Young clean Glen Elgin


September 27, 2022

Little duos, today young clean Glen Elgin

It's said that more and more indie Glen Elgins are now being bottled as 'Secret Speysides', but we'll have some disclosed ones today. What's sure is that the times of all undisclosed Speysides being Glenfarclas (and Cragganmore) are definitely over, so smarter blind tasters, beware!

Sancerre (Cave des Vins de Sancerre, very good wines)

Glen Elgin 12 yo 2009/2021 (53.7%, Acla Selection, Wow Tasty!, hogshead, cask #81754)

Pure Warholian design from Far-eastern Switzerland, on the Austrian border! Colour: white wine. Nose: this is where you do notice the clear connection between Glen Elgin and White Horse, especially older bottles of White Horse. Indeed this is austere, extremely mineral (old granite, sand) and full of concrete, soot and coal dust, with only wee bits of green pear at the fruit section. Another one that's pretty 'Sancerre-y'. With water: gets fruitier, more on gummi bears and marshmallows, barley sugar, candy floss… Mouth (neat): very green and grassy, full of fruit peel, green plums and pears, and the most acidic jelly babies. Crunching leaves and grass, lying in a meadow, admiring the sky. With water: once more it's becoming sweeter, rounder, with a lovely sweet barleyness that makes you think of… Mother Nature. Finish: medium, clean, malty, with barley and banana foam. Grass is back in the aftertaste. Comments: tasty indeed, Andy.
SGP:561 - 85 points.

Glen Elgin 13 yo 2008/2021 (57%, HNWS Taiwan, hogshead, cask #807935, 260 bottles)

Colour: white wine. Nose: same spirit, obviously, only with a little more oak impact, bananas, tiny touch of coconut and papaya, other than that this grassy, green and mineral development that's working so well. Glen Elgin is a wonderfully textured natural malt whisky. Forgot to mention a little parsley. With water: exactly a Sancerre this time again, but this one's met some oak in its early life, while the other one was all 'stainless'. Fresh butter, touch of coconut, crushed banana… Mouth (neat): rather powerful, spicier than the Acla (and that's the wood, obviously), with some pepper and nutmeg, then a wee sourness (cider apples). Just a little tough when undiluted. With water: it's kept this peppery sourness, the cider apples, the green bananas… Finish: rather long, with more pepper, otherwise ripe apples and a touch of pineapple. Comments: absolutely excellent, it's just that I enjoyed the 2009's extreme clean side even more. A little more.
SGP: 561- 84 points.

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