Rage Against The Maltchine

 

We went through the drams on Zoom

July's tasting was called Rage Against The Maltchine - a chance to try two different expressions from three lesser known distilleries.

Inchgower F&F

Each of the three distilleries is owned by spirits giant Diageo and their output mostly used in blends, so seeing them in their own right is a relative rarity. The main exceptions are for the company's Flora and Fauna range, which it uses to showcase several of its hidden gems, and a range of bottlings done by independents. So, for this tasting, we had three pairings of an F&F versus an indie to see which came out on top.

We started off with Inchgower, a Speyside that is a key component of Bell's. The F&F was a delicate dram, very nice, fruity and a bit salty as well. It was clear to see why it has been used for so long in a major blend, as we felt it had a little bit of everything and could accentuate other flavours really well. Or, as someone put it, "it's the whisky equivalent of Spanx". It's about £50 and is 43%.

Inchgower SMWS

Up against it was an Inchgower from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, a bottling called Depth of Flavour. There was certainly a family resemblance on the nose. Like the last one but a bit more, well, "more-r" as someone suggested.

A little bit of water brought the pears out, along with a general fruitiness and a slightly tropical sense of banana. Most drinkers in the club seemed to think this was a bit better but, seeing as it was a cask strength SMWS and members generally prefer the high octane stuff, this wasn't exactly surprising.

The SMWS bottling was £61, and in the little mini vote of the two Inchgowers it won out 16-7.

Teaninch F&F

The next pairing was from the Teaninch distillery, a Highland which comes from a large facility in Ross. We started off with the 10-year-old F&F expression. There were cereal notes on the nose. Quite nice if a bit forgettable. As we got down to drinking it, we felt it was a bit sweeter than expected, but more of an orientation dram than anything else.

Not as good when you added water either. There were bits of barley sugar, a dryness, and a subtle and delicate creaminess going on, although even for the members who are fans of the more subtle drams this was on the delicate side. It didn't get a huge amount of love overall. £43 better spent elsewhere, we felt.

Teaninch Mey Selections

Next we had a 12-year-old independent bottling under the Mey Selections label. Oaky and dry, this was definitely better. There was something going on in the background on the nose but we couldn't quite put our finger on what. There was much more to get your teeth into on the palate though.

Cask strength for sure, and perhaps a bit too much of an alcoholic taste for some, there were some questions about whether it was really from the same distillery. One comment was: "One came out of the tap, the other was definitely whisky." It was 54% and £90, and although this got a general thumbs up, there was also agreement the price tag was a bit steep.

However, the Mey bottling beat the F&F by no fewer than 22 votes to 1!

Glenlossie F&F

Our last duo was from Glenlossie, a Speyside from close to Elgin. Much of it ends up in Haig Gold, a brand name which was particularly popular back in the 1970s. As for today's 10-year-old F&F bottling, this was great on the nose for a few of us, although some felt it was a bit 'meh' with less going on. Almost a bit reminiscent of the first Teaninch we tried, pleasant enough but a little nondescript.

It revealed itself a bit more after a couple of sips, so there was perhaps more going on than at first glance. Others also felt it was probably the strongest of the three F&F bottlings. It's £49.

The rival independent was a 22-year-old Carn Mor, under its Celebration of the Cask banner. This was certainly more popular, although a tougher choice than the other pairings because both it and number five were good in their own way.

Glenlossie Carn Mor

Leather and boot polish here, and a peppery flavour. It's 53.3% and £150: great but perhaps not three times as great as the F&F one we'd just had. Notwithstanding the price, the indie still took this round by 14 votes to 9 - the closest run battle of the evening.

In the overall dram of the night voting, dram 2, the SMWS Inchgower, took the title with eight votes, ahead of the Carn Mor which got six. And, as if all that voting wasn't enough, we found time for a tiny bit more democracy to finish the evening. In the overall consideration of Diageo v the Rest of the World, it was just two votes for the corporate Maltchine and 21 for Rage!

Thanks to Adam for co-ordinating the tasting and everyone who presented whiskies and took part. Another successful Zoom tasting.