Glen Grant SMWS 9.157 I drambled lonely as a cloud...
Old and dignified. Yeah right
3 1073
WReview by @Wierdo
- Nose~
- Taste~
- Finish~
- Balance~
- Overall73
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- Brand: Glen Grant
- Type: Scotch
- Region: Speyside
- ABV: 60.9%
I have an active imagination. I often end up thinking about stupid fantasies.
How would I fortify my house in the event of a zombie apocalypse?
So I'm watching one of my favourite films John Carpenter's 'the Thing' and at the end Macready is sitting in the snow whilst the base burns swigging from a bottle of J&B. He's joined by Niles and they share the bottle. Both waiting for the flames to dwindle and freeze to death or the other to spout tentacles out of their forehead and murder them.
It got me thinking what whisky would I want for such a desperate situation? I guess anything would do. But hopefully something a bit better than J&B.
A small group of survivors holed up in a house surrounded by zombies. Defences crumbling. No hope of rescue. We won't last until morning. A bottle of SMWS 9.157 would be what I would reach for in such a situation.
Not because it would be what I'd want to drink and share in such a desperate situation. But because the high abv means it would make a really good molotov cocktail and it might also be able to sterilise zombie bites.
So that high abv. There's no getting away from it. 60%+ for a 22 year old is extraordinary. It domainates the whisky.
Neat you pick up green fruits, bolied sweets, coconut and nail varnish on the nose. You take a sip and the fruit blast hits you.
And then the heat kicks in. Aargh!! This must be what fire-eaters experience at work. Bit of water will tame it. So you add a bit of water. No, still burns. Bit more water. No, still hot. Bit more water....
Eventually when you've added a lot more water (5 teaspoons to a 50ml measure) it's tamed from drinking napalm to sipping lighter fluid. Ahhh...this is bearable. But hang on? Where have all the orchard fruit flavours gone? Where's the coconut? They've been replaced by a vague muted sourness and some oakiness.
The SMWS give their whiskies flavour profiles. 'Spicy and dry, lightly peated' etc. This is profiled as 'Old and dignified' which frankly takes the p***. If you did a blind test on this and were asked the age i reckon you'd guess it was around 10 years old. This has spent 22 years in some seriously underactive casks.
The issue with this whisky is neat or with a bit of water there's quite a lot going on but the heat in it makes it almost undrinkable. But then diluted you lose most of the flavours and aromas and are left with a glass of meh! I can't help but feel disappointed with my first bottle from the SMWS. Cost me £112 too. Which is a big deal for me. I don't normally spend that much on a bottle. For £100 I could have had a bottle of Lagavulin 12 CS. Incidentally. If I was holed up in a cabin with a bunch of Connosrs surrounded by Zombies. Not convinced we'd make the dawn. Lagavulin 12 cask strength IS the bottle I'd share around!
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@Wierdo - Ouch! Sorry to hear this was a disappointment, especially at that price.
If this review's done anything it's made me feel the Laga 12 is good value for money - you should work for Diageo's PR team