The Silver Seal 8 is such a light whisky it’s almost obscene. It’s actually hitting a point of lightness that’s distracting because I find myself hunting and searching for more flavor and more depth and it just refuses to come through. It feels like the whisky is purposely messing with me. Which, if you can’t tell from my tone, I’m not enjoying in the slightest.
As a brand Muirhead’s is rather interesting. Founded in 1824 as a wine merchant the company soon became a Scotch blender and exporter with their Blue Seal label leading the charge and traveling around the world by the 1920′s when they were bought by the Glenmorangie Company. In 2008 they were acquired by Tullabardine and from the looks of it, that’s where the juice is made today, even if they don’t explicitly say it.
Neither Tullabardine nor Muirhead’s website’s come right out and say that they are one and the same and looking around the web I couldn’t fined a definitive yes-they-are-the-same answer, but on the site are a few clues. #1 Tullabardine says they bought the brand, but doesn’t explicitly say they’re making the juice in the Tullabardine distillery. #2 Muirhead’s has a picture of the Tullabardine distillery in their history section. #3 They have the exact same barrel photo on each site which would suggest they have the same internal branding / marketing team that shares digital assets. Which is rare if they are ran as different companies completely (I’ve spent the last 9 years in digital marketing… trust me on that one). It seems like Tullabardine is the distillery & Muirhead’s is just a brand put out by the distillery.
Muirhead’s Silver Seal 8 Review
ABV: 40%
Age:8 years
Price: $28
Distiller: Tullibardine (?)
EYE
Pale straw
NOSE
Light with notes of fruit, caramel, butterscotch and malt. Everything here is so light I’m having a hard time detecting too much and it’s all coming across as muddled and disjointed, but the more I sit and sip and sniff some minor notes of rum and citrus start to appear, but they’re so light and flighty that it’s not worth the effort.
TASTE
The flavor is just a tad more robust… but just a tad. On the palate the fruit has taken on more of an apricot like quality with a more ambiguous fruit compote quality sitting right behind it. The malt has moved up and there are some notes of earth, salt, citrus and a very light almost ghostly smoke lingering in the back. Again, everything comes across as hints and whispers. It’s almost frustratingly light.
BALANCE, BODY & FEEL
The balance is off with everything feeling disjointed and jumbled as it flits in and out of existence in the glass. The body is as light and watery as you’d expect at this point which makes for a flaxen whisky that goes down like water.
FINISH
Sweet malt kicks up a bit in the end with some light fruit and a featureless sweetness that slips through towards the end of the short finish.
OVERALL
It comes through as very youthful and unfinished. There is a rawness to the lightness and it just doesn’t seem to have much to offer on the palate, though what little it does offer is fairly good. It’s not like it’s light and terrible all at the same time and that right there is the heart of my issue with this whisky. What it offers is decent and I want more of it. It doesn’t deliver on what could be a darn good dram if it were just a little more robust.
SCORE: 77/100
