[ChrisBlair]

I prefer scotch and my 'house brand' I suppose you'd say, would be Glenmorangie, a distillery in the Highlands near the town of Tain, poetically said to be a scotch made by the "Sixteen men of Tain".

Lately I have been away from Glenmorangie, enjoying Aberlour 12, and I have a soft spot for Highland Park 12 , Dalwhinnie 15, and one of the best all-rounders in my opinion, Balvenie's Doublewood, at 12 years. I have also been lucky enough to find scotch made in the region from which I get my name, but Blair Athol is rather rarely found in stores around here. Excellent though.

But I just found a bottle of one of my all time favorites, Glenmorangie's Nectar D'or. Aged in Bourbon casks and then Sauternes casks (an interesting, sweet French wine from Bordeaux), it bears a 12 year statement.

For my palate, a teaspoon of water does nicely with two fingers in a rocks glass. I dislike a snifter type glass for my scotch, as I have a pretty keen sense of smell and I find that type overloads my nose when I taste. I also feel like an ass when I have to jam half my face into a glass to taste what's in it. I cannot imagine my Highlander ancestors doing that, but I can imagine my Italian ancestors laughing about it. This scotch is non-chill filtered, which means it may get cloudy after sitting in the bottle, and some sediment may appear as well. But don't let that worry you. This is normal and chill filtering in many opinions (including mine) is best avoided if at all possible as it 'dulls' the overall experience in regards to scent taste and how the scotch behaves. Just turn the bottle over every couple of weeks.

Anyway. Golden in color. It smells of vanilla, honey, maybe almonds? Just a touch of citrus too, maybe a whiff of lemon.

Lightly sweet at first, coolly sweet when swallowed and then a small burst of a pleasant burn, with oaky warmth. Slight spicy undertones and taking a deep breath through my mouth after swallowing a taste is like another sip. The finish makes me take another taste. The burn is just enough to remind you its a scotch and the aftertaste is dry to my palate. Excellent after dinner scotch, or just for a relaxing glass after a long day's work like I'm doing now. I could drink half a bottle with a book, it's close to water as far as being hard to drink! It is a fairly complex scotch, but not complex in the manner of 'hard to appreciate'. More in the manner of 'let's have another sniff and another taste, and try to identify the flavors and scents'.

Nectar D'or means 'golden nectar' and it's my opinion that it lives up to that well. Recommended. I would not have it with a meal, I'd instead choose something like an Oban 14 or the Doublewood 12, especially if the meal was beef.

On the expensive side compared to some but I have paid more for less capable scotches; 63 bucks plus tax.