A tasting site dedicated to grain whisky.



SMWS G5.6 Invergordon 18yo

Invergordon Distillery - Invergordon, Cromarty Firth.
SMWS bottling.
WhiskyBase reference page

For info   Reviews on this site try to be pretty free-form, focusing on the overall feeling of the dram as well as specific flavours. The scoring is biased towards taste (the key factor!), and drams are always tested against a control or as part of a group test.
 

Tastes & Smells
This was tasted blind, but immediately struck comparison with the SMWS G5.8, which is a year older. It was rich and creamy on the nose but with a bit more alcohol and acidity than its bigger brother and perhaps slightly meatier, even carnivorous. It smelled of roasted hazelnuts and a sort of mustiness, even parmesan-ness. This didn't translate to the taste, where a numbing, intense richness tended to greet you. The creaminess carried forward to the taste, which was buttery but more tangy now than meaty, very tangy in fact - much like a matured Turkish delight, if such a thing existed. It was sweeeet (4 Es intended) in the mouth, reminding me of a recently-tried Lagavulin 12yo (2011 edition) for its sweet-tang balance.

Any good?
In a blind tasting of 5 Invergordons, this was clearly in the top 2 and was only outdone by a slightly older SMWS bottling. The nose was reassuringly rich and the intensity upon tasting was great, with a more intense kick towards the end, like too much popping candy. This (spicy) kick and an emerging tang tended to leave a slight air of disappointment after the lovely sweet and rich beginnings, but in smaller sips the sweetness remained.

Reminiscent of...
The mixture of sweet and tang and a musty nose made me think of my Grandad's garage or being under a train - a mixture of old wood, varnishes and old, salvaged parts.


7.8
6.4

  There was a sort of intense sweet-tang battle going on with this one.


In summary:
This was a very decent Invergordon and had loads going on, with a great sweet, rich intensity. A slightly spicy tang crept in towards the end, which if combined better into the intensity would've propelled this higher up the charts.
 
 

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