Authentic Collection | 54.3% ABV

Do We Place Too Much Emphasis On The Distillery Name?

Certain names sell and the brand is everything. Leading some owners to lock down the names for their exclusive use – from Glenmorangie to Glenfarclas, or even more oddly and recently, Miltonduff. Independent bottlers have to become more inventive when it comes to communicating details.

On the other hand, you have someone like the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, which isn’t about communicating the name, in theory. They want you to proceed and explore on the basis of the title their fantasy-infused tasting panel has come up with. A festering pool of rotten silage? Yes, please, make mine a double. Great in theory, and some members do love to explore on the basis of notes alone, but the majority will have number recognition and will promptly unlock their phone to help decipher a specific bottling. It is mostly for show, as the same behaviours are seen from hyping up the latest #24 bottling (Macallan) by SMWS representatives. The numbering system is as broken and accessible as the Enigma code. So, if it is all about taste and smell, why not bottle a single outturn with no numbers whatsoever? Then, at a later date, make the big reveal, or just don’t at all and let the mystery propel the myth.

Once you’ve explored whisky a little while, you might have acquired your own favourite distilleries, but I’d hope the recognition of a name doesn’t matter if you’re embarking on a voyage of discovery and flavour. The single cask format is the great leveller of Scotch whisky. Distilleries that come at a premium can produce marvellous single cask releases that tick all the boxes and delight. Yet, at the same time, I’ve had tired Ardbeg’s, soapy Dunglass (peated Littlemill) and bitter Macallan’s. In the single cask sphere, every distillery can have its day and that’s what’s truly exciting.

Scotch whisky, as it stands today, is very consistent. Becoming almost uniform in its totality, where each stage is monitored and assessed. That’s great for many of us, but there’s a growing minority – a minor threat – who seek out the roller coaster of the single cask format and embrace these, as opposed to the filler. The highs and lows that are ironed out elsewhere, cannot be removed in a single cask: a great cask, a bad cask, the coming together of wood and spirit. Expect the unexpected and embrace the soul of what a whisky can be.

Yeah, today’s whisky is a little predictable and flat based on the bottle details. Consistency across the industry has given us a great product, but those manuals and computers have removed the human element to a degree, leaving something that is (at times) too engineered and soulless. Just my opinion obviously, but the industry’s rampant chasing of efficiency and productivity have led us to this environment. From grain strains that produce high yields and are easy to work with, but in doing so, lack the flavours, texture and aromas of their predecessors. The removal of direct fired heating… literally I could go on.

While I accept the majority out there are delighted with the Scotch situation, I’m searching high and low for those bumps in the road, the defects and oddities, those moments that force you to re-evaluate a distillery in the pursuit of a great, or not so great, single cask.

All of this leads us to an entry in the latest Cadenhead’s outturn from Mannochmore; a distillery that I confidently bet the majority of you don’t seek out or chase down. There’s no criticism in this as Diageo poorly represents the distillery. There’s a fairly mundane Flora & Fauna 12 year old that won’t set the heart racing. Most of the interest goes towards its distillery neighbour, Glenlossie, which is fairly obscure in its own right.

Established in 1971, beside Glenlossie. The distillery isn’t a looker and exists to provide content for its master’s blends. It has a totalitarian exterior, giving the impression of an industrial, volume specific distillery. This isn’t handcrafted or batch-led. The main Mannochmore reputation amongst enthusiasts is around the black Loch Dhu whisky, released in the late 1990s and featuring more artificial colouring than a Scottish nightclub full of teenagers. A whisky that many seek out just to experience and tick the box almost as a dare. Not a pleasant experience, but it does highlight that artificial colouring does impact flavour and the extremities and dangers of focusing on colour when it comes to selling whisky.

No, Mannochmore is on the bottom rung of the ladder when it comes to Diageo’s single malt plans. We’ve already dismissed it generally. Heck, many of you dismissed it at the top of the page! I applaud the remainder for making it this far, perhaps assisted by our score first approach. Here at Dramface, Earie has highlighted a Single Malts of Scotland 11yo, which is a vatting of 7 casks and a worthwhile extension of what I’ve touched on above. I’m a fan of vatting a small number of casks, it underlines the distillery character and is a good way to deploy stock that is a little more modest (or mundane?) that doesn’t warrant, or deserve, a single cask bottling.

Review

Cadenhead’s Cask Strength Series Mannochmore 13yo 2022, 54.3% ABV
£70 direct

All of which takes us onto today’s whisky that unsurprisingly remains available, in plentiful supply from Cadenhead’s. Bottled at 13 years of age and 54.3%, there’s no fancy cask finish or branding to attract your attention. On paper at least, it is as mundane and forgettable as the distillery itself. Distilled in 2008, it has resided in a humble bourbon hogshead for its entirety and will set you back £70 if you wish to explore this single cask bottling. This is about as definitive Mannochmore as you can get – or is it?

Nose

Not what I was expecting as Mannochmore can be a little unforgiving and angular at times. Peeled apples, fruit toast, all-spice and a touch of Horlicks. Very stimulating in its own way and not a traditional offering from this distillery. A Walnut Whip – that’s chocolate, cream and walnuts if you’ve not had the pleasure. Chilli flakes, Digestive biscuits, polished wood, stewed apples and a layer of blackcurrant fruitiness that holds your attention. You want this to turn into a classic old school fruit note, but it never fully materialises. Instead, content to keep you dangling in anticipation. That fruitiness is a feature we see in the best Glenlossie whiskies – distilled next door.

Palate

Nutty, with chocolate and grape juice. More chocolate of the dark variety, with a touch of bitterness about it. It has a compactness on the texture; enveloping and sustained, confident even. The blackcurrant aspect returns with peppercorns and black roasted coffee. Figs, sooty figs if there was such a thing. Cinnamon, more apples and just, well, moreish.

The Dregs

In places, this is quite an invigorating and surprising Mannochmore. Did they stencil the wrong distillery name on the cask? A fab cask it is. A single cask oddity, underlining the ability of the format to deliver the unexpected. There is no need to finish this whisky and I’m glad its qualities have been left intact.

For £70, you’re purchasing a fairly unique Mannochmore and one that will remind you what money can buy. In an era of overpriced whiskies from independents and distilleries, increasingly young releases, trumped up in blue bottles and suchlike, fanned by lavish claims. We’re in an era of disingenuous whisky camouflage and the true hunt isn’t for the latest release to flip – but rather – a memorable moment. I’m trying to remember if I’d had a better example from this pedestrian Diageo distillery? I suspect not, as this is a special moment and the price is very much right. Yes, I think I’m saying this is the finest Mannochmore I’ve had.

As fortunate as I was to receive a sample of this to review, I’ll be purchasing at least one bottle for my own enjoyment and it’ll feature highly in my whisky summary of 2022.

Score: 8/10

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