Tesco malt dampens spirit of heavyweights

Dan Buckley raises a toast to a whisky that sounds good enough to eat.

“SMOOTH and mellow in the mouth with hints of marzipan, marmalade and almonds.”

What is this all about, eh — granny’s lethal Christmas cake, leftover Irish Rose chocolates, an almond flavoured ice cream or an incontinent cat?

Perhaps some flight of fancy by a tongue-twisting wine connoisseur whose prose is as purple as his nose.

Not a bit of it. We are talking whiskey here, or, more correctly, whisky, as in Scotch — and thank goodness for that.

It appears that some of the world’s most famous Scotch whiskies have been given a trouncing by a supermarket single malt in the drink industry’s prestigious version of the Oscars.

Tesco’s 12 Year Old Highland Single Malt beat off heavyweight names such as Laphroaig, Glenmorangie, Bowmore and Glenkinchie at the International Wine and Spirit Competition.

It won the Anglo Overseas Trophy for the best malt whisky up to 15 years old.

The competition is run each year and all wines, spirits and liqueurs that are entered are blind tasted in groups divided by variety, region and vintage.

Tesco senior spirits buying manager Simon Dunn said: “This award will come as a real shock to the centuries-old whisky industry which is not noted for its keen appreciation of supermarket varieties.

“To beat world renowned whiskies such as Laphroaig and Glenmorangie is some achievement and will hopefully help encourage all malt lovers to try it.”

Judges at the International Wine and Spirit Competition rated the Tesco whisky for its “very attractive nose, ripe fruit notes and vanilla and sweet spice following”.

They also said it is “smooth and mellow in the mouth with hints of marzipan, marmalade and almonds” and its “good dollop of malt balances the fruit notes and that its soft floral backing throughout”.

I wonder what an old colleague of mine (long gone to that great distillery in the sky) would have made of all the fuss about a ball of malt, his primary tipple. If the barman dared suggest water or ice with it, he would bark: “When I drinks whiskey, I drinks whiskey and when I drinks water, I drinks water.”

Of course, he only always drank whiskey with an ‘e’, as in Irish whiskey.

He found it hard to get his tongue around even the names of most Scotch. His mantra was: “Never drink a whiskey you can’t pronounce when drunk.”

Tesco’s 10-year-old would probably pass that test, too.

Tesco Highland 12 Year Old Single Malt Whisky costs £15.58 in Britain. It will be available in Irish stores later in the year.