Grangestone Highland Single Malt Sherry Cask Finish

Im not gonna go into the nose/ taste/ back end/ etc... because judging from these reviews, the taste is all over the place, so what one person tastes another might not. So I'll just tell you what I thought of it... I come from a limited history of scotch drinking But I know what I like! I prefer a smooth sherry cask with little to ZERO fire on the back end. The reason it took me so long to start drinking "whiskey" was because I thought it all tasted like Yukon Jack (like back in high school parties Haha). Thankfully I tried a triple distilled basic Jameson's that I quite liked. Damn that bottle for starting me on the journey of finding the best bottle. Luckily, shortly after, I tried a Kilbrins 10 year Oloroso cask whiskey. I LOVED IT! It was super basic but good! Shortly after that, I wanted to try something older, so I found a Glenfiddich 14 single malt. It was OK. It was a GIANT leap as far as complexity goes(compared to the Irish whiskey). It had that new band aide smell with a back end taste of the mermaids arm pit. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either. Which brought me to the Glenfiddich 12yr Sherry cask on sale (as low as 21$ per bottle), so I bought a few. NOW THAT I LOVED! I still do. The only reason I'm not drinking it now is because I'm cheap and its not on sale. Which finally brings me t0 the actual review... I found the Grangestone sherry cask was on sale if I bought 3, which dropped the price to roughly 26$ each... First impression, good. Ther bottle and case is nice. Ther bottle is actually very thick and somewhat heavy. I don't mind tho but older drinkers with arthritis might have issues. The color of the alcohol is a nice mid/ dark cola. Second, the cork. As soon as I opened it, I could smell the good stuff! Smelled MUCH sweeter than the GF12yr sherry. I let it air out for a few hours but it didn't seem to change anything much. The GF12yr sherry needed to air out prior to drinking imho just fyi. Third, taste. I tried a straight shot, no ice, no water. I have to say its smoother than the GF(but also 40% compared to 43%). I didn't notice much of, if any at all, fiery alcohol taste either on ther front or back. It is SWEET tho! Very sweet, which I actually like but any sweeter I think would be too much. It does lack the heavy peet taste that most other scotches have. To me it drinks like a heavy Irish whiskey with a slight scotch flavor. I use it for mixing so im ok with it. Overall its great! It has everything I want in a sherry scotch but could be a little bolder? It could have more of that "scotch" flavor ya know? I deducted half a point for that... I can say that I didn't taste any "burnt" smells. No "rubbing alcohol" smells or taste . No saltines, etc... its your basic scotch/ whiskey finished in sherry casks. Nothing more, nothing less I use whiskey/ scotch in a "OC Manhattan". Orange County Manhattan. I added a lemon and a bit of maple syrup to a somewhat traditional Manhattan(master of mixes Manhattan mix). Recipe: In a shaker... 1 improved Mayer lemon squeezed or equivalent juice, 2Tbsp maple syrup, 4 count pour of your choice of whiskey/ scotch, top with a quick 2 count pour of the MoM Manhattan mix(more or less according to taste), shake for 15 to 20 seconds then pour over ice into a 11-12oz rocks glass, top with a few amaretto/amaro black cherries from Italy(trust me you'll never go back to traditional maraschino cherries after this). There you have a OC Manhattan (my family's from NY Brooklyn and I was the first born in OC SoCal after gramps brought family to the LBC docks after the Brooklyn yard closed). So I call it that for the added citrus Haha

Grangestone sherry cask stands to be an introductory scotch that is casked and distilled to be an entry level rendition scotch. It’s desire is to be an easy drinkable imitation of a much finer/pricier scotch without too much sacrifice on aroma and taste. The nose—strong sherry notes shine through, followed by notes of plum, hints of vanilla and caramel lurk deep within the shallow aromas giving you just a minor peak at what you will experience. The taste—nice sherry spice develops through the finish and is surprisingly delightful. The smokiness is subtle, the juice is fairly rough and acidic with a malty flavor that coats your tongue. The consistency is lacks continuity and there were major variables between taste while never terribly it’s difficult to really get a consistent note from one drink to another. The spice on the finish is nice and brings your back, but the heavy malt flavor drowns out the subtle notes of fruit and vanilla, oak makes an appearance and is pleasant. It’s hard to not like the Grangestone, it’s rough edgy and charming, while the aromas and taste leave a lot to be desired—it is enough to keep you wanting a more enriched experience. What it lacks in refinement and consistency it produces in bold and sometimes rich flavors which pans out to a fairly balanced and pleasant experience—a great introduction for things to come. -the scotch guy

