Just rounding off reviews for the scotches I tried at a local (socially-distanced) whisky festival with an SMWS Glen Moray, a single cask Glencadam bottled for the festival and curiously cut to 40% and their NAS OB "The Rather Elegant".

Scotch Review #28: SMWS (Glen Moray) 35.191 Jam Today! - 60.1% - 12 years old - 1st-fill ex-moscatel hogshead

Nose: Blackcurrant juice, salted toffee, some sort of fermented berry funk that's almost sherry but not quite.

Palate: Smooth, almost unexpectedly thin for 60.1%. A undercurrent of the same funk makes itself known. Atop that: unsweetened liquorice, dried cranberries, goji berries, fig jam.

Finish: Dry, medium finish, but not of the type that leaves one parched. Kiwi, unsweetened liquorice persists, plum jam, grape soda.

Conclusion: The jam and berry notes are real in this one. I wasn't expecting it to be ex-moscatel, it felt almost sherry but not quite. Berry skins/stems mixed up in the sherry funk. The liquorice note is particularly prominent here, permeating the mouth. The jams could be more forward, the pungency of the liquorice threatened to drown it out. Overall nicely put-together. Drinks well below its strength. I was expecting 51-2% tops.

Score: 82.

H.Y.