The Return to the Britons Protection: Missed You Sherry Much!

A bumper line up

After more than a year and a half of Covid-enforced remote tastings, we were back in the familiar surroundings of the top room at the Britons for October's meeting of Manchester Whisky Club.

Tamnavulin

And we had a line up of sherried drams to try, as part of 'We Missed You Sherry Much'.

Sherried whiskies are typically associated with Speyside, and that's where we began the evening. Dram number one was a whisky that's widely available, the Tamnavulin Sherry Cask. Part of the Whyte and Mackay group (in turn under Filipino ownership), it appeared under its own name relatively rarely under 2016, when a range of bottlings at reasonable prices began to pop up in supermarkets especially.

The Sherry Cask is actually only finished in sherry, is £33 and comes in at 40%. It certainly fits the bill of 'cheap and cheerful'. Mild and muted, with a bit of a bite in there somewhere to take it out of the ordinary. Someone said they got a bit of apple skin. Very quaffable, and good as a calibration dram.

Mortlach 16yo

Next, it was Mortlach, a Diageo Speyside known for a heavier character than the light and fruity output of nearby distilleries. We had a bottle of the 16-year-old to hand, a 43.4% whisky available for £66.

And this was very nice. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the distillery's reputation, it tasted stronger than that 43.4% on the label. Water opened up the nose a bit as well. One frequently mentioned tasting note from the members was 'gingery'.

Macallan is a Speyside distillery that almost needs no introduction, being virtually synonymous with the area's whisky production. An independent bottling of the stuff is what we had before us this time, the work of the well-known Elgin-based firm Gordon and Macphail under the Spey Malt name. It's only bottled now and again, and released in certain international markets only.

G&M Spey Malt 14yo

The bottle we had was a 14-year-old bottled in 2019, coming in at 43%. Nice on the nose, with a hint of marshmallow. The main hit was a range of tropical fruits: maybe including pineapples among some other fruity notes. Not bad at all. It's £75 or thereabouts if you can find a bottle online.

Another independent bottler was the source of dram four. And it was one of the club's favourites, Whiskybroker. We were treated to an eight-year-old Balmenach, from WB's recent outturn. Balmenach would have to be one of the least well-known distilleries in Speyside, with all its output going into blends and just the odd independent bottling such as this one.

WB Balmenach 8yo

Great on the nose. Chewy: you certainly know when you've tasted it. Nice and strong all round. Some club members liked it with water. As ever from Whiskybroker, it was competitively priced, although I haven't got a note of exactly how much it was (I bought another Balmenach in the same outturn for £32, so I'd say something around that). It was 54%.

Tobermory 17yo

It was Tobermory next, so away from Speyside on to the Isle of Mull. This distilery produces whiskies for two brands, and you might be more familiar with the peated version, Ledaig. This was a 17-year-old Tobermory, though, fully matured in Oloroso sherry casks.

This was "unbelievably nice" according to one comment. Lots of toffee on the palate, even Lion bars at a push, along with festive spices. Plenty of thumbs up for this one. Ideal for late autumn into winter. It's 55.9% and it's still available online for £130.

Glen Grant 23yo

The sixth dram of the night, normally the last one of any tasting but not on this occasion as we will see in a moment, took us back to Speyside and Glen Grant. Another independent bottling, this was a 23-year-old from Lady of the Glen, finished in a fresh Oloroso hogshead.

A very Christmassy type of taste here, with citrus and rum and raisin notes. Very nice, but also a bit dry as befits the age. Tasted older than it was, in fact. It's 50.4%, and there are still a few bottles kicking about for £170.

We don't normally have seven drams but a mishap during the pouring meant that some of drams five and six ended up blended together in some glasses, giving everyone an unexpected extra drop. The Tobermory certainly overpowered the Glen Grant, it's fair to say. While again drinkable, tasting the impromptu creation allowed us to see why blenders get paid!

Dram of the night!

If you're in for a penny, you're in for a pound. And committee member Martin produced an additional bottle for us to cap off the night, in honour of he and Anna becoming parents recently. This was another one from Whiskybroker, a 12-year-old Dufftown. By this time the tasting notes I had been keeping had become extremely brief, and under this one I've just written "a beast". So read into that what you will.

It must have been very good indeed though, because the eighth dram waltzed off with the dram of the night voting, taking ten votes. The Glen Grant was second with the Mortlach in third.

Thank you to Martin for taking us through a great selection of drams, and to all club members new and old for attending. And thanks in particular to everyone at the Britons for having us back in the top room, we're looking forward to many more tastings in the near future.