Whisky of the Year 2020
What does it even mean?
Picking a Whisky of the Year is an incredibly hard thing to do. No matter how the selection process takes place, there will people that agree and disagree (the latter very loudly indeed) and some that will even call “FIX”. But, against all odds, I firmly believe that the selection should be one of a personal nature, after all I am not making such a bold claim as ‘Best in the world’. In my opinion, a WotY should not just be about ‘best’ (whatever that means) but it should be an award based on a number of factors. Price should be considered, as well as availability. But we should also take note of innovation and quality.
Because of the deeply personal nature of this award, I felt it necessary to also create chance for my followers to have a say in their own poll. So, before I get into my own Whisky of the Year, I will give a platform to the top three as voted for by you!
Community Vote
Joint 2nd place (with 13% of the votes each): Old Forester 1920 and Bruichladdich Islay Barley 2010
Community WotY (with 19% of the votes): Port Charlotte Heavily Peated 2008
All three of these are awesome, heavy hitting drams and, clearly, Bruichladdich are a firm fan favourite. It should be said that I was exceptionally lucky to be able to get all three of these throughout the year. The two Bruichladdichs were found in random shops when not even searching for whisky and the annual releases of these sell out very quickly. The Old Forester, while possible to get in the UK if you know where to look, isn’t actually available to me. I brought this bottle back from US on advice from people in the know.
Get all of the them if you can, but don’t go to special measures
NNW Whisky of the Year
On to the main event then. My Whisky of 2020 is the Mackmyra Gront Te.
I’ll just let that sink in for a second.
This may strike you as an odd choice but hear me out and maybe you’ll see why it’s worth your time.
The Gront Te is part of Mackmyra’s seasonal range and is an experiment by Master Blender Angela D’Orazio. The whisky is a standard creation from Mackmyra but it has been finished in an ex-oloroso cask that has been saturated with a blend of oloroso and four hand picked japanese green teas.
On paper, I shouldn’t like this. I like green tea, but sherry finished whiskies aren’t at the top of my desires list. But, somehow, this all comes together. I first tried it at a festival in early 2020 (before any lockdowns occurred) and was immediately impressed. As my bottle went down I grew to love it more and more and when it was gone, I was glad to have a back up bottle on head (delivered as part of my Summerton Club membership).
The irony is, it doesn’t much taste like green tea, or at least the green tea that you may well be familiar with if you’ve only tried the supermarket available teas. Look further afield and get hold of some good quality Sencha and you’ll see the difference.
The Gront Te then was the most surprising and best value for money whisky that I tried last year, and I would urge you to give it a chance.
If you’d like to support the channel, you can buy it from Master of Malt on the affiliate banner below. But please feel free to get it from any outlet you prefer!
Let me know what your WotY was in the comments below!
