Catawiki released this series of ‘Catawhisky’ last year for their avid auction bidders. I believe it was stated that the first 1000 people to spend € 1000 on their auction site would get a batch of samples from this. What was left over got spread around to garner some interest.

Commercial stuff:

What is nice about Catawiki is that they’re indicating what good prices would be for a bottle. This is an actual process based people knowing their stuff, contrary to having to go by historic data that might be hugely outdated.

Also, at least in The Netherlands, they’re involved in all kinds of festivals. So, it’s not just there for the money but also for the community.

Glen Moray, like I always say in similar reviews, ages rather well, if the cask isn’t too influential. As in, the cask tends to take over since it’s a very gentle spirit. But, when being drawn from a hogshead, like this one, it can be an utterly nice whisky.

Sniff:
Quite a green whisky for its 14 years old. Also a bit of vanilla and sweet baking spices with apple. Maybe because it’s the first one, it’s a little bit hot on the nose.

Sip:
Slightly more thin than I expected from the rich and sweet nose. By that I mean the vanilla is toned down and it’s less sweet, and more dry. That gives the spirit a bit more room and also shows a more oak. White pepper, green apples.

Swallow:
Oak, white pepper, a slight bitter note not unlike gin-tonic and grapefruit.

A rather okay whisky with more to be discovered than you’d expect from a 14 year old Glen Moray! I like that there’s that grapefruit note on the finish, and that after the nose the vanilla is kept in check. Of course, since this isn’t commercially available, I have no idea to value for money, but I really liked the whisky!

87/100

Thanks to Catawiki for giving me the chance to try this!