“Great Value For Money”
Country: Scotland
Region: N/A
Brand: Cutty Sark Storm
Type: Blended Whisky
Age: NAS
Age: NAS
ABV: 40%
Chill-Filtration: Yes
Whisky Review # 593
Buying Advice: 😀 Positive. Good Price/Quality ratio. Just don't expect miracles!
Colour: Light Golden (Artificially Coloured)
Palate: Slightly Thin delivery. Light, Bitter Sweet and mildly Spicy. On the Palate and in the Finish, the Single Malt component is more noticeable. I find Toasted Cereals, light Honey, Brown Sugar, Corn Syrup, Caramel, Dried Fruit (Apricot and Sultanas), Pear, slightly Bitter Orange, Vanilla, Pepper, Ginger, Nutmeg, Mint, light Licorice, Charred Oak and a hint of Tobacco. The faintest puff of Smoke from a very distant fire.
Chill-Filtration: Yes
Whisky Review # 593
Buying Advice: 😀 Positive. Good Price/Quality ratio. Just don't expect miracles!
Colour: Light Golden (Artificially Coloured)
Nose: Mainly Sweet with some Sour and Salty accents. The Grain Alcohol is very present. A tiny bit of Smoke and Sherry in the background. I also find Toasted Cereals, Toast and Margarine, Earth and Grass, Brown Sugar, Treacle, Caramel, Butterscotch, some Nuts and Dried Fruits (Sultanas and Hazelnut), a little Fruit (Pineapple or perhaps Mango and overripe Bananas), light Citrus, Refill Wood, light Spices (Cinnamon and Nutmeg) and a hint of Tobacco. I can't get excited about this. It's still quite similar to the standard Cutty Sark I reviewed earlier. A bit more Fruit perhaps.
Palate: Slightly Thin delivery. Light, Bitter Sweet and mildly Spicy. On the Palate and in the Finish, the Single Malt component is more noticeable. I find Toasted Cereals, light Honey, Brown Sugar, Corn Syrup, Caramel, Dried Fruit (Apricot and Sultanas), Pear, slightly Bitter Orange, Vanilla, Pepper, Ginger, Nutmeg, Mint, light Licorice, Charred Oak and a hint of Tobacco. The faintest puff of Smoke from a very distant fire.
Finish: Middle-Long, Bitter-Sweet and mildly Spicy. Dry towards the end. I find Sugared Cereals, Vanilla, Charred Oak, slightly Bitter Orange Juice, Menthol, light Licorice, Caramel, Corn Syrup, Sultanas, Pepper, light Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger and a hint of Tobacco. On the Palate and in the Finish the Storm clearly beats the standard Cutty Sark.
Rating: 79.5
Due to the fact that I merely had a small sample at my disposal, I only tasted this Blend neat.
Rating: 79.5
Nose: 20 - Taste: 20 - Finish: 19.5 - Overall: 20
General Remarks:
The first Cutty Sark blend was created in 1923, at first especially for export to the USA during the Prohibition. The logo represents a drawing of a Sailing Ship constructed in Scotland in 1869 that bore the same name. Today the blend is still popular in the USA but also in countries like Spain and Portugal where it is often mixed.
In 2012 Cutty Sark's Master Blender Kirstin Campbell created the Storm. It has a higher Malt content than the Standard Cutty Sark and the Malts used are older as well. The blend consists of Grain Whiskies from Edinburgh's North British Distillery and is said to contain around 20 Single Malts, mainly from Speyside. At its heart lies Glenrothes. Other renowned contributions might include Tamdhu, Highland Park, Macallan and Bunnahabhain. The Grain whiskies are blended together and so are the Single Malts. Afterwards they are then “married” together. Cutty Sark is currently owned by the Edrington Group. The core range consists of the Cutty Sark, the Cutty Sark Storm and the 12 and 18 Years. The Storm is quite affordable and is usually priced in the 25-30 US Dollar range (February 2017).
Drinking Experience Neat: Okay/Good
The first Cutty Sark blend was created in 1923, at first especially for export to the USA during the Prohibition. The logo represents a drawing of a Sailing Ship constructed in Scotland in 1869 that bore the same name. Today the blend is still popular in the USA but also in countries like Spain and Portugal where it is often mixed.
In 2012 Cutty Sark's Master Blender Kirstin Campbell created the Storm. It has a higher Malt content than the Standard Cutty Sark and the Malts used are older as well. The blend consists of Grain Whiskies from Edinburgh's North British Distillery and is said to contain around 20 Single Malts, mainly from Speyside. At its heart lies Glenrothes. Other renowned contributions might include Tamdhu, Highland Park, Macallan and Bunnahabhain. The Grain whiskies are blended together and so are the Single Malts. Afterwards they are then “married” together. Cutty Sark is currently owned by the Edrington Group. The core range consists of the Cutty Sark, the Cutty Sark Storm and the 12 and 18 Years. The Storm is quite affordable and is usually priced in the 25-30 US Dollar range (February 2017).
Drinking Experience Neat: Okay/Good
Conclusion: The Storm is indeed an improvement over the regular Cutty Sark. Not so much on the Nose but certainly on the Palate and in the Finish where the higher Malt content is noticeable. I also didn't find any off notes in the Storm. At an average 25 US Dollars, the Storm has an excellent Price/Quality ratio and it easily beats most of the Bottom Shelf Blends. It's one of the few cheaper blends that you can actually enjoy neat although it's a bit Thin on the Palate. Don't expect Whisky Heaven when you buy the Storm because that's impossible at this price level. But it's an acceptable Blend with an excellent P/Q ratio. Enjoy it while it lasts!
Jan van den Ende February 2, 2017
Glenrothes
