This year’s special edition Glenmorangie was released a few months ago, and now arrived in Israel, just in time for the start of winter. We do not get a lot of winter around here, and if we do it’s mostly rain and weather residents of Scotland might call “summer” or “autumn”, but for us Israelis it’s a nice few months break from the scorching months of summer and spring.
This year’s edition is a 13-year-old Glenmo finished in Sicilian Marsala wine casks, which sounds just about right for a chilly winter evening. It’s bottled yet again at 46% abv, and not at a higher strength, and I wonder why, but before i start whining about it not being cask strength, let’s have a wee taste, shall we?
Glenmorangie ‘A tale of winter’ , 46% abv , £74.95 / ₪290
Nose: nice and sweet, with quite lots of orange marmalade, sugared orange peel, and maybe some more orchard fruit mixed with sweet toffee and a spicy note on top of vanilla ice cream, with brown sugar and a sour note that balances the sweet aromas.
Palate: The palate is rich and mouth-coating, with a zingy edge at first, spicy and peppery at first, then it gets fruitier with apricot leather, a touch of wine tannins, more of the orange marmalade, cinnamon, cocoa, and an earthy nutty edge to it, with stewed plums.
Finish: medium long with distant memories of sweet wine tannins, and wood spices, mainly cinnamon, and clove, some ginger heat, and caramelized demerara sugar.
Conclusion: A more-ish, very yummy whisky, not ultra-complex, but lots of fun, easy to pour another dram, and yet another dram, would go brilliantly with a nice cigar, or desert. Those winter nights will certainly be merrier with this one. Good work Dr. Lumsden.
At 290 NIS or so locally , it’s a good buy IMHO, especially for Glenmo fans.
Happy holidays!