Gordon & MacPhail: a brief tasting

T

Thor

Thor Iverson
Rosebank (Gordon & MacPhail) Connoisseurs Choice 16 Year Old (Lowland) Refilled Sherry casks, triple-distilled, 46% alcohol, $70-80. Apple flowers, light and fuzzy, with a clean, simple nose. The palate introduces tropical fruit and apricot skin, but remains simple and clean. Just OK. (2/08)

Benromach (Gordon & MacPhail) 21 Year Old (Speyside) First-refill Sherry casks, $110. Paper and old furniture turned to ash, toffee, espresso dust, and raw wood, with a finish of apple that hints at cider. Long and lingering, with hints of bitter chocolate at the very end. Complex. (2/08)

Glen Grant (Gordon & MacPhail) 21 Year Old (Highland) Sherry casks, $110. Coconut and rough wood, baking spices (nutmeg and clove), and while its harsh without the mellowing effect of a little water, it eventually turns beautiful and rather supple, showing mixed chocolates, hints of fruit, and toffee cream. Very nice. (2/08)

Glen Grant (Gordon & MacPhail) 1965 (Highland) Sherry casks, $175-200. Sour peat, humid wood, and summer leaves. Then theres lemongrass, full-bodied spice and chocolate, followed by a finish of smooth apricot and orange. Round and full, with intensity, complexity, and passion. Stunning. (2/08)

Caol Ila (Gordon & MacPhail) Connoisseurs Choice 1982 (Islay) Sherry casks, 46% alcohol, $150. Peat smoke, iodine, dried meat and the leather that used to enclose it, with exotic flowers and confiture (mostly Mirabelle plum, but theres Rainer cherry and peach as well). Unbelievably good, and for me the star of the tasting, though a very strong argument could be made for the Glen Grant 1965 as well. (2/08)

Lochside (Gordon & MacPhail) Connoisseurs Choice 1991 (Highland) Refilled bourbon casks, 43% alcohol, $65-70. Pastry with coffee residue, like the last dregs of a morning stop in a Parisian caf, then espresso, stale toffee, almonds, hazelnut, and the drying, slightly acrid smell of flor. Flor? Yes, flor. A very dry style. Weird. (2/08)

Benromach (Gordon & MacPhail) Organic (Speyside) One of the first organic whiskies. $55-60, 43% alcohol. Toffee-coated apples dipped in maple syrup, pinapple, banana, and lush milk-chocolate sweetness, with orange-chocolate candies on the finish. This is too simple-minded for me. (2/08)
 
Great to see single malt tasting notes.. I have some 64, 65 and 66 ones coming next week.. I'll let you know the results.. the '65 may be the Glen Grant (Gordon & MacPhail) but I honestly just can't remember.
My favorite in my cellar right now is Signatory Highland Park Orkney Single Malt Distilled 1990 (15 yrs) from the un-chillfiltered collection.. sort of a hybrid between Islay character and Highland character.
 
I'm still learning my way through the category, but it definitely gets a lot more interesting the farther from the mainstream one gets. It's a fun journey.
 
Independent bottlings are really the only interesting thing going on in Single Malt these days (with a few exceptions, such as the upcoming Bruichladdich Manzanilla Sherry Cask bottling--not finished, but aged the entire time in Manzanilla cask).

Shame they didn't pour any of the G&M cask strength bottlings.
 
originally posted by drssouth:
Great to see single malt tasting notes.. I have some 64, 65 and 66 ones coming next week.. I'll let you know the results.. the '65 may be the Glen Grant (Gordon & MacPhail) but I honestly just can't remember.
My favorite in my cellar right now is Signatory Highland Park Orkney Single Malt Distilled 1990 (15 yrs) from the un-chillfiltered collection.. sort of a hybrid between Islay character and Highland character.
Click to expand...

I've worked through a couple bottles of that same Highland Park bottling during poker games- great stuff.

I also like the Caol Ila Signatory UCF, most recently the 15yo 1992. It's got an initial fiery punch, but smooths out over the course of the dram into more elegant peat.

I think we're finding a similar band of enjoyment- Caol Ila is the lightest of the Islays, with HP's Orkney character quite close below that.
 
I have a bottle each of PC5 and PC6. Awesome malts, but they have to be cut with water. The former is 63% and the latter, 61%.

The absolute steal I've gotten lately is from Binny's in Chicago. The Signatory Laphroaig 1999 7 year old Cask Strength (55%) blows the doors off of the 10, 15 and 10 Cask Strength bottlings. $50 and more than worth it.

A fellow in my wine tasting group is a malt fanatic. He literally has 300+ different malts in his apartment. He's been my guide.
 
I see that Bruichladdich is doing Oloroso cask as well as the Manzanilla, and just came out with the first of its "First Growth" 16yr series.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top