cascode
Highland Black 8 Year
Blended — Scotland
Reviewed
October 13, 2017 (edited November 14, 2018)
Inexpensive blends reviews: Addendum.
Nose: Fairly generic malt notes, sherry and grain whisky. Not overly impressive but thankfully free of the rubbery taint often encountered in inexpensive blends, and with a certain full and generous presence.
Palate: Again, quite full and fruity with raisins and some sherry notes. Nutty flavours and a Christmas pudding character, but a little dilute. Hard to dislike.
Finish: Fairly short with the fruity sweetness lingering but finally decaying into a slightly sour note, which is the only real mis-step.
For an inexpensive blend this is not bad. There is a most pleasant smoothness, almost a creamy sensation, to the mouthfeel but I wouldn’t call it rich. Good body and taste, although the nose is somewhat distant.
Water does not improve it, and it is quite pleasant neat. As a mixer it gets a bit lost but adds an agreeable fruity sweetness to soda or cola. You need to A-B taste this neat against other cheap blends to appreciate how good it is.
Recently this was awarded a slew of accolades and is currently (mid 2018) being touted in popular magazines and sites as a giant-killer and the best thing in whisky ever. Nonsense. It’s a good mid-shelf blend that represents exceptional value - that's all. The price is close to the bottom of the range, but it is competitive against big name blends costing $10-15 more.
“Average” : 76/100 (2.5 stars)
35.0
AUD
per
Bottle
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The inability to go back and edit notes is killing us OCD people...
Ha ha :-) The one or two word summary in quotes is the most useful bit, e.g. this is an "acceptable" blended scotch. The numeric ratings are just alternative ways to express that summary.
Your math at the end makes my brain hurt.
Ex-cataloguer and programmer. We're all like that.
Man, you are a perfectionist. :)