
April 25, 2016

Glenlossie in the middle of the road

Glenlossie, which is a mid-sized distillery (2Mio LPA?), remains relatively unknown, probably because there’s only been a handful of semi-official bottlings in the past. Imagine, we’ve only tried around 40 Glenlossies since we started this lousy website! Time to try to upgrade all that, let’s see how far we’ll manage to go. We’ll do it vertically…

Glenlossie 1997/2015 (53.1%, Rest & Be Thankful, bourbon, cask #7112, 295 bottles)

Colour: straw. Nose: a fresh and fruity Speysider. There are loads of fresh and fruity Speysiders, millions of casks! It’s fine, on apples and plums, but I wouldn’t say there’s a lot going on so far. With water: plus cornflakes and more vanilla. Fresh croissants, merci mademoiselle. Mouth (neat): barley water, apple juice, vanilla, maple syrup, malt, butterscotch. It’s good, it’s just not very interesting. A lot of custard. With water: vanilla and tinned fruits, especially pears this time. Finish: medium, with even more vanilla, williams pears liqueur, and maple syrup. A little caramel in the aftertaste. Comments: absolutely faultless, just not very interesting. Middle-of-the-road (chirpy chirpy cheep cheep). SGP:551 - 80 points.

Glenlossie 21 yo 1993/2015 (56,1%, Cadenhead, Small Batch, bourbon hogshead, 492 bottles)

Colour: pale gold. Nose: there’s rather more happening here. Crushed mint leaves, strawberry sweets, pomegranates, old potatoes (and earth), liquorice wood, Bakelite, old electronics (an old radio set)… It’s much funnier, probably not very orthodox, but yeah, it’s got funny sides. With water: porridge, apple juice, lemon. Gets in line. Mouth (neat): strange-ish. Schweppes and honey, blood oranges, mandarins, kiwis, cinchona, Campari… A funny feeling of ‘new plastic pouch’ in the background, but those are now about to disappear anyway – verboten because of environmental issues! With water: easy fruity maltiness. Close to the 1997. Finish: medium, malty. Marmalade on shortbread. Comments: very good, it’s just that once again, you won’t remember this dram for years. Which dram am I talking about? Can’t remember… SGP:551 - 82 points.

Glenlossie 21 yo 1992/2013 (51.7%, The Whisky Agency, Liquid Library, refill hogshead, 197 bottles)

Colour: white wine. Nose: apple peelings, grass, moss. I repeat, apple peelings, grass, moss. That’s all, folks. With water: a freshly mown lawn. Perhaps plastic? A brand new Tesla ? ;-) Mouth (neat): bready, leafy, grassy, a little cardboardy. Some lemon, some green apples. It’s probably ‘very refill’, you could think this is five years old. With water: good, but rather characterless. Sweet grass and no phenols whatsoever. Finish: medium. Sweeter grassiness. Comments: it goes down well, and once again, I can’t find any flaws, unless middle-of-the-road-ness is a flaw (cheep cheep). All right, I find it a little boring. SGP:451 - 78 points.

Glenlossie 20 yo 1992/2012 (57%, The Whisky Mercenary)

Another opportunity for 1992…

Glenlossie 20 yo 1992/2012 (57%, The Whisky Mercenary) Colour: straw. Nose: these whiffs of new plastic pouch again, then apples and green plums. Some pears, touches of cloves, hints of caraway and fennel. With water: I had never thought I’d find plastic and soap okay in malt whisky. Mouth (neat): barley water, a touch of varnish, Spanish apple liqueur, a drop of crème de menthe. With water: more of all that, plus a wee varnishy side. Finish: medium, with a little lemon. Comments: not the easiest session I’ve ever done, it seems. Unless we start to intellectualise things a bit – but I guess we’d better not. SGP: 451- 79 points.

Another opportunity for 1992…

Glenlossie 22 yo 1992/2015 (51.1%, Eiling Lim)

Colour: white wine. Nose: ah? Rum, sweet grasses, Korean plum wine, custard, sour cream, fresh panettone… Something is happening, at last! With water: a Danish pastry shop. Mouth (neat): I cannot not think of some Glenlivet at cask strength (with apologies to Diageo). Werther’s Originals, vanilla fudge, butterscotch, tarte tatin… This works, not because it’s highly interesting, rather because this time, it’s 100% perfect in this custardy style. With water: pear cake, sticky pudding, frappuccino. Finish: medium, caramelised and fudgy. More pear cake in the aftertaste. Comments: it was a good cask. There’s something of Aultmore. SGP:551 - 85 points.

Check the index of all Glenlossie I've tasted so far