Review #: 228
Description: Sovereign Cameronbridge 1990 23 Year Single Grain
Spirit: Scotch
Background: Here we have a Hunter Laing bottling of a Cameronbridge Grain distillate. This Lowland scotch was distilled in 1990 and bottled in 2013 without chillfiltration nor coloring. Cameronbridge is the largest scotch grain distillery and mostly used for Diageo blends. It comes in at 59.2% ABV. My first jump into single grain so eager to try it.
Distillery – Cameronbridge
Bottler – Hunter Laing
Brand – Sovereign
Selection – N/A
ABV – 59.2%
Age – 23 Years
Nose – Honey, sour lemon candy, very waxy smelling. The waxy.sour note dominates for a while. Letting it sit softens it a little and a bit of lightly toasted bread and tree nuts come out.
Taste – Medium mouthfeel, light honey, pancake batter, a little caramel
Finish – Oak comes in and gives a nice toasted note to everything. Sweet cinnamon kicks in with sweet bread and caramel. Finish is pretty long and complex, dancing between sweet cinnamon and spicy ginger.
Score: 5
Would I buy a bottle? No
Thoughts: This was interesting. The nose was a little weird and not necessarily great. Then on the palate, it was a little sweet, but very hard to pull flavors out of it. It was just very general and one-dimensional. The finish was excellent though. Under $100 when this was available, I think I wouldn’t be upset if I had bought it, but wouldn’t have wanted to get another. Tasting a sample, I don’t feel like I missed out.