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Oban 14 Year Old

Graceful and elegant

0 1483

@jdcookReview by @jdcook

21st Oct 2009

0

Oban 14 Year Old
  • Nose
    19
  • Taste
    22
  • Finish
    21
  • Balance
    21
  • Overall
    83

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Distribution of ratings for this: brand user

The nose is rich and sweet - fruity with vanilla and wood tones with a hint of smoke and a little salt. Straightforward but more than pleasant.

The taste is full and rich, with honey and spice mixed with fruits. It rolls through my mouth elegantly, ending with a tingle from the spice that leaves my mouth dry and warm.

The finish is long and smooth - vanilla sweet, with a hint of smoke and gentle peat over an undertone of wood.

This is probably the only single malt I would describe as graceful and elegant. While other single malts have outstanding balance, you always get the feeling that the balance comes from a lot of time and effort on the part of the distiller. This one, however, feels to me like it just comes naturally, and isn't the end result of many years of careful tinkering, and yet is still excellent.

It's not in my top 10 malts, but not by much. It definitely has its own character, and it is certainly worth a look.

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14 comments

@GlassBottle
GlassBottle commented

totally agree; love this whisky. Extremely well balanced; for me, I love the gentle saltiness of this whisky as much as anything else...great review.

13 years ago 0

@jdcook
jdcook commented

@GlassBottle - surprisingly a lot of people aren't that into the Oban, but I must admit to quite enjoying it!

13 years ago 0

@GlassBottle
GlassBottle commented

yeah, I was surprised to see how low some of the other scores on here were for this whisky...at least we can agree it's a worthy dram!

13 years ago 0

@jdcook
jdcook commented

@GlassBottle - I had another pour of this and very much enjoyed it - I would say sitting in the bottle emphasizes the saltiness, and all to the better of the dram - the dram I had tonight would have rated more like an 87 or 88... ;)

13 years ago 0

@Victor
Victor commented

I have had very good Oban 14 and I have had totally ho-hum Oban 14. There is variation.

13 years ago 0

@jdcook
jdcook commented

@Victor - as there is for everything, and is part of the fun of whisky. Was the ho-hum one a new bottle or one that had been on the shelf for a while?

13 years ago 0

@Victor
Victor commented

@jdcook, both the good sample and the uninspiring sample were sampled at different restaurants, so it is hard to say how long the bottles had been opened. Most likely both of the bottles had been open for quite a substantial length of time, but I really don't know.

13 years ago 0

@jdcook
jdcook commented

@Victor - and they were probably stored in fairly different environments too which wouldn't have helped with consistency of experience... ;)

13 years ago 0

@Victor
Victor commented

@jdcook, yes, there are many variables with whiskies.

13 years ago 0

@jdcook
jdcook commented

@Victor - that's part of the fun.

13 years ago 0

@Berg
Berg commented

I think of this as the little sister of HP 12. It doesn't really make any impact with its finish, and I think that is the main reason this whisky is middle of the road for many people.

11 years ago 0

@jdcook
jdcook commented

@Berg - I've never thought of it like that. But it might be good as a way of introducing people to heavier malts. Usually the HP12 is one of the first stops on the way down that path towards drams like the Lagavulin/Laphroaig and other Islays. But maybe this could be an even smaller step towards the HP12.

11 years ago 0

@Victor
Victor commented

Oban 14 is very mild-mannered even at its best. Not a bad thing, IF mild is what you want.

11 years ago 0

@jdcook
jdcook commented

@Victor - some days that is exactly what you want. Others, it does come across a little boring... ;)

11 years ago 0