Category Archives: Glen Mhor

Glen Mhor 44, 1966 (Gordon & MacPhail for Van Wees)

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This ancient Glen Mhor was bottled by Gordon & MacPhail in 2011. It was part of a legendary parcel of casks bottled for Van Wees in the Netherlands. The other casks in the parcel included a legendary quintet from Longmorn. One of those, a 41 year old distilled in 1969, was the recipient of the highest score I have yet given a whisky; and the others were no slouches either. I’m hopeful that this Glen Mhor will prove worthy of its company and signal a good start to the month in whisky reviews. Let’s see.

Glen Mhor 44, 1966 (52.1%; Gordon & MacPhail for Van Wees; refill sherry hogshead; from my own bottle)

Nose: Sweet orange, paper, old coins, brown butter, an old wooden box, just a hint of soot. The citrus gets brighter/more acidic as it sits and the softer notes expand as the brown butter is joined by some malt; a leafy note now too. As it sits the fruit comes to the fore and there’s pineapple and a bit of apricot now along with the citrus. Continue reading →

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Glen Mhor 22, 1979, Rare Malts

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On Monday I had a review of the recent Glentauchers from Archives. I noted there that I had very little experience with that distillery. Well, I have even less experience with Glen Mhor, a closed distillery. I’ve previously reviewed one Glen Mhor—a Scott’s Selection release that hung around in the US for a long time—and my spreadsheet tells me that’s the only I’ve had until now (though it must be said that my spreadsheet has become a little shaky/unreliable in the years since I started the blog. That was a 26 yo, distilled in 1978. This is a little younger and was distilled a year later—it was bottled in Diageo’s Rare Malts series from the early 2000s, a series that included some legendary releases but also some less than legendary ones. Where will this one fall? Let’s see.

Glen Mhor 22, 1979, Rare Malts (61%; from a bottle split)

Nose: An interesting mix of floral, leafy and mineral notes; some peppery peat too and some lemon and sweet pear. Gets sweeter as it sits and a malty, cereal note emerges. More expressive with a few drops of water with the floral notes expanding along with the cereal; some vanilla too now. After a minute or two there’s more fruit: sweet cherries and lemon peel. Continue reading →

Glen Mhor 1978-2004 (Scott’s Selection)

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Glen Mhor, 1978Glen Mhor is a closed distillery from the Highlands that is not very well known outside of the geekiest of whisky geek circles. I am quite far from those circles and have little knowledge of this distillery. Indeed, it’s only recently that I learned that the Mhor part of the name is pronounced “Vhar”. Accordingly, I will send you off to Malt Madness to read about it. I can also say nothing about my previous experience with Glen Mhor’s whisky as this is my very first encounter with it (there is very little of it on the market, especially in the US). And so I have no preconceived notions about this whisky in general; and as there are no reviews of this particular bottle out there that I can find I have no idea what to expect from it either.

This situation–that of no reviews being available–is shared by a number of Scott’s Selection’s early-mid 2000s releases, many of which are still available in the US. I have long been tempted by many of them as the prices are usually reasonable enough (and I’ve had other good experiences with Scott’s Selection) but have always been too nervous to take the plunge. Recently, however, some friends and I split a number of these bottles–thus limiting our exposure to risk–and so at least one review of some of them will be available soon. Continue reading →