cascode
Cambus 1991 26 Year Cask Strength Collection (Signatory)
Single Grain — Lowlands , Scotland
Reviewed
June 8, 2020 (edited August 10, 2020)
Nose: Vanilla, custard Danish, some grassy aromas, a very slight grape or wine note, bright orange and lemon citrus hints. There's a caramel, toffee, nougat burnt-sugar sweet note in the background, but it is reticent.
Palate: Warm, rounded and creamy vanilla arrival that very rapidly transforms into a spicy and hot cinnamon development with an abundance of oak tannin and black pepper. The tannins eventually take over the palate and drive the profile into mouth-puckering astringency, however this is oddly pleasant and seems appropriate to the profile. Later in the development an almost anaesthetic clove-oil and anise facet is noticed. There is a foundation fruity character but it is almost obscured by the long sherry-cask maturation.
Finish: Medium. Tannic oak and cereal gives way to an eventual sweet but grippy aftertaste.
Laid down in 1991 into butt #55894 and bottled in 2018, this tasting was from bottle 426 of 486.
The sherry butt is noticeable on the nose, but it certainly isn't over-prominent. In fact given the definite background vanilla note throughout you could mistake this for an ex-bourbon cask maturation, were it not for the constant reminder of grape-skin tannin.
As with almost all cask-strength, single-cask whiskies this is greatly enhanced by a dash of water. I added a full teaspoon to the dram after a quick neat taste and it was considerably improved. The nose retreated at first (which is typical) but soon re-asserted with a more prominent oak note. The palate was enormously softened and in this unleashed form the whisky displayed superior balance and depth - it seemed "refreshed" to a large degree. When watering give it at least 20 minutes to recompose or you'll miss all the unleashed sweet barley-sugar notes.
Sweet cereal and more subtle spice notes were obvious, and the progression was more sophisticated. Normally I finish a tasting dram before posting a review but I'm enjoying this so much I'm going to sit and nose it for a while. However in the final analysis although it is a good single-grain it's not an excellent one, and I'd only recommend it to those doing intense exploration into this area of whisky. It lacks that velvety, silken richness you get with a really cracking single grain, and the profile is a little shy.
Tasted from a 30ml sampler.
"Good" : 83/100 (3.5 stars)
250.0
AUD
per
Bottle
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@Slainte-Mhath Wowee... 30 years, that's a high age for the low bar for grain quality.
@cascode Almost pulled the trigger on a 34 YO Carsebrige, but someone snagged it first. Good to know that it's one to be on the lookout for.
@Slainte-Mhath. Thanks for the tip!
@jonwilkinson7309 Invergordon is a good place to start. I usually avoid anything below 30 years, but there might be some good bottles out there. Always good to do your homework and read reviews before buying.
@jonwilkinson7309 That's an excellent idea - samples are a great way to find your bearings. One consistent bottler I have found is North Star Spirits but I think they may have limited distribution in the US. They released a 31 year old 1987 Invergordon as part of Series 007 that I thought was excellent. Leaving aside the premium bottles, some middle-shelf OBs that I would recommend are Teeling Single Grain, Method & Madness Single Grain and Nikka Coffey Grain. All are very tasty and great value for money.
@cascode. Thanks for the primer! Perhaps I'll see if I can find some samples at The Whiskey Exchange or elsewhere.
@jonwilkinson7309 That's a difficult question - single grains are unlike single malts in that they are almost exclusively independent bottlings, usually of single casks, and there is very little consistency across expressions, distilleries or bottlers. They tend to come and go quickly so it's hard to recommend a specific whisky. The accepted wisdom is that they offer better value for money than malts when age is taken into account, but this is a bit beside the point in my opinion. The fact is that old single grains are still relatively expensive, and it’s very hard to know exactly what you will be getting. I’ve had good and bad expressions across the board, but off the top of my head Carsebridge and Invergordon have usually been good. Duncan Taylor, Douglas Laing and Cadenhead bottlings have also been fine but like I say it’s hard to generalize. Most of the single grains I've tasted have been at tasting events and not bottles I've bought. When I do buy a single grain it's either a cheapie like Cameron Brig or a vatting like Hedonism.
Thanks for the review! I'm just starting to explore the world of Scotch single grain. What do you think are some of the great ones? Or at least "must try"?