Glen Ord 30 (2005) Review

Hi everyone,

In my opinion, Glen Ord is definitely one of those underrated distilleries. The clean, mineral style can make for some fantastic whisky and some of the old older bottlings were really well regarded. It is also the site of one of Diageo’s huge industrial maltings, so the malt is done in house too (technically).

So I’d always been on the lookout for this old CS version at 30 years old and was lucky enough to find a small bar in Chicago that had a happy hour on rare whisky! I was being shown around by Single Cask Nation’s Joshua Hatton and he also recommended this bottle.

I actually own a barrel of Glen Ord now and Having recently got a sample, I think it’s great stuff young too.

 

Glen Ord 30 58.7%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Fresh and fruity, no way I would guess that this was 30yo, freshly cut citrus peels, orange, malty, malted milk biscuit, some white chocolate, more floral as it opens up with walking through an orchard with a load of flowers in bloom, just keeps on giving and developing. Stunning nose.

Taste: Soft and unctuous, super oily and fresh, those citrus peels again, orange, lime, great fruit, incredibly structured malt and oak tannin, amazing balance, poised and structure (Joshua said austere), slight mineral component developing more and more and continuing into the finish.

Finish: Long length. Great structure again, more mineral, still oily but drying with more of the oak here but not over the top at all.

Released 2005. Undoubtedly fantastic. It doesn’t quite reach emotional levels, though the nose is up there.

89/100

 

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #864

Whisky Network Review #1038

Network Average: 75.2

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

 

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Glengoyne 30 (2017 Release) Review

Hi everyone,

Another special whisky here. Glengoyne is one of those whiskies that I always think does pretty well in Sherry. And Bourbon actually. Usually with some age on it. A little like Macallan and similar in style. But it’s usually better than Macallan. And a lot cheaper.

This is anything but cheap. In fact, it’s expensive. But we’ll keep in mind that a 30yo Macallan would be a lot more, so there’s that.

Anyway, I was very lucky to get to try this courtesy of the Swiss importer for Glengoyne, Charles Hofer SA.

Glengoyne 30 (2017) 46.8%

Colour: Dark Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Glazed cherries, Maraschino cherries, 90% dark chocolate, espresso, a tiny touch of Glengoyne heathery malt but its pretty much covered over by the intense dark sherry. Manuka honey, maple syrup, woody vanilla, beef stock cube (meaty), stewed plums. Opens up very slowly.

Taste: Soft and almost lacking power at first, grows, monolithic darkness, stewed plum and dried fig, dark chocolate, coffee grounds, silky mouthfeel. Old spice box and leathery, tobacco, dark raisin. Not really sweet, more about the dark and bitter flavours. The oak doesn't feel too much and some of the distillery character might be in there somewhere. Dark chocolate covered cherries and a bit of heather.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Dark again with more 90% dark chocolate, bitter cherry. Very soft finish.

6000 bottles, 1/3 1st fill sherry, 2/3 2nd fill. A little too bitter and dark, but it is bloody good. I get the impression that if this had just held on a little more of the abv the spirit character might have had more of a chance against the intense intense dark sherry. As it is, the complexity on this is incredible but the balance is not quite there.

Better than the 25yo though IMO, so if you loved that, definitely try and get hold of this.

83/100

 

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #863

Whisky Network Review #1037

Network Average: 75.2

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

 

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Tomatin Decades II & 30yo Reviews

Hi everyone,

Hope everyone is staying safe and as virusless as possible.

Got some of the slightly more expensive Tomatin’s to brighten your day today! The original version of Decades is not something that I tried but I love the idea of multi-vintage vattings where the components are listed in detail with as much info as possible and this is what Tomatin have given us. So I was quite excited for Decades II when it came out recently as I’m also a fan of Tomatin in general after a great distillery tour there on my stag.

Tomatin Decades II 46%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Fruity and complex with a little interesting off note. Very slightly lactic with milk bottle sweets, dusty apple, cola bottle, a bit of rubber (maybe the Sherry finished stuff? I tend to find that Sherry finished Tomatin can go a bit rubbery).

Taste: Fruity arrival, fresh with green apple, stewed pears, some melon, long development though the lactic note makes an appearance, lots of honey.

Finish: Long length. Woody honey, silky old oak, some delicate malt and a bit of rubber again.

Undoubtedly some great casks went in here (you can find the breakdown here) but ends up as a bit of a jumble. Perhaps there was also a tired cask or two. I have found that with multi-vintage vattings, sometimes less is more as the individual casks have more of a chance to stand out. Deanston did it well with their Decennary release which was only 4 casks, this was 21 in total.

74/100

Tomatin 30 46%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Wonderfully tropical, fresh pineapple, orange slices, some darker malt and tobacco, white chocolate, some exotic spices hiding behind with something almost savoury- coriander. Complex.

Taste: Soft and woody start, fruity with coriander again, red and green apple, spiced pears, then darker with malt and chocolate, nice soft long development.

