Review by: The Muskox

Here’s the last dram from that set of Murray McDavids I tasted a couple weeks ago. We’ve had a couple refill hogshead matured whiskies, but now we’ve arrived at more typical Murray McDavid fare. This whisky has been aged in a somewhat rare combination of casks, with initial maturation in a sherry butt before finishing (or ACEing, as Murray McDavid would say) in a Sauternes cask. It was bottled this year to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Whic.de, a German online whisky shop.

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Distillery: Glenburgie.

Bottler: Murray McDavid.

Region: Speyside.

ABV: 58.5%, cask strength.

Age: 13 years old. Distilled in 2008. Bottled in 2022.

Cask type: Cask #1910212, Sherry Butt & 1st Fill Sauternes Cask Finish.

Color: Amber. No colour added, un-chillfiltered.

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Nose: Very sweet and sticky. Loads of dark honey, coating sticky stonefruit (black plums, cherries), strawberries in syrup, dried fruit leather, cantaloupe, and banana. Guava jelly on toasted brioche and jam sandwich cookies.

With a good dribble of water added, there’s a honeyed-malty note that emerges. The fruit notes turn slightly fresher and more fragrant.

Palate: Very thick, hot. Burning red fruit – plums, bananas, pomegranate, as well as spicy cinammon. Salted caramel corn and wildflower honey.

Much better with water added. Still plenty of fruit, but now with some slightly brighter flavours of cantaloupe and raspberry. There’s extra depth, too – dark maple syrup, chocolate ganache, and something slightly custardy, crème brulee I suppose. The cinnamon spice isn’t quite so oppressive either.

Finish: Candy-sweet and rather long. Sherry spice, Bananas Foster, maple butter, more custard.

With the water, it’s a pile of hard maple candies. Maraschino cherries, more crème brulee, and vanilla buttercream.

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Possible SMWS bottling name: “Tales from the (sucker-)punchbowl”

Notes: Tasty, in an absurd and hedonistic kind of way. It’s an alternate-universe A’bunadh. The casks have nearly completely obliterated the whisky, leaving a spicy-fruity-honey bomb in their wake. The result is… actually pretty good, at least with water added. It does have the dripping honey that I look for from Sauternes casks, but it feels like the sherry mostly takes the lead. Not really what I’m looking for from Glenburgie these days. I certainly can’t say that it’s bad, just very… Murray McDavid.

Final Score: 83.

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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.