
November 27, 2019

Little duos, today very good Glendullan

As I may have said before, I enjoy tasting these young underdogs as much as I like trying some 1975 Ardbegs or 1976 Lagavulins. Perhaps not 1972 Broras, let’s not exaggerate…

Glendullan 7 yo 2010/2018 (59.9%, Master of Malt, bourbon, cask #10161)

Glendullan 7 yo 2010/2018 (59.9%, Master of Malt, bourbon, cask #10161)
We shall expect some high extraction here, as well as litres of café latte. Colour: white wine. Nose: not at all, this is as fresh as a daisy in the morning, and just shock full of fresh pears, gooseberries, and plums, then fruity IPAs. You were wrong again, S. With water: pure barley eau-de-vie. But rather a good sketch than a bad picture, as they say in Taos, New-Mexico. Mouth (neat): williams pears and some sweet ale, that’s the whole story here. Baby whisky, really. With water: more of all that insolent youth, rather on beers than on fruits this time. Finish: medium, and rather on, hurray, café latte! Proud as a peacock. Comments: rather immature, but pretty perfect in its simplicity. Reminds me of a few new OBs, but those are rather advertised as NAS. Because seven, that’s no deal.
SGP:541 - 82 points.

Glendullan 1996/2018 (50.8%, Malts of Scotland, sherry hogshead, cask #MoS18027, 271 bottles)

Glendullan 1996/2018 (50.8%, Malts of Scotland, sherry hogshead, cask #MoS18027, 271 bottles)
A rather older Glendullan, that’s interesting. Colour: gold. Nose: We’re rather geared towards menthol cigarettes here, as well as patchouli and various herbal teas, before it would then rather drift towards plum cakes, very ripe greengages, and some kind of good stout from Bonnie Scotland. With water: wonderful malt, chocolate, tobacco, and sweet meat sauces. The one some mothers would pour over meatballs. English brown sauce? Mouth (neat): ginger wine, chocolate, Jaffa cakes, cloves, tapioca, Buckfast wine, chestnut honey… Indeed, it’s very different, and pretty unusual. And much to my liking, it’s got ‘old flavours’ that no one on the continent would like to encounter anymore. No, I did not mention Marmite and other loco yeast extracts. Oh and chicory/chicorée. With water: excellent! Malt extracts, chocolate, more chicory drink, pipe tobacco, rancio, oloroso… This baby had a lot of things to tell us. Finish: long, rather on raw chocolate and marmalade, but the yeasty/umami-y notes would not give up. Brilliant. Comments: top notch, bordering the 90-mark. This was some hoggie.
SGP:461 - 89 points.

BONUS

Magellanic Cloud #1 2009/2019 ‘116° U.2.1' 1897.2’ (58.7%, Scotch Universe, 1st Fill Oloroso Sherry Hogshead)

Magellanic Cloud #1 2009/2019 ‘116° U.2.1' 1897.2’ (58.7%, Scotch Universe, 1st Fill Oloroso Sherry Hogshead)
This one’s said to be Glendullan, but I wouldn’t bet on that. What’s sure is that the very honourable bottlers do like figures – and astronomy. Colour: gold. Nose: nothing tells me that this is not Glendullan. There are similarities with the wonderful MoS, except that this is shier, gentler, and rather more on plants and herbs. I’m thinking broken branches, asparagus, then raw chocolate, nuts, green tea, perhaps carrots? But it tends to become more ‘sherried’ indeed, with fresh walnuts playing first fiddle. With water: perfect oloroso (could have been amontillado too). A pinhead of Marmite yet again, tobacco, walnut wine, and all that jazz. Mouth (neat): indeed, same family as that of the MoS, except that this one’s the more turbulent younger brother. Bags of ginger, curry-like flavours, caraway, juniper, raw chocolate, walnut skins… With water: it’s got a little ‘sulphur’ now, of the meatier kind that we always enjoy in, for example, sherried Mortlach. Other than that, always more walnut, cracked pepper, caraway, cloves, bitter oranges. Finish: more of all that, for a long time. Comments: raw stuff, a tad boisterous. I’m all for that.
SGP:461 - 87 points.

We’ll soon do a few official Singletons, stay tuned…

Check the index of all Glendullan we've tasted so far