Glenmorangie sherry wood finish

by **Patric_Louis** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 11:10 am

Hello everybody,

I'm both, totally new to this forum and totally amazed by this forum, as there are people like you, talking about one of my favorite themes... scotch single malts :-)

Through the years I got a nice little collection of about 15 single malts. My favorite ones are Lagavulin16y, Talisker, Glendronach(for sentimental reasons) and Glenmorangie Sherry Wood Finish. Especially that Glenmorangie is the one, I prefer since the last 2 months.

Now my question: Could somebody, who tasted all the three different Glenmorangie woods finishs, tell me his/her opinion, maybe give some tasting notes and maybe give me some recommendations if its absolutely worth buying the port and madeira finish?

To all Scottish out there: I visited Scotland on Oktober 2003 and your land is incredibly lovely!
Here comes a link of my favorite pictures I had taken last year on my holidays in scotland:
http://www.patriclouis.de/schottland/

Greetings to all out there,
sorry if my english is a bit weak,
looking forward to the next dram ;-)
Patric Louis

by **lexkraai** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 11:36 am

Hi Patric and welcome to this forum!

There are many more wood finishes of Glenmorangie than the three you mention. For instance, there are several wine cask finishes and recently a Golden Rum finish was added to the line-up.

Of the three you mention (port, madeira, sherry), the port finish is my favourite whereas I like the sherry finish least (for me the sherry completely overpowers the more subtle aspects of Glenmorangie). But of course, this is just a personal opinion.

Cheers and happy exploring
Lex

by **Matt2** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 3:43 pm

Glad you are enjoying the forums. Just incase you hadn't had a chance to explore the Whisky Magazine site yet here is the link to the Glenmorangie tasting notes

http://www.whiskymag.com/whisky/brand/glenmorangie/

All sorts of wood in there and I hope it gives you some help in deciding.

Personally I really like the standard Glenmorangie 10 year old (only tried the sherry and port finishes)

by **SasquatchMan** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 5:03 am

Welcome aboard.
The port finish is absolutely the perfect touch on Glenmo's otherwise fully enjoyable dram.

by **BruceCrichton** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 7:06 pm

The sherry wood is quite sharp and comes across as a poor man's Dalwhinnie.

The Port Wood is probably the best and the Madeira is excellent as well.

Glenmorangie doesn't change a lot with age and it's the wood that makes nearly all the difference.

If you are able to get a Glenmorangie from a first fill bourbon cask then you will be in for a treat. The Millenium malt and Cellar 13 are the two that come to mind.

Asda has a first fill Glenmorangie available for about £29 a litre which is quite good and the most vanilla-tasting Scotch I've ever had. My mum had a bottle of that and finished it off quickly (by her standards anyway).

by **Admiral** » Sat Jun 12, 2004 12:17 am

I agree with the general consensus above...the best of the three is the Port Finish, followed by the Madeira, and then the Sherry.

by **Lawrence** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 6:46 pm

Glenmorangie is just releasing a new finish, Burgundy which I understand is going to replace the Maderia. I tasted it two weeks ago and it's very nice. As an aside the finishes don't have an age statement except for the USA market where the consumers demanded to know the age so Glenmorangie finally gave in and put a 12 year old age statement on them.

by **philbert** » Sat Aug 21, 2004 4:04 am

Patric,

Interestingly we have had some of the same whiskies in our collections in common -- Lagavulin 16, Talisker, Glendronach 15, Glenmorangie Sherry Wood --

Having recently fnished the Sherry Wood, my thoughts were that while it was good, it wasn't the most subtle: The sherry finish seemed to me a little to obvious*.

That said, I recently picked up a Glenmorangie 18 in a quest of recapturing a taste I had experienced one night in a steak house a decade ago.

The Glenmorangie 18, though some $20 additional was well more than worth the extra investment. i think its taste is on an entirely different level, and I think you will enjoy its subtlety and complexity, especially if you had the patience and time to really explore the Glendronach and found it pleasing in that respect. Graham's tasting notes sum up glenmorangie 18 very well. I will definitely make the Glenmorangie 18 a 'keeper' in the collection. I'll try the port wood too some time too.

My favorites also include Highland Park 12, Scapa, Talisker, Laphroaig 10 yo CS, Ardbeg 10, Oban, and Royal Lochnagar when I can get it.
-------
* For a whisky known for its 'distinctive' sherried finish, the soft water based glendronach 15 would be the whisky I'd turn to if I had to pick only one with the most unique sherry finish. While some folk find the latter not 'big' enough, I'd take subtlety and complexity, and the fact that Glendronach 15 seems to grow a bigger nose in the glass over 10-15 minutes, and is very compatible with retaining in the mouth a little longer.

by **BruceCrichton** » Sat Aug 21, 2004 11:08 am

Had the Burgundy wood finish at the Whisky fringe event.

I thought it tasted like dodgy wine with vinegar added. :shock:

Seriously grim.

by **bond** » Sat Aug 21, 2004 1:11 pm

Have sampled the Glenmorangie Port & Sherry Wood finishes and in my view it is little else but a smart marketing strategy.

Both these whiskies seemed middle-of-the-road improvisations in search of a distinctive positioning.

Eminently avoidable.

by **robs42** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 11:57 am

The only one of the wood finishes that I have tasted is the Madeira finish. It was better than the average whisky in my opinion, but value for money it was excellent - this was mainly because I found it in my local Asda being flogged off for £12.47 a bottle. I bought three, they make good presents!

by **bamber** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 1:23 pm

robs42 wrote:The only one of the wood finishes that I have tasted is the Madeira finish. It was better than the average whisky in my opinion, but value for money it was excellent - this was mainly because I found it in my local Asda being flogged off for £12.47 a bottle. I bought three, they make good presents!

Is that offer still on ??

by **Admiral** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 3:11 pm

Here in Australia, the Glenmorangie Wood Finishes retail for AUS$90, which is about 34 GBP! You scored a real bargain!

Of course, at $90 a bottle, I consider it quite poor value for money.

Admiral

by **mr_a_non** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 3:43 pm

Is the Asda offer just in your particular store or is it a national promotion? It certainly is not on their website. It could be worth a drive down to the local one tomorrow if it is only £12 a bottle.

by **robs42** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 4:47 pm

Sorry guys - I saw it a month ago in Asda Watford and I think it was a pricing error - the other wood finishes were going for about £25. It was priced up at £12.57 and due to a another error by the cashier I got them for £12.47. I only bought three of the four remaining bottles stupidly and haven't seen the offer since. Just my lucky day I suppose.

I probably would not spend more than £22 on the Madeira Wood Finish if I saw it again. Anyway, I'm going for a job interview at Royal Mile Whiskies in London tomorrow so I'm really hoping I will be getting whisky a bit cheaper now anyway.