ctbeck11
Càrn Mòr Cambus 1991 (27 Year)
Single Grain — Lowlands, Scotland
Reviewed
June 19, 2021 (edited June 21, 2021)
Nose - buttered popcorn, walnut, lemon pith, light caramel, fig, honey, apricot, raisin, cereal grain, white pepper, cocoa, vanilla, hay, moderate to high ethanol burn.
Taste - orange zest, toffee, vanilla, dusty corn, cinnamon, cereal grain, milk chocolate, allspice, lemon pith, honey, walnut, fig, raisin, floral notes, chili pepper, moderate to high alcohol bite, finishing medium length with cereal grain, citrus pith, and nutty toffee flavors.
The nose is subtle. There’s a significant amount of graininess, followed by buttered popcorn and caramel. Dried fruit, walnut, and chocolate make the sherry component apparent, but it’s a very light touch. The palate is more boisterous, with the grain presenting as rather astringent. A bitter citrus pith note doesn’t help much either. Past that, there are some nice sherried fruit, chocolate, and nut notes, leading to a middling finish with some toffee and more bitter, sour graininess.
I‘ve had minimal exposure to single grain whiskies, so this has been a great learning experience. The Cambus is reminiscent of Compass Box Hedonism, but I don’t like it quite as much. The aging must have been extremely gentle for this to be 27 years old. If it weren’t for an oily, full mouthfeel, I would have assumed it were a teenager.
Overall, I like it but don’t love it. The subtlety of flavors and aromas combined with the pervasive grainy, sour, and bitter qualities doesn’t render the experience particularly harmonious or coherent. There are some nice nutty, fruity, and chocolatey notes, but they aren’t enough to overcome the downsides for me. Many thanks to @ContemplativeFox for providing the sample. Maybe single grain whiskies just aren’t my thing.
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@cascode Sounds like a category I’ll need to defer to recommendations from yourself and others much more experienced than I.
@ctbeck11 The other issue is that single grains are almost exclusively available in small batches from independent bottlers, often as single-cask releases. Consequently as soon as the word gets out among the hard-core enthusiasts that a really good old grain whisky is available it disappears quickly and is never repeated. Casks being what they are, a seemingly identical expression next year may be very disappointing, so don't buy a 1987 30 year old grain from a given distillery and bottler just because the 1986 30 year old was praised. That said, I'd echo @Slainte-Mhath in recommending Invergordon distillery and keep an eye out for any single grain releases from the North Star label - they have had very good releases so far. Gorgon & Macphail bottlings have seldom disappointed me, and Cadenhead have some treasures occasionally. This can be a very deep and narrow side-tunnel in the rabbit hole!
@Slainte-Mhath Thank you for the information. I’ll keep that in mind if I’m ever in the market for a single grain.
@ctbeck11 Cambus wouldn't be my preferred choice, the ones I tasted were more or less average. I second most of the recommendations here, single grains should be at least 30 years of age (the best grains are probably from the 1960s and 1970s), and personally, I prefer bourbon-matured expressions over sherry casks. One of my favorites is Invergordon, the older ones are really tasty, some of them stellar.
@PBMichiganWolverine @Slainte-Mhath Yes, bring on the recommendations. My wallet deserves a bit more punishment this month.
@cascode Great insight. There are probably some really solid ones flying under the radar at a good price, since most of the market is focusing on the malts.
I think @Slainte-Mhath has had really good picks when it comes to single grain. I’ve not been as lucky , with the exception of the standard Compass Box offerings
I never buy a single grain whisky unless I've had a chance to taste it first. When great it is amazing, but often it's just average, and the brands are all over the place - there is no consistency. Hedonism is the safest bet if you just want to keep one bottle on hand. Grain doesn't have to be 30+ years old, young single grain can be very pleasant, but it's all about subtle, sweet smooth flavours and people are usually disappointed when they find it is nothing like pot-still malt whisky.
@ContemplativeFox @PBMichiganWolverine Yep. Unless I start hearing about some single grain unicorn, I’ll stick to the already overpriced single malts.
@PBMichiganWolverine I've heard that a couple of times now. Unfortunately 30+ YO anything is expensive :(
@ContemplativeFox @ctbeck11 i find that with single grains, it needs to be 30+ yrs to be the same complexity as single malt
I'm struggling with single grains too. You hit the nail on the head on this one: it certainly doesn't taste 27 years old and the flavors don't really cohere.