SMWS 35.239 Glen Moray 23 1995 "Sweet seduction"

I nabbed this sample pack at an auction because it featured the Ardbeg with a name I found really enjoyable, plus it gave me 4 other samples from distilleries I’d otherwise have been unlikely to try. Here’s the first of them.

Glen Moray 23, 1995 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 35.239, Speyside Single Malt, 52.9% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on October 27, 1995 and matured in a 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel for 23 years yielding 202 bottles. This is part of the Old & Dignified flavor profile named “Sweet seduction”. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Deep gold, 0.8.

Nose: Honey, vanilla, coconut.

Taste: Honey, spice, malt, wood.

Finish: Malty honey, vanilla, coffee bean. Coconut. Medium-short.

This is alright, it doesn’t hit the smoky notes I prefer, but I like it well enough. Has me looking forward to a bottle I took a chance on a few months ago.

Score: 75

Macallan 12 Double Cask

 

I don’t like Macallan. I don’t hate it, but I’ve never felt more than neutral about it. That said, I’ve never really had it on purpose, so I figured it deserved a shot at proper focus removed from intoxication, recent cigarette, etc. Plus it was the last example I needed to complete linking them all in my scale. So, here are my thoughts.

Macallan 12 Double Cask, Highland/Speyside Single Malt, 43% ABV

Minutia: Matured in American and European oak Sherry casks. Reviewed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Tawny, 1.4.

Nose: Malty, cereal honey. Vague apricot.

Taste: Honey, stone fruit (ambiguous).

Finish: Chocolate, malt.

I enjoy this more than I have in the past. It reminds me of when I tried Bunnahabhain 12 and 18 and didn’t like them as much as I’d have thought (as a peat fan that is somewhat expected, and I have become more fond of unpeated whisky since and they warrant a re-review). Except this is missing something that Bunnahabhain’s spirit has that, peat or not, makes it enjoyable to me. While I mostly felt neutral about Macallan in the past, sometimes it was a bit aversive. I did experience that a few drams from this bottle, but not others, particularly the one poured for review. I’ll attribute this more to mood than something like time in bottle.

Score: 69 

Musical Evocation: Amorphis – “The Bee”

Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve

 

I had this at a tasting a while back and didn’t even want to swallow it. The rest of the glencairn went right into a bucket. I put it in as an example in my scale, but when I wanted to link them out to reviews it became time to get a mini and do it. So here it is. How much do I like or dislike it when focusing on it?

Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve, Scotland Blend, 40% ABV

Minutia: Neat in a glencairn.

Color: Deep copper, 1.0.

Nose: Vague honey, a bit grassy.

Taste: Weak sweet malt, low spice.

Finish: Weaker version of taste.

While I wouldn’t call it absolute trash, it’s on the lower side of mediocre. It doesn’t offer anything in a big way, and the palate is just so uninspiring and dancing between neutral and unpleasant. 

Score: 47

Johnnie Walker Black Label

 

Ah, one of the whiskies I care least about yet have probably ordered more than any other. Despite it not really appealing to me, it takes pours of a peaty whisky from a flask pretty well and helps let you drink something that tastes like what you want at a bar that doesn’t carry anything you like. Saves a pretty penny on only needing the one round, too. Anyway, I finally decided to get a mini and give it a proper sit down review. Regrettably I forgot to take the photograph before finishing it, but you’ve all seen colored, blended whisky.

---

Johnnie Walker Black Label 12, Scotland Blend, 40% ABV

Minutia: Neat in a glencairn.

Color: Burnished, 1.1.

Nose: Honey. Very weak.

Taste: Honey, malt, dough. Hint of caramel.

Finish: Malty, dough, some spice.

This is very ok. It’s almost as medium as it gets. There’s nothing strong, but nothing really off-putting. 

Score: 63

Johnnie Walker Red Label

 

A short while ago I decided to start linking reviews to the examples given in my scale, and the lower end ones ended up not having links since they weren’t reviewed and I don’t like them enough to bother, generally speaking, but I didn’t like the aesthetics of only some lines with blue text. I do feel this does deserve a proper fair shake, however, despite not being made to appeal to the kind of people who like whisky.

Johnnie Walker Red Label, Scotland Blend, 40% ABV

Minutia: Neat in a glencairn.

Color: Burnished, 1.1.

Nose: Tropical fruit, butter cookie. It’s clouded by cardboard. Reminds a bit of Waterford’s youth, actually.

Taste: Thin. Cookie/dough.

Finish: Caramel. Short.

While it’s entirely uninspiring as a neat pour, it’s actually not quite as terrible as people like to talk about it. There wasn’t nothing truly aversive or unpleasant, just a bit beneath neutral. Probably bad memories of drinking it before developing a taste for whisky clouds the perception of it. Still, it’s best left for mixing as intended.

Score: 60