Single Grain Scotch Whisky

[Lawrence]

Has anybody tried some of the various grain whiskies available? I recently tried some 25 & 31 year old single grains bottled by Cadenheads and they absolutley wonderful. It was a real eye opener to find that a grain whisky could be such a nice dram. Any comments would be appreciated.

[lexkraai]

The one grain whisky that really opened my eyes was Compass Box' "Hedonism". Not a single grain, but a vatting of Cambus and Caledonian single grains. I never knew grain whisky could be that delicious.

Cheers, Lex

[Lawrence]

I tried a 25 yo Cambus and a 31 yo Caledonian at the Craigellachie Hotel last week. Both were bourbon casks and they were just amazing, very smooth and full of flavour and 25% the price of malts. Another avenue of exploration! I've never tried any of the Compass Box but they seem to be very good.

[blackkeno]

I think (single) grains as a category are some of the most overlooked whiskies. To my palate, the indies seem to have the edge here. As noted Hedonism is wonderful (I've only tried the first vatting). The Cadenhead Cambus 31 is spectacular and their Caledonian 21 is very good. Scott's North of Scotland '63 is also a treasure. Although, they are OK for a change, the OB grains like Invergordon 10, and Black Barrel are just alright IMHO.

I find the Irish single grains (from Cooley) to be quite good. Their OB Greenore includes aging in rum casks. It took some getting used to, but I quite like now. Limmerick bottled a CS (67.3%!), 9yo single cask that is also very interesting.

I think most single cask Canadian whiskies would technically qualify as single grains, although I've never seen them marketed that way. I love all I've tasted: Bush Pilot's Private Reserve 13yo, Hirsch 12yo (CS), Century Reserve 13 & 15yo.

[Deactivated Member]

I never tasted that many single grain whiskies or even vatted grain whiskies. But 'Hedonism' from Compass Box was a great and delicate vatted grain whisky. So maybe there is a market after all for grain whiskies, either a vatted or a single grain whisky. It's just how you create them.....