Review #71: Cadenhead SFJE Monymusk 14

I love Cadenhead. It was the first place I stopped off in England. I not only made a purposeful detour on my way to a business trip in Netherlands (there was no other reason for me to be in London), but I also booked my hotel so that I could immediately run to Cadenhead after checking in. You can read about my wonderful guided tasting there here!

The Cadenhead single cask SFJE Monymusk is an excellent opportunity to try an age statement Monymusk (the mater blender Derrick Dunn does not believe in age labels: “the age is not factual”).

After the first few sips, we knew we needed to proof it down… significantly. This one is no wallflower. However, after adding copious amounts of water, we loved it. This is a scotch-lover’s rum, and its rye/whisky notes make it really quaffable.

Quick overview of our scoring system. Note that we try to give a “5” for an average whisky, which is lower than standard whisky scoring guides (typically around 80).

Additional Information

• Distillate: Molasses
• Still: Pot still
• Age: 14 years (distilled in 2004, bottled in 2019)
• ABV: 66.2%
• Cask type: Oak barrel (?) Does not say

About Monymusk and Cadenheads

• Monymusk is produced by the Jamaica’s Clarendon distillery
• Clarendon has the largest pot still in the Carribean that can hold 25,000 liters
• The ownership structure of Clarendon is quite complex: 73% is owned by a partnership between the Jamaican government (National Sugar Company), Goaddard Enterprises, and Guyana’s Demerara Distillers Limited, with the remainder owned by Diageo
• The European version of Captain Morgan blend includes the Clarendon product as its Jamaican portion
• WM Cadenheads is Scotland’s oldest independent bottler, founded in 1824 by George Duncan before being acquired by his brother-in-law William Cadenhead in 1858. They have several stores around the UK, including the London store I visited (link to my visit here)