Glen Moray Elgin Classic Signature First-Fill American Oak

Glen Moray Elgin Classic Signature First-Fill American Oak

Price: In Israel: 145 Shekels (about £30).

Age Statement: NAS (Non-Aged Statement).

Bottling Strength: 48% abv.

Bottle Volume: 1 Litre

Chill Filtration: Non-Chill-Filtered

Colour Added:  Yes (See section on Appearance for further details)

Maturation Type: Aged entirely in First-Fill Ex-Bourbon barrels, as stated on the label.

Barcode: 5060116322248

Kashrus: No Kashrus issues that I am aware of. There is actually a Kashrus Certification by a small kashrus organisation by the name of “Kosher-Maor” with an ishur Rabbanut Rashi, printed on the Hebrew sticky Import label from the Paneco.co.il.

“Kosher-Maor” is not currently a member of AKO (Association of Kashrus Organisations), the umbrella organisation for reliable hechsherim, neither is it a recognised hechsher (as far as I am aware), within the Israeli Chareidi community.

Note: This Travel Retail release from the “Elgin Classic Signature” series should not be confused with the similarly named and labelled “Elgin Classic Heritage”, bottled at minimum 40% abv.

Introduction

This is a 1 Litre bottle, available in Travel Retails around the world (but does not seem to be available in the UK).

Building upon the critical success of the Elgin Classic 18-Year-Old (their first “Integrity bottling” release to be bottled at higher than minimum legal strength and without chill-filtration), Glen Moray released this Elgin Signature Classic (Travel Retail) series, consisting of the Classic NAS (American Oak Ex-Bourbon barrels), 12-Year-Old (also Ex-Bourbon) and 15-Year-Old (a vatting of Ex-Bourbon and Ex-Sherry and therefore not approved for the observant Jewish consumer). The entire series is bottled at a very respectable 48% abv and all non-chill filtered.

Many people ask me what I mean when I use the term “Integrity bottling”. Most enthusiasts (I dislike the word connoisseurs), would define it as an expression that has been bottled at at-least 46% abv, is non-chill filtered and is presented at natural colour, that is, the colour is derived purely from the cask the whisky was matured in. Some add to this list an age statement or Vintage statement. I would personally add cask maturation, that is, a statement as to which cask or cask types the whisky has been matured in. The Elgin Signature Classic Series only lacks natural colour so let’s call them “near-integrity” bottlings.

For Glen Moray who have always aimed their products at the bottom basement “budget” market, this is a bold departure for them, and I wish them a lot of success. In my opinion, the raw Glen Moray spirit has tremendous potential to be a truly great whisky, but at least up until recently, has not been allowed to show just what it’s capable of.

So, this Glen Moray Elgin Signature Classic can be added to the tiny number of budget priced Single Malts that fall into this “Integrity Malt” category, along with for instance, the Deanston Virgin Oak and Loch Lomond 12 Years.

A Big Warning

As explained below, do not judge this whisky on its first or even second pour.

For a minimum outlay, being one of the cheapest single malts on the market, the Glen Moray Fist Fill “Elgin Signature Classic” will significantly further your “whisky” education. How? Because It is one of these extraordinary and fascinating single malts which on first acquaintance, you will probably hate and dismiss it out of hand. Let this review act as a warning to us all, not to judge a whisky from the first or even second pour.

Read on…

Packaging

Glen Moray have kept their packaging and artwork pretty consistent for decades now, after their rebranding in the 1990s. I see nothing wrong with that. The artwork is a classic, timeless design that to me, does not seem dated or old fashioned. Moreover, the bottle design with the top part resembling a pot still, has been used since the 1980s and I frankly love it. It will never go out of fashion and I can see no reason why they should waist their money on marketing to change this. In my opinion, it doesn’t need updating. That is, unless they ever decided to go back to the original artwork. (See below for what Glen Moray used to look like in the 1980s). 

The only thing about the artwork which I would ask them to take a look at, is the rendering of the distillery’s crest/emblem on the silver foil that covers the cork stopper.

The crest/seal as presented on the front label, looks rather grand, showing a typical crest, split into four panels, consisting of (from top-left to right), Ears of Barley, a bee outside a Beehive, a cask/barrel and a sailing ship on the water.

