Clan Denny - Glengoyne 10 #7

Clan Denny - Glengoyne 10 48%abv
I bought this a little while ago, it was one of the last on the Douglas Laing website. Distilled at Glengoyne in 2007, straight into a refill hogshead and bottled in 2017. It is a single cask, non chill filtered, no colouring added and one of only 450 bottles.
The main purpose of this whisky was to find a bottle which had very little cask influence, but still had a decent age, to try and learn more about distillery character. This was just something I was curious about at the time but this bottle was put to great use with the #MiniTasting crew when it went up against the distillery core range 10 - The write is up here and well worth a read: https://malt-musings.blogspot.com/2019/05/minitasting-ssmcd.html
The extra abv of this one gave it a bit of an advantage but they both came off quite well. But personally, I think this edged it.

Colour
Colour? there isn't any! This is almost clear, there is a very slight hint it has been near oak.

Nose
Malty digestive biscuits, fresh fruits, apples, pears, lemon, citrus.

Palate
Digestives, porridge, vanilla, little bit of milk chocolate, quite nutty - sweet almonds. Fruity - Apples and pears in there to.

Finish
Vanilla, nuts. The vanilla does tail off to leave slight chili and slightly savory note.

Overall
Quite disappointed to see this one go. Being at 48% I have drank this as a dram where you don't want to think about it to much - just enjoy it. Its not hugely complex but it can equally stand up in any in depth tasting. I got this bottle for a purpose and it served that purpose brilliantly.

Score
I would normally say ignore my score and please find out for yourself, but in this case I don't think it is available anymore....
B out of 8.75

Great bottle, if you get the chance to try one of these "lightly influenced" drams, do it!

:)

GlenAllachie 13 Port Pipe - Ralfy Bottle #6

GlenAllachie 13 Port Pipe 59.9%abv
This whisky was distilled in 2006 and popped straight into a port pipe until 2019 when it was bottled up and released to celebrate Ralfy.com 10th anniversary. The is of course non chill filtered and natural colour. 
After tasting this on a recent Tweet Tasting (Thank you to @TheWhiskyWire and @TheGlenAllachie for the sample!).....the hunt was on to find a bottle. £95 was the price and a fair price I thought especially when you consider some of your money is going to a charity local to the distillery. 

Colour
Light polished oak with a slightly pink/red hue to it. 

Nose
Strawberry and vanilla cream with a chocolate dip, citrus - lemon, little bit of mint, polished wood. A little bit of sawdust and some almonds.

Palate
With 2ml of water - Lots of orange, chocolate orange. Some ginger cake. Some fresh green fruits in there. Nice sweet malt.

Finish
Lemonade, chilli chocolate. Its the sweet malt that stays with you. 


Overall
Yes, you know the abv is high and in my opinion it does need a little water but I really can't fault this stuff at all, absolutely lovely. I would recommend it but I would think most people who want it will of already ordered it and those who still want it may find it hard to find, although at time of writing it is still available on Master of Malt. (Update: by the time I had finished writing this, it sold out)
Do not worry - If your unable to find this bottle, this distillery is releasing some excellent stuff right now, you wont go wrong with them. The core range is good and the single casks I have tried have all been great.

Score
Pointless score time:
A- out of 9.25

Roll on another 10 years Ralfy!

:)

Macallan 12 Triple Cask #5

Macallan 12 Triple Cask - 40%abv
This is apparently a "marriage of casks".....I think that just means its three cask types, vatted. European sherry, American sherry and ex-bourbon casks. I am guessing this is chill-filtered but it has no colouring in it. Most of the 12 year old range are fairly easy to find for around £70. I am sure I don't need to go into much detail about Macallan, everyone knows it already.

Colour
Slightly dark straw

Nose
Light fruityness, chewits, cut grass, straw, toffee, caramel, vanilla and a bit of citrus.

Palate
Milk chocolate is the main thing I get here - chocolate digestives, that citrus is in there - lemon, quite a bit of oak, wood spices, grapefruit.

Finish
Medium-ish in length, Slightly bitter, burnt caramel and dark chocolate.

Overall
There is no question for me, this is a well made whisky, beautifully balanced and very easy to drink. Having had a bottle of the double cask, I moved onto this thinking id enjoy it more but I don't. I preferred the double cask. I think the one for me is the lesser spotted sherry wood. When I saw it recently at the distillery for £60 I got a bottle.
Yes I would like more abv and non chill filtering but in my opinion they are producing it for a market which doesn't mind these things.
The elephant in the room - The price of Macallan - I am in no way clever enough to explain why they are expensive, nor would I even try. But for me the 12 sherry oak I have just bought is possibly where the Macallan story will end for me as given the quality of other things for a similar price I just can't justify the price to explore their range. Which is disappointing, but it is what it is. If you can, then this is good whisky and you should try it. If you can't, there are lots of things out there just as good and a lot cheaper....up to you really.

Score
Pointless score time people:
B- out of 7.5


:)