[WHISKY TASTING] Golden French Nectar from the Northern Highlands 💧

The Glenmorangie distillery is beautifully situated near the town of Tain, at the bay Dornoch Firth in the North East of Scotland. If you're ever heading north (or south) on the east-coast it's well worth a visit. It's said that alcohol production began already around 1740 on Morangie Farm, and was transformed from brewery to distillery in the mid-1800s. The classic Glenmorangie 10 year old is the most sold whisky in Scotland, with over 10 million bottles sold per year.

The Highland distillery Glenmorangie, Which means "vale of tranquility" in Gaelic, was until 2004 one of the few distilleries that were still family owned, which is usually reflected in the quality and craftsmanship. With Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy as the owner it's still a distillery that stands for high quality and they have control of the entire manufacturing process. Among other things, they grow their own grain on the fields around the distillery and fetch the water for the production in their own springs. In the Tarlogie springs the water is filtered through sand for over 100 years before it reaches the very spring. The hard and mineral rich water contributes significantly to Glenmorangies character. To ensure that the source is not contaminated or otherwise affected Glenmorangie has bought up large amounts of land around the springs.

Glenmorangie has for well over a decade sold whisky matured and finished on port, madeira, rum, white wine, Tokaj, American bourbon casks where smoky Islay whisky was previously matured, and Bourgogne and Bordeaux casks (sometimes it can pay off to have French owners) - the wealth of imagination and the malt drinker's acceptance for innovative thinking is currently unlimited. Glenmorangie is basically guilty of having started this trend of whisky finishing.

The whisky we will try today has been matured on French wine barriques from Sauternes the last two years. So it's basically a Glenmorangie 10 that has been matured for a decade on Bourbon casks and finished for 2 years on wine barrels. Sauternes is a very sweet white dessert wine, so I'm expecting a perfumed and honeyd character in this whisky.

Glenmorangie Nectar D'Or

🐶 The whisky review today features a very special guest: master noser, Bo The Dog.

ABV: 46%
Age: 12 yo
Region: Highlands
Price: Around 65-70 USD

🌈 Color: Golden (retriever?)

🐶 Nose: Nutmeg is the first fragrance I pick up. Then bright fruits like lime, orange, grape, apricot and green apple. The fruity sweetness is followed by honey, malt, oak, spices and a nice nuttiness (probably almond). There's a whiffs of flowers as well in there. Violets? Humans are weird, why would you drink something that smells like nutmeg, don't they know it's poisonous? I prefer the smell of dog pee and bitches on heat any day!

👅 Palate: No dogs allowed. Here comes the vinous notes! It's not too prominent, but just an interesting instrument in an ensemble of flavors. Surprisingly spicy and peppery notes that increase in intensity and warms the tongue. Malt and oak come together nicely in the mouth and a delicious marmalade sweetness complements it. I add two drops of water, and it increases the honey and nutmeg from the nose, as well brings up some ginger and plenty of vanilla.

🏁 Finish: A medium-long finish where spices and pepper continues to warm the mouth and throat all the way down to the stomach. The citrus fruit remains with drying oak, malt, jammy sweetness, almonds, green tea (!), vanilla and vinous elements.

💡 Conclusion: Glenmorangie Nectar D'Or is a very pleasant, feminine and easy to drink single malt. The luscious Sauternes sweetness never dominates, but is nicely balanced against the bright fruit notes and spiciness. It goes very well with a piece of dark chocolate btw! Final score: 86 points.
                                                                                                                           —  SteemSwede