However, the crest which appears on the silver-foil seal, although obviously the same crest, is a completely different rendering. It’s actually to tell what the images are in the first three panels. The last one however, which (as mentioned above), is supposed to be a sailing ship, looks more like a person, wearing a beret and large glasses and a scarf blowing in the wind, with a big grin of their face. It’s actually a tad creepy.

A Nostalgically motivated purchase

As I may have mentioned before, Glen Moray 12 was the first Single Malt Whisky I ever bought. Last year, whilst my middle son was on holiday with his family in the UK, I took the opportunity to purchase an old second hand circa 1980s bottling of the Glen Moray 12 from TWE for him to take home for me, the same bottle which I had purchased at Heathrow airport Duty-Free way back in 1988. It was this Glen Moray in its fancy tin box which started me on my Single Malt whisky journey.

Considering its age, the bottle wasn’t that expensive at all (£110), and unfortunately reflects the non-collect-ivity value of Glen Moray in general, a reputation which I don’t think it deserves.

In my humble opinion, I think that this 1980s label is absolutely exquisite. It's probably just my nostalgia talking, but I think it's just perfect. I just love that water colour style painting of the distillery, although I am a bit puzzled as to whether Glen Moray distillery ever look exactly like this or whether it's a case of 1980s marketing artistic license? I can find no historical record of it ever having two Pagoda roofed malting houses as depicted in the painting.

Unfortunately, having been founded in 1897, a decade after Alfred Barnard's famous "The Whisky Distilleries of The United Kingdom", which contains a charcoal drawing of every distillery of the time, I have nothing to compare it with. However, the road at a 45 degree angle to the entrance and the hills in the background is still present today. In fact, barring the fact that the distillery today looks rather industrial rather than the romantic countryside of the painting, it is kind of recognisable as Glen Moray distillery.

It sits, pride of place, on my bookshelf and is a talking point for those who ask me how I got started in the wonderful world of Single Malt Whisky.

Anyway, enough chat, let's get on with the review...

Glen Moray Elgin Classic Signature First-Fill American Oak

First Impressions upon opening

I opened the bottle on Thursday evening intending to take a sip from the neck-pour, just to try it out whilst watching the Aqvavitae YouTube live stream. I wanted to give the bottle a chance to breath before the main tasting session with my family at the Friday night Shabbos seuda.

Appearance

The use of E150a caramel spirit colour is immediately apparent. Glen Moray distillery owners La Martiniquaise, France, have obviously established a standard colour policy for all of its whiskies (as far as I can tell), as the slight orang-y-brown tint on this “integrity” bottling is exactly the same as the standard core-range Classic NAS and 12-Year-Old.

Why Oh why does La Martiniquaise, France, think that it’s a good idea to add artificial colouring to a Single Malt Whisky which they’ve gone out of their way not to chill-filter and bottled it at higher than minimum strength, in order to appeal to the enthusiast’s market?  Are they so out of touch with this segment of the market? Surely, they realise that this same audience wants to see the natural colour of the whisky? Adding E150a caramel spirit to an integrity bottling is not doing them any favours. Perhaps, specialising in cheap supermarket single malt brands like Glen Turner, they really haven’t got the complete “picture”. (Turner, picture, you get it?)

Comparing Alcohol Legs

Swirling this single malt around in my Glen Moray distillery Glencairn glass, it looks lovely and oily, showing a high viscosity. The natural barley oil infused alcohol creates rims and beads around the inside of the glass. There are some nice tears (or legs) that form, like superglue that begins to drip but dries before it can form a drop of even more than a few millimetres. This is a sure sign indicating non-chill filtration and a high abv.

Just for comparison, I poured myself a dram of Glen Moray 12-Year-Old Classic, chill filtered, bottled at the legal minimum 40% abv and sold at a similar price to this Elgin Signature Classic.

 

As you can see from the above pictures, the tears of the 12-Year-Old form almost immediately, streaming down the inside of the glass, nigh on resembling water. This is a pretty good indication that the natural barley oils which contribute to body and flavour, are noticeably missing.

