Tastes

Taste - Dark chocolate, skin-on hazelnut praline bittersweet, light fruity bitter orange pith, black peppercorn and cinnamon poaced pears. Finish - Lingering dark chocolate bitterness, sweet nutty bittersweet, faint black pepper fading heat, malted milk candy sweet. Score - 89/100 Final Thoughts - This is my favorite Glenmorangie expression I've tried thus far. The nose is incredible and I can feel as if I can nose it for days. Sadly it falls a bit flat once it hits the tongue as you're a bit overwhelmed by the soft chocolate bittersweet. I was hoping to get a bit more dark stone fruits, but those were significantly downplayed and overwhelmed by the chocolate bittersweet. The finish is long lasting, but is a bit one-dimensional as it lingers like you ate a dark chocolate malted milk ball and that's about it. Definitely meant to be sipped neat, although I can see this being turned into a super fancy chocolate/dessert old fashioned too.

Nose - Sweet vanilla caramels, old cinnamon, faint peanut brittle, touch of leather. Taste - Fairly thin but drying, sweet vanilla caramel, hint of peanut brittle sweet, cinnamon/white pepper spice, hint of bitter peanut shells, faint dried cherry sweet at the very end. Finish - Long lingering cinnamon/white pepper spice, slowly fades to a oaky vanilla brown sugar simple sweet, hint of peanut shell bitterness lingers. Score - 75/100 Final Thoughts - Overall a decent bonded bourbon. Fairly boring nose but makes up for it on the palate. I enjoy the vanilla caramel notes with the spice, but the peanut shell bitterness is a little offputting, although the slight dried cherry finish helps. It's a decent bourbon overall, wouldn't turn down a pour at a bar. I can see this being a great mixer for pretty much everything while still being able to hold its own neat or with some ice.

Nose - Dark caramels, hint of cinnamon, oaky vanilla, hint of flamed orange zest. Taste - Oaky vanilla simple, light strawberry & orange zest, light cinnamon spice, thin and lightly drying mouthfeel. Finish - Lingering cinnamon/white pepper tingle, lightly bitter over-oaked barrel-aged vanilla simple, hint of sugar-free strawberry candy sweet. Score - 74/100 Final Thoughts - The nose gives the impression that this will be a nice dark caramel bourbon, but once it hits the tongue, it falls a bit flat but adds this fruity strawberry dimension that's quite nice. No details were given on this particular single barrel, but it tastes like it was a bit over-oaked and then they tried to combat it just by watering it down a bit, which did help, but not enough. I think this would be best sipped over a single ice cube to possibly help tame down the oak a bit or made into an old fashioned where the simple might help negate the splenda-like finish and you could probably reduce the bitters a bit as the oak already does a good job.

Barreled = 2006/10/25 Barrel#271 Bottled = 2015/05/26 Nose - Very light vanilla caramel, very faint honeyed peanut butter. Taste - Lightly salted peanut butter/caramels, vanilla, lightly oaked simple. Finish - Quickly fading simple sweetness, hint of salt/brine, light bitterness like that of a green sapling, tiny hint of white pepper/cinnamon spice. Score - 73/100 Final Thoughts - This was a bit surprising to me as I don't normally get much peanut from Heaven Hill stuff, but for some reason that's what I got from this particular barrel. It wasn't bad, but I think if tasted blind, I would've pegged this as a Beam product with the peanut funk. A pleasant pour, but unimpressive. Maybe this was just a so-so barrel? Maybe I need to let it air a bit more? For the price not so bad, but I think I could find plenty of others I'd much rather spend my money on.

Nose - Buttery, fruity, yellow cake, caramelized pears, waxy golden raisins. Taste - Fruity, syrupy but crisp sweet, hint of white pepper spice, fresh pears eaten with golden raisins, very faint quickly fading bitter, tiniest hint of campfire smoke. Finish - Lingering lightly smoky sweet, syrupy golden raisins, which lead me to believe this was aged in a lighter colored sherry, tiny hint of campfire ash. Score - 79/100 Final Thoughts - On the nose, I don't think you could tell that there was any hint of peat in this malt as the syrupy/waxy sweet dominates. Once it hits the tongue, you're hit with the sensation as if you were at a campsite in the morning making oatmeal with golden raisins & honey with the campfire from last night out, but the smoke still lingers in the air. The finish is like you've finished your oatmeal and you take a deep breath of the crisp autumn air that still has that tiny hint of campfire ash. Overall a decent dram that's very sippable neat but is kind of just light smoke & golden raisin sweet to me. I can see this making a very interesting highball.

