Scotch distillery Glen Moray celebrated its 120-year anniversary with the release of Glen Moray Mastery, a blend of five different vintages selected by Master Distiller, Graham Coull.
Glen Moray Mastery – Photo Supplied
Only 1000 bottles have been produced globally and the limited release expression is a blend of five vintages, three of which were laid down by former distillers Robert Brown (1959-1987) and Edwin Dodson (1987-2005), combining 20% Port cask-matured whisky from 1988 and 80% of whiskies from 1994 or earlier.
Glen Moray distillery is located in Elgin, the capital of Speyside, Scotland’s most famous whisky region and has been in operation since 1897. In creating the Mastery blend, Graham Coull used whiskies which had been matured in a range of fortified wine casks, including sherry, Madeira and port with the oldest blend dating back to 1978.
Madeira is at the heart of the expression which relate back to the traditions of Glen Moray and the experimentation with various innovative techniques in maturation. It is Graham Coull’s influence on the whisky. The single malts are blended with whisky that was matured in first-fill sherry casks and a proportion finished in ex-port casks. The port cask maturation brings a balance to the more robust and full bodies flavours from the Maderia and sherry. Coull described it as “multi-layered, and you get all the history coming out in the glass.”
Glen Moray Mastery is bottled at 52.3% ABV and is non-chill filtered. Below are the tasting notes:
Glen Moray Mastery Tasting Notes
- ABV: 52.3%
- Colour: gold
- Nose: rich aromas of honeycomb, red fruit, berries and spice
- Palate: full bodied and complex with an oak influence, red fruit, dark chocolate, toasted almonds, roasted coffee, chocolate raisins and a fortified wine influence
- Finish: Long and satisfying with a balance of spice and oak in a dry finish
Glen Moray Mastery is presented in individually numbered decanters housed in an attractive leather box.
This article was originally published on August 7, 2017 on our sister website Gourmantic.
