This is one of the more surprising purchases I've made. Yesterday I stopped at Total Wine to refill the gin shelf and, while I was there....
So I grabbed this $37 bottle of Naked Malt thinking I was buying Naked Grouse, which I've never had. Got home and decided it would be the evening pour. Great decision!
My immediate reaction was that this is Johnnie Walker Green Label in disguise. It's a cheery copper pour with a sweet nose of sherry, malt, apples, and slight pears with a blush of baker's chocolate. Really quite nice and devoid of ethanol and coarse grain whisky notes.
On the palate this is all of that and a bowl of orchard fruits with sweet raisins, dark chocolate, sherry notes that brim with fruitcake, some baking spices and a touch of bitter wood. Really impressive presence for a neat pour of a blended scotch whisky. It reminds me a bit of Compass Box Spice Tree, but with the spice toned down and the fruit/sherry amped up a bit. Very tasty.
I don't know a thing about this bottle. I haven't read a word and I don't know where its from or how it came to be. But for half the price of the JWG, this is definitely a sleeper and a great find. Really liking this one!
This is a well-above average pour that, in my humble opinion, is punching way above its weight class in the value-for-money arena. I think this might be a good candidate for a scotch cocktail but at this very moment this could be my daily sipper.
If push came to shove I could live with WT101 bourbon as my sole bourbon. The same goes for WT101 rye. Both are good enough that I wouldn't feel like I was missing anything. This bottle could supplant Johnnie Walker Black as my daily pour for scotch, and I like the JWB quite a bit for what it is. Nake Malt has no peat influence, where the JWB does, but they are fighting for shelf space at the same price point. I honestly think this Naked is the more accomplished of the two.
I'll read up on this later. Right now I'm enjoying it and suggest you do so as well. This is solid.
36.99
USD
per
Bottle
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Wrapping up a bottle of this tonight and yes it is quite good for the$$. Ive had the Naked Grouse but this is even better than I remembered
A little follow-up. This is milk chocolate when its on a hunk of ice. The more I sip the more impressed I am that this is a sub $40 bottle. I think this is a winner in the "no peat - budget" category!
Great review and thanks for the heads-up that this is a re-branding. What a pointless dumbing-down of the marque. I hate it when producers bow to marketing directives in this way, it’s as classless a move as when Rock Oyster changed to Rock Island.
Update - So it is Naked Grouse, only in the new packaging. "Edrington, an ultra-premium spirits company, is representing its Naked brand with a new identity that showcases “Naked Malt” — a first-fill sherry cask finished blended malt that appeals to a new generation of whisky drinkers. The rebranding and packaging of what was formerly Naked Grouse is said by Edrington to embrace its independent spirit. The brand will also evolve to Naked Malt to reinforce its quality credentials and reflect the blend of Scotland’s finest single malts, which includes The Macallan, Highland Park and Glenrothes. The brand will also use 100% recycled packaging and the whisky itself will not change."