hello malty marvelous mischievous mentioners and thank you to zafi
for introducing with a malt mention ralphie review 901
this is the whiskey i'm going to be reviewing and this is the last in a series a four part
series of 15 year old single malt whiskeys which are generally available depending
of course where in the world that you are depending in whether there's a distributor
and frankly getting through the mountains of red tape that obstruct the distribution
on the global market of good quality spirits it's a fact and nobody's going to dispute it
it's the bureaucra the bureaucratic interference with alcoholic products is spectacular and in fact
most other products do not have the same level of state interference as alcohol does
and there's a simple reason for that it's the legacy of prohibition
because the authorities the the authority you know the people and genuinely in charge
wanted to ban alcohol hence the reason for prohibition and they failed because
the majority of people wouldn't put up with it and they had to abandon prohibition in the usa
but during that period was a very dramatic time for the united states and uh this tends to get
written out of the history books anyway did you hear that i'll give you a more dramatic pop
oh could be poppier but i'm not going to complain it's a pop sounding bottle it's that style of
bottle um not too ostentatious not too fancy practical kind of bottle practical kind of label
and it's glen cadam 15 year old single malt scotch whiskey bottled at 46 and i can tell you
because it says on the label which means i don't have to email the distillery i don't have to
contact the local district distributor to find out the information because the good people at glenn
cardam have actually had the respectfulness and that's that's the only way to describe
respectfulness of putting it on the label because it's important information this is an integrity
bottling it says until filtered it says no added color look at that color have a look at this color
that is a natural color i'll bring it there you go gooey
i'm just being a bit mischievous i'm in a good mood i don't know what's wrong so i've poured
away glass of this integrity malt whiskey and i'm going to recommend that on your travels
you look out for the glencadam brand of single malt it's a southern east coast highland whiskey
it's an old fashioned style of whiskey which the modern educated palette
enjoying more and more because it's not
instant access it's not given a sweet overcoat of of sherry it's not that style of whiskey at all
it's one which will have you engaged and connected for a long time because it's not easy access
this particular version is it's a very interesting step up from the one which is much more famous
and on everybody's radar which is the ten-year-old glenn cannon and i have to say the way things
are going glenn cadam is going to be a distillery that you really want to have in your radar in 2022
but i'll come back to that in my extras coming up shortly
this is a light whiskey to kind of introduce it to you
many people go for the 10 year old at the moment and stick there they may be looking at the 13
year old once you get to the older versions of glen cadam because of the style of whiskey it is
it's a lot more delicate this is essentially i can tell you right now the 15 year old glenn carom
is a light complex single malt as soon as you put the nose to the glass
despite the 46 strength this is delicate it's a delicate light fresh fruit nose with some pear
and some apple and some mild banana so you've got the fresh fruit thing going on but there's a kind
of yeasty cereal sourness also visible in the nose which becomes more assertive when you get
to the palate the noise is very pleasant no pete no pita tall this is an unpainted single malt
complex lemon oil a little bit of green ginger nothing's jumping out at you
everything about it in the nose and first contact is restrained it's intriguing you want to taste it
you know if that's the nose what's the taste is it equally as delicate
no
astringent biting
softly aggressive confectionary banana intense unripe apple pear conference pears
lemon you get this battle of the sensations on the arrival and then laterally it's the dryness
the fresh fruit astringency in the form of sour and bitter that wins when you reach
the finish and the palate so immediately i want to add some water to this to help me
gain access how much well it's 46 but it is a delicate whiskey so easy as we go well easy for me
i don't know about you five milliliters full silver teaspoon of water
gentle roly-poly keep it slowly strolling and um
i just want to give a very brief
observation that the speed at which
people's pallets malt mates that's you because you're watching this video so you're not just
a passive consumer you're here because you probably get a drum in your hand at the moment
and you're looking for a little bit of ralphie information we'll hear some buckle up malt mates
the landscape of whiskey is changing very very fast it used to be that blends got a lot of the
conversation and i'm noticing and you're noticing that when it comes to online conversations and
activity relating to scotch whiskey it's 90 percent single malts easily comfortably and one
reason for that is the price difference it used to be a significant price difference in the old days
when blends were significantly cheaper now it's your generic mass-produced blends they're the
ones you'll find at a cheap relatively cheap price but now you're finding that there's some
