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Malt Maniacs Awards 2014 Whiskies

By Miguel in Recommended , Whisky

It is December, 15 and today Malt Maniacs Awards are published. You and me have been waiting almost a full year for a new incarnation of the very best whisky award in the world: Malt Maniacs Awards 2014.

mma-2014

If you are reading this you probably know about them, but just in case. Malt Maniac Awards are ran by a group of whisky afficionados with no links with the Whisky industry. They accept up to four ( or five ) whiskies from each brand/distillery and then they will split all the whiskies into individuale label-less samples… just a number. So each of the judges tastes each whisky completely clueless and blind and then all the scores are submitted back and after a few crazy math formulas the final score is computed.

Basically whiskies over 90 gets a Gold Medal, between 85 and 90 gets a Silver Medal and below that and over 80 gets a Bronze Medal. It is a very rare honor to get a Gold Medal and unfortunately most of them are special single cask whiskies for a group of persons.

And the winner is…




This particular cask is Kavalan Solist (57.8%, OB, NAS, Sherry Cask C#S060904031, 516 Bts., 2014*). Good luck finding it. My advice is just enjoy any other casks, despite there can be huge differences between casks I have have a few Kavalan lately and they are pretty consistent.

Ultra premium Supreme Winner

Yoichi 21yo 1991/2014 (62%, OB, Madeira Finish C#129459, Heavily peated)

Ultra premium Best Sherried Whisky

Glen Grant 59yo 1955/2014 (60.8%, Gordon & MacPhail Book of Kells for LMDW, 1st Fill Sherry Hogshead C#845)

Ultra premium Best Peated Whisky

Benriach 29yo 1984/2014 (50.3%, OB, Peated, Tawny Port Finish, C#4051, 267 Bts.)


Ultra premium Best Natural Cask

Karuizawa 34yo 1980/2014 (63%, No.1 Drinks for LMDW, ex-Bourbon Cask C#6476)

Ultra premium Thumbs Up Award

Glengoyne 25yo (48%, OB, Sherry Casks, 2014*)


Premium Supreme Winner

Kavalan ‘Solist’ (57.8%, OB, NAS, Sherry Cask C#S060904031, 516 Bts., 2014*)

Premium Best Sherried Whisky

Kavalan ‘Solist’ (57.8%, OB, NAS, Sherry Cask C#S060904031, 516 Bts., 2014*)

Premium Best Peated Whisky

Kavalan 2007/2014 ‘Peaty Cask’ (55%, OB, Distillery Reserve No. 04459)

Premium Best Natural Cask

Bowmore 13yo 2001/2014 (57.2%, Blackadder Raw Cask, Hogshead C#20066, 292 Bts.)

Premium Thumbs Up Award

Glenrothes 7yo 2007/2014 (66.7%, Adelphi, 1st Fill Sherry Hogshead C#3529, 320 Bts.)

Daily Dram Supreme Winner

Smoking Islay (58.2%, Blackadder Raw Cask, NAS, Sherry Finish C#BA2013/451, 370 Bts., 2013)

Daily Dram Best Sherried Whisky

Nantou 5yo 2009/2014 (58%, OB, Sherry Cask C#852, 246 Bts.)

Daily Dram Best Peated Whisky

Smoking Islay (60.5%, Blackadder Raw Cask, NAS, Sherry Finish C#BA2013/452, 325 Bts., 2013)

Daily Dram Best Natural Cask

Inchmurrin (54.7%, Boutique-y Whisky Co., NAS, 543 Bts., 2014*)


Daily Dram Thumbs Up Award

Lagavulin 16yo (43%, OB, 2014*)


Malt Maniac Awards 2014 Medals

You can read all the little stuff and see the individual scores at: http://www.maltmaniacs.net/MMA/MMA_2014_scorecard.pdf



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