Origin: Scotland
Type: Blended Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 40%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Bourbon
Chillfiltered: Yes
Added colouring: Yes
Owner: William Grant & Sons
Average price: € 35.00
Official website: www.monkeyshoulder.com
Vote: 75/100
Born in 2017, it’is the peated version of the well-known blended we talked about not so long ago, and like its older sibling is designed for blending rather than straight drinking, but given the cheap price there is nothing to stop it being approached as an introduction to non-Islay peats.
The peaty part (it is said) in fact comes from Ailsa Bay, a distillery in the Lowlands that is part of William Grant & Sons’ portfolio, while the Batch 9 on the label, like the 27 on the unpeated one, has nothing to do with the production batch but with the number of different casks used for the blended recipe.
There is also a third version, Fresh Monkey, a blended of new make from Speyside malt and new make from grain of unspecified origin.
Tasting notes
And peat is immediately mentioned as you smell the glass, although it’s more of grilled fruit (pineapple, apple, peach, apricot) and toasted nuts (hazelnuts, cashews) than barbecue. Throw in a little Catalan cream, candied orange, malted biscuits and a drop of honey and the picture is complete: simple but balanced, with just a delicate wisp of smoke to round off the aromas.
On the palate the discourse changes, the peat becomes more acrid and spicy (ginger, pepper, nutmeg) with an initial pleasant creaminess that soon loses structure to melt into bitter rivulets in which fruit and vanilla are ectoplasms trapped in the chimney. The evocations of the nose are a distant echo, dominated by spices and ash with some nuts in a rapidly ethereal body.
Rather short finish of smoke, apple, vegetable notes, vanilla.
Certainly excellent in a cocktail, all too evanescent neat in which it immediately loses what little interest you can find on the nose.