Glenmorangie Traditional

Oh Im so thankful for such great friends! One of them invited me to come watch BBC´s Wonders of the universe and sip some of this unchillfiltered, cask strength expression of the standard 10yr old. How could I decline? The documentary was great I guess but the whisky stole my attention completely so I didnt see much of it. It comes in a nice, vintage looking open box in a litre bottle, very nice presentation and after tasting I understood why they put it in a bigger bottle. One sip of this makes you wanting more and more and more.

Color: Light gold, looks very fresh and young; like you would expect with this type of whisky.

Nose: without water a little pale in the beginning and a bit alcoholic, but with some water it quickly releases the smells and it keeps evolving in the glass. Vanilla, fresh oak, nice floral notes; especially chamomile, buttercake, green apple, peach, orange oil and somewhere in the back... is that some peat/smoke?!. The longer you wait, the fruitier it becomes, like a candy shop in a field of flowers. Light, happy and complex, excellent!

Arrival: Big and strong, comes in quick but its not suble, delicate strength, not harsh or alcoholic at all and I just used 3 drops of water on a 30ml dram. Just take small sips:) It starts with big sweet barley, big oak, abricot, flowery honey, fresh white bread, cashew nuts, and developes into calvados, creme brulee and some smoke/ash. You can hold this in your mouth for ages without it getting dull, it keeps releasing new sweet, salty, woody flavors and takes your attention away from whatever you were doing. It also tastes very organic.

Finish: first a nice kick! Big oak, barley, very nice ripe cherry flavours pop up while the peaches and oranges dry in the background. Young, long and bittersweet:)

This is just great stuff... Its a gigantic, gentle, young, sexy, complex, crystal clear fabulously balanced, woody fruit symphony. Its like having an erotic dream and the most beautiful, sweet and funny girl you know is starring:p At cask strength, this is still very drinkable and the water I used was only to open up the nose. Sit back, turn off the tv, take a sip and ponder about the wonders of the universe.

Sometimes the flash presentation boxes are used to make up with lack of talent, the traditional expression does need the hype. This is much richer than Glenmorangies usual output. Where Glenmorangie is a usaul recommendation for an intro malt, this is not, 'morangie is also know for being a nice after dinner or afternoon Dram, Traditional is a nice winter warmer.

Very light in colour, pale and bright bronze. Buttery and floral nose ... some clover honey notes. Finish is LONG and strong on oak plank and clove, but not much flavour to start. After a drop of water even more sweetness comes to the fore on the nose and flavours become more pronounced; brighter phenols and chewier flavours.

Maple syrup or sweet ice cider wines on the nose. Calvados with kick flavour scotch. Rich beyond reckoning with a finish that is very hot.

We need to come back to this, right now it comes off too hot and too rich to be enjoyable.

Holy cow! This liquid proves you do not need to be a smokey/peaty whisky to be a manly whisky. At first whiff this thing punched my right in the face with a handful of oak, cloves and more spirit than the "holy ghost". Palate: fruity, vanilla, oak and some unexpected, albeit a slight amount of, smoke. Finish? Long, spicy, burny, fruity. This is a "should not have had this on lunch" type of dram. Big fan!