Glen Moray SMWS 35.145 “Lost in the dessert”

This is a continuation of my ongoing series that I’m calling “Scotch Malts, Wife’s Selection”, in which my wife goes through my backlog of SMWS (Scotch Malt Whisky Society) samples that I haven’t reviewed yet, pours them blind, and then I review it blind.

People who meet me have a few different reactions. First off they stare at my head, as us bald men need to be reminded we’re bald, less we ever think we have hair and poke ourselves in the head with a comb.

Then they notice I’m a bigger guy. Yes, it’d be nice if they focused on my poor vision or the fact that they have no concerns about me ever stealing their significant other based on looks along, however I can see my shadow, I’m round and I know it.

I gave up soda years ago, I don’t buy cheese as often, I don’t eat chips, and while I’m somewhat sedimentary, I do (on occasion) exercise. And then there’s desserts.

Yeah, desserts. I’ll bake myself five freshly made cookies and put them over ice cream. I used to make a pan of brownies a night and eat 2/3rds of them. Again, with ice cream.

I have a sweet problem. What does this have to do with whisky? Well I’ll tell you, because when offered a dram called Glen Moray SMWS 35.145 “Lost in the dessert”, I felt that they were calling out to me.

This 24 year old Glen Moray was aged in ex-bourbon casks (2nd fill), left the heck alone, and was from a distillery I know is sweet. And while I work on my habit of attacking anything with chocolate in it in exceedingly large amounts, this dram seems up my alley and at least a reason to not hit the bakery three more times this week.

So let’s see how this tastes, shall we?

Price: $247.99 CAD

Region: Speyside

Date Distilled: October 1991

Age: 24 years

Cask Type: 2nd fill hogshead

Outturn: 228

Abv: 57.6%

Colour: 5Y8/8

Nose: Mango, lemongrass, algae, nectarine

Light nose. Very light nose. For 24 years old, this is not giving up a lot. It’s light, there’s some stone fruit and some tropical elements, however otherwise it’s like me and M&Ms: It’s not sharing.

Taste: Caramel, apple chips, pineapple, honey

Dry. Very dry. Interesting to have a sweet, dry note as a different thing, and I hear this whole “fruit” thing is catching on, so maybe I’ll go for that.

However again, not screaming the age.

Finish: Pastry, chocolate cake, floral, smoked walnut, blondies

Long finish. Finish saves it. Really does. For something about being lost in dessert, so far I’ve only had the ingredients to desserts.

This is where you get the feeling like somebody baked something, put their heart and soul into it. There’s smokiness, some buttery notes, and a good amount of dry, chocolate cake. Even some floral for you jerks like me who like flowers on your cakes.

What do you mean I wasn’t suppose to eat those? Oh well, ruffage.

Conclusion: An interesting dram, it has the bare bones of a Glen Moray yet the held back notes of a dram half it’s age. And that’s not a creepy compliment, that’s a put down that isn’t meant to be creepy at all.

The nose? Done by other Glen Morays. The Taste? Interesting, but frankly nothing special. The finish? Butter heaven and the reason I won’t see 90 years of age, assuming I don’t figure out some control.

All in all, a great finish. But putting a nice frame on an okay picture still makes it an okay picture, so I’d skip this one.

75/100

Guess: Glen Moray of some sort

Actually: Glen Moray SMWS 35.145 “Lost in the dessert”

Scotch review #802, Speyside review #230, Whisky Network review #1309