Glen Moray 12 Year Old

This bottle has been opened for a week. I bought it mainly because I found a bottle for less then $25. It isn’t a bottle you typically see around, and it had the misfortune to be owned by Gldnmorangie Group when they owned Glenmorangie, Ardbeg, and Glen Moray . . . so it gets no love. I think it might best be remembered for being the “other half” of the Serendipity bottle (mostly thought of as an Ardbeg). Here is what I think of this bottle:

Nose: Grassy, clean, citrus, and hay. This may well be one of the best grassy style Speysiders I have tried. The lemon notes are sharp and sour. But they meld effortlessly with the extremely juicy and clean malt. In the background there is a hint of sweet fruits: pears, Clementine oranges, and Honeycrisp apples. I really enjoy this and am surprised at the alcoholic sting at only 40%. With time more hay comes out. It is still extremely grassy.

Taste: sweet grassy clean malt. It really finds all the tender parts of your mouth (and hits them). It is all on sour notes mixed with grass and floral notes. Flowers that weren’t on the nose show up here. Still tons of lemon, lemon-grass, and just plain grass.

Finish: A slight wave of malt. Mostly malt and toasted barley; at the end some sour lemon-grass bits. Medium short finish.

Complexity, Balance: I am impressed with both the complexity and balance at this age (and from this distillery). A top grassy Speysider. The balance of sour and sweet is very interesting to observe. The complexity is way more then the “other” Glen’s I can think of. And the balance of the sweet, sour, grassy, malty on the nose, tongue and finish were wonderful. The only thing really out of balance was where some floral notes - that didn’t surface in the nose or the finish - came out on the taste.

Aesthetic experience: I actually think this bottle, label, and crest look old school and classy. The only thing I would change is the ABV up to 46%.

Conclusion: This is not a go to dram for me. But at $23.99 I will buy it again next time I find it. If you are a fan of Glen’s (‘fiddich, ‘livet, ‘Keith, ‘Grant etc.) I would give this bottle a try.

Final = 85.5 (so I'll round it up for being under appreciated)

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