Glenmorangie A Tale Of Cake Scotch Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B+

When one sees a whisky dubbed “A Tale of Cake,” the immediate conclusion is that it’s not just a digestif whisky, but a dessert dram on top of that. The backstory behind this latest release from The Glenmorangie confirms that assumption: their blender (Director of Whisky Creation), Dr. Bill Lumsden, crafted this particular single malt with an eye on pairing it with cake. To do that, he finished the whisky in casks previously used to age the Hungarian dessert wine Tokaji. At the end of that process, this no age statement (NAS) whisky was bottled at 46% ABV.

The Scotch
This Glenmorangie has a rich, golden color, and a scent that delivers on the promise of the name. It’s a rich, almost heavy nose, full of vanilla, coconut, pears and peaches, laid atop freshly baked barley bread, smeared with butter. It’s almost as much breakfast as cake, but luscious and lovely to sniff at, and mixes the Glenmorangie core profile with the Toakji nicely.

Sipping on A Tale of Cake’s velvety liquid shows it to be thickly sweetened with honey, vanilla and peach, but balanced with a touch of almonds and a tart, fruity note that keeps it from becoming too candied and cake-like. The finish opens with the honey and peach, but that drops off almost instantly, replaced by a dash of white pepper and a sliver of oak.

If this is what Tokaji can do to certain Speyside whiskies, I hope to see more of it in the future. Moreover, I’m hoping some folks in the States are inspired to try it on for bourbon, rye or maybe wheat whiskey.

The Price
Unfortunately, A Tale of Cake is priced quite expensively (possibly due to the difficulty in securing Tokaji casks) at $99 a bottle.