Glenmorangie 10 Year Old - Original

Nose: Like smelling hard cider (a mix of apple and pear ciders), with the yeast not filtered. Nose2: Light honey with some grapefruit; over time, getting creamier with vanilla and yeasty pastry.

Palate: Wheat entrance, smooth like slightly sweet pastry dough. Emerging orange rind sharpness along with vague sweetness. Midpalate, this citrus gets smoothed-over with some creamy custard... and this develops an interesting slight bitterness, as from freshly sliced almonds.

Finish: Remaining light honey and custard, in puff pastry. Accents of orange, including sour zest around the cheeks.

This is a very good show for a "light" Scotch. The malty richness of cream-and-pastry belies the label of "light"; and the interplay with light citrus keeps the experience interesting. The Original is a very good base, extremely easy to drink. My main complaints are lack of complexity (once you get past the interesting yeasty pastry Glenmorangie theme) and a finish that gets dry just a bit too soon. But this is fine for an everyday dram (if you drink that way), and this sets the tone for the rest of the range. For instance, if you want more orange and sweetness, go for the 18yo. If you want more cream, go for the Ealanta (or maybe Astar). If you want to see a more complex interplay of cream and tart than seen here, go for the Nectar D'Or, which is probably the most similar to the Original.

If you want to compare with other distilleries, the closest associations I can make are: the Isle of Jura Superstition (which has more hay instead of "dough"), and the Aberlour 10 (which has more fruit/less butter).

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