Grangestone Highland Single Malt Rum Cask Finish

For those of you unfamiliar with Grangestone, it is one of Total Wine’s house brands, and they have both NAS and aged offerings, as well as blends. It’s a William Grant & Sons product, with the word on the street that it is likely distilled at their Kininvie distillery. I think Balvenie 14 Caribbean Cask is the only other rum finish I have tried, so I picked a bottle up, as it sounded kind of interesting and unusual (and was pretty inexpensive). **Abv:** 40% **Price:** $28.99 at Total Wine in Houston, Texas **Setting:** Neat in a Glencairn, with a fat basset hound half in my lap. **Color:** Orange **Nose:** Tequila with salt, rum, baked apples, and baking spices. It smells really promising, with two different profiles that duel it out: one that is a dead ringer for tequila with salt, and the other that is more rum-like in character. Both of them are pleasant. **(18/25 points)** **Taste:** Oranges, baked apples, baking spices, and cloves. Well that went south quickly. The rum flavors are there, but everything tastes dull and flat. **(25/50 points)** **Finish:** Short. Alcohol, honey, and cloves. Blink and it’s gone. **(7/25) points)** **Conclusion:** This is pretty terrible stuff. The nose starts out promising, and then the taste and finish really go off a cliff. I do wonder if it degraded some in the bottle, as I opened this particular bottle about five months ago and I remember it being more mediocre than bad. I’ll still finish the bottle, but this experience has turned me off to Grangestone. If anyone else has tried any other Grangestone products, I’d be curious to hear your experiences. **50/100**

Grangestone’s rum cask finish, a combination of American oak casked with a rum cask finish, which makes for a bright honey colored juice with a noticeable aroma. The nose—is an inviting aroma of sweet sugary tones of rum that develops into an earthy oaky aroma shrouded by a heavy influence of malt; subtle notes of caramelized sugar peek through with hints of spice. The malt is noticeable and interrupts what would be a delightful inviting aroma, while the smell of malt isn’t bad persay, it is most noticeable. The taste—fairly heavy malt with a dry spice finish, the inclusion of any fruit or sweet notes of sugar or rum influence are fleeting to borderline unnoticeable. The strong presence of ethanol is present and can hi-jack what would mimic some sherried inspired juice—instead it’s entirely missed with a bomb of heavy spice limited oak, sugar, and practically void of much else. It’s hard to be disappointed in something so friendly in price but with an expectation of a rum influenced that opportunity is missed by overpowering notes of oak, malt and spice. While inexpensive, it doesn’t live up to the small investment, and probably wouldn’t be worth a revisit—what’s not bad is the juice; it’s drinkable but is just not better than other offerings at this price under the same product label. Next. —the scotch guy

The nose is standard scotch with maybe a little rum influence in the form of sweetness that might hold the faintest hint of banana. There's something a little leathery in the scent too. The palate is pretty standard scotch, but there is some nice rum sweetness in there and a hint of rum firework smoke. It's fairly light on the palate, but it sort of works with the flavor balance. There's a bit much of the generic scotch flavor though. The nose is a slightly rich scotch, but not much special aside from a bit of must. On the palate, the drink is light with plenty of hay at first. There are some smoky, malty, salty allusions to decent scotch that have a fair amount of sweetness, but the lightness and alcohol prevail. The flavor has some minor complexity and the rum sweetness is nice, but the industrial flavor of the alcohol quickly takes over. It isn't undrinkable, but it's definitely not great. Clan MacGregor is better. The nose is scotchy and flat with maybe the faintest hint of orange blossom and a little vanilla. It smells rich enough. The palate is pretty standard scotch with some richness. It's a bit floral in its sweetness, but the backing is a bit bitter in a bad way. It develops less than Glenmorangie The Original and it has stronger off notes, but it is a bit more off in terms of flavor.

I'm having fun with a handful of 50ml samplers I purchased at Total Wine. This scotch whisky was tasted neat from a glencairn. Ample time was given for the whisky to rest and contemplate its future journey. Interesting but faint aromas issue from the glass. A vigorous swirl turns up the volume a bit and I'm getting green apples, syrup, vague fruitiness. There's a wisp of a faint note of rum. Overall the nose is inviting but just not rich enough. I kinda like where its going, though. On the tongue the entry is sweet and creamy enough to be notable. The sweetness has a nicely formed pepper foundation that is just enough to warm the throat and focus the attention. I get honey, green vegetation, coconut, and a tart woodiness that has a bitter element about mid-palate. That bitter note follows a warm fade to a moderate finish that leaves a sweet and peppery reminder. I like this whisky. It's not remarkable in any way, but its tasty enough at this moment. I have no idea what this retails for per 750ml but it will need to be significantly cheaper than something like a Monkey Shoulder, which is both richer and more focused, for me to commit to a bottle. That said, this has been a nice dram and diversion for a stormy afternoon.

Nose - banana, pineapple, vanilla cream, honey, caramel, cereal grain, hay, apple juice, citrus zest, light oak, floral notes, mild to moderate ethanol burn. Taste - vanilla cream, honey, apricot, citrus zest, young grain, black pepper, ginger, caramel, banana, apple juice, hay, brine, light oak, moderate alcohol bite, finishing fast with young, bright alcohol, nondescript citrus, brine, and grass flavor. It seems my Grangestone horror show gets one more chapter, as I overlooked this beauty hiding at the bottom of my Total Wine sample bag. To be fair, this isn’t horrible. Much better than the Sherry Cask, slightly better than the Bourbon Cask, and certainly worse than the 12 year. It’s obviously very young, as there’s a marked malty graininess to the entire experience. I get the rum finish in the form of some pineapple and banana notes, but it’s not overpowering and seems reasonably well done (or perhaps I’m still just scarred from the Sherry Cask nightmare). Hopefully now I can put Grangestone behind me. I’m a bit interested in trying some of their higher age statement releases, but not enough to take a flyer on a bottle.

Decided to try a few of the Total Wine brands. Got a couple scotches and a bourbon. I really love the Balvenie rum cask so was hopeful. Poured neat, the nose is promising with nice sweet island fruits from the rum cask. Little dose of malt and some barrel wood as well. Its a bit light but still pleasant. Palate starts out good with fruity rum sweetened malt but drops away to dry oak and straw. Not much depth to speak of , this is just too young and has yet to develop any strong flavor or complexity. Its not bad or offensive its just lacking. I like where its heading if it had more time it might get there. Finish is short with dry oak and distant malt, the rum influence a memory in the back. Overall its still a decent budget single malt with some rummy overtones. Im at the point where I need more body and weight from my scotch so would not repurchase........ 73/100.......comparing this to the Balvenie 14 is like high school football to the NFL