Glen Garioch 18 yo 1975 / 1994 Cadenhead 54.9% vs Glen Garioch 13 yo 1975 / 1988 Samaroli 57%
Glen Garioch 13 yo 1975 / 1988 Samaroli 57%
This is not the sort of heavy peat that’s thick on medicinal or coastal elements. It is a kind of immense but lean or chiselled peat profile that wants to exists on a higher register. Plenty of elegant smoke stands out, the sort that makes you breathe in not turn away, burnt clay, woodfired ovens, weathered concrete and sodden chalky ground. It is a peat of penetrating power that cannot be ignored, borne of classy tobacco and coals in polished braziers, far from the brutish outdoors. Its seems at home with accoutrements like gentian and camphor ointments, neroli and some delicate incense notes like frankincense and elemi. Dogged notes of sugared orange peel, yellow peach and mint tea are lithe enough to dodge the power. A dazzling whisky but probably not the most accessible. And tends to change over time. The fruit elements disappear and the powerful peat and farmy aspects come to the fore. In fact it’s gets more and more penetrating after time in the glass. 94 pts
Glen Garioch 18 yo 1975 / 1994 Cadenhead 54.9%
A peat of wider phenolic profile , if you see what I mean, as if the entire moor burns underfoot. Bonfires of burning branches, leathery sappy leaves still attached and cast off oak branches. Also moss and dry grasses on parched rocky ground. Charred flints, burnt orange peel, pine resin and ink. Sharp white ash and a sense of great heat. The thing is the austerity of both these two whiskies belies a wealth of nuances, which one can sense, but grasp with no more surety than smoke in the twilight. Another stunner. 92 pts
Whiskyrific RSS
- Millburn 36 yo 1969 / 2005 Douglas Laing #DL2152 50% vs Glenburgie 40 yo 1963 / 2003 Signatory #4751 56.4%
- Ben Nevis 23 yo 1996 / 2019 Single Malts of Scotland for the Nectar #536 51.3% vs A Speyside Distillery 32 yo 1989 / 2022 Thompson Bros 51.4%
- Brora 22 yo 1972 / 1995 Rare Malts 61.1% vs Brora 22 yo 1972 / 1995 Rare Malts 58.7%
- Talimburg 19 yo 1986 / 2005 The Whisky Fair #1485 45.9% vs Talisker 20 yo 1981 / 2002 62%
- Caol Ila 12 yo Bulloch Lade for Zenith 43% vs Caol Ila 30 yo 1979 / 2010 Berry Bros #4604/5 55.6%
- Clynelish 29 yo 1965 Whyte & Whyte 52.1%
- Brora 21 yo 1982 / 2003 Signatory #416 58.4% vs Clynelish 27 yo 1982 / 2009 Synch Eli Daily Dram 46%
- Dornoch 5 yo 2017 / 2023 #46 ‘Jasper Broers’ 57.9% vs Shizuoka ‘private cask’ 2017 / 2022 #2017-108 61%
- Clynelish 26 yo 1993 / 2020 Carn Mor #11215 52.7% vs Bowmore 17 yo 2004 /2021 SMWS 3.327 ‘Siren’s Song’ 57.1%
- Talisker 25 yo ‘Bottle TA25 3987’ 45.8% ~ bottle code L0296CM004 bottled 2020 vs Ledaig 11 yo 2008 / 2019 The Swan Song & 1BRD #700104 58.7%
whiskyrific 