Naked Grouse, Blended Malt Scotch Whisky, 40% abv.

Edrington says this Naked Grouse blend is composed of malts from the likes of Glenturret, Glenrothes, Highland Park, and Macallan,  matured in first-fill and refill American and European oak casks, and then finished in first-fill oloroso Sherry butts for a further six months. An interesting tidbit is Edrington has put Cutty Sark and Glenturret up for sale... I wonder what happens to the Naked Grouse and its related versions when one of its core components is in another group.

Nose: cocktail cherries, young white wine, sharp vines, a sort of old toffee, there is a weird "wave" effect where aromas come in waves, but the same aromas.

Palate: unbalanced, mid palate is thick, light old fruits, some red fruit flavored cough syrup, back palate has a slight bitter chocolate candy, a little smokey. Strange stuff going on.

Finish: moderate to long, a weird aftertaste, like metal residue with the metallic texture (that sounded weird), fermented fruit, and a sort of fruit soup all over. Again, strange stuff going on.

Pretty weird and nothing special. It's like a sherry cask finished scotch gone bad. I gotta admit, the bottle is stunningingly beautiful, however the contents are not. Interestingly, I found some online reviews to give positive verbal descriptions, but the reviews with scores tended to be on the low side. Ralfy thinks re-used barrels, or re-invigorated barrels, might have been used in the production process. It sounded expensive.

Grade: D-

Whiskyfun.com, Serge, sgp:451, 82 points
Scotchwhisky, Dave Broom, 85 points
Whisky advocate, Jonny McCormick, 89 points
Ralfy, 82/100

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

🇭🇰 🇺🇸(LA, SF) -> 🇯🇵 (京都, 東京) -> 🇰🇷 (서울, 부산)