Glenmorangie 18 Year

Glenmorangie 18 year old is bottled at 43% ABV. It sells for around $130. Glenmorangie 18 has fallen. A few years ago, when a coworker asked me for a Scotch recommendation for a bottle that is a little special, around $100, and something that he and his best men can enjoy for his wedding, I recommended Glenmo 18. It was a creamy, fruity, voluptuous dessert whisky that was, at the time, better than the similar Glenlivet 18 or the Glenfiddich 18. Alas, my most recent bottle of Glenmo 18 is sulfurous. With such a huge brand and such a ubiquitous expression, I doubt there is any batch variation. This is a shrug – a concession – surrendered to the festering state of today’s sherry casks. Bad sherry cask sulfur is not the sulfur of worm tub distillates. That sulfur is heavy, sinking into the liquid, and imbuing the whisky with a savory, heavy, meaty flavor. Bad sherry cask sulfur is a miasma that sits on top of the liquid and infects each sip with an odor of a rotting swamp. These whiskies are allowed to be bottled because perhaps most people drinking them claim to not be able to detect such odious notes. But I suspect most of these people are simply alcoholics. Did they fart in the bottle? That is the post-modern question when purchasing any sherry-influenced bottle today, especially those at a “competitive” price. Perhaps it is safer to buy bottles that are stupidly priced – the Macallan 18 sherry oak, the Octomore 13.2 – to satisfy your taste for sherry? Because, to pose more questions, is there any value in a whisky that smells like fart? Do I even need to talk about anything else about this whisky at all? Do you talk about what went well on a date when your date smells like fart? Smelling bad is smelling bad. The value of a bad smelling whisky is zero. A bad smelling whisky is not drinkable, and no tasting notes are needed. I will let this bottle “bottle-mature” for a year or two, because some say that the sulfur notes dissipate with time, but this has not been my experience. It’s a shame that I have to write this review for such a time-honored expression, but I have to put out the warning in this insane new world of terrible sherry-influenced whiskies.

Nose: Raspberry/Cherry Chocolate, Soft mouthfeel Spice on the finish

Muy complejo. Una delicia.