Glenmorangie 18 Year

Love 'em or hate 'em, Glenmorangie is one of the top dogs in single malt scotch. I happen to really enjoy their old line-up of 12-year olds, and the 10 is a decent every day sipper. When I saw this one for $100 (it generally goes for no less than $130 in my area) I knew that I had to pounce on it. Let's see how much of an improvement 6 years makes. Nose: Floral. Apple. pear, apricot, and banana. Lemon and lime. Toasted almond and walnut. Toffee, vanilla, caramel, honey and butterscotch. Sugar cookie. Plenty of oak and something that reminds me of a library. Not a hint of ethanol or spice. Palate: Vanilla, toffee, butterscotch, shortbread cookie, honey and caramel. Toasted almond, walnut, and cashew. Orange, apricot, plum, apple, and pear. Raisin, date, fig, and cranberry. Cola and oak. The sherry really didn't register on the nose, but it makes itself known here. Finish: Walnut, almond, and cashew. Caramel and raisin. Orange and apricot. Pencil shavings. Cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg. Oak. Moderate length finish, maybe a bit above. Surprising for a 43% ABV malt. Initially, I was unimpressed with this one. And now I've finally figured it out. At first, I took the opulent packing and boastful "Extremely Rare" declaration as a ruse, an artful distraction from the quality of the juice. Fast forward two pours and 9 months of oxidation. What I presumed to be a throwaway whisky has developed into something truly interesting. The nose is clean, but adds some interesting citrus notes. The palate features heavy sherry influence, but retains the core notes from the palate. The finish is the first time I've been able to taste a hint of alcohol. Which is welcome, considering it's a mere 43%. Ignoring that stat, this is a very respectable finish. So the moral of the story is to give an older dram its due time to develop. Because if you're patient with this one, it's worth it. I'm glad I gave this one another chance. As it turns out, the dud of the lot turned out to be the crowned jewel.

Slightly sweet and floral on the nose. Honeysuckle and sugar cookies. Taste is initially oaky and caramel, cake, buttery cookies. But not too sweet, very light and smooth.

Yeah I mean it’s just awesome. It’s on the oak side, but not too dark or bitter. It’s like, you know, if you can pick just one whiskey for your funeral, pick this one. Awesome.