Cadenhead’s Ord 19yo Oloroso
Authentic Collection | 51.8% ABV
Score: 8/10
Something special.
TL;DR
Lip-smacking ex-Sherry and dunnage notes combine for a tasty and more-ish whisky
FOMO you say? Nah…
I don’t really suffer from FOMO when it comes to whisky. I am often more intrigued to hear reports than to try and keep up with every release that triggers something within me.
The recent release of Glasgow Distillery’s first 10-year-old was one such trigger, and I’m sure one of the Dramface squad will have managed to track down a bottle. I shall eagerly wait to read their takeaway or review if you prefer.
Frankly, I have enough whisky to hold several nights’ worth of entertainment for my local community. This rather forces me to pick and choose purchases carefully. Some distillates, bottlers and names draw me in more than others – often, a preference, allegiance, or recommendation is enough for me to part with funds and add another bottle to the already ludicrous amount of ‘deferred consumption’ that lines my walls - and my floor.
This is more of a statement of fact than intended as a moan, and on the face of it, not very interesting. I’m guessing you and I are not so different – maybe just what grabs our initial attention. A recent jaunt into the always-busy Edinburgh on a Saturday meant adding a couple of extra bottles of whisky to the hoard.
I was showing my cousin, not a native of these shores, the nation’s capital, which meant nipping into two whisky shops (and being immediately offered a couple of nips of whisky therein). My long-suffering cousin, who is not much of a drinker, indeed more of an abstainer, was gracious enough to accept two rather glorious nips.
I can’t bring myself to call these ‘drams’ as served in little plastic cups and being around 1cl or less, it really is a nip. Did you know ‘nip’ is the shortened form of ‘nipperkin’, which was a small cup? It is also a small bite or pinch, as in ‘something nipped my ankle’. Fascinating right? Anyway…
These little tasters from shopkeepers are a lifeline to engaging the public. Having worked in several whisky shops over the years, I know the value of letting customers try before they buy. Royal Mile Whiskies, the first of the two shops I visited, used to have a rep from Pulteney Distillery handing out nips to just about everyone who stepped through the door. This resulted in Old Pulteney being by far their best-selling single malt for quite some time.
The second whisky shop, and the one where money was exchanged for the aforementioned two bottles, was Cadenhead’s. It is situated on the same street as Royal Mile Whiskies, just much closer to the Holyrood end. In truth, I had already decided I was buying two bottles before being offered a nip of the one I will review below.
Cadenhead’s is able, for reasons I can’t explain, to always have something that hooks my curiosity; akin to children hearing the musical ditty the ice cream van chimes as it slowly and unerringly drives by. It is likely that in the twenty-plus years of drinking Scotch whisky, my shelves have always had an open bottle of Cadenhead whisky. And that shall certainly be the case for the foreseeable future as I now have about twenty open bottles - alongside a heap of unopened ones.
Certain distillates are harder to find than others, and not just from independent bottlers. I don’t know why, and I would not waste my time and efforts trying to find out, but Diageo have decreed that Glen Ord whisky should be almost exclusively sold in Asia. Bottled as ‘The Singleton of Glen Ord’, it has become the best-selling malt whisky in Taiwan and is fast-growing in popularity throughout Asia. Perhaps this means there simply isn’t enough distillate to allow some ‘home’ market exposure. Again, I cannot be bothered to find out – it doesn’t really interest me at the moment – Diageo can and will do what they want.
Spying a 19-year-old ‘Ord’ - as Cadenhead’s refer to it - on the shelves from a recent ‘outturn’ or bottling immediately caught my interest. Damn it, Cadenhead’s! Before even trying, I knew I was buying this – and then, just a few bottles over was a Cadenhead’s Kilkerran 5yo. Both single casks and from Oloroso Hogsheads (I have assumed the latter fact due to the number of bottles from each cask, 264 and 306, respectively). I’m not opening the Kilkerran for this review; the Ord will suffice.
