Your eyes are not deceiving you. This is a 1968 official single cask Glen Garioch. I've never had any 1960s Glen Gariochs, though I have heard they possess considerable quality. At the time of this whisky's creation, the distillery was run by DCL. In true DCL fashion, the owners promptly mothballed the facility. In the late 1990s, the new owner, Suntory, approved the release of some of Garioch's old sherried hogsheads. Today's pour comes from one of those casks.
Distillery: Glen Garioch
Ownership at time of distillation: Distillers Company Limited
Ownership at time of bottling: Suntory Holdings Limited
Region: Eastern Highlands
Age: 29 years old (27 April 1968 - 1997)
Maturation: sherry hogshead
Cask: 617
Alcohol by Volume: 55.4%
(From a bottle split. Thank you, PT!)
NOTES
This has one of the earthiest noses I've ever experienced. Layers of plum, cocoa powder, dunnage, and dried mango form around the earth. Fresh cigars, dried cherries, dried currants, and a sherry drier than oloroso join all the other notes by the 45-minute mark.
Oh goodness, the palate. Smoked wormwood, soil, dunnage, and black coffee with a cinnamon roll arrives first. Then baking chocolate and menthol. And then plums, blueberries, and charred chiles. The smoke, bitterness, and sweetness keep each other from overwhelming the palate.
The long finish is earthy and bitter up front with sweet citrus and berries appearing next, followed by lime and cayenne.
WORDS WORDS WORDS
This is powerful, relentless, lovely whisky. I sat with it — or it sat with me — for over an hour, and it never mellowed, never faded. My notes only scratch the surface of this whisky's complexity, as I was so taken by its style. There are no contemporary single malts to which I can compare this, because the spirit and vessels were different then. It was the perfect pour for this season's first snowy night.
Availability - Maybe secondary?
Pricing - ???
Rating - 93
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