Whisky Forum - Mortlach 18

sorren · Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2015 3:01 pm Post subject: Mortlach 18

After tasting the very impressive mortlach 25, I now get the chance to review the little sister, this 18yo is a mixture of American oak and European sherry casks, both first fill and re fill casks were used. This is a 50cl bottle and has an abv of 43.4%:

Nose.. At first it is a little underwhelming, not the nose I expected:.. BUT.. wait 10 minutes and it is totally different, the nose opens up into an array of spices, citrus and earthy notes, cinnamon, ginger, orange peel and lemon zest give it a lovely refreshing kick while a nuttiness leads you into a subtle pipe tobacco scent, toffee and molasses with an oaky aroma.

Palate.. A big hit of sweet syrupy fruits, orange marmalade, cherry and dates, cinnamon and ginger give it a spicy kick while vanilla, toffee and butterscotch make it a candy lovers delight. There is a subtle smokey background flavour, liquorice and dark chocolate notes pop up with a burnt nutty caramelised taste..

Finish.. The finish is rather gentle, faintly spicy with fruity notes, a little woody.. But pleasant..

Thoughts.. A pleasant dram with some typical mortlach notes, although it has a hefty price tag it is still a dram you should try.. There are some really prominent flavours along with lovely subtle notes, it has a complexity that is found in older whisky while at the same time you do expect a little more: Well worth a second pour though..

TheWM · Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2015 4:04 pm Post subject:

Nice review - how does it compare to the 16 F&F? Sounds like some similar notes going on there.

sorren · Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2015 6:17 pm Post subject:

It is quite some time since I had the 16 f+f and unfortunately I have no notes recorded.. But from memory it does have a similar profile while being different lol ..

Quaich1 · Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2015 7:02 pm Post subject:

Comprehensive review Sorren. Well-done! I enjoyed this dram at a tasting with Georgie Bell in Toronto. She later gave me some chocolate ganache to go with this high viscosity dram which heightened the dark chocolate notes. It is also at that interesting 43.4%abv. For my palate, I particularly liked the burnt orange on the nose, the espresso note on the palate and the spiced orange finish. Mortlach, "the Beast of Dufftown" does not disappoint here.
_________________
"Always carry a large flagon of whisky in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake."
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sorren · Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2015 7:08 pm Post subject:

Funny you mentioned the dark chocolate, I had a bit after the mortlach earlier and it really complemented it.. I do prefer the 25 though, but price is so up there