Glen Moray 17 Years Old 1996 35.116 Menthol cool meets chilli heat (55.7%, SMWS, 1st Fill Designer Barrel, 211 Bottles, 2014)

• 55.7% ABV, £53.90 for 70cl
• Score: 60/100

What they say:

The nose seemed cool and crisp – waxy polished oak, evergreen forests, eucalyptus, apple, rhubarb and ‘visiting a nail bar’; also ginger, roses, marzipan and vanilla. The palate had pleasant tingly textures from ginger, liquorice stick, Fisherman’s Friends, cinnamon, clove and big drying oakiness – with just enough sweetness to carry it off. The reduced nose seemed mellower, bestowing impressions of dates, figs, sweet tobacco, end of summer hayfields and an empty box of After Eights. The reduced palate now had dark honey, fennel seeds and Moroccan mint tea – menthol coolness somehow coexisting with chilli heat. The distillery is owned by La Martiniquaise.

Drinking tip: A little bit unusual this – maybe while doing your nails or instead of toothpaste; or just in the evening with a good book.

Date Distilled: 17 December 1996

Colour: Warm honey gold

Age: 17 years

Flavour : Spicy & sweet

Cask Type: First fill designer barrel

Whisky Region: Speyside Lossie

What I say:

Dram # 2 WOLS 14/5 Scotch Malt Whisky Society tasting hosted by Ryan McCafferty, this Glen Moray (SMWS distillery #35) expression has been aged in a designer cask presumed to be from one of the Glenmorangie experimental maturations (as they previously owned Glen Moray before La Martiniquaise took over).

Colour:

Full gold, light/weak tears

Nose:

Mint, menthol mouthwash, alcohol spirit, coal tar soap, liquorice

Taste:

Cooling menthol and refreshing mint mouthwash commence but are quickly replaced by a building intensity of pimiento and sugar or gomme syrup, weak and thin in mouthfeel this one is distinctly spicy and has black pepper, cayenne pepper, liquorice, liquorice allsorts,  black jacks and aniseed ball sweeties, becomes waxy

Finish:

Medium, peppery tar

Overall:

Not my flavour profile. This reminds me of all those sweets I hated as a child, those that lasted milliseconds in the mouth before rapidly being ejected. While palates develop as you age and you can appreciate more varied and finer tastes, liquorice and aniseed still taste like licking a bar of coaltar soap to me [shudder]. I found this one undrinkable – I also wondered if this designer cask was made out of Eucalyptus wood? Though sadly it lacked any of the redeeming features of eucalyptus. If however you do like chilli-spiced liquorice washed down with mouthwash then this here is the whisky for you… each to their own I suppose.