Time for my first Glen Garioch and first Cadenhead notes on the blog. This one also came through samples swap I did with friends who likes this one very much.

This Glen Garioch is an ex-bourbon cask and like all Cadenhead bottlings, it’s been color-free and non-chilled filtered.

Cadenhead Glen Garioch 21yo 1991 (53.7%, ex-Bourbon cask, 216 bottles, buy here for €77.5)

Nose: Weak and very subdue at first. it needed quite lot of time for me to open up and reveal the goodness behind – vanilla, Heather honey, some malt/cereal, maybe some peat as well? (although no smoke at all), spices behind.

Palate: Heather, wood spices, nutmeg, cloves, after the initial sweet and spices rush, some metallic notes and wood, sweet is becoming a bit sour

Finish: Short, oaky and sweet, spices still lingers and a few notches below some sour note like vinegar as well, but still works well together.

Conclusion: This dram wasn’t an easy one to decipher. I needed 2 separate tasting sessions to get a fix on what I think of this dram – It’s decent but it doesn’t rocks the house. At this price it’s quite good VFM for cask strength 21yo old whisky but maybe I would spend this money elsewhere, I’m sure there are better Glen Gariochs out there.

(Thanks to Kirsty & Stewart of www.whiskycorner.co.uk for the sample)