Glen Moray Warehouse 1 2008 Manzanilla Finish

1. What they say

The Manzanilla Finish celebrates the distilling team’s creativity with a fresh, evocative and luxurious dram. It’s a partnership of river and sea, bringing together the soft Spey water of Glen Moray’s spirit with the slightly sea-salt tang of Manzanilla sherry, which is famously only ever produced along the sea estuary of the Guadalquivir river.

This beautiful whisky opens with sweet ripe pears, green apples and freshly cut grass; perfect for enjoying by the fire right now, but also an ideal companion for the longer, lighter spring nights to come. Created in the evocative bodegas of Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Cádiz, Manzanilla is the driest of all sherries. Afficionados swear it tastes of the sea, because the unique coastal conditions have a dramatic effect on the flor, as Glen Moray Brand Ambassador Iain Allan notes: ‘As distillers, this notion of ‘place’ is endlessly fascinating, particularly as our home of Speyside is so much a part of the Glen Moray story.

We started to wonder what would happen if we brought Glen Moray spirit and Manzanilla casks together? If Speyside met Cádiz in the barrel, what would the results be? Soft with salt? Citrus with herbaceous? Questions like these can get the team quite animated, to say the least, but only time can ever answer their restless curiosity – and these results have been worth waiting for.

This is an exceptional whisky which represents the best of two very different worlds in one unique malt. I’m thrilled that it’s closing out an exceptional year for the relaunched Warehouse 1. But of course, innovation doesn’t take time off for Christmas – we’re already well ahead in planning our 2022 expressions. We can’t wait to share some very special whisky in the year ahead.”

Glen Moray Warehouse 1 2008 Manzanilla Finish is bottled at cask strength (54.6% ABV), non-chill filtered and with natural colour. It is a UK exclusive, available in 70cl packs in specialist whisky shops, RRP £74.95

2. Official tasting notes

• Colour: Pale gold
• Aroma: Initially very soft, evoking sweet ripe pears, green apples and fresh cut grass. Lively and vibrant, with background hints of camomile tea.
• Taste: Clean fruit gives way to drier oak spice. A luxurious mouthfeel leads back around to the herbal characteristics first introduced on the nose. 
• Finish: Long, lingering and savoury, with characteristic Manzanilla salt accents.

3. Details

• ABV 54.6%
• Age 13 Years Old
• Bottler OB
• Bottling Warehouse 1
• Cask Manzanilla finish
• Category Single malt scotch whisky
• Cost £74.95
• Origin Glen Moray Distillery
• Outturn 1240 Bottles
• Region Speyside
• Released 2022
• Vintage 2008

4. What I say

The latest Warehouse 1 expression from Glen Moray. Distilled in 2008 and matured in ex-bourbon before finishing in ex-Manzanilla casks. Bottled at 54.6% ABV and producing 1,240 bottles.

5. The Whiskyphiles tasting notes

• Colour: Orange gold (11/20), medium-fine tears, tapered fine legs.
• Nose: Sweet and dusty/musty, peaches, baked apples, peach cobbler, vanilla custard, pear tart, some malty cereals, chai and tea leaves.
• Taste: Rich, sweet and fruity, pears, apple peach, some caramel and butterscotch, leads into honey, milled barley flour, touch of orange zest, honey flapjacks, herbal, green tea leaves.
• Finish: Medium-long, sweet, golden syrup, hint of white pepper and salt, some oak wood.

6. Overall

Sweet and fruity from the Manzanilla sherry finish ads to the cereal and malt rich Glen Moray core flavours, very enjoyable.

7. Score 86/100