Monkey Shoulder Smokey Monkey is the peated expression of William Grant & Sons’ Monkey Shoulder, a blended malt Scotch released in 2017 and built for mixing rather than sipping neat, the same brief as the original blend. Its peat character is said to come from Ailsa Bay, a Lowland distillery in the William Grant & Sons portfolio, matured in ex-bourbon casks. The name comes from an old affliction suffered by distillery malt men, whose arm would hang low “like a monkey limb” from repeatedly turning malting barley by hand on the malting floor, a job long since replaced by machinery.
CHARACTER
Smoke: peat opens the nose and carries through the finish
Pineapple: grilled pineapple leads the fruit character on the nose
Orange Peel: candied orange rounds out the nose
Honey: a drop of honey on the nose
Vanilla: on the palate and again on the finish
Ginger: a spiced note the peat turns toward on the palate
TASTING NOTES
NOSE- Peat smoke opens, but grilled fruit (pineapple, apple, peach, apricot) and toasted nuts lead, rounded out with candied orange, malted biscuits and honey.
PALATE- Creamy at first, the peat turning acrid and spicy with ginger, pepper and nutmeg, fruit and vanilla underneath.
FINISH- Rather short, smoky with apple, vegetal notes and vanilla, spicy oak with a slight peat.
