water: Pear
Drops and vanilla.
Finish: Long and
rich, with spicy oak.
Comments: Multi award
winning dram. One of the greats. Possibly the best
pound for pound dram on the market.
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GLEN GARIOCH 15 YEAR OLD
SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY Colour:
Honey.
Body: Medium.
Palate: Hints of
lavender and oak with a syrup sweetness.
Finish: Long mellow
and very sumptuous.
"Assertive, aromtaic, intense - a beauty"
Tasting Notes by Glen Garioch
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Garioch info... |
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AUCHENTOSHAN SELECT SINGLE
MALT SCOTCH WHISKY Color:
Straw with golden highlights
Body: As light and
fresh as a spring day
Nose: Floral, green
apples and a hint of lime. Very Clean
Palate: Gooseberry
and lime flavor, with a touch of almonds and wonderful
malty sweetness,
Finish: Short, soft
ad fresh, with lots of youthful characteristics.
Tasting Notes by Auchentoshan
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Whisky.com's
Top Island Single Malts |
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ARDBEG 10 YEAR OLD SINGLE
MALT SCOTCH WHISKY
Color: Straw with
golden highlights
Body: As light and
fresh as a spring day
Nose: Floral, green
apples and a hint of lime. Very Clean
Palate: Gooseberry
and lime flavor, with a touch of almonds and wonderful
malty sweetness,
Finish: Short, soft
ad fresh, with lots of youthful characteristics.
Tasting Notes by Auchentoshan
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LAPHROAIG QUARTER CASK SINGLE
MALT SCOTCH WHISKY
Colour: Full sparkling
gold.
Nose: Burning embers
of peat in a crofters fireplace, hints of coconut
and banana aromas.
Body: Full bodied.
Palate: Deep, complex
and smoky yet offers and surprises the palate with
a gentle sweetness.
Finish: Really long,
and dries appropriately with smoke and spice.
Tasting Notes Courtesy of Laphroaig
Distillery
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TALISKER 25 YEAR SINGLE
MALT SCOTCH WHISKY Strength:
57.8% ABV
Appearance: Bright
olive gold.
Nose: Nose drying.
Seaweed and old oranges, with smoke in the distance
and some chalk. Surprisingly fruity and juicy, although
with clear Talisker identity. With water almost soapy,
a waxy sweetness. Smoke still present, but now more
fragrant.
Body: Firm. Slippery
smooth.
Palate: Sweet and
meek to start, with some acidity and saltiness. Extraordinary
flavour development. Becomes dry, stony, minerally,
dusty, toasty. Ground white pepper. Chillies.
Finish: Medium to
long, slightly bitter, drying finish. Vegetal.
Tasting Notes by Talisker
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Discerning drinkers
were denied the allure and sensuous pleasures of single malt
whisky for decades. While Scotland had over a hundred distilleries
producing malt, most of that production went into blended
Scotches. The few who marketed their malt whisky "straight"
were considered the exception to the norm. Fortunately, the
past two decades have led to an astonishing growth in the
number of single malts available.
The term "Single Malt"
alludes to the fact that the whisky comes from a single distillery.
Bottlings of single malt can contain whisky from several
casks and most often do, whereas the term single single
could refer to a bottling from a single cask. The practice
of combining exclusively malt whisky from different casks,
at a single distillery, is called vatting. Once combined
they are sometimes kept in wood for a period to marry.
If it is all malt whisky from a single
distillery, it is a single malt. Some distilleries
might use the less precise term pure malt to describe
a single but this term, or malt whisky, is most often
used to describe the product when several malt distilleries
have contributed.
Until the 1980s, single-malt whiskies
remained rare outside Scotland. There were exceptions, like
Glen Grant, but
the large whisky companies, those who had made their fortunes
out of blended whisky, were opposed to spending money and
resources promoting single malts.
By the mid 1970s, stocks of whisky
in bond were the highest they had ever been, and were rising
fast. In 1963, the directors of Willian Grant & Son, owner
of the Glenfiddich
Distillery, resolved to set aside stock with the view
to promoting their whisky as a single malt.
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