glenmorangie - especially the signet


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Good stuff.  I have always enjoyed Glenmorangie.  I always find their whisky to be very approachable yet still complex as to satisfy an experienced palate.  The Quinta Ruban and 18 year are rich, refined, and complex without being overpowering.

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Great review Ken. Really enjoyed reading it. Although you forgot about cigar recommendation for each bottle. I had a chance to try most of the Glenmorangie range and all of them paired with cubanos excepcional. Recently I got few bottles of Original 10y couldn't resist the sale 39 in NY State. Package came with two Glenmorangie mustard glasses lol

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Nice article Ken! I agree with your thoughts. Glenmorangie makes excellent whiskey. The 10 Year Old is perhaps the best "starter" Scotch. That's where I started. Been through many bottles of that. I like it better than the more expensive Macallan 10 YO. Nectar D'Or is good too, I pick up the citrus there as you did. I have been through several bottles of Lasanta, it is my personal favorite. Just bought a bottle of Quinta Ruban, can't wait to try it. The Signet is going to have to wait...I have cigars to buy first! Thanks for sharing!

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3 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

this is a link to a thing i did on some of glenmorangie's whiskies, in case anyone is interested (i may have plagiarised myself a smidge).

 https://exploredrinks.com/four-great-whiskies/

 

Great article Ken, 

Couldnt help but notice this line "Japanese whiskey is perhaps the hottest drink on the planet at the moment, although thousands of ginophiles (AKA gin fanatics) might dispute that."

I've recently bought some Japanese "Roku" Gin from Suntory. and it's bloody lovely. Quick question, do you think stereotypical character traits of dedication, focus, artistry of craft and connection to nature, make the Japanese unsurprising as excellent distillers. It's seems every spirit they turn their hand to, they either match a level of quality of the west, or surpass it.

gin_rok1.jpg

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Glenmorangie was my introduction to single malt and still my favorite. The original 10 year old is a fine fruity Scotch and very affordable at 40USD. 

Once I bought my first bottle of Signet I was simply blown away. The coffee, tiramisu and orange notes are awesome as well as the oily viscosity on the palate. Well worth the 170USD price tag and both compliment cigars perfectly. Love the stuff! 

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Big fan of these, but isn't it cheating to use another drink's barrel?  Just a fancier way of flavoring a whisky? :thinking:  Like I said in the preface; I really like these whiskies and my wife loves them even more; but when I think too much about it I kinda get the Southern Comfort willies .. .   :P   I mean, whisky in a bourbon barrel?  Why not just pour yourself a bourbon? :thinking: 

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10 hours ago, 99call said:

Great article Ken, 

Couldnt help but notice this line "Japanese whiskey is perhaps the hottest drink on the planet at the moment, although thousands of ginophiles (AKA gin fanatics) might dispute that."

I've recently bought some Japanese "Roku" Gin from Suntory. and it's bloody lovely. Quick question, do you think stereotypical character traits of dedication, focus, artistry of craft and connection to nature, make the Japanese unsurprising as excellent distillers. It's seems every spirit they turn their hand to, they either match a level of quality of the west, or surpass it.

gin_rok1.jpg

it is an interesting thought. they do seem to excel. perhaps we need another 50 years to see that this is justified across the board as early days for many.

for anyone who has ever watched that Marvel Agents of Shield show (good fun), team leader Colson always has a bottle of Japanese whiskey on the go. not sure what that means. 

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8 hours ago, shlomo said:

Signet....YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Happy birthday Michael Jackson (writer, not entertainer)!

shlomo, could not put it better. can't believe no one has ever mentioned it to me. knew about the others. 

the real tragedy is that the mob who provided the sample bottle are coming around to collect it. 

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11 hours ago, mrsgucia said:

Great review Ken. Really enjoyed reading it. Although you forgot about cigar recommendation for each bottle. I had a chance to try most of the Glenmorangie range and all of them paired with cubanos excepcional. Recently I got few bottles of Original 10y couldn't resist the sale 39 in NY State. Package came with two Glenmorangie mustard glasses lol

not forgotten. sadly, our nannyment prevents comment on a legal product. i have a few thoughts on this coming up in a Kenfessions soon. 

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12 minutes ago, PapaDisco said:

Big fan of these, but isn't it cheating to use another drink's barrel?  Just a fancier way of flavoring a whisky? :thinking:  Like I said in the preface; I really like these whiskies and my wife loves them even more; but when I think too much about it I kinda get the Southern Comfort willies .. .   :P   I mean, whisky in a bourbon barrel?  Why not just pour yourself a bourbon? :thinking: 

seems to have long been a tradition is making whisky. sherry, sauternes, bourbon et al. be interesting to find out the history behind it all. 

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46 minutes ago, PapaDisco said:

Big fan of these, but isn't it cheating to use another drink's barrel?  Just a fancier way of flavoring a whisky? :thinking:  Like I said in the preface; I really like these whiskies and my wife loves them even more; but when I think too much about it I kinda get the Southern Comfort willies .. .   :P   I mean, whisky in a bourbon barrel?  Why not just pour yourself a bourbon? :thinking: 

Most Scotch whiskies are aged in bourbon barrels from the US, as bourbon makers can only use the barrel once. I believe Glenmorangie actually owns land in the US where the trees used to make oak barrels for bourbon are made from. Recycling at it's best!

