After a couple of weeks of holidaying in France, and bringing quite a bag of samples with me that I barely (barley?) touched, let’s get right back to reviewing some fine drams! The first one of which is another one that was sent to me by Dràm Mòr.

This time it’s a Mannochmore from 2010. A distillery that is not too well known since most of its spirit is destined to go into blended whiskies. However, there have been quite a few independent bottlings over the last couple of years, generally scoring above average. So, promising, I guess.

Sniff:
Very malty, without it being the only scent there. Dried apples, French bread, puff pastry. Apricot jam, barley and a whiff of yeast.

Sip:
The palate arrives sharply with alcoholic heat and white pepper. There’s a bit of simple syrup, oaky sweetness. Baked apples, apricot jam, bread.

Swallow:
The finish is a bit more simple. Very classical and old fashioned, with oak but mostly focusing on barley notes. The other flavors are receding quickly with apple, some pear and a jam/chutney sweetness.

In a way it’s a very straight forward dram with bourbon cask maturation. But, that is also a good thing since I think whisky tends to be best in that situation. Nothing too fancy, but good quality spirit and a reasonable amount of oak influence. Like this one.

With this dram clocking in at just under € 80 in Austria and £ 65 in Scotland, a very well priced whisky and recommended if you prefer whisky to be not too pretentious!

86/100

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