Review by: TOModera
(Thanks to Devoz for the dram!)
So I’m a little giddy to review this one, because I’m a child.
Awhile ago there was some subreddit drama that made me giggle. The creation of a new Scotch subreddit was caused by a certain individual asking for a review of Michel Couvreur Special Vatting.
To say the least, I haven’t been able to review this malt yet, however whenever I hear about Michel Couvreur anything, I do laugh about someone ‘demanding more high end reviews’. As such, when I had the chance to trade for this blend, and do it as part of my series (The Blender: A totally not rip-off of tintin777‘s review series), I took it immediately. Then I realized it’s not a blend at all…
So here’s to finally doing a proper review. I should be ashamed at all my others (this is sarcasm).
Michel Couvreur 12 Overaged Malt is what I’ll be reviewing today. But who is Michel Couvreur, if he is actually a person?
Turns out he’s a man who lives in Burgundy (the country, not the colour), and imports and bottles Single Malt Scotch. He also adds some extra aging to them as well, in Sherry oak casks, and demijohns, which are giant glass bottles held underground in his bunker.
So yes, he may be a crazy person. But who isn’t these days.
He then vatts them together and releases them into the wild. All of the 54 whiskies in this vatting are 12 to 17 years old. Yes, 54, that’s not a typo. Holy Shit, that’s a lot. That said, they all come from the same distillery, as this is labeled as a single malt, and I was super wrong when I originally wrote all of this.
Let’s see how this tastes.
Distillery: Unknown.
Bottler: Michel Couvreur.
Region: Unknown.
ABV: 43%.
Age: 12 years.
Cask type: Sherry Cask.
Price: The Lowly people of Canada cannot have real scotch, and as such it’s not sold here.
Color: Dark Burgundy (the colour, not the country)
Nose: Sour red grape, brown sugar, cherry, ginger, smoke, straw
Big sherry influence on this blend. Smooth, rather nice. A little bit of smoke and grass/straw as well in it.
Not too strong, yet no pushover either. Quite nice.
Taste: Raspberry, smoke, anise, caramel, banana chips, cocoa
It’s not a huge sherry bomb, that’s for certain. That said, it does has a lot of different flavours, some unique.
Also a little more smooth than flavourful though. I’m waiting for it to give me something interesting, and for now, it’s trying (banana chips) yet not really delivering.
Finish: Caramel, smoke, anisette, cranberry, meaty, raisin
Good finish, very sherry influenced. Some more smoke, which is nice.
Conclusion: So this is real scotch, eh? Well I’m… mildly impressed? I don’t want to beat this one up, because it does have some elements I do enjoy. It’s a fine Sherried malt, and not too strong. Heck, my wife even didn’t hate it, and she doesn’t like sherried malts.
It’s just… well, when someone informs me that they’ve spent all this time and effort blending 54 different whiskies which were specially aged and ‘overaged’, I expect to be wowed. Right now, I think Aberlour 12 Sherry Cask is better, and cheaper.
Guess I’m just not a ‘real scotch aficionado’.
Final Score: 78.
Scoring Legend:
- 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
- 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
- 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
- 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
- 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
- 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
- 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
- 50-59: Save it for mixing.
- 0-49: Blech.
Malt Runners 