Cadenhead’s Glen Garioch 9yo
Warehouse Tasting| 59.3% ABV
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
An eye opening take on the quietly superb Highland dram
Auctions: Rewarding The Chaser Of Novelties
I’ve had a bit of a strange few months of whisky drinking, not least because I have been opening bottles that I bought ages ago and stashed, hidden from view only to reemerge when the supershelf was finished. Opening them now, over a year since I bought them during the acquisition boom of 2021, I am finding that I’m not enamoured with a lot of them. That blasted Mortlach 16, for example. The Glenrothes Maker’s Cut. Lismore 21. Whiskies that cost me a not insubstantial amount of money, and I feel, through the fickle lens of hindsight, that my money has been mis-placed.
I’ve been on a quest to cut down on my whisky purchasing because of this concern - the need to try new things but the new things not giving me the payoff in wonderful smell and taste experiences that I expect. That’s not to say I’ve had a long line of duffers, oh no. The Ardnamurchan AD/04:22 Cask Strength was an exercise in self control, to stop it from draining down my throat. The Lindores STR is really quite delicious. My Benromach romance and the other’s that I’ve reviewed here have all delivered in smell and taste beyond what I expected. But the duffers have been dotted between the good ‘uns and each time I silently bash my fist on the table and think of the other drams I could've bought and tried instead.
I’ve been an auction lurker for a while now, waiting in the wings and watching as ludicrous sums of money are being thrown towards demanded bottles. Some of those bottles I’ve had interest in, because they are smell and taste experiences I want to try; Kilkerran 8yo Cask Strength being one. Ardnamurchan Paul Launios being another. They’ve always gone far beyond what I’m comfortable bidding for, but I’ve bid on, and won, a few beauties. A Signatory Linkwood 2006 13yo which I won for £65 - it was £90 when released. A Kingsbarns Bell Rock, won for £43 - it was £70 when released. Two rather delicious drams for way under cost. I’ve also bid on a few, won them, and had mediocre experiences (so far) - a Glentauchers-Glenlivet 8yo Cadenhead’s is yet to win me over.
I recently decided that Glen Garioch 12 is an essential dram to have in my drinking collection. It’s interesting, complex and eminently quaffable - you can easily sit and enjoy it all evening, finding more and more interesting things in the glass upon each sip. When I was perusing the latest auction I noticed that there were a few Indy Glen Garioch expressions that looked quite interesting, one of which being a Cadenhead’s Warehouse Tasting bottle. 9 years of age and finished for 3 of those years in a Tawny Port cask, it twitched my bidding finger for the sole reason that I had been told the Tawny Port cask of a Glen Scotia Festival bottling was a beaut.
I put in a ceiling bid of £50 and forgot about it - if I didn’t win then so be it; add it to the other 40 unsuccessful bids stacked up in the losers tab. Surprisingly I won, at £50. Being that I’m as near as dammit local to the auctioneer, I arranged a collection and tied it in with another trip to the Fair City at the weekend. That evening I opened it, with a certain amount of trepidation, if I’m honest - the 12 year old OB is such a good dram and I’ve not tried a Tawny Port finished whisky yet. It’ll be what it’ll be.
“Tawny Port, so called on account of its colour, is doubtless the most popular of all styles of Douro wine because it is not only the most accessible in price but also an all-purpose wine that can be enjoyed on every occasion.”
Review
Bottle Details in Teal Blue, 59.3% ABV
£50 won at auction - originally bought at Cadenhead’s Campbeltown Warehouse Tasting
The bottle was stuffed into the back seat on the way home and I didn’t really look at it even when cracking the seal, so when the whisky plopped into the glass I’m a bit astounded to see that it’s a remarkable shade of blush, akin to rose wine - peach, melon, faded orange - whatever you want to call it, it’s rather wonderfully not whisky coloured. This is also powerful stuff at 59.3%, but a quick sniff reveals a restricted neck pour - I leave it for a good while as I prepare dinner.
