
June 9, 2017

Little tasting, two indie Glen Garioch

It seems that the well-known easternmost Scottish distillery is gathering more attention again in recent times. Let’s have two newish ones, one very young indie to check the style of the current distillate, and one older indie that’s very pale as well…

Glen Garioch 6 yo 2010/2016 (46%, Douglas Laing, Provenance, cask #11083)

Douglas Laing are having many ultra-young malts in this series these days… Colour: very white wine. Nose: almost new make indeed. Bursting with pears and porridge, kirsch, plum eau-de-vie, green apples, no peat that I can get, rather a distant minerality, around limestone. A little weissen beer as well. Very, very young… Mouth: starts quite spicy, and indeed I seem to find a little ‘sour’ peat this time, and a wee feeling of ashes. Other than that, we’re finding crushed barley, pears, apples, barley syrup, and more beer. It’s a rather characterful distillate, I have to say, but of course we ain’t in 1965 or 1971. Finish: medium, sweet and porridge-y. A little green pepper, and more pears and apples. Celeriac in the aftertaste. Comments: malt whisky isn’t mezcal, and neither is it rum (hey, Einstein!) so it needs aging, but when the distillate’s got some personality, which is rather the case here, it can be fairly good even at a very young age. Worth trying, and I don’t think it’s very expensive. SGP:441 - 78 points.

Glen Garioch 21 yo 1994/2016 (55%, Abbey Whisky, The Rare Casks, release 6, refill hogshead)

Colour: white wine. Nose: typical late-period Gen Garioch, with bold notes of roots, gentian, chalk, clay, autumn leaves, and ultra-sharp lemons. Also almond and sesame oils. Very appealing if you enjoy your whiskies straight and rather austere. With water: wet chalk and plaster, always something that I enjoy. Very mineral, not unlike the best Pouillys. Mouth (neat): ah yes, I remember these batches. Same high minerality and rootiness, something medicinal (Band-aid), some aniseed, rosemary, a drop of antique mouthwash (cloves, juniper) and always this rooty, chalky side. Excellent, it’s always interesting to notice how Bowmore and Glen Garioch upped their games again in the 1990s, after the naughty 1980s. With water: even more roots. This one’s about to sing the blues… Finish: rather long, with a perfect mineral and grassy bitterness. Comments: it’s got something of the driest Clynelishes, without the wax. Must be the east coast… SGP:462 - 88 points.

Check the index of all Glen Garioch I've tasted so far