Marks & Spencer 12yo Single Malts x3 Reviews

Hi everyone,

Today I’ve got 3 reviews that I did ages ago and totally forgot to put up.

I got a pack of 4 miniatures for Christmas, all Marks & Spencer’s (Supermarket in the UK) whiskies, with one blended whisky I’ve reviewed before and 3 single malts from different regions. All 12 years old, all 40% and all mystery malts. There is a clue given by M&S in that the Kenmore 5, the blended one, says that it comes from Burn Stewart, so the singles could be from their distilleries too.

Just to remind you, Burn Stewart own Bunnahabhain, Tobermory and Deanston distilleries. No Island whisky, so no Tobermory here.

M&S Speyside 12 40%

Colour: E150a

Body: Medium

Nose: Much more heather honey Highland-Glenrothes style than Speyside. A little light Sherry in the background with a little sour cherry, oak and leather but there's some alcohol hiding anything else.

Taste: Soft arrival, sour cherry then Sherry cask raisins and some leather, good balance and the oak and spices build. There's some nice black pepper.

Finish: Medium length. A burst of that black pepper then some more Sherry.

Call me crazy but this tastes like Macallan/Glenrothes blend. Reminds me of the 1998 Macallan Speymalt. Label implies it's from a distillery on the river Spey. Also, great value for money.

69/100

M&S Highland 12 40%

Colour: E150a

Body: Medium

Nose: Sour and floral Highlander. Green apple sour sweets with sugar, lots of pastry and bakery, slightly overcooked apple turnover, poached pear.

Taste: Soft then quite thin with some green apple and pastry coming through, some spice develops with sour oak. Ginger, peppery, some green sappy oak.

Finish: Medium length. Peppery oak and a little sour.

Deanston or Tullibardine IMO, more likely Deanston knowing Burn Stewart could be involved. Nicer nose than taste.

63/100

M&S Islay 12 40%

Colour: E150a

Body: Medium

Nose: Funky with sour being the theme again. Dirty coal rag, diesel, over ripe yellow apples and Physalis dessert berries, salty and coastal notes are there but quite vague and in the background.

Taste: Those over ripe yellow apples first, some funky and dirty notes with coal and some soot, then a burst of yellow citrus, again those Physalis dessert berries, before some spice and oak.

Finish: Medium length. Still those Physalis dessert berries and some oak.

Quite unique notes here, and would be a really good one at 46% I think. If this isn't Bunna I WILL eat my hat.

67/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Reviews #441-#443

Whisky Network Reviews #503-#505

Network Average: 74.2

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.

Why is this here?

Supermarket Mystery Reviews! A (sort of) Blind Tasting.

Hi everyone,

Yesterday I did something a bit different. My mate had bought some cheaper supermarket whiskies and organised a kind of blind tasting for me, just marking the whisky with a number. So, a blind tasting was in order! (Get it? I’ll go now…)

It wasn’t quite blind in that he had mentioned what he had bought and that these are all from UK supermarkets. I tried to completely ignore that and just assess the whiskies and give a guess at what they might be.

Reveal is down the bottom

Sample 1

Colour: Gold

Nose: Pretty classic Highland combo of fruit and distinct malt. Lots of red apple, some sweeter honey, younger fruit too- Green apple and lemon.

Taste: Spice first, some oak and tannins, earthy malt comes through with a nice black pepper notes. Guessing it’s 40-43%.

Finish: Medium length. A little harsh ginger and oak/malt spice.

Conclusion: 10-12yo, 40-43%, Highland or Speyside Single Malt. I would say it’s one of those Speysiders that tastes more like a Highlander. If I had to guess, it would be Speyside.

64/100

Sample 2

Colour: Gold, slightly darker than #1

Nose: Richer than #1, nail polish remover, which is a note I always get with grain whisky. Raisin, toffee, slightly rubbery Sherry. A Sherry finish maybe? Some chocolate.

Taste: Sweet, but light from the grain. Probably 70-80% grain whisky, so blended. That nail polish remover thing again, some chocolate and oak, chocolate orange.

Finish: Medium length. Slightly harsh, chewy tannins and chocolate.

Conclusion: Blended whisky, 40-43%, Sherry finish. Age is tricky, not too old or young. I know Lidl have a 22 and 25 Sherry finish and I know he could have bought them but it doesn’t seem that old. More like 15yo, which there aren’t many of. Maybe a 12yo supermarket blend then?

64/100

Sample 3

Colour: Gold, same as #1

Nose: Richer again, a lot of malt, Highland heather, honey, green apple, red apple.

Taste: Mellow, soft, malty, slightly earthy heather and honey, green apple, ginger and then some sappy oak.

Finish: Medium length. Malt, heather and that sappy oak.

