Hi everyone,
Four whiskies today, all from the recently repackaged range Carn Mor from Morrison & Mackay. I quite liked the old packaging too, with the sideways labels that you couldn’t really read but oh well. I’ve tried a few of these now and they are always very good-great with the standout being the Chariman’s Legacy Bowmore.
These samples were very generously poured for me by all round legend Graeme Mackay at Limburg whisky fair.
Glen Keith 1988 Carn Mor 40.1%
Colour: Gold
Body: Light/Medium
Nose: Fruity and musky, aromatic, very fresh fruit, melon and pineapple, fruit salad, lots of 'super' pear, green apple, old wood.
Taste: Very soft and a little weak at first then builds with tonnes of oak, dry, dry chalk, dried apple, dried pear, then old wood.
Finish: Medium/Long length. Dried pear, some green apple, then soft milk chocolate.
Very good whisky but a little over the hill IMO. Don’t know if the original spirit character just wasn’t strong enough to stand up to that long a maturation. And then the strength was a little low, giving it less body.
76/100
Mannochmore 1990 Carn Mor 42.5%
Colour: Light Gold
Body: Medium
Nose: Really very freshly fruity and tropical, melon, watermelon, green apple, pear, white pepper, lightly floral.
Taste: Very fresh and very tropical then spicy ginger, dry oak, spice box, slightly grassy, melon, some hot cinnamon.
Finish: Short length. A little tropical but dies off, a bit mouthwatering with green apple.
Bottled 2018 at 27yo. Much the same story again, very fresh old whisky but just lost a little too much.
EDIT: Tried again more recently and liked it a little better. Got more perfumed and floral notes which I think would bump the score up. (Original score: 75)
EDIT: Tried again more recently and liked it a little better. Got more perfumed and floral notes which I think would bump the score up. (Original score: 75)
77/100
Invergordon 1987 Carn Mor 43.4%
Colour: Light Gold
Body: Light/Medium
Nose: Lovely old grain! Banana! Creamy, vanilla, double cream, yellow apple. No trace of ethanol, or clean alcohol.
Taste: Very soft then banana, very creamy mouthfeel, some oak but not too much at all, some white chocolate, white grape and white florals like Lily.
Finish: Medium/Long length. More double cream, banana, some very soft oak.
Bottled 2017 at 30yo. Definitely one of the best grains I've tried. It is starting to become my official standpoint that Grain whisky is best at around 30 years… More research needed…
79/100
Glen Garioch 1990 Carn Mor 50.6%
Colour: Gold
Body: Medium/Full
Nose: Nice balance of buttery tropical fruit, creamy, dried mango, dried banana, whipped cream, very lightly smoky, green grape, banana split.
Taste: Soft, natural, green grape, banana split, lemon peel, soft smoke, quite dry, some leather then creamy with banana, some soot.
Finish: Long length. A burst of banana then dry oak, green grape.
Bottled 2017 at 27yo. Very nice style to this you wouldn't find with many other whiskies, and with a bit more heft than the other three here. Best GG I've tried so far.
83/100
Thanks for reading!
Scotch Reviews #639-#642
Whisky Network Reviews #759-#762
Network Average: 74.9
Best Score: 94
Worst Score: 12
0-49 Terrible
50-59 Bad
60-64 Just About OK
65-69 Ok to Good
70-74 Good
75-79 Very Good
80-84 Excellent
85-89 Superb
90+ Magnificent
Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.
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