Naked Grouse Blended Scotch with Holly, Trevor & Dan

Another Grouse, this time Naked – The Naked Grouse.  Why Naked? Why not, exclaims the website nakedgrouse.com, which doesn’t appear to be part of the Famous Grouse site. In fact this IS a blended grain Grouse from 2011, relaunched as not-a-Grouse with a Grouse name for “older millennials” with only malt whiskies making the blend.

I don’t… I don’t know what those things have to do with each other.

The Naked part is actually that these are “first fill sherry casks”, meaning they’re not first fill casks, they’ve had sherry in them. Maybe this is ironic. Millennials love irony, I hear.

According the the SAQ website, this is part of Glenrothes. According to this site, it’s Glenturret, Macallan & Highland Park, so who knows. Here’s what we thought:

nose
Holly – dr pepper, maple
Trevor – maple
Simon – buttered vegetables, wet vegetation, cherry wax lips
Dan – cherry, brine, sour mash, almost dill pickle

neat
Holly – maple, wood
Trevor – honey, sweet, green
Simon – sharp, burnt sugar, candied cherries jubilee
Dan – dry, unpleasant bitter burn, nothing… cloves?

finish
Holly – burning
Trevor – bitter over the tongue
Simon – tongue burn, burnt coffee, smoke, heartburn
Dan – very long

splash
Holly – more caramel
Trevor – n/a
Simon – just thins, sharp, apple ginger burn, less structure
Dan – cherry, clove, black pepper

overall
Holly – 7/10
Trevor – 7.6/10
Simon – 6.8/10
Dan – 7/10

The Naked Grouse Blended Malt Whisky – 43% 750ml – $49.95 – Scotland

Try it? Yeah. Buy it? eh.