Glenmorangie’s special edition ‘A Midwinter Night’s Dram’ – 43% abv

Info: A combination of whisky matured in Bourbon casks made from American white oak with liquid aged in Oloroso Sherry casks. Released as a wintery special edition exclusively to the UK.
Colour: Golden with rusty red tints.
Nose: Plenty of young vanilla and a spicy new oak hint giving way to some distillery character. It’s light and heady, slightly heathery, and a handful of hazelnuts. It’s nice, packed with flavours.
Palate: Medium if not fairly thick with oils, even if it is chill filtered. It’s very easy, spices only slightly building when held on the tongue. The lighter floral nature persists, as does the oakiness. Ultimately there’s not tonnes of layers to this, but this is an entry level malt after all.
Finish: The main event is over fairly quickly with a pinch of spices more apparent, but with a longer lingering oaky tannin edge leading out to a longer finish.
Thoughts: Very much a young oak lead dram this, if that’s your thing then you’ll like it, it gives it a sappy, spicy quality. That said, “The Original” 10yo is definitely superior .
Available: Exclusive to Sainsbury’s (and Ocado). £40, although on ‘special offer’ for £30 when I was last in there. Right next to it was 1L of Glenmorangie 10yo for £36 (down from £45)… You should buy the 1L. However, if you’re well versed in the 10yo and fancy a bit of a change then why not give this a whirl, you might like the slight twist on a great dram.
Extra: Eagle eyed whisk(e)y folk may have noted a slight clash of title with High West Distillery’s version of the same named whisky. Bit of an oops? Maybe, but as the Glenmorangie version is UK only, and the High West version is basically US only, then it’s not really a problem.

Thanks to Glenmorangie for the sample.