Glen Garioch: Founder’s Reserve, 48% (!) vs 12 yo, 48%
Nerdy trivia: An example of a distillery with 3 stills that only double distills? Glen Garioch. It once had 4 stills but was forced to remove one. Fortunately the wash still is large enough to feed both spirit stills. Before getting into these two modern iterations of its whisky, I must say this is a real gem of a distillery with a strong lineage. If you like this Highlands style you should really look into some of its older peated bottlings.
Having 2 sets of tasting notes would be counter-productive here as these 2 are not very dissimilar. Instead we’ll talk about how they are similar and then how they differ.
Nose: The Founder’s Reserve is not only younger, it is much more natural. Glen Garioch’s character is given more airtime here: Charcoal, copy paper and petrichor shine through despite the obvious attempt to give it mass appeal with first fill bourbon. Sharp green sap too. Ok, hints of toffee, fudge, brown sugar sweetness is there but not enough to restrain the distillate – not a bad thing to me. Also some burnt ends and raw spice. Otherwise it is also quite approachable though not very complex.
The 12 has clearly had love lavished upon it. Loads of fresh sweet bourbony flavours, its that toffee and fudge turned up to max, to the point the distillery begins to recede behind the obvious and thick sweetness. Extra years in wood has allowed the spirit to integrate more and round off some edges present in the Founder’s.Much more caramelized, though carbon paper and a dewy wetness persists. I think there’s too much sweetness in this one though it sure is appealing.
Palate: The Founder’s Reserve delivers the nose spot on. Enough sweetness, touch of oak, lots of distillery character. More coal gas, soot and ink on the tongue too. Not feinty or raw in any way, given the standard of most NAS bottlings, this should be read as being heads and shoulders above the competition. Aha followed by a burst of charred wood-spice towards the finish. Again no off notes. This is actually really decent.
The 12 takes things up another notch, this time the spices are warm and delivers early on, alongside the slow building sweetness. A touch of salt, an unlit BBQ pit, dry wood, carbon filters. More or less integrated, also a notch more complexity.
Finish: The Founder’s Reserve does not have the longest finish, and is a little dry and too burnt at the end. Still well done! The 12 is much longer, with dry caramel on oak wrapped in distillery character.
Founder’s Reserve:
12 y0 gets:
A worthwhile point to note: Both these entry level whiskies are bottled at 48%, which belays an earnestness that tell me Beam/Suntory are honestly trying. Just have a look at all the 40% NAS at duty free these days.
This is a good and somewhat ‘advanced’ distillate that offers much to the experienced connoisseur looking for the next step, but also faces the need to get a foothold into the mass market. I think their answer is convincing.
One comment on “Glen Garioch: Founder’s Reserve, 48% (!) vs 12 yo, 48%”
Leave a Reply
Whiskyrific RSS
- Rosebank 14 yo 1966 / 1980 Cadenhead 46% vs Rosebank 26 yo 1967 / 1994 Scotch Single Malt Circle (Japan) #4398 51.7%
- Springbank 23 yo bottled Dec 1991 James MacArthur’s 53.7% vs Ardbeg 17 yo 1976 / 1993 Cadenhead 54.6%
- Glenfarclas over 12 years old F.W Hempel Metallurgical GmbH 45% vs Glenfarclas 25 yo 43%
- Craigellachie 12 yo 2007 / 2019 SMWS 44.113 59.9% vs Talisker 15 yo Special Release 2019 57.3%
- Glen Grant 23 yo 1992 / 2016 Cadenhead 53.1% vs Glentauchers-Glenlivet 26 yo 1990 / 2017 Cadenhead 52.6% vs Fettercairn 28 yo 1988 / 2017 Cadenhead 55.4%
- Old Pulteney 13yo 1990 /2003 Cadenhead 61.1% vs Old Pulteney 18 yo 1974 The Whisky Connoisseur #1132 57.8%
- Glen Moray 24 yo 1992 /2017 Cadenhead 50.9% vs Linkwood 24 yo 1992 / 2017 Cadenhead 50.9%
- Glen Garioch 21 yo 1992 / 2014 Liquid Library 51.6% vs Glen Garioch 21 yo 1991 / 2012 Liquid Library 52.5%
- Teaninich 11 yo 2006 / 2018 Cadenhead 55.2% vs Teaninich 10 yo 2009 / 2019 Cadenhead 55.1%
- Springbank 34 1964 / 1998 Cadenhead 52.2% vs Springbank 30 1972 / 2002 Chieftain’s #410 57.8%
Quite liked the Founder’s Reserve! I have a 21 year sample I’ve been just waiting to sip when can give it the proper attention. 🙂