As far as scotch goes I’ve mainly reviewed Glenfiddich so far and I’ve been looking to mix things up so when a coworker asked me about Oban it seemed like a great excuse to review it. Oban 14 is a Highland single malt from a very small town on the west coast that is now owned by Diageo :) So let’s get to the review!
Review
Age: 14 years
Abv: 86 proof
Color: A medium to deep gold
Price: $69.99
Neat
Nose: Rich and sweet with strong apple and honey notes and subtler smoke and malt notes.
Taste: More sweet apples and honey with a bit of oak and malt and a hint of spice. I couldn’t find any smoke though.
Finish: Long, full flavored finished with a linger sweetness with the same honey and apple notes that we’ve had throughout and a bit more of the oak from the taste.
On a rock
Nose: Significantly weaker nose with just a bit of fruit and honey, the nose doesn’t hold up well to the ice.
Taste: The ice opens the taste up for me with more balanced apple and honey alongside oak and baking spice notes. The lower temperature also helped the mouthfeel go from just fine to quite nice.
Finish: A little shorter and not quite as full but still doing well in both categories with apples, honey, spice and just a pinch of saltiness.
Conclusion
Oban 14 is an excellent scotch and reasonably priced. It’s a bit in a valley for me as far as peat goes; I’d rather they just went unpeated or ramped it up a little bit. The sweet fruit and honey notes are excellent and well balanced with spice and oak. The mouthfeel is solid but nothing to write home about. Overall I’, happy to buy a bottle from time to time and due to the taste profile combined with the price and availability this is a staple of steakhouse scotch orders for me.
2 Stars - Very good whiskey: I would want to have a bottle
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