馬騮膊頭 Monkey Shoulder

 

環球美酒, 盡在 Sipping Malt 微醺之醉 www.sippingmalt.com

English version at page bottom

馬騮膊頭(猴子肩膀)這明稱，驟眼看來真的是不明所以。馬騮膊頭原來是一款威士忌的名字，真有趣。

Monkey Shoulder 是 William Grant and Sons 旗下的一款威士忌，沒有一所叫馬騮膊頭的蒸餾廠，這不是單一麥芽威士忌，亦不是調合威士忌 blended whisky，這馬騮膊頭是一款調合麥芽威士忌 blended malts whisky (舊稱 pure / vatted malts whisky)，原酒來自 William Grant and Sons 旗下三間蒸餾廠 Glenfiddich，Balvenie 和 Kinvinvie 調合而成，馬騮膊頭可不是這款酒的正式中文名字，只是我半開玩笑的命名，Monkey Shoulder 這款酒在華文地區是喚作三隻猴子的。看，在酒瓶上是貼有三隻猴子的金屬牌，酒商便以此為名吧 。

其實 Monkey Shoulder 這名稱，早在這款威士忌上市前已經存在，Monkey shoulder 可以算是威士忌從業員職業病的一種。事源在酒廠還在作手工地板發麥的年代，工作人員 maltmen 須定時用工具將大麥翻起，使其換氣和調節溫度有利發麥進行，這可是一項長時間費力的重複性動作，工作人員做得肩膀酸痛，不其然的會雙手下垂放鬆，看上去有點像猴子的姿態，工作人員辛勞中無忘幽默感，謔稱為 Monkey Shoulder 猴子肩膀。

雖則現今發麥已經是自動化工序進行，好些酒廠還保留有手工地板發麥的，也已非主力。William Grant and Sons 就以 Monkey Shoulder 為這款酒命名，旨在向以往及現在的從業員致敬。

Monkey Shoulder, Batch 27, 700 ml, 40%

氣味: 葡萄乾，無花果，拖肥，忌廉，香草
口味: 乾果，拖肥，焦香麵包，黑朱古力，肉桂
餘蘊: 中等長度，咖啡渣，木質單寧
結論: 甚佳的香氣，有葡萄乾的甘香及無花果的鮮甜，加上奶油及拖肥的甜點香氣，著實不錯。酒體較輕盈，但未至於水感，簡單但柔軟。中等長度的餘蘊，甘苦適度。這是一款輕柔平衡的威士忌，舒適易飲。不計較香港的零售價，純以酒質及風格來考量，這款酒是甚佳的日常用酒，適合在家想喝上一小杯時的好選擇，飲得過之選。

English Version of Tasting Note

It is quite difficult to get what does Monkey Shoulder exactly mean. In fact Monkey Shoulder is the name of a whisky. Funny!

Monkey Shoulder is a whisky under the stable of William Grant and Sons. There is no distillery named Monkey Shoulder that’s why it is not a single malt whisky, nor is it a blended Scotch. Monkey Shoulder is a blend malts whisky (pure / vatted males in the past). The ingredient malts are blended from the outputs of the three distilleries of William Grant and Sons, namely, Glenfiddich, Balvenie and Kininvie.

In face the term Monkey Shoulder was appearing much earlier then the release of this whisky. Monkey Shoulder is some sorts of an occupational disease appearing to practitioners in whisky industry. At the time when manual floor malting was still exercising, maltmen did constantly turn the malts over to help malts breathing and temperature control for facilitating the process of malting. It is a long lasting and repetitive labor job that caused maltmen’s shoulders and arms pain and sore. Eventually they unconsciously hang down their arms for relaxing which look like posture of monkeys and therefore they nicknamed it Monkey Shoulder.

Nowadays malting is an automatic process. Though some distilleries retain manual floor malting, it is not major process in the entire production. William Grant and Sons named this whisky as Monkey Shoulder for saluting to the maltmen for their contributions to the whisky industry.

Nose: Raisin, fig, toffee, cream, vanilla
Palate: Dried fruit, toffee, overdone toast, dark chocolate, cinnamon
Aftertaste: Medium length, coffee grounds, woody tannin
Conclusion: Very good on nose, sweetness of dried berries and freshness of fig, plus desserts of cream and toffee. Light body, soft, still solid, straight forward. Medium length aftertaste, comfortable bitterness. This is a soft and balance whisky, cozy and easy to drink, a good daily dram, best for leisure time.