I’ve participated in Glenglassaugh Distillery tasting the other day where we paired 4 different expressions from the distillery with some scottish baked goods from Scottish Tea Shoppe. Glenglassaugh itself got reasonably colorful history of being open/closed and open again. Feel free to read it on the Wiki: https://en.wikipedia … glassaugh_distillery. Since they were reopened in 2008 all the newer expressions from the distillery (aside from Single Casks) are NAS and are reasonably young.
Revival, 46%
Facts: Ex-Bourbon, Ex-Red Wine, Ex-Sherry Casks. ~ 7-8 years old in the current batch (this varies). Pairing: Seasalt Caramel
N: Fresh grapes, orchard fruit, some red wine and sherry notes. Orange oil.
P: Tannic spice, some sherry. wood. full body. Almost a little bitter.
A: More of the same from the palate, gently fading with malty flavors….
Thoughts: A little too bitter for me. Bitterness fades after a while but still a bit too rough and tannic from red wine.
Score: B-
Evolution, 50%
Facts: Ex-Tennessee Barrel. Pairing: Scottish tablet
N: Funky distillery note. Light tropical fruits. Pineapples.
P: Very full, buttery body… more of the light fruits from the nose. Reminds me slightly of chardonnay wine but in whiskey form.
A: Consistent with malty mouth-wrapping feeling of the palate.
Thoughts: A little too young and relying on inherent distillery profile to compensate for the age… Enjoyable, but somewhat on the thinner side of flavor while having a thick-ish mouth texture. Very much chardonnay with a kick.
Score: B
Torfa, 50%
Facts: Peated, Ex-Bourbon and Ex-Sherry. Pairing: Mint shortbread. Disclaimer: I do not like peat.
N: Medium salty peat. Not quite islay and not quite highland. Something in between.
P: This is middle of the pack peated whiskey. Roughly comparable to Lagavulin perhaps.
A: Fairly thin aftertaste with some slowly fading peat. Too young to carry interesting complex peat or aftertaste notes, but not too overwhelming to be bad. On the good side, the mouth texture mostly carries it. On the bad side… there’s not much interesting in there. I imagine peat fans will generally like it.
Thoughts: Can really benefit from a pairing on this one to amp up the buttery notes…. Trying it with the mint shortbread that assessment is 100% on-point. Butter and sugar brings to the spirit what it’s missing. Overall, it’s a peated scotch. It’s not winning many awards but it certainly isn’t a drain pour either. Basically, it’s peated evolution.
Score C (Peat!)
Single Cask, Hi-Times SP, 57.3%
Facts: Port Cask #685, Aged 9 years. Pairing: Dark chocolate fudge.
N: Dark and dry sherry-like, even though it’s port. Some wood and spice. Distillery character funk. Noticeable alcohol due to abv. Woody spice.
P: Sweet dessert on the palate. The proof is on the high side, but for the most part the palate can handle it with the reasonably-typical thick texture and malt backbone. The high proof is a little bit overwhelming though and it can really benefit from a bit of water. Some spice and bitterness is present but restrained, compared to the Revival levels.
A: Gently fading wood spices with some sweetness. Unfortunately, bitterness comes to dominate towards the end.
Thoughts: Proofing it down with a bit of water snaps pieces into place and makes it a much more enjoyable. The youth is shows in lack of prominent secondary flavors but what there is pretty solid.
Score: B+ (/w Water)
Overall:
I can see why distillery old stocks are quite sought after and won bunch of awards around 2010 when they reopened. I’m looking forward to what they’ll come up with in about 10 years or so as I believe this distillery got some solid potential, yet the current spirit is simply too young to be truly interesting. Aka: “Not too bad, kid. Come back when you’re few years older”.
—
Scoring Breakdown: https://www.aerin.or … age=scores_breakdown