Glenmorangie The Original

Glenmorangie The Original

A review by Tommy Byrne

Overall rating: 8,5/10

In the past 10 years, I have had a love/hate relationship with Glenmorangie The Original. Even if it’s the whisky that hooked me up to single malts in 2003, I abandoned it when I fell in love with Islay malts in 2010. It took me 3 years to reopen that Highlands golden bottle and since then we have started to flirt again. Being the top selling single malt brand in Scotland and the second in the world, after Glenfiddich, thanks to its acquisition by the LVMH group, Glenmorangie is a wonderful whisky not only for new malt head, but also for connoisseurs.  

This first 10 years old expression of the Glenmorangie range as a nice pale gold colour, but it’s a wee bit too dark for assuming it hasn’t been tainted with the magic touch of e150. On one side, the nose is sweet with hints of pears and peaches, brioche, cinnamon and some bubble-gum.  On the other side, it’s lightly smoked with a touch of toffee, vanilla and oak. Having been aged in white American oak and bourbon casks, the palate is very close to sour mash bourbon with notes of cereals, light smoke and oak.  It has a sour and bitter medium finish.

I was very surprised by this whisky; it was nothing as I expected and as I remembered. By having the highest stills in Scotland, Glenmorangie has to reputation of producing very light whiskies. For some reasons, I was expecting something like a sharper and rougher Speyside malt. Lke Glenfiddich 12, Glenmorangie The Original is a great whisky to get acquainted with single malts. The many extra matured versions of this whisky are great for experiencing various types of cask finishing, such as sherry, port and sauternes.  

Clynelish 14 years old

Clynelish 14 years old

A review by Tommy Byrne

Overall rating: 8/10 (Single Malt notation)

Clynelish is to Johnnie Walker’s Gold Label what Ardmore is to Teachers Highland Cream.  Both Highlands distilleries produce a lot of whisky, but bottles only around 5% of its production under its own name. Clynelish is present is most Johnny Walker Labels, but it is the main malt used blending the Gold Label.

Colour wise, Clyneslish 14 years old has a golden coat. This whisky is all about its nose, very close to a cognac. It’s very creamy, floral and delicate with subtle hints of a fruit market (and or basket!), vanilla, lemon ice tea and some smokiness. Very dry and oaky, the palate doesn’t follow up to the nose aside from the obvious bourbon cask. This is sad, but at least the finish is strong and persistent.

After nosing the whisky, while knowing what we know about its main use, I automatically made a strong sensorial connection between Clynelish and Johnnie Walker Gold Label.  It’s the almost exact same creamy delicate smoothness, but after tasting it, I understood why it’s usually blended with grain whisky. The palate of the two whiskies is very different. Even if apparently there’s a certain amount of people devoted to Clynelish arguing its masterful craftsmanship, I would only recommend this whisky to make the fun comparison with its Johnnie Walker’s cousin.