Tag Archives: Glen Moray

2025 Whisky Show – Decadent Drams Highland, Speyside + Orkney

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Decadent Drinks has become a favourite at whisky shows for great conversations, a fabulous range of new and rare whiskies. The 2025 London Whisky Show experience was no exception. Our first day began with them, and our last day closed there too.

Between the start and finish, we had a couple of pit stops. During one, we explored some of their non-dream dram “Decadent Dram” expressions with :

  • Highland (Deanston) 27 year (1997/2025) Refill Hogshead 50.4% (Decadent Drams) 2025 Whisky Show GBP 278
  • Speyside (Glen Moray) 10 year (2014/2025) 57.1% (Decadent Drams) 2025 Whisky Show GBP 95
  • Old Orkney (Highland Park) 25 year (1999 / 2025) 50.3% (Decadent Drinks) 2025 Whisky Show GBP 345

Without further ado, let’s get on with the whiskies, shall we?

Highland (Deanston) 27 year (1997 / 2025) Refill hogshead 50.4% 

  • Nose – A clear classic, all those lovely Highland notes, a real beauty!
  • Palate – Well-rounded, fruity, and balanced… everything in harmony
  • Finish – Nice with a gentle spice

Whilst I’m not always a Deanston fan, this expression was spectacular. Narry a hint of that slightly industrial element I sometimes find with Deanston. This was elegant, exceptional, and such a treat to taste!

Speyside (Glen Moray) 10 year (2014/2025) 57.1% 

  • Nose – Fruity, full yet not too much
  • Palate – Bold but not forceful, complex, juicy, rich, stewed fruits, sweet yet not cloying, creamy milk chocolate
  • Finish – Salty, sweet, with a bit of gentle, fragrant leaves

Again, whilst we aren’t always Glen Moray fans, this was way beyond expectations. For a distillery that pumps out the (relatively) cheap stuff, this was top shelf.

This wasn’t our first Old Orkney expression. We tried their 20-year-old expression at the 2024 Whisky Show, so we were curious to see what their 4th bottling in this series was all about!

Old Orkney (Highland Park) 25 year (1999 / 2025) 50.3% 

  • Nose – Heather, light leather, peat, and sweet with dark fruits
  • Palate – Yummy! Lovely rich sherry, backed by a gentle peat
  • Finish – Lovely and lingers

Practically in unison, we shared our impression that this was what Highland Park used to be!

What more do we know? This 25-year-old was mostly matured in refill wood, then its final six years, it was matured in a very old 1st fill, ex-bodega, oloroso sherry butt. 

And there you have it – another delicious trio from Decadent Drinks!

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2024 London Whisky Show – Watt Whiskies

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One of the more interesting experiences at the 2022 Whisky Show was being introduced to the colourful Watt Whiskies. The next year, we skipped as you simply can’t do everything. However, we had to stop by in 2024.

Once again, Kate Watt walked us through our options. As it was still early in the day, I suggested something lighter to ease into the day. Although it sounds counterintuitive, after two lighter drams, Kate then pointed us toward a lightly peated whisky followed by a blend.

Glen Moray 11 year (2008) Oloroso Hogshead 54.6% Watt Whisky – May 2024 Release. 318 Bottles

  • Nose – Loads of white fruits, fresh and inviting
  • Palate – Candy sweet yet with an interesting depth too, a nice lip-smacking dram of tropical fruits
  • Finish – Lovely and soft

Glen Moray is known to be an easygoing, affordable dram—light, smooth, and fruity. This was no exception—except as an independent bottle—not quite as affordable! The challenge is that my “benchmark” for Glen Moray has all been from independent bottlers.

It was a rather pleasant place to begin our Watt exploration. Yes, there is sherry from its 14-month finish in an Oloroso Sherry cask, however, it is more like the icing on a cake rather than deeply infusing the full cake.

And how do the Watt’s describe it? Sherry, milk chocolate, orange sherbet and pineapple sweets.

Would I agree based on my scant sniff & swish notes? Yes!


Invergordon 26 year (1997) Hogshead 52.3% Watt Whisky – May 2024 Release. 258 Bottles.

We then moved on to a grain… suitably aged for 26 years. This was my 3rd experience with Invergordon – the 1st was a 28-year-old with a mixed reaction, the 2nd a 44-year-old from TBWC – wow!

How did the Watt offering fare?

As it was a simple sniff and swish, there were limited impressions – clearly a grain, we struggled to get past the “spirit” to find other elements. On the palate, it was also very active with a touch of leather mixd in with some lightly nutty element.

Toffee apples, honeycomb, peaches & marzipan.

