27/07/2021 Glen Mhor

Glen Mhor 8yo (57%, Gordon & MacPhail, b. mid-to-late 1980s): leftover from December. Nose: harking back to the industrial revolution, this has hot metal, coal smoke and sulphur, matchbox strikers and exhaust fumes, coming out of a rusty exhaust pipe. Behind that hairy brutality are delicate notes of ripe orange, not far from turning blue. Or is decaying lemon peel? Either way, it brings that classic Mhor citrus, which is most welcome. And then, it goes back to heavy-duty tooling, steel wool, iron filings, hot lathed metal, and dry sink funk on a warm, sunny day. It is hard not to mentally compare this with its 40% sibling, and this one is obviously more boisterous and unruly, despite the clear affiliation. The second nose adds cedar wood into the mix, as well as bone-dry pine cones. The sink funk comes back, blended with shoe polish and crushed walnut shells. Mouth: on the palate, it is an onslaught of ripe oranges and blood oranges. It has got a bitter touch too, and by that, I mean more than just the orange pith; walnut flesh, or walnut liqueur, probably. It is certainly nuttier than the nose suggested. All that is cloaked in delicate smoke, and, as it swirls around the mouth, it becomes strikingly (if fleetingly) hot. The second sip cranks up the citrus, and it hints at marmalade, simmering in a cast-iron cauldron, over a coal fire. It has a pronounced sweetness too, not unlike lemon bars, and a coat of verdigris. The cauldron must be copper, rather than cast iron, then. Finish: were it not for the pronounced orange-y note, this would be austere as a Tory budget (I really wanted to write that). It has hot metal filings, sink funk, and a smoke that is much less delicate than on the palate. The whole leaves the tongue limp like a piece of leather, and the palate as if covered in lichen and verdigris. Repeated sipping tones down the austerity and lets the oranges take control, with, again, a distinct sweetness (caster sugar) and pouring honey, crystallising in the jar. Ooft! My kind of drams. It could do with a little more complexity, I suppose. 8/10