Monkey Shoulder

Day 10 of The Whisky Advent Calender from the guys at Drink By The Dram brings us the Monkey Shoulder, bottled at 40%. A couple of years back I had a nose and taste of this one and wrote down that on the nose it had marmalade, orange, citrus, leek, vanilla, banana, clove, anise and nutmeg.

On the palate I found back then chocolate, vanilla, cream, and a tiny bit of nuts and lemon. Butterscotch, red berry, apricot and honey. The finish ended a bit dry, with a bit of banana mouth feel, combined with cinnamon. Scoring it back then just a small 7 out of 10. Nice for sometime, but not a wow factor to it was my note back then. This note must have been written in really the early days of my whisky discoveries because this one I came to appreciate much more now and shared it around with quite some people.

All the notes that I wrote down back then are still correct, now detecting more barley, warm spices and berries on the nose. And on the palate again that barley, burned toast, fruit and honey feeling. On the finish giving a creamy mixture of citrus, mint and vanilla. I must say still not giving me a WOW moment, but I can just relax with it and enjoy. It is very enjoyable and has a balanced sweet and spicy feel to it. At least an 7,5 out of 10.