Glenmorangie 10 Year Old

There's a reason that Glenmorangie is one of the world's most popular single malts, and frequently among the most critically acclaimed. It's light and fresh, dangerously drinkable, while preserving a complexity that invites the drinker to explore further.

The colour tells you a lot of what you need to know: it's a clear, clean gold, as if pure liquid gold had been mixed with still spring water. The nose is immediately floral and light, even undiluted - at 40%, this doesn't need much teasing to be at its most fragrant. I find a very distinct note of those boiled, sour apple sweets that beckon from jars in the finest old sweet shops, though without the sharpest of the sourness that characterises them. All this is underlain by a lightly citric note, perhaps tending towards orange, but not at all prominent. It needs to be sought out. The tail end of the nose is a very light liquorice.

The palate is as fresh and inviting as the nose, and it's hard to resist the temptation to just gulp it down; this is as smooth and light a single malt as you're ever likely to encounter. The palate flowers wonderfully, moving quickly through an initial kiss of vanilla into a floral stage that also characterises the start of the finish. Going back to the glass in the meantime - and believe me, you will - you'll be surprised by a new, richer scent of butterscotch. The finish isn't overlong, and melts neatly into a detectably grainy character. I'd be surprised if you can wait long enough for a second mouthful to savour the whole finish, anyway, so you're only likely to experience it once the glass is empty!

Don't deride Glenmorangie because of its popularity. There's plenty there to entertain and enjoy. It was not for nothing that this was the first whisky that I ever went back for a fresh bottle of in preference to a new one.

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