really good single malts particularly if you're in the u.s where you're not hammered for taxes
the way europeans are um depending on which european country you're in to be honest but
in britain yeah we get hammered for taxes big time in fact there's recently been a tax announcement
that uh the strength of alcohol in the bottle is going to be the measure of the amount of tax
that goes on that simply it's already existed but it's now going to be amplified
there you go uh no lobbying going on behind the scenes there is there
back to the glen cardone i'm letting it just settle down and open up a bit
there are certain brands that you want to be looking for next year which at the moment are
just at the beginning of online conversation but are going to amplify in the next few months
spring bank of course is really enjoying the fruits of its
well-earned success it's very hard to get a bottle it's very hard to get a bottle of kilkern and i'm
sure when the new distillery is in production it'll very very hard to get a bottle of that
but other other businesses other distilleries are looking at spring bank and seeing how that
model works so well for isle of aaron for deanston for buna haben for tober mori these whiskies and
all their permutations they're got amplified visibility and glenn kadam is in that family
of distilleries which amp have amplified visibility at this moment in time they're
still affordable particularly the 10 year old and what makes if you've got the budget don't
leave it till later stock up now because with the inflation that's kicking in globally prices are
only going to go up and i don't want to be bumping on too much about this but it's just real life
if you stock up you have got a product you consume in the future that has an indefinite shelf life
and i mean seriously your children could open the bottle if you don't your grandchildren your
great-grandchildren can open the bottle if you don't that's how that's one of the beauties of
this it becomes a valuable personal timeline of a history and this is the way to look at it
this is i can assure you from my experience with whiskey's going back to the 1980s
this is so reminiscent of an old blend no longer available called bailey nickel jarvi or rock
oyster from douglas lang these old fashioned tastes that crop up now and again unexpectedly
say i remember that not from yesterday but from decades ago it and the this style of whiskey
you need to give it time you need to let your palate adjust but you will be rewarded this is
one of the whiskies that you go to once after your starter whiskey say if it's your johnny bocker
black label but hang that's getting so expensive now you might as well just jump straight into the
sink single malts and get a bottle of glenn for a 12 year old excellent precursor to trying this
this depends how you drink your whiskey more and more people are drinking their whiskey
in flights they've got the bottles open starting with the lightest moving to a more complex
and allowing the palette to adjust and adapt to each singular but very different sensation
over three four or five small portions in the glass what an education and at the end of it
what an incredibly satisfying engagement with the whiskey because you're empowering
the quality rather than the quantity formula back to this smell nope i've oversmelled
i've wetted my nose with a fine single mop it's not the first time that's happened i can tell you
light the lightness in the original noses
strength it's 46 is even lighter now it's very delicate very lowland in style
fantastic sour bitter sweet
a little bit of green savory hint just a mere hint of salt full sensation range arrival
the sensations delivered on a very light light sultana mild honey
barley cereal note the development the fresh fruits are intermingling now the apple the banana
the pear there's a little bit of kiwi fruit in there there's a little bit slight delicate note of
some green kiwi yet green kiwi see this green kiwi and gold kiwi now and they're different flavors
this is green kiwi so you get green fruit notes and little bit of under ripe melon
and it carries
a weight to its lightness which delivers the sensations and sure for a 15 year old whiskey
doesn't have a particularly long finish the finish is tight and crisp and astringent and swift
but such is the length of the development and the aftertaste that you really don't mind that
but it's not a whiskey that you jump into in the first round
no no no no this is one you come to with experience but when you do you're going to have
a singularity you're going to have emphasized the singleness of the single malt max
well i'm fishing out the mall marks i'm going to tell you about
rafi review extras i'm going to be talking a little bit about the forthcoming
online scotch whisky awards which are taking place from the moment this video
is recorded in a week's time so please make a note in your diary for saturday november the 6th
and i'll put a link down below to equivate to the v-pub where the oswas the online
scotch whiskey awards are going to be announced and celebrated and shared and
it's i want to tell you more about it in my next ralphie review extras 901 extras
so that when you're watching the awards in a week's time you have context so i'm giving this
89 out of 100 a fascinating whiskey that i'm really enjoying because i'm finding it
old school a retrospective an old style of single mo
you can't rush into it it's demanding and frankly mom makes that's what i'm enjoying about it bye