The Glory of the grain tweet tasting – #GrainWhiskyTT

So, Grain whisky. It’s a well kept secret, but Single Grain whisky can be amazingly good. I’ve been advocating single grain for some time now, reviewed a few samples but I still felt i needed to try more, and what a better opportunity than to try it at one of Steve’s Twitter tastings and Arkwrights Whisky and Wines , who were kind enough to send everyone 4 samples of lovely grain whiskies (blind of course), to try last Wednesday.

We started off with #1, which felt quite young and spirit-y to me, yet was rather nice as a sipping whisky, i guessed it’s a NAS at 40%, which was quite right.

Cameron Brig Single Grain Whisky , NAS , £24.99

Nose : Quite alcoholic, some cologne, cereal, honey and fruit, mainly  peaches. the nose is rather youngish.

Palate: Rather sharp, then getting sweeter like chocolate and a bit of cocoa. honey, nuts and  not much wood.

Finish : bitter  cocoa chocolate & rum.

The 2nd dram we tried felt familiar (but no clue what it was), and turned out to be the Greenore 8 yo I’ve tried long ago and even reviewed in one of Steve’s Tweet tasting in the past : here.

Greenore 8 yo , Irish Single Grain 40% abv, £36.99

Nose: Wood varnish, lots of sugars, maple , some lemon, vanilla and banana this is a nice one!

Palate: Lots of sugars, and sweet and sour wood, banana peel, gentle spices, with a hint of lemon tart.

Finish: sweet and sour. vanilla, sugar, wood and bitter chocolate

Not a bad dram, i quite like it, with all the banana stuff going on, some didnt quite like it, but to me, it’s a fine example of grain.

Nikka Coffey Grain Whisky , 45% abv, £36.99

Nose: Starting on damp wood, then aniseed, getting fruitier, with apples, and vanilla, not much wood here at all and no varnish sort of. cake with sugar icing.  Getting better and reveals more as time goes by in the glass. impressive

Palate: :Lovely. sweet and thick with some Demerara sugar, dates, figs, rum, chocolate, fudge, rich cake infused with rum.

Finish : Bits of wood , sweet rum.

A really lovely dram this is, surprisingly good, and so very enjoyable! it shot right up to my “wish list”. I need one of these , that is clear …

Clan Denny Invergordon 1966 – 45yr , 47.1 % ABV , £129.99

Nose: Red fruit, balsamic vinegar, icing sugar, a hint of smoke, caramel.

Palate: Passion fruit, and red grapefruit, with sweet nectar and a bit of chocolate. hint of smoke on the palate as well, but very very weak. bourbon-esque too.

Finish: Cinnamon, hint of smoke and fruit.

this is a HUGE whisky, so good, absolutely stunning, and a clear example of how great older grain whiskies can be, absolutely divine. I think we all agreed about that, and was lucky to have tried that.

Again, it was good fun, and very educational, trying out 3 whiskies I never had before, and doubtful if i would have tried them on my own anytime soon if it wasn’t for this wonderful event. Many thanks again to Steve, for organizing this and for the guys over at Arkwrights Whisky and Wines for sending over the samples (which arrived well before time, ha ha!).

Glorious Grain. indeed!

btw: if you are keen on trying those 4 samples yourselves, the lovely guys at Arkwrights Whisky and Wines have arranged those to be avialble for sale on their online shop, so check them out!