Back out in the sunshine, Cadenhead’s shop is not overly lit (although not as dark as it used to be), I feel no buyer’s remorse – always a good sign. A few steps later, my cousin remarks that the new Scottish Parliament resembles some sort of inner-city prison. It is, at least to both of us, a hideous building that blends in with its surroundings like someone in a suit of armour at a funeral – or perhaps that should be the other way around. I choose not to remark on how much it cost to build or how little love it has received since being built. Instead, we turn around to make the long walk to Princes Street so that I can show him how much whisky ‘tat’ can be sold from a single shop. In turn, he chooses not to bother joining any of the tours at the Johnnie Walker experience. Nor does he purchase any of the tat. All the shop is really missing is the ice cream van ditty calling in all of the tourists.
Enough of my day, let’s get into this Ord.
Review
Cadenhead’s Ord 19yo, Authentic Collection, Oloroso Cask matured, 2006 vintage, bottled April 2025, 51.8% ABV
£85 paid, still available at time of writing
Score: 8/10
Something special.
TL;DR
Lip-smacking ex-Sherry and dunnage notes combine for a tasty and more-ish whisky
Nose
Immediately, it has that dunnage warehouse scent; hard to explain if you haven’t been in a dunnage warehouse, but think slightly damp, mossy, earthy, dare I say it ‘mouldy’, and oaky notes. Hopefully, that goes some way to explain what I mean. The Sherry sweetness is on the dry side and is not sickly or overpowering. Figs and mincemeat flavours (that’s Christmas ‘mincemeat’, not animal minced meat). There is a delicious chocolate mintiness which reminds me of After Eight Mints. I apologise that these are not sold in every market, but a quick Google search reassures me that enough of the world gets them to know the flavour. A quick tangent here - as After Eight Mints always reminds me of being a child, and the morning after our parents had thrown a dinner party, my siblings and I would rush downstairs to see if there were any After Eight Mints left. It was customary to have coffee, liqueurs and chocolates at the end of an 80s dinner party. Most of the time, a few mints would be left; noticeable by the little black packet still in the box. But, on at least one occasion, we discovered that a dinner guest had removed the chocolates, leaving the little packet that they came in, still in the box - promising us the gloriousness of what should have been held within, only for it to be empty. The disappointment may be just one reason why After Eight Mints have fallen from grace as de rigueur for ending a good dinner party.
Having left the nose to air during my above waffle about 80s dinner parties, the mint has now subsided, and I am now reminded of those liqueur-filled chocolates which were also the rage around the 70s and 80s. These were so highly prized amongst my siblings that fights often broke out over who got the last one. Sadly, one fight too many caused the cessation of these chocolates being bought for future parties. Fortunately, this did not stop guests from bringing them and further fracas ensued.
With yet more air, some soft spiciness has risen to the top with a slight hint of aniseed.
Palate
I’ve taken a good mouthful of this to ensure my tongue is coated. The 51.8% abv is not too powerful, but the dram is not weak (I bit my tongue earlier, and the whisky has just reminded me exactly where – at least the alcohol will ensure no infection). The Sherry, spice and chocolate flavours are all in harmony. This is not a fruit bomb; I can find a little nod to figs – possibly prunes, but not much. Glen Ord is noted as being a barley-forward distillate, which this dram is not – and that is in no way a complaint. It is a Sherry-bomb. The first mouthful had some sweet coffee and caramel notes but more towards the finish.
The Dregs
Bravo Cadenhead’s. As is clear, this is my kind of whisky and I’ll be ordering a backup bottle before posting this review (honestly, I don’t suffer from FOMO). The nose, as is evident from the above nonsense, sends me right down memory lane, and whilst the palate just lacks a bit of that depth, it has enough weight and punch with an ever-changing finish to make it one of those drams I know I will reach for time and again.
Cadenhead’s gets it right so often, and whilst no company is perfect, they seem to continually have a bottle or two that I simply cannot ignore every time I visit one of their stores.
I was trying my hardest to warrant nine out of ten for this bottling, but the palate lacks a depth of flavour that would get it to that lofty score. At £85, it is not an everyday drinker, but it is not a bank-breaker either. One thing that scares me, though, is that this was distilled in 2006 and is nearly twenty years old – how did that happen? Surely 2006 was just a few years ago?
Score: 8/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. FF
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