Hi everyone,
More reviews today, this time from the independent bottler Cadenhead’s.
I happened to have a stand next to them at The Haig whisky festival in The Netherlands and therefore got the chance to try pretty much everything they had to offer. Which was mostly their Small Batch stuff because the other stuff tends to be single casks.
So, what they do with this range is take a small batch of casks (could be 2 or 5 but rarely more than that) and vat them together. Always from the same vintage too.
Serge is often quoted as saying that a small vatting of casks can be superior to single casks but I tend to disagree. Single casks can be more variable, while vattings tend to be more consistent but more variable can mean superb.
Anyways…
Aultmore 1997 Cadenhead’s Small Batch 53.1%
Colour: Light Gold
Body: Medium
Nose: Chalky, lemony, spritzy and tropical. Dry oak, lemon peel, paprika, floral complexity, sponge cake and vanilla. Spiced porridge?
Taste: Floral, fizzy sweets, orange, dry oak, spice then suddenly very tropical with lots of mango and pineapple.
Finish: Medium/Long length. More oak and a nice level of spice. Dried mango.
From 2 Bourbon Hogsheads. 20yo. I quite like this Aultmore, I wasn’t wildly impressed by the official 18 but this I could get behind.
78/100
Glenlossie 1993 Cadenhead’s Small Batch 54.8%
Colour: Light Gold
Body: Medium/Full
Nose: Very grassy, freshly mown lawn, tropical fruit, vanilla, lemon, lemon sponge cake, austere chalky/slatey minerality. A little earthy too.
Taste: Intense, grassy, mineral, slate and chalk, some mango, calms a little then softens with malt, oak and some grass.
Finish: Long length. Grassy, very mineral and a little spirit at the end.
22yo. A really interesting one, I did not expect those mineral notes at all. Note to self: Try more Glenlossie.
76/100
Glen Moray 1992 Cadenhead’s Small Batch 50.9%
Colour: Gold
Body: Medium
Nose: A little closed, fruity, oak, green apple, lemon peel, spice box, green grape.
Taste: Quite soft, green apple citrus, then quite sour and acidic, dry oak too.
Finish: Medium length. Very acidic and some acrid rubber.
24yo from 3 Bourbon Hogsheads. A shame it goes too acidic, not my thing. Glen Moray seems to be a funny one. When it’s good, it’s really good but too much of it seems to be very average.
67/100
Thanks for reading!
Scotch Reviews #528-#530
Whisky Network Reviews #623-#625
Network Average: 74.6
Best Score: 92
Worst Score: 22
0-49 Terrible
50-59 Bad
60-64 Just About OK
65-69 Ok to Good
70-74 Good
75-79 Very Good
80-84 Excellent
85-89 Superb
90+ Magnificent
Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.
