Seven Glen Elgin Or more


November 17, 2021

Seven Glen Elgin (Or more)
In our weaker minds, Glen Elgin leads to White Horse, which in turn would lead to Lagavulin. Rhymes and alliterations always please poor writers too, not to mention tasters… Let's try to do this vertically and kick this off with a wee apéritif…

Glen Elgin 9 yo 2010/2020 (46%, James Eadie, Small Batch, bourbon)

These wee bottlings just never fail, do they? Colour: white wine. Nose: saccharose, cranberry juice, thyme tea, honeydew, panettone, sage, borage, tarragon… Indeed, how unusual is this? Very lovely nose, quite different, fresh, aromatic, intriguing, mysterious… Mouth: sweet barley, malt, ale, Seville oranges, marmalade, more thyme, then once again a feeling of saccharose, wee easter eggs, icing sugar… What a funny drop! Finish: pretty long, with those herbs being back, tarragon, sage… A sweeter – and stronger – sauce béarnaise in your glass. Honey and ale in the aftertaste, or there, mead. Comments: very good, rather characterful, different, and yet not off-track at all.
SGP:461 - 85 points.

Another 2010, perhaps…

Glen Elgin 10 yo 2010/2020 (61.3%, Single Cask Nation, 2nd fill hogshead, cask #801386)

Colour: white wine. Nose: LOL, and I mean LOL. Maggi, glutamate, Tabasco, chives and 61.3% vol. What could go wrong? Let's see… With water: superb if you do bring your pipette under control. Barley and honey, borage, sage, that panettone (why don't people like panettone, generally speaking?)… Mouth (neat): fat and totally similar. Same icing sugar and herbs as in the James Eadie, only at a, cough, a murderous strength. And a little riesling. With water: classy drop. Splendid wee herbs and flowers, all crystallised. Stuff for 3*** restaurants. Finish: long, tense, with a wonderful texture. Comments: ueber-class distillate, it's just not that easy not to miss the point completely.
SGP:561 - 87 points.

We could try another 2010 coz I like them…

Glen Elgin 11 yo 2010/2021 (57%, Cooper's Choice, Hot Malt Taiwan, Marsala cask finish, 276 bottles)

Hold on, a Marsala finish… But there are many kinds of Marsalas, so, let's see… Colour: straw. Nose: sweet and easy, really all on sweet barley, marshmallows, sultanas and a whole box of assorted Turkish delights. And dried figs. Rather impeccable till this point. With water: a wee feeling of gueuze and Rivesaltes. Any crazy mixologists around? Mouth (neat): a good drop, with a distillate that, apparently, could take just anything. Sweet pastries, rolls, some honeysuckle and elderflower syrup, mullein… With water: a curious no to cognac, then drier fruits, peelings, teas… Tends to become a little leafy and bitter, not a move that remained unseen. Finish: medium, on herbal teas. Hawthorn tea. Some muscovado. Raisins in the aftertaste. Comments: it survived the Marsala. Quality's pretty high and it did not get winey.
SGP:551 - 84 points.

Time to go down the vintages and maybe be a little quicker…

Glen Elgin 11 yo 2009/2020 (59.7%, The Single Malts of Scotland, for USA, hogshead, cask #807780)

Keith, Imperial, 'Lish, 'Wood, Elgin, Ila… That's some of their favourite drops, apparently. Colour: white wine. Nose: more austere, obviously, since we're 100% on the distillate here. A mentholy earthiness plus those wee herbs that we already found today, borage, sage… Plus indeed a large fresh panettone and a proper Alsatian kougelhopf that's only one hour old. With water: plain and pure barleyness. Mouth (neat): fat mouth feel and pure barleyness indeed. No woods in the way, no wine, just a fattish distillate. We should store these bottles for fifty years for our children and grandchildren. Who knows, with climate change, will distilling remain legal in our advanced countries? With water: superb. Notes of pumpernickel. Finish: medium, while those herbs are back, going towards… A kind of fatter and drier Jägermeister. With our apologies, please receive our sincere greetings of peace and wellbeing. Comments: didn't we say we'd be quicker? Great mature eau-de-vie de barley anyway.
SGP:551 - 87 points.

2010, 2009…

Glen Elgin 13 yo 2008/2021 (52.2%, The Whisky Exchange, hogshead)

Boy are we slow… Colour: straw. Nose: tenser and tighter yet, on cider and oils, plus grapefruits and leaves. With water: chalk, apple juice, Sancerre, duck fat. Yep, duck fat. Mouth (neat): totally excellent, even brilliant young savoury fat malt. Indeed we've pushed the overdrive button. With water: loves water. Tight grapefruit jelly and Szechuan pepper. Finish: long. Grassy structure. Green pepper in the aftertaste. Comments: rather a blade, what we call a sword. You do understand that those fine folks in London do like this distillate; we do too.
SGP:461 - 87 points.

