These Manager’s Choice whiskies are as hilarious as they are expensive. Back when this series of 27 different bottlings was released by Diageo, they just sat on shelves. At least, most of them. The ones that did sell were the Caol Ila, Lagavulin, Talisker and Clynelish. The Oban did move a little bit too, but the other ones just sat there.

When they came out they were all priced around € 200 and up. For more or less ten year old whisky that was insane. Utterly ridiculous, was the consent, and even when a large Dutch whisky shop priced them down to € 140 it took ages for them to sell out.

Of course, with prices and popularity of whisky ever on the increase, things have since gone up in regards to price, but this Mannochmore is still available in at least 3 different shops in The Netherlands.

Things just weren’t as special as they thought they were, and prices are not just a random guess. Apparently, there is a maximum that even whisky fanatics are willing to part with.

I got a sample of this one last week from SJ. I’m not entirely sure when he bought this, but I bet it’s been ages. I’m also not entirely sure to why he initially bought this, but the way it was presented showed me it was more of a gimmick at some point than anything else.

Sniff:
Lots of sherry, right away. Lots of sweet dried fruits in a very PX-y way. Dates, figs, peaches and a whiff of orange. Not much distillery character to be found, or is that typical of Mannochmore?

Sip:
The palate is surprisingly dry, and arrives quite gently. After 20 or so seconds it starts intensifying very quickly, though. Dark dried fruits, oak, chocolate oranges, raisins.

Swallow:
The finish really shows a lot of sherry. Some warmth of the high ABV lingers, but it could just as well be amped up PX.

Apart from the sherry cask, not a lot is happening. Of course, Mannochmore is usually used in blended whiskies and therefore isn’t normally the most characterful of malts, but this is on another level of ‘cask driven’. Having said that, it is a rather tasty drink, with lots of lovely dried fruit, and other sherry notes. It’s just that it tastes more like amped up sherry than whisky.

85/100