Conclusion: 10-12yo, 40-43%, Highland single malt. Hmmmmmm, again that Speyside tasting like a Highlander thing going on here. Glenrothes-esque, but I do think it’s Highland.

65/100

Sample 4

Colour: Amber, much darker than the others.

Nose: Sherry all over it, older than the others with tobacco and dark chocolate, intense dark fruit, juicy date and prune, very rich but only 40%.

Taste: Soft, mellow, Sherry covering everything again, dried raisin and fig, then juicier fruit with dates and figs soaked in sweet cream Sherry, PX Sherry, musky vanilla. A loooooooong development.

Finish: Long length. Simple with 90% dark chocolate and tingling oak. Slightly rubbery.

Conclusion: Sherry hides it well, but this is blended at 30+ years old. So it’s the Lidl Glen Alba 34yo Sherry finish.

72/100

Sample 5

Colour: Gold, with a higher viscosity than the others.

Nose: Islay, which is a nice surprise! Very peaty and young, smoky malt, not ‘big’ though, so probably 40%, quite soft, slightly meaty? Definite salt.

Taste: Young estery green apple, then smoke comes in, sappy, peaty, malty, the sappy-ness is a little off and reminds me of Bunnahabhain.

Finish: Medium length. Peat, then some salt stays.

Conclusion: Very young, 5-8yo, on the nose I thought it could be Caol Ila but the taste is definite peated Bunna at 40%. So I’m thinking it’s the Aldi Glen Marnoch Islay Malt.

67/100

The Reveal!

Sample 1: Tesco Finest Speyside 12yo Single Malt @£13.95

Sample 2: Tesco Finest Highland 12yo Single Malt @£13.75

Sample 3: Lidl Ben Bracken Speyside 8yo Single malt @£9.99

Sample 4: Lidl Glen Alba 34yo Blended @£29.99

Sample 5: Aldi Glen Marnoch Islay Single malt @£17.49

Wow, well it’s always educational when you get stuff completely wrong! I was really off on sample 2 but it really did taste blended, I promise! The Ben Bracken 8yo from Lidl is an incredible bargain for a tenner, although I think all of these were bought on deals. I got the last two right though, so happy days!

What is amazing as well is that none of these are terrible or bad whiskies, all are decent.

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Reviews #366-#370

Whisky Network Reviews #412-#416

Network Average: 74.4

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

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.

Why is this here?

Ledaig NAS Review

Hi everyone,

Today we've got a Ledaig, which is peated Tobermory don't you know. Really interesting distillery, it's closed more than open!

Rumours are this is 4 years old. I thought this was a supermarket exclusive but some say not. Mystery aplenty!

My Fiancé's Uncle bought a bottle to a party because he didn't like it, so I had quite a few drams of this to make sure I had my notes right.

It's surprisingly good considering it cost about £18 a bottle.

Ledaig NAS 42%

Colour: Straw

Body: Light

Nose: Very malty with light peat. Buttery, olive oil, salty fish oil, sea spray, lots of butter on toast, malt, smouldering straw and hay embers, roasted chestnut, barley sugar, light fruity hints- Lemon curd.

Taste: Quite sharp and fresh with citrus notes- Sharp apple and lemon sherbet, vanilla, hay and grass, butter, sea salt, oily pepper. Developing spice and coastal peat (a little rough) with earthy charred oak, some bitter lemon juice.

Finish: Medium length. Drying maltiness to the last with some oily pepper.

Quite savoury, really strong aroma of butter on toast.

67/100

This was my first experience of Ledaig and really opened my eyes to what this distillery can produce despite a disappointing experience with Tobermory 15.

I just bought an older Sherried Ledaig that's had good reviews as well and I'm really looking forward to it! (UPDATE: IT'S EPIC!)

Review #87

Network Average: 76.6

Best Score: 91

Worst Score: 44

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

Highland Black 8 Blended Scotch (Aldi)

Quick review today,

Yesterday my Father-in-law-to-be hands me a glencairn of whisky and says "So what do you think of this then?"

I, in all my confidence and bluster, take a few sniffs and a taste, stroke my beard thoughtfully and declare that it's a cheap 5 year old Speyside single malt!

Well, I was almost there. It is cheap, it is young, but it is blended.

Highland Black 8 year old Blended Whisky (Aldi)

Colour: E150a

Body: Light

Nose: Very light, fruit, pear, slight floral.

Taste: Soft, light, pear, green apple, some toffee and then some toasted oak.

Finish: Short length. Toasted oak and pear.

This costs £12. Not bad for what it is. It gives Glenfiddich 12 a run for its money. I would have thought that there's lots of Speyside malt in this.

After a bit of time the grain comes out a tiny bit into the finish but there's no harsh alcohol/lemon note that normally gives it away.

61/100

Review #76

Score Average: 77.7

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