2010, 2009, 2008…

Glen Elgin 2007/2020 (54.8%, Signatory Vintage for Or Sileis, Taiwan, hogshead, cask #800250, 299 bottles)

With a lovely wee animal on the label. With all the salmons they've got in SCO, they should reintroduce bears! Have they? I mean not talking about human animals? Colour: straw. Nose: sameish. I hate it that we would now push the fast-forward button, as we used to do with our Akai cassette recorders, but indeed this is virtually the same whisky. Good news. Mouth: indeed we could have said Pioneer, Nagra, or Revox, but indeed this is similar, except that there would be more oranges, which would make this one even more stunning. Extraordinary orangeness, which would create a kind of fatter and bigger Dalmore. Yep. Finish: perfect. Gets very grassy and peppery towards the aftertaste, not the first time that happens either. Comments: top notch big malt. Now, I hate to say this but please do not pour this to beginners. There, I said it.
SGP:461 - 87 points.

2010, 2009, 2008, 2007…

Glen Elgin 15 yo 2004/2020 (56.7%, Lady of the Glen, Tawny Port finish, 300 bottles)

Gotcha. A four month finish in Tawny, and why not? Colour: light gold. Nose: no strawberries, no raspberries and no cassis, we're fine! Well, there are some but it is all under control, rather with cakes and tarts and stuff. Not sure I would have recognised the distillate, having said that. With water: doughs. Mouth (neat): all fine and good, with a few leafy tones beyond the strawberries. Sure it does struggle after the lovely naked 2010-2007s but it's getting away with that. With water: fine. Cakes and yoghurts plus malt. Finish: medium, on sweet and sour red fruits plus some cakes made thereof. Comments: sure this is not quite the same league, but we've had some ex-Tawny malts that had been much, much worse.
SGP:551 - 81 points.

Glen Elgin 16 yo 2004/2020 (51.3%, Lady of the Glen, Rivesaltes finish, cask 801300, 180 bottles)

A Rivesaltes finish? Oh, no….. …. …. That could be Mr Bean staining Whistler's Mother if you ask me, but let's keep an open mind and humour… Colour: deep gold. Nose: raisins, sultanas, Corinthians, Smyrnaeans, Sicilians… And young cognac. They almost recreated brandy de Jerez, kudos! With water: cherry leaves and stems, walnuts skins, struck matches. Mouth (neat): a drier, more oloroso-ed brandy de Jerez, with a little mud and sulphur beyond the huge dry old walnuts. With water: some sour wines, strawberry liqueurs… Finish: rather long. Pepper, strawberries, sweet wine. Comments: not a fan of this very one, but we've gathered quite a few top-notch LOTG bottlings lately. That would be Lady Of The Glen indeed. Soon on WF.
SGP:651 - 75 points.

Good, our plan was to go back to the 1960s but this has become a little hard. Let's do a 1995 and then call this a session, if you agree…

Glen Elgin 24 yo 1995/2020 (49.1%, Asta Morris, bourbon, cask #AM137, 170 bottles)

Phew, no more wine – wine will kill whisky one day, read my lips! Now indeed, between raisins and nothing… well… Colour: white wine. Nose: oh there, old Glen Elgin, waxier, more on high-class whites (there's a huge difference between being reminiscent of some great wines and being flavoured with some cheap ones), then pollen and pistachios. Classy. Mullein and elderflower syrups. Mouth: beeswax, honeys, bitterer nuts, propolis, a feeling of chlorophyl, then pu-her tea. Finish: long, perhaps a tad too oaky now, with bitter oils. Schade, I was ready to go higher, I mean, you see what I mean, figuratively… Comments: very high-class Glen Elgin that may have gone a wee tad too far.
SGP:461 - 86 points.

Yeah, I agree, a last one…

Glen Elgin-Glenlivet 23 yo 1995/2019 (50.6%, Cadenhead, Small Batch, bourbon hogsheads, 486 bottles)

Have you heard of W.M. Cadenhead's lately? Colour: light gold. Nose: same style as that of the Asta Morris, pollen, beeswax, mead… Mouth: excellent blend of two casks, despite a bizarre meaty side (suet?) Beeswax, mead, preserved peaches, vinsanto (amen), pepper, ginger… Finish: rather long, with a little (too much) pepper. Comments: rather very good, if not stellar. Some parts reminded me of some crazy French ginger liqueur, the name escaping me. And of peppers. Nah, we could live without it.
SGP:462 - 82 points.

Look, since we're at Cadenhead's, here's what we're going to do, we'll jump over the vintages by no less than thirty years and swear that this will be our very last Glen Elgin this year. Good deal, no?

Glen Elgin-Glenlivet 15 yo 1965/1980 (46%, Cadenhead, black dumpy)

We've had a 1965/1978 quite some years ago (like, 20 years ago) that's been superb (WF 90). Colour: amber. Nose: all hail old coins, silverware, metal polish, old engine, foie gras, spent motor oil, and just old well-taken-care-of motorbike. Choose your brand and your model but I would surely say Norton Commando. Mouth: sublime pine-y arrival, going on with menthol, old embrocations, cigars, camphor, and various oils that, maybe, you we're meant to put into your mouth. Locals' retsina wine. Finish: long but really very dry and resinous. Crunching pine needles. Comments: malt whisky by Jean-Luc Godard, you just love it but you cannot not wonder why you do. Existential drop.
SGP:372 - 89 points.

Okay, that's enough, bye.

(Merci KC!)

Check the index of all Glen Elgin we've tasted so far