Malt Mission 2008 #254

McClelland's Speyside
Single Malt Scotch Whisky
40%
£14
$31.85(CAD)
$20(USD)

Thanks for your emails, posts, messages and comments of congratulations on winning the Drammie. No, thank you. No, thank YOU. But no, thank YOU!

Actually, I am totally BLOWn away that you have been so HARD ON me with such PENETRATING comments. Puns intended, you perverts. I really never thought the SEMI-nudity would be the issue (there's more nudity on tube/subway, newspaper/magazine and TV adverts!!!). I thought there would be anoraks writing "Um, Drammies is plural, DrammY is singular", and "that liquid is too light for Talisker", "too dark for Grant's", etc. Whatever. I think the pics are hilarious and thank K for a fun night of shooting them.

Continuing with our THANKS FOR VOTING week, tasting our way through 4 affordable, entry-level malt whiskies for everyone's budget and palate. Today is the Speyside representative, tomorrow will be the Islay, and next week we will have some celebratory malts. For all McClellands had on the Malt Mission click HERE.

Speyside is a wonderful region of whisky production, too often overlooked by whisky drinkers who get captivated by the intense flavours of Islay and never return to mainland. But for those that do, there are some absolute gems to be discovered in this region of over FIFTY(50) distilleries. Subtle, complex, with great diversity, sometimes even with the same water and barley sources(!), Speyside whiskies are far from boring.

The watercolour paintings on each bottle were painted by British artist, John Caldwell.

TASTING NOTES:

Very aromatic and estery with a bready, malty core. Apricots, lillies, kiwis, synthetic banana. Fruit essence shampoo, Jolly Ranchers, icing sugar, petroleum jelly/Vaseline, and french toast.

Gentle impact with a nice rounded flavour, if a bit perfumy. Russet apples, Ritz crackers, golden syrup before an eruption of oak, walnuts and chocolate truffles followed by a bit of UHU, and a tingling, slowly drying effect. Finish is more made up of sensations than flavours.

SUMMARY:

The nose on all three of these McClellands malts so far have been really quite impressive. But they have also all failed to match that performance on the palate. Perfectly good whisky that is pleasant to sip and distinctly different than the other regional selections in the series.

Malt Mission #251
Malt Mission #252
Malt Mission #253
Malt Mission #255

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