Glenmorangie “A Tale of Winter”
Glenmorangie A Tale of Winter is the 2nd release of their “A Tale of…” Limited Edition releases. I’m doing this backwards by reviewing this one first, but it has been subarctic temperatures in the Northeast and what better time to crack a bottle named after Winter than when you are shivering…
A Tale of Winter is a non-age statement whisky that was finished in Marsala wine casks from Sicily. According to Glenmorangie, it has a 13 year old base (why not label it as such?) that is supposed to capture the feeling of being snugly in front of a fire and give you all the flavors that one associates with winter (cocoa, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, reindeer laughter, etc.).
ABV: 46%
How it smells…A bit delicate but some sweet candied orange citrus notes with cherries and vanilla.. Overall, very pleasant and bright.
How it tastes…Very mild upfront with a little sweetness but short of what you get on the nose. Quite a bit of pepper and maybe ginger? The finish is drying and bitter, but not a cocoa or coffee bitterness where you get some malty notes, just bitter. Honestly, it leaves my tongue bitter long after I finish.
Price...I picked up this bottle for $100 which I believe is the regular retail price.
Rating...🥃🥃
Final thoughts…I don’t hate this but I certainly don’t love it either. But I do hate this at $100. I like a lot of Glenmorangie products and I think they put out some much better ones even at the $60-$70 price range, let alone for triple digit $$’s. I even went back and tasted it the next day to make sure this was actually how it tasted, and unfortunately it is. I don’t get any of the flavors associated with winter holidays, which is disappointing. Will I dump it out? No, it’s really not terrible, but I’ll probably only tap into it when I just want one and I don’t want to be tempted to overindulge.
UPDATE: I will admit, that as I continued to drink this bottle, it grew on me and I went from “I don’t hate this” to “I like it” but I still stick by my original rating as I still will not spend another $100+ on this release. A 3x’s 🥃 means that it is well priced for what you get, and I still think that you can get comparative taste for a cheaper cost by a margin. I tend to find that my perception of a bottle changes as I progress within the bottle (and I mean over a few nights, not only in one night as anything starts to taste good if you are deep into a session).
