Another Old Particular from Douglas Laing that arrived here is Glen Garioch 21 Year Old and it was the top of the line offering before getting sold out. It was distilled back in September 1995, just before it was mothballed for a few years so it’s a precious old liquid from an age long gone. It was then aged in refill hogshead and bottled in November 2016. Total of 290 bottles were produced.

Old Particular Glen Garioch 21 Year Old (51.5%, DL11471, £85.49/500NIS)

Nose: Sugar barley, perhaps a wee whiff of peat smoke as it went and never came back, fruity with pears and apples, ginger, almonds and nuts, quite fresh with undercurrent of rich flavour bomb, meadow and hay distilled into oil. With additional time in the glass more nuttiness and cooked cinnamon and becoming oily and fruity (somewhat perfume) with a touch of ginger.

Palate: Pears, spicy with pepper, ginger and oriental spice, oak spices, surprisingly it’s more dry and spicy with the fruit and honey in the background.

Finish: Medium length with lingering oak spices, pears, lots of honey and ginger and weak vanilla.

Thoughts: This is a complex and delicious Glen Garioch whisky with the proper balance of fruitiness and spices tamed by age. Well worth a purchase (and yes, I did buy one).

(Official sample provided by Sipil, IL Douglas Laing Importer)