Patricia Noonan • Gift Packs for the Holidays

Gift Packs for the Holidays
by Patricia Noonan

There are quite a few interesting gift packs for the whisky lover on your list this year. The great thing about gift packs is that your whisky loving giftee gets a selection of bottles instead of one big one. That takes the temptation to overdo it out of the picture as well.....

For the Glenfiddich devotee, there is The Glenfiddich Tasting Collection

Glenfiddich 12 Years Old Single Malt
Gold, perfumey honey, vanilla, smoke, candied peel, candied cherries with a firm mouthfeel finishing with baking spices and a slightly cooling mint finish.PN **1/2

Glenfiddich 15 Years Old Single Malt
Dark gold with vanilla and cocoa notes, honey and tropical fruit. Spicy sweet upfront with intense clove-cinnamon and tropical fruit replays with a long, satisfying finish.PN**

Glenfiddich 18 Years Old single Malt
Orange gold colour , the 18 sports butterscotch, spice and marmalade. Velvety texture with a baking spice, fruitcake finish. Great length. PN **1/2

$72.95 for the set

The Classic Malts have put together several sets. The Gentle Collection is a perfect gift for one of those people who isn't quite sure about scotch. This is an excellent introduction. All the bottle sizes in the gift pack are 200 ml.

Classic Malts Gentle Collection

Dalwhinnie 15 Years Old Single Highland Malt
Mildest smoke and brush florals from this gold, sweet honeyed malt. Delicate fruity spice with a lingering finish. **1/2

The Glenkinchie 12 Years Old
Bright gold with lemon peel and grassy aromas. Silky lighness with a minty finish.**

Oban West Highland Single Malt
A darker gold malt, Oban has an oily, rich mouthfeel with smokey pears and medicinal honey aromas. Clove and ginger spiced dryness. Elegant and brooding. ***
$84.95

Classic Malts Coastal Collection

Caol Isla 12 Years Old Islay Single Malt
Greenish gold, the Islay is heavily peated yet pear fruitiness peeks through. Full, velvety and spiced with a similar replay in a lengthy, vigorous finish.PN **1/2

Clynelish 14 Years Old Coastal Highland Single Malt
Pale gold with medicinal, salty and faint smokiness to it. Velvety smooth with honey and spice with a lingering finish. Most personality of the three malts for me.PN***

Talisker 10 Years Old Isle of Skye Single Malt
Bright gold with medicinal briny aromas, followed by honey sweetness.
Malty, brown surgary sweetness on the palate with a smoky, spiced gingery finish.PN **
PN $89.95

Classic Malts Strong Collection

Cragganmore 12 Years Old Single Speyside Malt
Gold with freshly sweet, floral honey and mild smoke. Vanilla cake, mild spice and repeats into the finish. *1/2

Lagavulin 16 Years Old Single Islay Malt
A dark orange gold, this Islay has a big smoked aroma with hints of honey. Intense and mouth filling with integrated spices, vanilla and orange peel flavours continuing into a long brooding finish.**1/2
PN $84.95

This is the gift that's for a serial whisky drinker...just kidding. A real Islay afficionado should love this set if they're a fan of rare and lighter styled malts.
Caol Ila malts have been famed as blending malts, hence the rare factor.

Caol Ila Collection Pack

Caol Ila 12 Years Old Single Malt
Palest gold with medicinal, salty aromas. Oily, yet light and honey,fruity\iness upfront with a firm, spicy finish. **

Caol Ila Cask Strength Single Malt
Bright, pale with smokey, spiced aromas. Full fire smoked fruit and honey sweet velvety mouthfull. Lively and firm with a finish. Wow! ***

Caol Ila 18 Years Old Islay Single Malt
Yellow gold with more gentle smoke and medicianal notes. Sweet honeyish flavour with a briny spine. Smoked,spiced finish. A bit of a lip burner *
PN$89.95

A last minute invite to sample The Balvenie Signature 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky was a treat indeed. David Mair, Brand Ambassador for The Balvenie, was on hand to talk about this limited release whisky. The signature bottling comes from a dedicated team headed up by David Stewart, the longest serving Malt Master in the business. As well, glass artist Clark Guettel was on hand to demonstrate the art of glass blowing and turned out many whisky tasting glasses.
This one time bottling sported sweet, honeyed aromas with baked apple, pear, citrus peel and allspice.Velvety mouthfeel with vanilla, gentle spice and fruit. Lengthy, firm spiced finish. An excellent dram and $72.95 per 70 cl bottle.PN **1/2

There's a tendency amongst whisky lovers to prefer an armagnac over a cognac brandy, presumably because armagnac is earthier as opposed to
it's racier cognac cousin. To finish up, the presentation of Armagnac du Montal VSOP lends itself quite easily to the holiday season, with the classic crate.
It's a much better buy than VSOP cognacs. Even the XO's present better value if armagnac is more to your liking. With the financial meltdown, it's best to come out d'Artagnan like, with swords swinging, ready to cut costs but not good times!

Armagnac de Montal XO
A dense, earthy, plummy nose with butterscotch aromas follows with a fiery warmth and plummy fruit replays on the palate. Peppery finish.PN **1/2

Armagnac de Montal 1989
Burnished buckwheat honey colour, the vintage armagnac starts out with orange peel, vanilla and more delicate perfumey aromas. Classic fiery finish and warmth.PN $99.95 **1/2

Although it's not available through Vintages yet, the 1965 vintage is definitely worth ***.

Armagnac de Montal Vintage 1965
Gentle aromas of creme brulee, marmalade, prune and cocoa from this burnished beauty. Fiery fruitiness yet very dry with similar and replays of flavour into long, warming cedary tinged finish. PN $155.00 Wow ***

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