Glenmorangie Ealanta – 19yo – 46%

Blurb: Ealanta is 19 years old and matured virgin American oak casks selected from the forests of the Ozark Mountains in Missouri, which were filled in 1993 as part of an experiment by Dr Bill Lumsden, Director of Distilling and whisky creation at Glenmorangie.

Yellow to golden in colour. Fresh nose, light fruity notes with vanilla sweets and young wood shavings. Peppery and strong on the palate, again fresh woody notes on the finish, like a brand new pencil being sharpened to a fine point. It’s sweet, but not as sweet as I was expecting from reading other comments.

Warming prickly medium to long finish. It doesn’t taste minty to me, but leaves a similar minty freshness on your palate.

I feel slightly mixed about this, I love 95% of it; I love the virgin oak effect and taste, but also it gives it a young and slightly rough/sharp effect that needs taming and smoothing slightly.

Engagingly educational and exciting, it offers you a challenge and a new experience which should be grabbed if you get the opportunity.

Quote from me on Twitter: “An interesting juxtaposition between nicely aged whisky that felt younger due to the woody bite.”

Many thanks to Tom Thomson of Tom’s Whisky Reviews