Glenmorangie A Tale of Winter

I’ve had my share of Glenmorangie over the years, but can’t say the same about Marsala wine cask-finished Scotches. In fact, the only whiskey I’ve ever had with that attribute is the Knappogue Castle 12 Marsala finish—which was first amazing. I’m hoping that my first limited edition Glenmorangie matches that quality. Nose: Gala apple/apple cider, raisin, date, fig, cranberry, pear, apricot, and lime and orange citrus. Honeydew. Blackberry and raspberry. Floral notes. Vanilla, caramel, toffee, honey, butterscotch, and custard. Toasted almond, cashew, and macadamia nut. Black licorice. Rye spice, black pepper, and oak. Palate: Apple, pear, apricot, golden raisin, date, fig, cranberry, raspberry, orange citrus. Caramel, vanilla, toffee, and butterscotch. Milk chocolate, cocoa, and fudge. Valentine’s Day raspberry chocolate sums it up quite well. Almond and cashew. Grain and malt. Cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and oak. Finish: Raspberry, blackberry, black currant, cranberry, plum, raisin, date, and fig. Apple, pear, apricot. Vanilla, caramel, butterscotch, toffee. Cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, black pepper, and oak. Moderate length. This makes for a great representative for Marsala-aged whisky. Profile-wise, this embodies the best attributes of the old-style 12-year Quinta Ruban and Lasanta expressions. It was quite tasty, and the nose was actually the highlight. At $100, the cost was a bit steep for an NAS malt. The VFM could be better, but it still stands that this is a damn fine whisky. I’ve got this at 4/5 even. Looking forward to trying more of Marsala cask-aged malts as well as more of the GlenMo limited release bottlings.

Glenmorangie is known for being an innovative distillery. With Dr. Bill Lumdsen as a true whisky creator, some crazy drams have hit the markets. Last year, we had the chance to taste the one and only "a tale of cake", which was great; and this year, to celebrate the holidays, the Highland giants released their newest cask finished whisky: a tale of winter. With a lovely marketing strategy, the bottle and the cardboard box have this "grandma's hand made christmas sweater" label, that tries to bring you memories of a winter holiday. This whisky is 13yo, finished in marsala wine casks, which is a fortified wine from a city in Italy. Bottled at 46%abv, Tawny color. On the nose it is amazing. Cinnamon, pastry chocolate, christmas cake, candied fruits, Jelly beans, Red fruits and hazelnut. After a first sip, it gave me toffeee, Cremè brulee and jello.  There is a nice coffee with milk note also in there. The palate was truly Christmas for me. Capuccino coffee, hot chocolate, Red fruits and your typical Glenmoramgie orange note. Cherry syrup. Perfect score here. Aftertaste is nice but a bit short. Hay, Jelly beans, Dark chocolate, cinnamon and hints if salt. Overall, i believe this experiment was even better than "A tale of cake" from last year. A beautiful dram, very complex, super enjoyable and highly recommended. My score for it is 94 over 100.

Almost any time a great movie gets lined up for a sequel the expectations are high. Unfortunately, sequels are usually lousy. The same formula fits in the scotch mold and this time, sadly, with the same results. While A Tale of Winter isn’t necessarily bad, it just doesn’t have the qualities that made A Tale of Cake so great. It’s too bitter. It’s too spicy. It spikes too hard for a 46% ABV. It has a low end Macallan palate, with the notoriously overpriced Macallan price tag. If you can find a taste before it goes away I suggest you try it, but be warned: It’s the Ghostbusters 2, the Batman & Robin, the Dumb and Dumberer of scotch sequels.

NOSE Golden dried fruit, spiced apple cider, malt, sticky raisiny sweetness, graham, honey and bits of cocoa, baking spice, olde candy. Warm, spicy and fruity sweet with some darker notes holding it in check. PALATE Golden dried fruit, spiced apple cider, sticky raisiny sweetness, coppery candy, malty sweetness and some cocoa and baking spice. Spiced fruity candy oil… if you can wrap your head around that idea you get the palate. FINISH Med-long -> Wassail, dried dark fruit, raisiny sweetness and touches of toast

It’s not tale of cake, they clearly had a solid response to that line and tried to ride off of it here. It’s good and that’s it. I feel it’s a $50 bottle but I got mine for $99 and feel like I could have gotten 2 bottles of something else and have been more happy. It’s like it’s half way done, it’s missing the second half type of thing. It starts nice and but fizzles out fast and before you know it, the shows over. Don’t be fooled by the cool bottle, it’s a miss for those that know their scotch.

Really enjoying this whiskey! Will buy another bottle if available which is a great rating in my book. I love that it has an age statements which a lot of these kind of releases do not have, it’s 46% not just 49 for flavour and it’s profile is right in my wheel house chocolate, orchard fruit, a little Christmas spice yummy!!