So, an impressive start, but unfortunately, things were about to turn ugly.

One minute after opening the bottle:

On the Nose

Oh dear! What do we have here?

Is this Single Malt Whisky or a bottle of industrial cleaning fluid bought in a builders’ merchants? There are strong off notes of Emulsion paint, bitter wood sap smells and oil resin/ glue, reminding me of a chipboard / wood cabinet factory.

Sickly raw cookie dough (and not in a nice way), strong yeasty notes, Linseed oil with Tangerine pith sweet and bitter citrus notes.

On the palate

Aniseed balls, dried beeswax without the honey, mild citrusy notes and harsh alcohol burn. Frankly, had someone told me that this was grain Vodka, I would have believed them.

A lot of people would have been ready to pour this down the sink upon first tasting, as can be seen from the negative reviews on whiskybase.com.

https://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies/whisky/128612/glen-moray-elgin-signature

However, based on many years of experience, I wasn’t willing to give up on this dram just yet. I replaced the cork stopper, putting the bottle in the cabinet to rest for 24 hours.

Friday Night (about 24 hours later)

I poured a dram into a classic Glencairn glass and did the same for my guests. I added a few drops of water and then proceeded to timidly stick my nose into the air space about 2 cm above the rim.

On the nose

Oh Wow! I must admit that I was expecting an improvement from the evening before, but the absolute transformation of this whisky was nothing short of miraculous.

There was still a slight nose alcohol pinch so I added two more splashes of water. This improved things even further.

Musty warehouse sweet oak aromas. Fresh, feisty citrus notes. Apple Cider. Kitchen Spices.

Shortcake biscuits.

On the palate

Deliciously sweet and effervescent. Yellow fruits. Honey-dew melon and lemons.

Malty digestive biscuits. A hint of pineapple perhaps? 

Finish

Sweet and sour yellow apples. Malty biscuits, honey and green melon on the short to medium finish.

...Thursday evening, one Week Later

The longer I wait, the better this whisky gets.

It seems you really need to give this whisky a full week after opening, until it reaches it peek.

Without water, It’s still rather spirit-y and quite nippy on the nose, but after all, this is 48% abv we are dealing with.

After some experimentation, It seems that the Glen Moray First-Fill can take a lot of water! Two squirts from the filter tap. That’s about 2 teaspoonfuls.

Almost immediately the glass goes cloudy which shows that they really have only barrier filtered this. You need to wait a few minutes for the spirit to calm down. Patients is called for with this single malt.

Swirling it around in a Copita glass, it looks misty and quite oily.

On the nose

Yellow fruits. Buttered toasted crumpets. Something slightly pungent in the background.

Earthy. Fresh lemons. Pulpy yellow effervescent Lemonade.

Pineapple, honey-dew melon and banana.

Honey. Sweet yeast vanilla cakes.

Vanilla ice cream. Lemon meringue pie.

On the palate

You must swirl this around your mouth and cover your entire tongue.

Refreshing, honey sweet and tangy. Lemon Curd, Vanilla yeast custard tarts and some oakiness.

Light and Spicy.

There are some really lovely cereal malty flavours on the palate, typical of Glen Moray.

This Elgin Signature Classic is really delicious and immensely enjoyable.

It’s incredible to think that just a week ago, many would have poured it down the sink!

Finish

Malt biscuits, custard powder, yellow fruits, honey and toasted oak on the medium finish.

Conclusion

What a wonderful example of how you mustn’t judge a whisky by its neck pour. There are some whiskies that taste great straight from the bottle, but after a week, have gone flat. At the other end of the spectrum, there are others like this Glen Moray, which are undrinkable upon first opening. I suppose we could describe this as the “Ugly Duckling” effect of whiskies.

Would I buy this again? You bet I would. It’s amazingly cheap, costing about the same as a core range Glen Moray 12, but this is much more complex with the flavour dial turned up a few notches. It’s also superbly more-ish.

I am now waiting for someone to pass through a European airport to try and pick up the Glen Moray 12-Year-Old Elgin Signature from the same Travel Retail series. At only 45 Euros, I’d pick this up without any hesitation.