Finish: Medium length. Lovely balance and mouthfeel here, fading fruit, leather and tobacco.

Tried this twice before but never had the chance to make notes. A good old whisky, though lacking a bit of wow factor.

82/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #847-#848

Whisky Network Reviews #1019-#1020

Network Average: 75.2

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Hibiki 30 & Yamazaki 25 [Road to #1000, Reviews #997-#998]

Hi everyone,

Today I have two very special whiskies that I tasted last year.

I have mentioned before that I am attempting to complete my edition of Ian Buxton’s 101 Whiskies to Try Before You Die and one of the hardest to get hold of and most expensive in there was the Hibiki 30yo.

And I’ve always wanted to try the Yamazaki 25.

Though, to perfectly honest, I didn’t expect to enjoy these whiskies quite as much as I did. I was really expecting to be saying that these are over-oaked, over-Sherried and under-proofed. I wanted to say that the hype is all noise and you can live out your lives in the contentment of knowing that you’ll never have to hunt these down to try them.

Unfortunately, that just isn’t the case…

Hibiki 30 43%

Colour: Dark Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Ridiculously complex. Standing in a carpenter's workshop with loads of different types of wood being worked on, polished oak, pine, as well as loads of others that I couldn't begin to guess at, Acacia honey, leather and cigar box, complex oils, dry forest floor. Menthol and complex herbs and subtle spice, spearmint, freshly crushed mint, chocolate powder too. The balance here is insanely good.

Taste: Dry arrival, incredible balance and silky texture, then more powerful with leather and chilli and ginger spices and old honey, delicate oils, evolves through endless layers. Dried leaves, there is some smoke in there too but its interwoven into the fabric of everything else, dried apple. Slightly sweeter into the finish with very old brandy.

Finish: Long length. Softer, more delicate, very subtle earthy flavours then the most incredibly delicate oak you can imagine. Moving.

Blended? Really, with what? 5% grain whisky? Seriously, this stuff is kinda magical. The heft, weight and poise of this is exquisite for a blended whisky.

92/100

 

Yamazaki 25 43%

Colour: Dark Amber

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Complex herbal and Sherried nose, wood sap and marker pens, pine forest aromas, sweet orange, orange peel, something light and ethereal yet also heavy with burnt thyme, pine smoked ham?, Lapsang Souchong and Ginseng tea, honey comb, some forest floor, something medicinal perhaps? Even more complex as it opens up.

Taste: Full on from the off (despite the 43%) with a great balance of sweet and dry, pine and sap, orange and oak, cherry and cough sweets, very oily mouthfeel- chewy, very old Sherry, dry dark chocolate, raisin and prune, something perfumed then some very slight rubber into the finish.

Finish: Long length. A long slow bleed of sweet and dry, some oak and Sherry, tobacco and all sorts of chocolates. Stunning finish.

Not quite the equal of the also stunning Hibiki 30 but damn close. I really wanted to believe that this would be a little tired and over Sherried like the 18yo but no, alas not.

If the 2013 Sherry Cask is something like this then I can see why Jim Murray would have given his whisky of the year to it.

91/100

Updated Distillery Rankings

Japanese Reviews #25-#26

Whisky Network Reviews #997-#998

Network Average: 75.2

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Glen Scotia 1969 Old Malt Cask [Road to #1000, Review #995]

Hi everyone,

More whisky from the 60’s today. This time Campbeltown’s turn!

I was lucky enough to be in Toronto for my birthday earlier this year and I knew about Feather’s Pub from some of the Toronto Whisky Society guys. In particular, I knew that u/TOModera used to go there for some birthday drams and those posts would always make me jealous.

I had planned to have a few whiskies there but only ended up trying two, but both were well worth it.

Glen Scotia 1969 Old Malt Cask 50%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Bourbon levels of oak to start, musty fruit, red apple and black pepper, a little wild strawberry, a delicious toasted marshmallow thing as it opens up, complex florals and candy shop notes now too. Milk chocolate and milky coffee too. Its a little bit tired but in a really interesting way. Big black liquorice coming in now, and continues to develop.

Water: Freshens but brings out some soapy lavender and parma violets.

Taste: Tingly sweetness first, amazingly zingy for this age, incredible fresh strawberry, strawberry fruit pastilles, oily mouthfeel, complex honey and honeycomb too, the oak is in the background with a very soft spice underlying things, black liquorice, some white pepper, a little chilli dark chocolate. Big chewy whisky.

Water: More spice and dry oak bringing it further out of balance. Loads of white pepper. Very dry now.

Finish: Medium length. Very soft and actually quite subtle here, some spicy oak, oils continue to coat the mouth, all about the oils really. More oily and malty chocolate as it opens up.

Bottled 1999, at 30yo. Difficult to score. Super interesting and complex but just a touch tired. The spice bringing it a bit out of balance on the taste too. Water did not help things and I definitely preferred this neat. Anyway, amazing to try.

