Thanks to /u/the_muskox for the dram!
So young Mortlach is now “a thing”. Back in the olden days, when Mortlach was a whisky you didn’t hear about, you found one and it was old. That was it. It was used in blends, sold off to independent bottlers, and we all lived a life without worries.
Jump ahead to now, when Muskox and I are meeting in a parking lot to share whisky and Mezcal with one another, wearing a mask while strangers look on at us with confusion. Uh… more than normal confusion?
So Mortlach 11 2010 Càrn Mòr Strictly Limited [Craft Cellars] is now in my hand, and as the rules of my house go, I need to drink Mortlach upon entering if I have a new Mortlach.
Not sponsored by Diageo. Whatever the opposite is at this point, given my utter lack of professionalism and inability to take pretty pictures while raving about whiskies that are common.
Not that they have anything to do with this. Yes, Mortlach made it, but they yeeted it out of the distillery for money and those wacky mofos at Càrn Mòr bottled it followed by Craft Cellars (Alberta based alcohol emporium) trying it and deciding only they would sell the whisky from this Sherry Hogshead.
As I’m stuck in the past and unable to grow, I’m immediately worried. Will I like young Mortlach? The last Mortlach I had was from the period of time when they tasted meaty, and that’s long gone, so will I freak out like a carnivore at a vegan restaurant who could have honestly just gone the fuck home.
Yeah, I did a lot of drugs over the time off, why do you ask? Let’s see how this tastes, shall we?
Price: $140 CAD
Region: Speyside
Vintage: 2010
Bottled: 2021
Stated Age: 11-years-old
Cask Type: Sherry Hogshead
No. of bottles: 346
Bottled Exclusively for: Craft Cellars
Abv: 54.3%
Colour: 2.5YR ¼
Nose: Strawberry, plum, cocoa, algae, grass
Do you like Sherry? However you feel like a pesky whisky keeps getting in the way? Well do I have a nose for you! Also this whisky too.
Yeah, it’s sherry forward. There’s a bit of Mortlach there, and guess what? It’s that grassiness I’m such a fan of!
Get off my lawn.
Taste: Cherry juice, raisin, cola, nectarine
Tart, rich, and fruity. Very rich. Nothing other than sherry though. The cask was so wet, I’m pretty sure it was used to go over Niagara Falls. It’s so wet that a bunch of guys have no idea what to do with it and right wing pundits are afraid of it. It’s so wet that water is retiring. Good timing too, this whole climate change thing must be a real pain in the ass for water.
Good enough? Yeah, it’s mostly sherry and simple.
Finish: Peach cobbler, black pepper, orange rind, anise, almond
Hey, it’s a whisky! All of the balance aspects you like from a Sherried whisky shows up at the end. It’s a tad hot, but frankly the spice, nutty, and orange aspects leads me to believe it’s a decent sherry cask.
Conclusion: The cask was very wet. Sadly not wet enough to give the taste a boast, however a nice cask overall. I didn’t hate it, I didn’t love it. But maybe that’s pretty good for someone like me who likes more balance, nice sherry casks, and Mortlach from the auctions versus the stores.
Is it over sherried? Yes. The nose is bashed down. Water opens up actual Mortlach flavours, but it could be almost any distillery right there. The taste is lost in the woods and no one is coming to help. Bears will eat it soon. The finish is the star of the show and totally the reason they bottled this.
I didn’t love this. But if you enjoy any of these factors, at all, you’ll be happy to have this.
80/100
Scotch review #1475, Speyside review #415, Whisky Network review #2178
tomoderawhisky.ca 