Nose - Light vanilla caramels, hint of butterscotch. Taste - Dark brown sugar simple, dark caramels, light oak, cinnamon spice, hint of toffee, hint of coffee Finish - Lingering cinnamon spice, lingering toffee & dark sugar simple sweet, tiny bit of leather Score - 78/100 Final Thoughts - The nose on this one is very subtle, comes off as being very light. Classic "bourbon" notes of vanilla and caramel, almost no cinnamon on the nose but once it hits the tongue, things drastically change. Dark caramelized sugars, cinnamon spice, very pleasant. Not overly complex but is a nice sipper neat or maybe over a single large ice cube. Cheap enough to be used as mixer too and has enough flavor that I wouldn't mind using it in spirit forward drinks like an old fashioned.

Taste - Sweet creamy vanilla caramels, hint of red hots sweet and cinnamon spice tingle, light oaky bitterness like that of an apple stem. Finish - Cinnamon spice gradually fades, but lingers in the back, lightly artifical sweet barrel-aged vanilla infused simple syrup. Score - 75/100 Final Thoughts - Has a pleasant nose, amazingly soft for a 100 proof bonded bourbon. A tiny bit hot on the palate with a creamy sweetness that starts out nice, but sadly transitions to a splenda-like sweet. Sadly this has a great front, but can't seem to deliver to the finish as the sweetness turns to an artificial sweetener which I'm not a huge fan of. I'm not sure I'd grab this as something to sip neat, but I can see it as a cheap mixer that will hold up well in drinks that aren't very spirit forward like a Kentucky Mule or whiskey sour.

Nose - Light vanilla & cinnamon, oaky burnt caramel, dry roasted in-shell peanuts that are a bit old so they're a bit oily. Taste - Sweet cinnamon hinted caramel drizzled peanut brittle, light bitter oak, hint of salted peanut shell bitter. Finish - Lingering cinnamon red hot spice kick sweet, lightly bitter peanut sweetness, charred cinnamon stick bitter spice. Score - 69/100 Final Thoughts - So this is definitely a step up from the white label. The off putting wet cardboard notes I previously got are gone, but they seem to be replaced by this salty bitter oak that although not completely off putting, are a bit distracting. Traditional vanilla/caramel notes seem to be a bit dominated by the Beam peanut funk that I don't get as much from their other offerings like Booker's. Still affordable, I'd probably reserve this one as a mixer as opposed to a daily sipper.

Nose - Fresh pears, lightly oaked chardonnay/riesling, light floral honey, baked apples, sweet cream butter. Taste - Light honeyed riesling sweet, lightly floral, honey-glazed brioche, hint of white pepper spice. Finish - Lingering honeyed apple juice, light candied orange peel with a bit too much pith making it a bit sweet with citrus bitter. Score - 86/100 Final Thoughts - So this was quite a change from the sherry & port finishes on the Lasanta & Quinta Ruban. I feel as if the sauternes was magically able to remove the usual bitterness I got on the nose and even the taste and hide it until the end. This was a very light, pleasant honeyed and fresh fruit vibe to it that was nice. Nose was probably the best part as it kept on revealing new things with each sniff. Palate was nice and refreshing, almost "summery" vibe to it.

Nose - Chocolate covered raisins, dried dark stone fruits, hint of orange zest. Taste - Cinnamon & anise mulled red wine with dark fleshed stone fruits, dark raisins, moist spiced cake, hint of black/white pepper spice. Finish - Lingering pepper spice, dark stone fruit sweet, light citrusty pith bitterness. Score - 85/100 Final Thoughts - Of the Glenmorangies that I have tried to date, I think this is my favorite so far. The port finish seems powerful enough to overcome the weird unpleasant Glenmorangie bitterness that I usually get. It's still present in this one but I think it seems to work with the port finished flavors. Maybe the chill filtering of the others creates the weird bitterness that I don't get in this offering. Maybe I just like the chocolate & dark dried stone fruit flavor enough that I can look past the bitterness? Who knows, but I wouldn't mind having this bottle on my shelf as a regular.