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1 hour ago, NYgarman said:

Most Scotch whiskies are aged in bourbon barrels from the US, as bourbon makers can only use the barrel once. I believe Glenmorangie actually owns land in the US where the trees used to make oak barrels for bourbon are made from. Recycling at it's best!

i believe they have a forest in the ozarks. or part thereof. 

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2 hours ago, PapaDisco said:

Big fan of these, but isn't it cheating to use another drink's barrel?  Just a fancier way of flavoring a whisky? :thinking:  Like I said in the preface; I really like these whiskies and my wife loves them even more; but when I think too much about it I kinda get the Southern Comfort willies .. .   :P   I mean, whisky in a bourbon barrel?  Why not just pour yourself a bourbon? :thinking: 

 

2 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

seems to have long been a tradition is making whisky. sherry, sauternes, bourbon et al. be interesting to find out the history behind it all. 

Part 1

"Cheap, not cheat".  Scotch whisky, before it became a more industrialised product, was made by crofters in small stills, and not necessarily aged in wooden barrels.  Often as not, they were in demijohns or any containers that were handy, and drunk unaged.  Richer folk and whisky/wine merchants had empty wine casks lying around in their cellars, and could have them filled with large measures of spirit for transport and storage/aging, something common folk could not afford.  

Then their profligate American cousins came along, using fresh charred oak barrels only once (imagine that!).  So the Scots bought the used barrels cheap, broke them down into staves and shipped them across the Atlantic.  

The Scots will say the fact that the casks previously stored bourbon was incidental, since the Scots also used port pipes or sherry casks if they were going.   But what started as an expediency had a major impact on the taste of the whisky, since the flavour of the previous contents leached into the whisky, especially after long aging.  Lately, this has implicitly acknowledged, with bottlers stating what the cask previously held (bourbon, sherry etc), and whether it had been reused after having aged whisky (first fill, refill etc).

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19 minutes ago, SirVantes said:

 

Part 1

"Cheap, not cheat".  Scotch whisky, before it became a more industrialised product, was made by crofters in small stills, and not necessarily aged in wooden barrels.  Often as not, they were in demijohns or any containers that were handy, and drunk unaged.  Richer folk and whisky/wine merchants had empty wine casks lying around in their cellars, and could have them filled with large measures spirit for transport and storage/aging, something common folk could not afford.  

Then their profligate American cousins came along, using fresh charred oak barrels only once (imagine that!).  So the Scots bought the used barrels cheap, broke them down into staves and shipped them across the Atlantic.  

The Scots will say the fact that the casks previously stored bourbon was incidental, since the Scots also used port pipes or sherry casks if they were going.   But what started as an expediency had a major impact on the taste of the whisky, since the flavour of the previous contents leached into the whisky, especially after long aging.  Lately, this has implicitly acknowledged, with bottlers stating what the cask previously held (bourbon, sherry etc), and whether it had been reused after having aged whisky (first fill, refill etc).

interesting stuff. 

a slightly different take. rum in whisky barrels

https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2018/03/havana-club-unveils-whisky-finished-rum/

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Part 2

"Maybe cheat a little".  The orthodoxy is that aging in wood was about maturation, letting time do its work.  It wasn't about imparting flavour from the wood, or heaven forbid, from the previous contents of the wood (which we maybe did not clean all that scrupulously, mmm?).  If the casks leaked, you would rerack, but otherwise it was Father Time who worked his magic.

But then distillers started openly stating that they were "finishing" their whiskies ie. putting them into different casks at the end of their aging process specifically to impart flavour.  Glenmorangie was among the first to successfully market this, with the Port/Sherry/Madeira Wood Finish range (the pioneer Port Wood Finish is now your Quinta Ruban).

Some would say that this is cheating - if you deliberately use a freshly emptied cask to "finish", you will get a strong flavour influence.  And maybe you can sell younger whisky with a dollop of flavour finishing?

The market proved receptive, and now we have distillers finishing in all sorts - rum, pedro ximenez, malbec, barolo.  Bruichladdich calls it Additional Cask Enhancement (ACE).

Ironically, it has come so far that it has come all the way round.  Lately, a number of distillers have released premium versions that are aged in virgin oak ie. fresh casks that never contained anything else.  

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bc5bf8bf5342bc49dbb1a029e8b1b1d6.jpg
Bought this at my local Costco around Christmas time for $99. They were selling fast. Wish I had bought two. I love all three, but the Quinta Ruban (port finish) is my favorite of the three, the LaSanta (sherry finish) is quite delicious too. I also found a bottle of Signet that I gifted to my boss at work. I intend to get a dram or two of that when I visit him.

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15 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

shlomo, could not put it better. can't believe no one has ever mentioned it to me. knew about the others. 

the real tragedy is that the mob who provided the sample bottle are coming around to collect it. 

I'm a collector also, but definitely a drinker first. It is truly something extraordinary

 

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