Haig Club Single Grain

Tastes like a devils cut smoothed and watered down. The bite is not there. Very light.

This is undrinkable. Seriously. To call this scotch is an insult. Please don't waste your money. David Beckham should be ashamed.

Presented in an over-sized cologne bottle. Nose opens alarmingly sweet and buttery, with pronounced acetone and magic marker. Some rice wine swirling beneath the chemical layers, and a hint of burning nitrile rubber. Palate is all cheap honey, sweet, grainy and slightly sour. Abrubt yet gentle enough finish, something like plywood resin lingers. An "interesting" dram (in a rather bad way). Sampled at a casual tasting party, someone received this as a gift, via store-clerk recommendation (never, ever listen to the store-clerk). Pure marketing fodder for the uninformed masses. Dry glass: almost nothing! Very strange...

Never having had a single grain, I approached this sample from my gift set with mild interest, but reading that it is made mostly from wheat set my expectations fairly low. I knew it likely wouldn't compare well to a single malt, and it didn't. It also didn't have a character anywhere close to a wheated bourbon, despite being aged in ex-bourbon barrels. Very light and thin looking in the glass, with no legs on swirling. The nose yielded honey and apple cider with a faint hint of citrus and vanilla. On the palate, it was honey sweet with a flavor akin to eating a biscuit with a cup of black tea. Very light with a thin mouth feel. A little bitter on the finish, which was very short. In all, very light (some might say "smooth") and inoffensive. Also, just not that interesting. I looked it up and saw that it can be purchased in my area for US $59.99. I can think of much better uses for 60 bucks, as there are many good single malts, bourbons and ryes to be had for that.