Scotch Whisky Review #184: Lady of the Glen – Glen Moray 11 Year PX Sherry Finish (2008)

Distillery: Glen Moray

Bottler: Lady of the Glen

Region: Speyside

Price: $5 for a 1 oz sample

ABV: 54.3%

Cask Type: 11 years in bourbon hogshead, finished in a tiny ex-Pedro Ximenez Octave from Josafer Tanoaria

Cask Number: 5585B

Age: 11 Year. Distilled on July 1st, 2008. Bottled on January 7th, 2020.

Color: 1.4, Tawny. Natural Color and Non-Chill Filtered.

Nose: (according to the wife) Lots of honey, lots of sherry, and a bit of the aged oak as well. She said it smelled like something I’d like before trying it and giving me the look of disgust she has whenever she tries whisky (it’s a look of “how the hell can you drink this stuff?”).

Palate: Really rich from the start. It starts off like biting in a decadent bar of milk chocolate. It’s sweet and velvety. There’s a sugared and honeyed cereal note that comes along afterwards. The combination of the two almost remind me of puppy chow. As you let this sit longer, you get a nice and sharp orchard fruit note that reminded me a lot of Korean plum syrup (maesil-chung/매실청).

Finish: Medium to short in length. There’s a bit of chocolate dust and sugar as well along with a bit of a tingly sensation on the tongue to remind you how strong this actually is.

Conclusion: 59. That’s the number of bottles released from Lady of the Glen. I was scratching my head a little bit at first but they’ve used an incredibly small barrel, only 50L went into it, for the finishing process. While I’ve seen releases using smaller casks, I hadn’t actually tried one before. I have to say, I really enjoyed this one. It’s rich, it’s decadent, and all around delicious. Would I buy a bottle? Finding one will be tough, but yes.

Final Score: 82.

Scotch Whisky Review #184, Speyside Review #78, Whisky Network Review #253

Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.