Tawny Port - what is that and why is it a good match for whisky? Well I’m not a Port drinker so I have to do some quick fact finding and it reveals an interesting confluence of spirits. Port is a Portuguese fortified wine typically matured in either big glass/concrete/steel vats, or smaller wooden barrels, depending on the type. Ruby ports are the most common and matured in sealed glass, metal or concrete containers - restricting the oxidation and creating a less tannic wine. There’s other variations of Port, but the one we’re interested in is Tawny Port, which is aged in smaller oak barrels and, as a result, is exposed to an angel’s share evaporation/oxidisation, much like whisky/ It loses its colour quicker and leads to a more nutty and elegant Port expression and is the variety that the Portuguese drink, allegedly, so that’s good enough for me.
Given that Scotch whisky must be matured in oak barrels, it makes sense to find a recently vacated cask of interesting provenance to add a little quirk to a base spirit, and that’s what Cadenheads have done here - taken the base Glen Garioch spirit, of which makeup I’m not sure (I can’t find any information about this expression), but is then recasked into a Tawny Port cask for the final 3 years. I guess you could say that it’s an ex-wine cask, given that Port is fortified wine, but let’s not offend too many more with my building collection of flagrant inaccuracies; let’s wrap our lips around this and see what we make of it.
Nose
The initial takeaway is of a citrus, fruity wine - it has a tannic but robust smell to it, like a bold red or white burgundy. As the dram settles the heathery floral Geery smell I so loved in the OB12 appears. Highland toffee makes its mark. Soft mineral qualities cut through as well. An arm’s length recently struck match is present alongside a red wine-gum note. Fresh mint and a hard to pin-down but ultimately revealed to be tobacco whiff are rounded off with a porty astringency. There’s a faint bready smell at the outskirts - lots of stuff being revealed the more time spent. A few drops of water reveals a very identifiable digestive biscuit - salty and malty.
Palate
At first a big hit of orange fruits but then a bold matchbox striker takes over. At cask strength it’s wonderfully rich and powerful - tannic edged. The heather is present but is masked quite a lot by tropical and bright apple type notes. Very spicy on the old mouth slug but manageable, even at bawhair 60% ABV - it doesn’t overwhelm me. There’s loads going on - cherries, mango, salt, sulphur and chewy toffees. A lovely floral perfume flavour - violets and spice - on the finish. A touch of water boosts the matchbox striker fantastically - it’s visceral, orange tropical fruits and fire sticks.
The Dregs
This is a great whisky. It takes what I love about the 12 year old OB and tickles it with a subtle twist of tannic influence. I love the matchbox note found in some whiskies - the Kilkerran 8yo being a good example - and it’s present here in an elegant, controlled way. It’s a powerful experience at cask strength, and I’m seriously enjoying drinking cask strength whisky right now - it might not be good for me, but the potency of flavour bursting into my face is exciting. I’m loathed to add water to this but when I do the whisky morphs subtly into a more potently exhilarating prospect. That matchbox note elevates to a citrus firework aimed squarely at my face and I let it happen, because the colours are sensational and the sparks are blinding.
I’m so chuffed with this auction win - £50! It has delivered a whisky experience unlike a lot of my damp squib OB failures at much more outlay. I think Glen Garioch is a distillery I will be focussing on more as I progress into whisky geekdom, and a visit to the hallowed Geery ground is becoming a necessity. I will soon embark upon a wind powered watery journey to Bangor, across the North Channel, where we will don our tourist caps and take in the Belfast sights. Upon our return leg we will be stopping at Campbeltown for 2 nights and we had planned to take a tour of Springbank or Glen Scotia. After I popped this sucker I realised that we must instead head directly to the Cadenhead's Warehouse Tasting experience, because if there’s any more of these gems inside that warehouse and shop, you’d better believe I’ll be having them.
Score: 7/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. DC
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