With origins stretching back to 1775, and the current title of ‘UK’s best selling blended scotch’, The Famous Grouse could be said to be very famous indeed. Recently, the folks behind this whiskey decided to create something a little different and what you see before you, the ‘Mellow Gold’, was the result. Jack, our Jack whisky obsessive, takes it through its paces and is pleasantly surprised. Verdict? You might like it…
Rating
In A Nutshell
’Almost-cardamom-orange-juice with a spicy cocoa and blood orange finish. GIT SOME
Price
£25
The Grouse That Overdelivers
The original Famous Grouse is supposedly the UK’s best selling blended Scotch – those of us old enough may recall the TV adverts with the cartoon red grouse (circa early/mid 90s). In a series of short TV slots, said red grouse would frolic and…be a grouse, whilst dealing with great indignity and misfortune. I’ll never forget watching those ads and being entirely sold on the idea of The Famous Grouse before I even knew what whisky was, or of the dangers of high strength alcohol. The power of marketing to kids using cartoon characters eh? *cough*
Aaaanyway, the good folks at The Grouse have unveiled a (relatively) new Grouse – which is what they’re calling ‘the Mellow Gold’, and which is what you can see here. As with, I think, all ‘Grouses’, it’s a blend of Scotch whiskies, matured in sherry and bourbon casks (not an unusual thing) – though with a higher proportion of sherry casks (more unusual). They’re using more first fill casks too – which in the case of sherry casks, means more obvious sherry flavour (I and most people are OK with this!). If you’re a whisky drinker, none of this kind stuff is new to you, buuuuut I shall say that, in my humble opinion, The Famous Grouse’s master blender, Gordon Motion has done something quite special with this one.
A little whisky history lesson, should you feel so inclined… The Famous Grouse’s ‘home’ distillery, Glenturret, was established way back in 1775, and makes a strong claim to the title of Scotland’s oldest working distillery. It took another hundred years or so for The Famous Grouse to come into this world (1896) – it was originally called ‘The Grouse Brand’ and established by a chap called Matthew Gloag. In 1905 they renamed it the The Famous Grouse, and by 1980 it was Scotland’s best selling whisky. I believe that part of this success comes down to the fact that Macallan and Highland Park are amongst the ‘ingredients’ for this one…
We Drink It, Stuff Happens
Initial Impression
Rich gold colour indeed. but will it be ‘mellow’? I fear that I drink so much whisky that everything is mellow now. Apart from me :3
Nose
Honey, dried fruit; sultanas and/or raisins. An average/high heat which will turn out to be much lesser on the palate – a hint of something medicinal… perhaps antiseptic. Vanilla, as expected, though less caramel than it’s Speysidey friends. Woodsmoke, toned down, blood orange peel.
After time the nose gets some kind of sour toffee thing that a lot of whiskies acquire. At this point it’s not super characteristic but it is promising
Palette
Hits the tongue and the immediate impression is of a ‘light bodied and non fiery’ thing. You swallow and it’s not hugely sweet either – which is a surprise! A nice surprise. I like surprises!
Once its sat for a while you have a ‘pleasingly woody’ taste – resinous wood and cardamom. Cocoa, unsweetened, or high percentage dark chocolate. It leads heavily with the citrus notes – though not blood orange, more mandarin. I did not expect this at all. wonderful!
Later after ‘acclimatisation’ it becomes some kind of crazy almost cardamom orange juice with a spicy cocoa finish. Very easy to drink indeed. You might be surprised…
Finish
Breathe out… sheeeeyut ♫, that is mellow – though the finish is not particularly lengthy. There’s dry butterscotch with some herbaceous notes (rosemary?). More toffee i would say, but a less sugary toffee. ‘Black coffee toffee’ or ‘caramel with the edges taken off’ and sweeter citrus
The cocoa and citrus are the predominant things you take from this – though the stewed fruit on your tongue is what will be left on doomsday
The Verdict
For this whisky £25 is very respectable indeed. The Mellow Gold definitely punches above its weight – in a blind tasting I would expect it to cost much more. I’m not too keen on the regular Famous Grouse but this is quite something – a very ‘sessionable’ whisky indeed. I’d keep a bottle around for that reason.
At various points it felt a little like a toned down version of a more expensive Highland Park with the orange peel and subtle cocoa flavour profile. That said, Highland Park goes into the blend so it’s not THAT surprising). Not quite as morish as a Highland Park, but for a fraction of the price? Oh yeahhhhhhhh