The nose has scotch, but it is dominated by a strawberry fruit snacks scent that is actually pretty appealing. The palate is disappointingly light with scotch coming in and having too light of a fruit flavor to make it taste at all mature. The flavor is quite like somebody soaked some strawberry fruit snacks briefly in some young scotch. It's super watery and really not appealing, though it isn't too actively bad. The nose is tremendously sweet like strawberry mild with caramel that has been tainted by scotch. The palate is surprisingly watery with a definite sweet strawberry flavor to it that is too strong, but is not viscous. Scotch is present on the palate, but it is super generic and the whole thing mostly tastes like a watery strawberry cocktail. It's weird and bad. Grangestone Rum is better and so is Grangestone Bourbon. This is somehow some of the worst scotch I have ever tasted in that it is nothing like the finished product should be. It isn't wholly unpalatable, but it is a really weird and inappropriate flavor. The nose is strawberry with some sulfury grass. The palate has some richness and a hint of spiciness and is less watery than I had initially thought. There's a fairly nasty rotting flavor underlying the whole thing and it isn't particularly complex.

Nose - artificial strawberry, pop rocks, lemon, honey, wet grass, caramel, mild to moderate ethanol burn. Taste - cloying strawberry, honey, orange, lemon, wet grass, sour apple, vanilla, subtle caramel, mild to moderate alcohol bite, finishing very fast with sour, chemically strawberry and young alcohol flavors. Obviously wanting not to be shown up by its bourbon cask-finished counterpart, this is somehow even worse. The strawberry pop rock flavor is really hard to ignore, making any other notes very difficult to perceive. The one thing it has going for it is how easy it is to drink. Like ‘fool the other parents at the tee-ball game into believing it’s juice in my juice box’ easy. This is the worst scotch I’ve reviewed thus far and rivals some of the worst liquors I’ve ever reviewed, bested only by Canadian Mist, which still haunts my waking moments. Down the drain you go. Never again.

Tasted 4 bottles blind. The bourbon cask, sherry cask, rum cask, and 12yr single malts from grangestone. Nosing and tasting notes are from the blind tasting. On the nose you get fresh pear with a light citrus like fresh lemon rind or a just cut lemon. Honey Graham crackers follow that and after it breaths a bit the cinnamon really comes to the front. The taste brings toasted Graham crackers with marmalade and a light oakiness. Then the cinnamon builds into a fireball candy flavor that can't be ignored. Short finish but not to short. A light oakiness lingers on a spicey fireball candy. Overall this was my third favorite of the group though it was very close to taking second. I loved the way the cinnamon developed. Once that note came out however it was hard to ignore and became overpowering. If it had been a tad bit subdued this may have taken second over the 12yr.

This whisky is hard to find.... on the internet. Actually they sell this one in any total wine in USA and they offer tastings of it inside the store, but it doesn't seem to be anywhere online to even get a picture of it, or any other of their expressions. Talking about the whisky itself this one was a fruity fellow, who had a very bizarre finish. On the nose: Lemon; very Fruity, Citric, grapefruit, lemon pie, apples, currant, green mango. Stinky and fruity. On the palate it has a very marked fresh fruit profile. Apples, pears, cereal with honey and a slight vanilla. Aftertaste is strange. Short finish, very fruity; There is something odd no bad, but not typical Like iron. Overall this is a whisky that HAS NO SHERRY INFLUENCE IN IT despite been a sherry cask finish. Boring and a little normal, you could use it instead of drinking juice, i guess. 72/100