skillerified
Famous Grouse Winter Reserve
Blended — Scotland
Reviewed
October 20, 2020 (edited November 30, 2020)
N: Honey, dried white bread, some orchard fruit, and then there's that sort of earthy, mineral quality that each iteration of the Grouse has. Caramel, maybe light cinnamon (or cooked ginger?), and a mild seafood salty idea of a scent on a second level.
P: Sticky toffee and bread pudding, milk chocolate, sea salted caramel. Hiding in the chocolate are a bunch of fruit flavors, like chocolate covered fruits: orange zest, cherries, cranberries, and maybe just a hint of raspberry. Finish is soft and supple, mostly more chocolate, but there's a spiciness that builds at the tip and sides of the tongue over time. Spice is cinnamon or even chili pepper heat - the label on the bottle really wants to you think it's gingerbread spice... Maybe, but feels just slightly too hot and also lacks the ginger flavor (it might be in the nose, it's definitely not on the palate). It's closer to a Mexican hot chocolate. Mouthfeel is absolutely luxurious - hits the exact right spots for rich, heavy, and creamy - not too much, not too little of any of those traits.
As a winter blend, this would do quite nicely next to a gas fire pit on those blisteringly cold 60 degree evenings in deep January we get here in Los Angeles. Sarcasm aside, I'd want more spice from a dram I actually intended to drink in cold weather, but this is smooth, rich, silky, tasty, and cheap. Hard to ask for more. Winter or not, this my favorite version of the Grouse so far. It's rich and full of flavor, basically at any price, but especially so for sub-$30. I'll probably grab another and save it for the gas fire pit in a few months.
Side note: Great label! The white grouse foreground with the snow capped mountain background that comes into view as you drain the bottle... Loved it.
27.0
USD
per
Bottle
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sounds like a nice iteration of grouse will have to grab this.
Congrats on that find @skillerified :) It unfortunately getting harder to come by
@ContemplativeFox Hah. I found a Hibiki today and I put it on a different shelf. I feel bigger already. (That will probably be short lived - thinking I open it tomorrow.)
@skillerified If by thinking bigger you mean more shelf space for whiskey, we all need to think bigger :)
@skillerified Ha ha, yes , you may find that you need to upgrade to v2.0
@CKarmios You have side quests. We're just not playing the same game. I may need to start thinking bigger.
It's rounder and fuller than the namesake, which I think is a big improvement. I do think I was a little over exuberant (or tipsy) on the rating, but those numbers are so subjective anyway.
Wow, it sounds tasty and that's a pretty high rating for a budget scotch. I can't say that I enjoyed the flagship Grouse, but it sounds like this is a huge improvement!
Sounds like a good addition to a side quest of mine for the ‘shelf-above-the-bottom-shelf’ blended scotch