Christmas Countdown 2020 #16: Glenmorangie A Tale of Cake

Distillery: Glenmorangie

Region: Highland

Age: NAS.

ABV: 46.0%

Cask Type: Tokaji Dessert Wine Finish

Color: 1.2, Chestnut/Oloroso Sherry.

Price: Sample courtesy of /u/bradbobaggins

This is the 16th installment of this years’ Christmas Countdown. You can see the entire 2020 series here or the 2019 edition here.

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Nose: It’s light and fruity. I get a bit of honeycrisp and fuji apples along with lemon jolly ranchers. There’s a bit of amaretto and a bit of something that reminds me of white grape flavored soju (청포도 소주).

Palate: This is on the sweeter end of the spectrum and very light. There’s a lot of malt and something buttery. The honeycrisp and fuji apples popup again as well as that note of white grape soju. A little bit of pure sugar also seems to be sprinkled here and there.

Finish: Medium in length. The apples and butter pop in again.

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Conclusion: This limited edition release from Glenmorangie was apparently inspired by, well, cakes. Specifically the cakes from memory of the distillery’s “director of whisky creation”. I can’t say I quite get that vibe. While this is a dessert-y and fruity, I’m not getting cake anywhere. If we take away the search for cake, I do quite enjoy this. There are layers of fruits and other fun drinks mixed in here. Would I buy a bottle? Maybe.

Final Score: 81.

Scotch Whisky Review #236, Highland Review #48, Whisky Network Review #358

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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.