Glen Garioch 1992 Berry Bros & Rudd for Switzerland Review

Hi everyone,

Off notes are funny things right?

They can come out of nowhere for no reason seemingly. You can get weird notes coming from the spirit, cask or even bottling. Although, in most cases it’s going to be one of the first two. Bruichladdich for instance is known for its lactic, baby sick note. Tobermory is well known on r/Scotch for smelling of butthole. Springbank can be all kinds of funky too. Those examples it tends to be the spirit that you’re getting those notes from.

Sometimes though, you get option two. Where a random cask has picked up something funky and brought it through into the spirit. For me, this was one of those. Luckily, it’s restricted to the nose and luckily this is an exclusive bottling that you aren’t really going to see outside Switzerland.

In any case, I’ve always wanted to try older Glen Garioch (and now I want to try even older Glen Garioch) because the further back you go, reportedly, the peatier it was…

 

Glen Garioch 1992 Berry Bros & Rudd for Switzerland 56%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Cheesy. Weirdly cheesy, like Parmesan cheese. Other than that it's quite austere, slight chalk, slight lemon, slight orange. Just shadows though, can't really pin them down.

Taste: Very soft then oily then chalky and dry, then lovely sharp lemon and orange juice, you really feel the acidity (in a good way). Great development of flavours.

Finish: Long length. Soft oils, good oak, a sooty thing going on. Nice.

Bottled 2015 at 22 years old. Almost like an old Springbank apart from the cheese on the nose. The taste and finish on this are great, just that nose lets it down.

78/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #504

Whisky Network Review #580

Network Average: 74.6

Best Score: 92

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?

Glen Garioch 15 Sherry Cask Strength Review [When in Rome]

Hi everyone,

So from London it was straight off to Rome (I know, I’m a lucky bastard). And that meant a look in the Gatwick Duty Free, unfortunately they didn’t have the new Highland Park exclusive single cask (sad face), but I did manage to try a Glen Garioch I hadn’t seen anywhere else before.

Sherry cask, cask strength… What could go wrong?

Glen Garioch 15 Sherry 53.7%

Colour: Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Rich Sherry, raisin, orange, chocolate. Dense nose. Buttered hot cross buns, which is pretty delicious.

Taste: Rich, Sherried, chocolate, raisin, hot cross buns, spices, some oak. Slightly rubbery Sherry but a good mix of spice to combat it.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Drier, spices and oak come through.

The hot cross bun notes are a surprise! Haven’t found that in any other whisky. Also I love hot cross buns. Despite that it doesn’t quite reach into the ‘excellent’ category as the Sherry is slightly rubbery.

79/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #484

Whisky Network Review #559

Network Average: 74.5

Best Score: 92

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?

Glen Garioch Founder's Reserve Review

Hi everyone,

I've got a possibly young NAS Highlander today. It's another distillery I've only tried one expression from, back when I was trying to tick them off.

I wanted to try this as it's a Highland malt at 48% (good on 'em), unfortunately when I looked on the back of a box (I didn't buy a bottle, notes are from a sample) it clearly says that the whisky is coloured.

Not sure who they aim this at, making it look craft and higher strength, then kicking us in the nugs.

Glen Garioch Founders Reserve 48%

Colour: E150a

Body: Medium

Nose: Big and rich. Toffee, fudge, fruity with citrus and banana, banoffee pie, aromatic spice- Curry powder, nutmeg, some cinnamon.

Water: Seaside and watermelon but a little Feinty with some harsh spirit and cleaning fluid.

Taste: Gentle arrival. Lots of banana then more complex spice and floral notes, wild flowers, citrus, lemon, oak building with tannins, chocolate and cocoa powder. Quite oaky into the finish. A complex spirit.

Water: More fudge and toffee, banoffee pie. But still harsh oak and spirit building and into the finish.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Powerful oak and harsh tannins.

Ditch the colour! A complex seeming spirit, just a bit young. I imagine older versions could be good and I've heard good things about the vintage Sherry cask stuff.

67/100

Thanks for reading!

Review #321

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, I have never accepted free samples from anyone in the whisky industry, but have bought bottles or samples with my money, bringing a different set of biases. Also, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. 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.

Network Average: 74.4

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

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