For my second review in as many days, I'm looking at a bottle of Oban 14 that I was gifted by my father. I don't think I had ever had it before, but I've been to enough shows that I find that hard to believe. Dad and I shared a dram of it when he gave it to me, and I think we settled that it tasted like "biting into a wooden 2x4, but in a good way". If you've never tasted 2x4 lumber (which is 48mm x 98mm for European folk), go out and try it. Make sure it's not pressure treated. Or try Oban 14, apparently!
Colour: A bit more on the orange side than plain apple juice.
Nose: Woodsy. No smoke or peat at all. A definite herbal component, like spruce needle maybe? Not much fruitiness.
Taste: Wood. So much wood. It's frankly very distinct from anything else I've had. It's not so much like standing in a freshly framed house, but more like being in a workshop and going nuts with a hand plane. There's also a bit of a bitterness to the taste. I also keep flip-flopping on whether the wood flavour is actually just weak smoke, but I think I convinced myself that it's something different.
Finish: Long, but a bit burny. Nice and warm though. Quite enjoyable.
This is a really cool scotch. It's really different from pretty much anything else, kind of a like Macallan Cask Strength in that respect. In terms of complexity: there's not a ton(ne) there, but what it does it does well. Diageo picked this malt as one of their "Classic Malts Selection", along with Talisker 10, Glenkinchie 10, Dalwhinnie 15, Lagavulin 16, and Cragganmore 12. It certainly can stand up to most of those (Lagavulin excepted), primarily because it's just so damn different and still quite tasty. 75/100.
Hello Scotchit,
For my second review in as many days, I'm looking at a bottle of Oban 14 that I was gifted by my father. I don't think I had ever had it before, but I've been to enough shows that I find that hard to believe. Dad and I shared a dram of it when he gave it to me, and I think we settled that it tasted like "biting into a wooden 2x4, but in a good way". If you've never tasted 2x4 lumber (which is 48mm x 98mm for European folk), go out and try it. Make sure it's not pressure treated. Or try Oban 14, apparently!
This is a really cool scotch. It's really different from pretty much anything else, kind of a like Macallan Cask Strength in that respect. In terms of complexity: there's not a ton(ne) there, but what it does it does well. Diageo picked this malt as one of their "Classic Malts Selection", along with Talisker 10, Glenkinchie 10, Dalwhinnie 15, Lagavulin 16, and Cragganmore 12. It certainly can stand up to most of those (Lagavulin excepted), primarily because it's just so damn different and still quite tasty. 75/100.