86/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #832

Whisky Network Review #995

Network Average: 75.2

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Ardmore 30 1987 Review

Hi everyone,

I had no idea this whisky was coming out until I saw it in Inter. Whisky Frankfurt at the start of December. As it has just come out of Whisky Exchange I thought I’d put up my thoughts.

I’m a big fan of Ardmore. In fact, I have a young barrel of the stuff. The indies are great, the stuff is good quality and they used direct fired stills pre-2002.

There hasn’t been a load of old stuff released and I don’t think I’ve ever seen an Ardmore older than 30 years. Even better, this is at a very reasonable price of £250 and comes in the normal tube and bottle. No fancy decanter and wooden box here, no sir!

 

Ardmore 30 1987 47.2%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Delicate echoes of smoke, sooty, oily and a little waxy. Sea salt, reminiscent of Brora, dried apple, dried banana, quite an understated nose. Subtly creamy too. More complex as it opens up with machine oil and garage rags. Awesome.

Taste: Soft and sweet, a little flat for a brief moment then more fruity with red apple, black pepper and ginger, nice old smoke and sea salt, quite coastal like an old Talisker, waxy.

Finish: Medium length. More salty with more of the faded old smoke, slightly floral, some lemon sherbet.

Late 2018 release. Fantastic nose, love the Brora elements. I was hoping for a touch more power to the taste and for the finish to be longer or more complex. Don’t get me wrong, its great but I quite like the raw power of the young versions too.

84/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #717

Whisky Network Review #854

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Benromach 30 & 35 Reviews

Hi everyone,

Benromach being closed from 1983 to 1998 presents a bit of problem for Gordon & MacPhail, as they don’t really have any older whisky and what they do have is much, much older. The style would also be different as G&M put in some new smaller stills, giving a different character.

But they have released some of the stuff from the early 80’s including these little gems. The price isn’t toooo ridiculous really, considering that Bladnoch released a 29 year old for £5000 recently…

Benromach 35 43%

Colour: Amber

Body: Medium

Nose: Deep Sherry, earthy leather, chocolate, praline, sweet stewed fruit, very balanced, polished wood, antique shop, chocolate shop.

Taste: Soft and structured, acidic red apple, oak, recedes and comes back, ash, praline, fudge, very acidic orange juice.

Finish: Medium length. Many chocolates and fudges, creamy.

I have actually tried this before, but only very briefly from a shot glass. The red apple is bit too acidic on the taste. This is great stuff but I feel like its just a tad over the hill. Let’s try and fix that by turning back time 5 years…

83/100

 

Benromach 30 (Old Bottling) 43%

Colour: Amber

Body: Medium

Nose: Lighter and fresher than the new 35 but the same mould. Fresh acidic red apple, very good Sherry casks, dark chocolate, great balance.

Taste: Sweet, soft, honey, lacking power for one brief moment then chocolate, velvety oak, Sherry, raisin, leather, salty, wonderful dried cherry. Oak into the finish.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Tingling on the tongue, lots of acidic red apple, then praline.

Fantastic stuff, better than the new 35 although it's probably the same batch of casks. The equal of the 1980 G&M I had a while back. It was probably a lot cheaper too…

87/100

Distillery: Benromach

Average Score: 77.9

Distillery Ranking: 19th/ 65 places

Up/Down: 29>19 (Up 10)

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Reviews #643-#644

Whisky Network Reviews #766-#767

Network Average: 74.9

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Laphroaig 1987 XOP Douglas Laing Review

Hi everyone,

We’re back with the whiskyporn today.

A 30 year old Laphroaig doesn’t come around often but when it does its always a pleasure! Especially when it’s a single cask, cask strength version from Douglas Laing.

Honestly, I had huge massive expectations for this after tasting other older Laphraoig’s and unfortunately those weren’t met. Which is a shame (a little violin plays) but we get by and carry on.

Anyway, I tasted this one at Inter. Whisky Frankfurt recently.

 

Laphroaig 1987 XOP 53.5%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Not too tropical but sooty, chimney soot, coal dust, burnt down building, cooked apple, a little closed. Very reminiscent of that 27yo Blended Islay from TBWC now that I think about it. Mixed citrus peel after a bit. Even with water it remains closed actually.

Taste: Soft, great balance, soft oils then intense sweet and peat combo, tropical green mango, oak, oily, spices but quite juicy, puffs of smoke and sea air, white pepper and sour lime. Not as complex as I was looking for, although it is balanced very well.

Finish: Long length. More maritime with sea salt, some seaweed and mango, soot.

Bottled 2017 at 30yo. Lovely whisky but not up to my high, high expectations. Not nearly as tropical as the Laphroaig 21, and in reality I could have guessed a Bowmore if I was tasting it blind.

86/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #557

Whisky Network Review #658

Network Average: 74.7

Best Score: 93

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?