Single Malt Port Wood Showdown

During a visit to my parent's house today, my Dad, Rachel, Jeremy and I conducted a Port Wood finished single malt scotch tasting. My Dad has been a longtime proponent of the Glenmorangie Port Wood finish bottling (recently changed) and received a bottle of the Cragganmore Distiller's Edition from me last Christmas. I brought my bottle of Balvenie 21y and we sat down and ranked the whiskies, which were tasted blind.

The contenders:

1. Balvenie 21 year old PortWood
2. Glenmorangie 12 year old Port Wood finish
3. Cragganmore Distiller's Edition (d 1992, b 2005)

Tasting notes:
Balvenie - My detailed notes and info here. Described by Jeremy as more peaty than the others
Glenmorangie - My detailed notes and info here. Described by Jeremy as "flavory"

Cragganmore - My detailed notes and info here. Rachel noted some banana flavors.

It was interesting that we pretty much agreed on the rankings. Overall rankings:

***First Place***
Glenmorangie 12 year old Port Wood Finish
#1 on all of our lists

**Second Place**
Balvenie 21 year old PortWood
Matt, Rich, Jeremy had this #2, Rachel had it #3

*Third Place*
Cragganmore Distiller's Edition
Matt, Rich, Jeremy had this #3, Rachel had it #2

Final notes: It's nice to see that the most outwardly port-influenced malt was the clear winner in this tasting. I was personally a bit disappointed that my bottle of 21 year old Balvenie did not fare better, but such is the honesty of a blind tasting. The other disappointment is that Glenmorangie has discontinued this particular port wood bottling in favor of a much higher priced "Quinta Ruban" bottling. I have not yet tried it.