HtH DM pt 6

[Drammed]

It's been a while since we had one of these so I figured I'd put another one up. I was drinking both of these today and found a lot of similarities between these fine drams. So close infact that I thought it would be a good match head to head. So which is the better dram....up to you to decide.

[jazz lover]

Cragganmore for me,this is a personal favorite.

[lockejn]

Oban for sure - my personal favorite and the malt that got me hooked. The Cragganmore is quite good, also. I'm not sure I agree on the extent of their similarity, though. I'll have to arrange a h2h myself to see.

Nice picks for a DM.

[Willie JJ]

Really difficult this one, but I think the Craggy just wins for me.

[dramtastic]

I voted for the Cragg. Would be even better at 46%, add a bit more punch to go with the complexity.

[johan brugge]

Sorry, no Cragganmore for me. I much more prefer the smokey notes of the Oban.

[Ardbeg311]

Oban over the Cragganmore for me.

[The Third Dram]

...I think the Craggy just wins for me.

For me as well. Two principal reasons...

1. Degree of complexity (the Cragganmore is, at its best, one of THE most nuanced single malts around).

2. Price point (the Oban, perhaps due to limited production, but even so, is VERY expensive in my neck of the woods when compared to the cost of the Cragganmore).

As it happens, I visited the Oban Distillery a few weeks ago, and came away with two main impressions. Firstly, a drop or two of water (splashed into but NOT swirled in the glass) seemed to allow the flavours of the 14YO to literally 'explode' on the palate. Secondly, the best whisky I tasted there was a 13YO distilled in 1996 and drawn directly from the cask (at approximately 54% alcoholic strength)... It displayed a much more intense surge of saltiness than the standard 14YO version and, in that sense, reminded me a little bit of the long discontinued 12YO release in the decanter-styled bottle.

[The Third Dram]

Just a quick postscript on that 13YO Oban sampled at the distillery: It displayed a significantly lighter hue than the widely available 14YO, and I have to wonder if this fact might be due not only to the refill cask it was drawn from, but also due to colour alteration employed for the standard bottling. In this regard, I have to admit that I have sensed, on occasion, a slight 'blurring' of the flavour presentation of the 14YO (this has also periodically been the case, alas, with the 12YO Cragganmore, which SHOULD offer a very crisply delineated taste).

And I 100% agree with dramtastic that a 46%ABV bottling strength could dramatically improve matters... Even better if the whisky were not chill filtered!

[Ganga]

It seems as if I'm the only one that doesn't have a drastic opinion on either one of these. I'm not a fan of the brineness in the Oban and I find the Crag to have too short a finish for my liking. I much prefer the Oban 18 to the point I'd rather pay double the 14. And I think the Crag 10 CS is a much better dram.

That part said, I'd take a dram of the Crag over the Oban as it is a closer fit to what I like.

[lockejn]

Oooh, Clynelish, another excellent choice and one of my faves

[Willie JJ]

I much prefer the Oban 18 to the point I'd rather pay double the 14.

Unfortunately over here the 18yo is 10,000,000,000 times the price of the 14yo so I haven't tried it.

[borgom]

I can't vote because I think they are both fantastic whiskies it's just a shame they aren't bottled at 46%+ and free of chill-filtration and caramel. Both are up there for top quality affordable whiskies along with Strath 12.