Glen Garioch 12yo
Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky
48% abv
$60 (USD)
Earlier this year, Glen Garioch began appearing in press releases, on blogs and in whisky magazines with new and improved look and reformulated recipe.
Glen Garioch and its siblings in the lowlands and Islay, Auchentoshan and Bowmore respectively, are owned by Morrison-Bowmore(Suntory).
In the first edition (1989) of Michael Jackson's Malt Whisky Companion, he called Glen Garioch "the assertive peat-smoky style of highland malt that has become all too rare." Even truer today, especially as the cited distillery would be hard pressed to call it self peaty in style.
It is hard to argue that the new Nevis-designed packaging isn't a significant upgrade from the Highland kitsch of its predecessor.
For more distillery info or to see all Glen Garioch had on the mission, click HERE.
TASTING NOTES:
Butter, brown sugar, ripe canteloupe, with integrated levels of spices, speaking softly.
Sweet and fruity, burnt sugar on a baked pear, balanced with oak. Water enhances a malty sweetness and elevates the oak above the fruitiness.
SUMMARY:
Clean, pleasant whisky that, without being tasted in context of its peers, doesn't really leave a distinct impression. Not that is needs to be a peaty prick or a sherried she-male to stand out. The non-chill filtration and higher abv certainly set it apart from its peers. And at whisky fairs and shows, I have seen folks raving about it. So, as I am becoming more and more convinced of every day, in tasting and evaluating any whisky it is about the context, the experience, at least as much as the content.
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