Glenmorangie 1993 Ealanta 19 Year Old Virgin Oak Casks
Apple-Wood
0 1291
Review by @Victor
- Nose24
- Taste22
- Finish22
- Balance23
- Overall91
Show rating data charts
Distribution of ratings for this:
- Brand: Glenmorangie
- Type: Scotch
- Region: Highland
- ABV: 46%
Glenmorangie Ealanta is the fourth Private Edition Glenmorangie malt, having followed Sonnalta PX, Finealta, and Artein. Release began February 2013. Jim Murray recently named Ealanta the World Whisky of the Year in his 2014 Whisky Bible. Glenmorangie Ealanta was aged 19 years in new toasted, but not charred, oak barrels. The reviewed bottle is freshly opened. I will add comments, etc., as needed if the bottle changes appreciably over time
Nose: Apple, fresh-cut, sitting in a pool of old Cognac. The barley-malt comes across as apple in Ealanta. Minus the orange and pear, this smells and tastes very similar to the Glenmorangie base malt from Glenmorangie Original, from which it is derived. In addition to the apple, you smell many fine 19 years brewing nuanced shades of the toasted new oak. This is all about apple and toasted new oak. The nose is very smooth with a very mellow balance of both flavours and sweet and dry
Taste: the apple and nuanced wood come out strongly on the palate with much increased sweetness. There is vanilla and Brazil nuts present, in the wood. Sawdust. This is very tasty, if you like these particular flavours
Finish: Nice Jim Murray-style balanced finish. Long and sweet
Balance: really, this Glenmorangie Ealanta might just as well be a medium-sweet apple cordial, or a very funky and unusually sweet Calavados. All of the flavours are nice enough, and very mellow, but are they delicious? To me, the barley is actually rather boring here, and most of the interest is in the wood. Toasted new oak gives a lot of nuance. They had to use toasted oak because 19 years of aging in new CHARRED oak would have resulted in a whisky in which you would not be able to taste any barley. But barley is not the best grain to use even with toasted oak, and especially this barley isn't. I can only get so excited by this apple-flavoured barley-malt. Old Potrero 18th Century Style (rye) Whiskey is just so much more interesting using toasted new oak. Don't get me wrong, this is a very nice and pleasant malt whisky. I just don't see this style of flavour profile ever becoming very popular. It is beautifully mellow and balanced. It is just not that DELICIOUS
Find where to buy Glenmorangie whisky
Bravo, Victor for opening this now famous bottle and sharing your thoughts.Much appreciated. And your score makes me feel better about my recent acquisition. Vanilla and Brazil nuts sounds nice.
My grandmother, back in the day, got very upset with me for correcting her about Brazil nuts. She used a colloquial expression for the nut, which I can't imagine hearing on this site. I felt bad. She nearly cried and said, "But that's the name of the nut, how can it be wrong to say it!" She was a very sweet lady without a mean bone in her body. It was a lesson to me about American culture.