We didn’t find all the elements described by the Watt’s, however we also spent only a little time with it – just the way things can be a bit unfair in such a setting.

Glen Spey 14 year (2008) Hogshead 54.8% Watt Whisky – September 2024 release, 267 Bottles

  • Nose – A big burst of flavour! Sour, fruity, almost like beer or balsamic vinegar. Which sounds strange but was actually quite interesting…
  • Palate – Oily, more of that heavy balsamic – like a sweet reduction, sweet and sour… we described it as “khatta meetha” and reminded me a bit of those Chinese dried sour plums, even had some ginger too, then a curl of smoke…
  • Finish – The smoke took on a dry ash element then like a puff of smoke was gone

This was one unique dram – I completely understood why Kate insisted we try it – even though we were not yet ready for something with a bit of peat. Where did that come from? Whilst it was initially matured in a Hogshead, it was finished for 14 months in an ex-Islay cask.

What did the Watt’s have to say? Ginger, waxy, butterscotch then ashy.

Not a typical Glen Spey – something very different happened here and made for a remarkable experience.

Blended 18 year (2003) Hogshead 56.3% (Watt Whisky – November 2021 release) 345 Bottles

And for our close, we were offered a blend which was revealed as “Inver House” stock aka Balblair, Old Pulteney, Speyburn… Which basically meant it was up my alley!

    • Nose – Subtle, a creamy creme brulee,
    • Palate – No push-over on the palate, substance with a marvelous mouthfeel – think a rich mild chocolate or choco cereal, roasted nuts, caramel with sweet spices
    • Finish – Long, strong, ginger candy sweet

Yum! We both quite liked this one! After the unique Glen Spey, this blend held its own and was like the perfect desert after a satisfying savoury meal.

How did the Watt’s describe it? Toasted almonds honey, cloves, dried fruits and ginger.

Yes, I would agree! And there you have it – four distinctly different drams from Watt Whiskies – well worth stopping by to explore!

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A generous gift with Der Schnapsstodl!

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2024 has professionally been a year of change! Whilst still with the same company, my role and team changed significantly. The old gang knew I have a certain penchant for a nice dram or two… hence got together to send me off with a generous gift from a speciality spirits store!

What did I get? Quite a mixed group of different options:

  • Fettercairn 10 year Vintage Cask No 18 46% (Mossburn) ~Eur 54
  • Glen Moray (Elgin Classic) Chardonnay Cask Finish 40% ~Eur 25
  • Glasgow 5 year Oloroso Finish 51.5% (North Star) ~Eur 86
  • Rozelieures Le Parcellaire Clay Limestone 43% ~Eur 70
  • St Kilians Terence Hill “The Hero” Blended Malt Mild 46% ~ Eur 40
  • Christian Drouin Le Gin Calvados Cask Small Batch 2022-K No 1250/2850 42% ~ Eur 32
  • Albfink Dry Gin 40% ~Eur 27 from Finch Distillery

All good things come to those who wait, so tasting notes will be spread out in the coming months (or years!) as bottles are opened in various tasting sessions.

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TWE Cask Strength – Glen Moray 8 year 57.8%

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To kick off our trio personally selected by The Whisky Exchange’s owner Sukhinder Singh for our Whisky Ladies of Mumbai as affordable, quality whiskies, each representative of their distillery’s style.

Glen Moray is not on most of our merry Mumbai malters top hits list… in part as they tend towards affordable NAS whiskies with finishes… It also isn’t so often you will come across a cask strength avatar either… so we were primed to dive in and discover!

And were rewarded by a rather marvellous most enjoyable malt.

Glen Moray 8 years 57.8% 251 Bottles

What did the ladies think?

  • Nose – Is that bubblegum? Loads of pear, even that hybrid apple snow pear, the perfume of flowers, vanilla, lavender, crisp and crunchy apples, then shifts into baked apple pie and ice cream
  • Palate – 1st sip at cask strength was fire and heat. The it shifted into cinnamon and chilli… with  water it was transformed into a yummy baked delight, pure desert
  • Finish – A delicious fresh fennel or pastise element, then lightly bitter with a citrus twist
  • Water – An absolute must for this dram. All the spice morphs into a very tasty, fruity, honeyed whisky, soft and gentle, smooth and inviting with just the right balance of fruit, flowers, a light touch of sweet spices

Overall we loved it. With water it took us to our “happy place”, nice and relaxing. Something to sit, sip, enjoy with friends or solo. An eminently approachable and enjoyable whisky.

