ABV: 40 %
Origin: Scotland Unspecified
Type: Blended
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 1
Impression: 2/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is sticky sweet and fruity. At first there’s a lid of sticky sweet sherry syryp with vanilla and assorted dried red fruits. When it settles, it reveals harsh grain spirit as well as a fresher fruitiness, malt and toffee. It’s very top heavy and the extra maturation never really feels attached to the other parts. The sherry does give some seasonal spices and fruits which help it along. This is a decent nose for a cheap blend. It’s a major cover-up though.

Mouth: It starts out very mild with heavy vanilla and fruit syryp notes up front and oak, together with a slight bitterness, out on the edges. The fresher fruitiness starts in the back and then slowly wraps around the center part. it’s quite sour and metallic in the back. It doesn’t take long before the harsh grain spirit overruns most of the palate and everything becomes rather unpleasant. There is a spicyness to be found but it takes a long time before it arrives. There is a malty and fruity side within but it’s not enough to fight the unpleasantries.

Finish: The start of the finish is quite flat with just a touch of spicyness. The heavy vanilla notes carry over and do a good job of covering up the unpleasant spirit underneath. It doesn’t take long before the facade breaks though. The late finish is just a tedious oakiness, harsh grain spirit and a thin veil of sherry surrounding everything. This is a not-so-good whisky. The cover-up is blatantly obvious. It’s just famous grouse with a sherry clown mask on top. It certainly improves on the original though.

Additional information
The Grouse Brand was released in 1896 and two years later the name was changed to The Famous Grouse because of its popularity. Edrington generally uses Glenturret malt in its blends.

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