A new Glen Garioch 1989 in the Perfect Dram series.
Glen Garioch 24 yo 1989 (51,4%, The Whisky Agency ‘Perfect Dram’ 2014, refill hogshead, 220 btl.)
Nose: starts with a nice combination of sweet apples, maybe some unripe peach, and sharper mineral notes. Wet gravel. I don’t like my whisky really austere, but I find this quite gentle actually. The nicest surprise is in the minty / mentholated notes and the eucalyptus, up to the point where it becomes slightly medicinal. Nice damp oak, a little paraffin and whiffs of smoke as well. Very subtle vanilla in the background.
Mouth: more fruity sweetness at first (peach, melon, sweet citrus), quickly moving towards sharper grapefruit and some green oak and grasses. Walnut skin. Hints of tonic and juniper. Soft white pepper and ginger. Wet wool. Really austere now, a tad too much for me.
Finish: long, with the same flavours and mineral sharpness. Lots of grapefruit zest.
This is a really good Glen Garioch. It starts in a great way and shows an entertaining evolution from rounder notes to mineral sharpness, although it’s also flirting with extreme austerity towards the end. Around € 140.
Score: 88/100