Here is what Billy Abbott at The Whisky Exchange had to say:

  • Nose: Candied lemon peel and lemon jelly are backed up by biscuity grain, soft spice and vanilla cream.
  • Palate: Lemon zest, vanilla toffee and butterscotch to start, with citrus building on the tongue. Lemon sherbet sparkles before darker notes of chocolate and liquorice roll in, along with clove and dark spice notes.
  • Finish: Dark and spicy, slowly lifting to reveal dried lemon peel and freshly milled malt.
  • Comment: Youthful and zesty, with an excellent balance of spirit and cask character.

Did we agree? Overall yes. What we unanimously agreed is this was one fine dram, most enjoyable.

What else did we sample in our TWE cask strength evening?

This whisky was purchased at The Whisky Exchange in London in June 2017, under the owner Sukhinder Singh’s guidance for a mere GBP 46. It was opened from a fresh bottle on July 2018.

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Whisky Ladies TWE Cask Strength Night – Glen Moray, Arran, Ledaig

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This was not our first evening devoted to high alcohol strength whiskies… Last time, our Diwali celebration featured Glenfarclas 105 60%, Chichibu 2009 63.1%, A’bunadh 35 (2011) 60.3% and we’ve certainly sampled other Cask Strength drams including our Bruichladdich peat progression session.

So what made this session distinctive? This time our selection had a decidedly independent bent, all purchased through The Whisky Exchange in June 2017, personally recommended by Sukhinder Singh as affordable quality drams:

What did the ladies think? We had a range of reactions. Curious to know more? Click on the links above and read on!

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Glen Moray 21 year (1991/2013) Cask 9980 46%

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Next up in our ‘lighter touch‘ quartet from a whisky flight at The Single Cask in Singapore is Glen Moray.

This Speyside distillery has been a bit of a ‘2nd cousin’ to the more prominent Glenmorangie distillery when owned by Macdonald & Muir and even with Martiniquaise, it is primarily used for the French company’s blends such as Label 5 and Glen Turner. Glen Moray single malts from the distillery have tended to be quite affordable, earlier with age statements of 10 (finished in Chardonnay cask), 12 and 16 years, more recently replaced by their Elgin collections:

  • ‘Elgin Classic‘ line of NAS first fill ex-bourbon, peated then sherry, port and chardonnay cask finish
  • ‘Elgin Heritage‘ age statements with 12, 15 & 18 year
  • ‘Elgin Reserve‘ featuring only a 25 year Port pipe finish whisky

So to find a 21 year is an anomaly… in this case from from Douglas of Dramlanrig collection of single cask bottlings from Hunter Laing, endorsed by the Duke of Buccleuch himself. Bearing the image of the Douglas family seat – Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfries and Galloway. While initially available only through The Whisky Shop, you can now find Douglas bottles in other places as well..

Glen Moray 21 year (Oct 1991/Aug 2013) Cask 9980 46% 159 bottles (Douglas)

  • Nose – Cereals, light honey drizzle, all the usual light bright single malt notes
  • Palate – Spice then sweet with a nice interplay between the two, as it opens up becomes more and more creamy
  • Finish – More of a dry burn, nothing spectacular

The palate is the strongest dimension whereas the  finish is the least interesting element. In truth, we were challenged to tease out many specifics… It was just a classic middle of the road malt that neither stood out as particularly unusual yet had nothing ‘wrong’ either.

In truth, the limited aromas was consistent for all but the Miltonduff… which I later suspect had more to do with sitting directly underneath an A/C vent sharing a small 20 ml pour than the whiskies themselves. Particularly with the Gloen Moray, I’ll openly admit to struggling to discern much beyond a cursory impression.

And what do the folks at The Single Cask have to say about this one? Just this…

Douglas of Dramlanrig is inspired by the rolling hills and green forests in the estate of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensferry, Douglas of Drumlanrig is a collection of single cask bottlings personally endorsed and approved by the Duke himself. (SG$294.00)

This whisky was sampled as part of a whisky flight at The Single Cask together with:

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A lighter touch… Whisky Flight at The Single Cask

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Often when one thinks whisky, what jumps to mind are the sherry bombs, the power packed peat monsters, the salty brine maritime malt, or even a bourbon banana sweet… yet nestled amongst those bold, sometimes brash characters are a subtler lot…

One tends to associate a lighter, slightly sweeter touch with whiskies from the Highlands or  Lowlands… though not necessarily so…

On my 2nd stop to The Single Cask, we picked the featured whisky flight with:

Some of these whiskies are found primarily blends – such as Deanston in Burn Stewart’s blends, the Glentauchers or Miltonduff in Ballantines. Whereas Glen Moray, a neighbour of Glentauchers and Miltonduff, is known for affordable single malts.

What did my sampling companion and I think? Click on the whisky links above and find out!

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