Glory of the Grain Tweet Tasting #GrainWhiskyTT

Yesterday we make some noise at Twitter. Steve Rush of The Whisky Wire invited me and around 20 more whisky lovers to a great blind tasting proposal: Glory of the Grain Tweet Tasting.

Have you tried Grain Whisky? No? Oh, so don’t read the article. Pesky beverage, don’t even pay attention to it. It doesn’t worth your time…

If you have tasted them I can no longer conceal the secret so anyway, let me show you what we tasted blindly. It was quite fun and surprising because all but one of the samples were guessed by someone. My nose isn’t so skilled on grain whisky. Pity!.

1^st Sample: Cameron Brig Single Grain Whisky

This first sample has an amazing nose but the palate slips into the cheap side of life.

“A great nose but a very mean palate. Maybe it is a young grain whisky and looks like bottle at around 40%. No idea what it can be”

85

70cl / 40% - A single grain whisky from Scotland's largest distillery, Cameronbridge. Grain whisky is unpeated and lighter in style, allowing the oaky flavours acquired during maturation to come through.

This dram has a amber-like color.

Nose (87): more than average. honey, vanilla, cinnamon, floral, wood, citrus, spices.

Palate (84): light, smooth. honey, citrus, wood, spices, cereals.

Finish (85): average. honey, citrus, spices.

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Cameron Brig Single Grain Whisky with 85 points over 100.

Buy this bottle at

Save money when you buy Grain whisky online. Check for the best prices from best online shops below:

• Buy on The Whisky Exchange for £22.85
• Buy on Master of Malt for £24.66

Well, you can’t ask much more for that price. It is better that most blended stuff out there and for around the same price.

2^nd Sample: Greenore 8 year

This one is slightly better but still persists a mean whisky profile. No clue what it can be, so much tropical fruits on this one…

“Tropical fruits infused bourbon with a citrosy touch. Looks like ten years old bottled at around 45%. Interesting whisky”

86

Greenore Single Grain is a truly unique whiskey as it is the only expression of Irish Single Grain whiskey in the world.

Single Grain whiskeys are very rare as most grain whiskey is normally mixed with Malt whiskeys to make Blended whiskey. Grain whiskey is made from maize/corn and provides a lot of the smoothness people associate with Irish whiskey.

Think of this whiskey as the nose of a bourbon and the taste of irish whiskey. Right! Just delicious.

This dram has a fino-like color.

Nose (86): more than average. citrus, honey, pepper, floral, fruity, papaya.

Palate (87): light, smooth. honey, citrus, wood, pepper, spices, mango, papaya, vanilla, corn.

Finish (85): longer than average. honey, wood, spices, corn.

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Greenore 8 year with 86 points over 100.

Hell! Someone guessed it. I didn’t remember Greenore with so much tropical fruits but who knows… :)

3^rd Sample: Nikka Coffey Grain Whisky Japanese Grain Whisky

Now we are talking! This is grade A stuff!.

“Incredible stuff! Smells old and bottled at a generous strength. Simply awesome... but no clue about what I am tasting, maybe Clan Denny dram?”

90

A release of grain whisky from Japan's Nikka, produced mainly from corn using one of their continuous Coffey stills. Rather than the rare and limited releases they have done before, this is a larger release to further show off this key component in the Nikka family of whiskies.

This dram has a gold-like color.

Nose (89): more than average. honey, spices, vanilla, citrus, candies, disolvent, corn.

Palate (90): powerful, oily. honey, corn, spices, wood, vanilla, cinnamon, peaches.

Finish (90): longer than average. honey, wood, candies, spices.

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Nikka Coffey Grain Whisky Japanese Grain Whisky with 90 points over 100.

Buy this bottle at

Save money when you buy Grain whisky online. Check for the best prices from best online shops below:

• Buy on The Whisky Exchange for £51.95

Oh my! This is simply fantastic! I have a bottle of this one but never opened it. Had I known it was so good I would have done before. This Nikka Grain Whisky is awesome and now I can see why Taketsuru whiskies are so good!

4^th Sample: Invergordon 1966 / 45 Year Old / Bourbon Cask HH7254 Single Whisky

Respect! This dram exudes age, solera, class… and what the fuck! peat! Peat! PEAT! This grain whisky has a nice touch of peat on it taste! Glorious crazyness!

“Impressive whisky! First grain whisky with a touch of peat that I taste. It feels like something quite unique... and old”

91

A long aged grain whisky from Invergordon, distilled in England's last great year at the World Cup and bottled in 2011 by Clan Denny.

This dram has a amber-like color.

Nose (90): more than average. honey, spices, wood, a little rosemary, cinnamon, sulphur.

Palate (92): powerful, oily. honey, peat, corn, wood, spices, citrus, pepper.

Finish (90): longer than average. honey, wood, spices, citrus.

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Invergordon 1966 / 45 Year Old / Bourbon Cask HH7254 Single Whisky with 91 points over 100.

Muahahaha! Awesome! Not the best Clan Denny I have had but still so spectacular… and peated! I can’t believe I am tasting a slightly peated grain whisky. Cool!

Miguel says…

A great event, as usual. I have to say that I quite enjoy Steve’s Tweet Tastings and the fact that this was blind made it even more fun. Really it takes totally the stress out of rating whiskies…

My night favorites are the Invergordon and the Nikka. And definitively I will go and buy another Nikka Coffey just to show friends how good a grain whisky can be.

Share your thoughts! comments written.