glenmorangie review | William’s Whisky Database

ABV: 46 %
Origin: Highlands
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 5/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is rich and sweet. At first there’s a honey and white chocolate sweetness covering a large part of the impact. There’s a thin floral layer floating on top and a hint of citrus fruits in the back. There’s also an eucalyptus note within as well as an almond nuttiness. It becomes sweeter with time and vanilla and sweet liquorice start to move up towards the edges. This is a great and rich nose with a lot of different things to discover.

Mouth: It starts out with a powerful impact of honey, malt and eucalyptus. The core is surrounded by citrus zest and white chocolate. There’s a hint of tropical fruits floating around within as well. It’s somewhat astringent and the oakiness is peeking through every now and then. The liquorice shifts and moves towards the background. It feels very rich and textured. It’s not as floral and as on the nose.

Finish: The eucalyptus is spreading out over the palate and gives it a nice cooling effect. The citrus and tropical fruitiness are close behind as well as the white chocolate, honey and vanilla notes. The liquorice is still in there but it’s more subdued. The oakiness comes through quite late but when it does it’s a very nice nutty oakiness with a white chocolate coating. This is a fantastic dessert whisky. It’s very sweet but it still gives away a lot of different flavours to balance it out.

Additional information
This is part of the Glenmorangie Extra Matured series. It’s aged for 10 years in american ex-bourbon barrels and finished in french ex-sauternes wine casks for 2 additional years. It’s discontinued and replaced with a no age statement whisky with the same same.

ABV: 46 %
Origin: Highlands
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 1
Impression: 3/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is very sweet and fruity. At first there’s a thick sweet layer of honey, vanilla and ripe banana sitting on top of a fruitier background with tropical fruits and a white wine sourness. An ethanol cloud is sitting on top of everything and gives it a cooling effect. There are small hints of baking spices in the back, as well as a maltiness. With time in the glass it becomes sweeter and the wine finish becomes more pronounced. This is a nice nose, but it leans a bit heavy towards the sweet notes up front and feels a bit unbalanced.

Mouth: It starts out extremely sweet and a bit malty. It’s filled with overripe bananas, ripe green grapes and a generic sweetness. It’s somewhat dusty and everything still feels very much like it’s in your face. The background consists of the sweet white wine and it produces a sharp metallic lemon note in the back. Somewhere in between some tropical fruits do show up for those who are patient.

Finish: It starts out with malt and honey and then move quickly towards the fruitiness. It still has those sweet overripe bananas and grapes, but the tropical fruitiness soon takes over. The fruitiness is intertwined with the oakiness and together they take over completely. The oakiness is great. It’s nutty with just a hint of bitterness. The finish is by far the best part of the entire journey. This is a good dessert whisky and the narrative around cake is fitting. It’s not a dram for every occasion though.

Additional information
A Tale of Cake was released in 2020 as a limited edition bottling. It’s aged in ex-bourbon barrels and finished in hungarian Tokaji casks.