Country: Scotland
Region: Highland (North)
Brand: Glen Ord 1997 (Archives - 4th Release)
Type: Single Malt Whisky
Age: 15 Years
ABV: 54.2 %
Colour: Pale Straw/Light White Wine
Nose: I wouldn't have given this 15 years! Quite Light, Herbal and Fresh with Green Apples, Banana, Pear, Lemon-Pepper, Grass, Straw, Heather, Mint, light Licorice, Oak, Toast and Margarine, Malt, Toffee and light Smoke/Peat. The Alcohol is not yet fully integrated. It reminded me a bit of a Clynelish 1997 I tasted recently. Except for the Smoke that is.
Palate: Malt, Apples, Dried Fruits, Nuts, Citrus, Oak, Straw, Pepper, Herbs, Martini Bianco, Honey and Toffee.
Finish: Middle-Long and Sweet actually with Sugared Biscuits, Sugared Grapefruit Peel, Pepper and some Nuts.
A bit of added Water increases the Pepper and Licorice on the Palate. My advise is to sip this Glen Ord neat.
Rating: 81.5
Nose: 20.5 - Taste: 20.5 - Finish: 20 - Overall: 20.5
General Remarks: The Glen Ord Distillery was founded in 1838 and is located on the Black Isle in Ross-Shire. It closed various times during its history during the World Wars. Today it's in the hands of the Diageo Group and lies at the heart of the Dewar Blends.
The 1997 we are tasting today was distilled in April 1997 and was bottled at Cask Strength in April 2012. It matured in a Hogshead with Cask # 800083 out of which 64 bottles were commercialised via the Independent Whisky Bottler Whiskybase in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Archives is their relatively young own label. This Single Malt is naturally coloured and not Chill-Filtered. It's still available at Whiskybase but only just. It costs around 80 US Dollars
Drinking Experience Neat: Good
Conclusion: A decent Highlander without any flaws but with not too many highlights as well. Lots of Citrus on the Nose and Palate. Interesting touch of Martini on the Palate. Nevertheless I'm sure I will forget this Glen Ord quickly and I'm glad I only had a sample. This Single Malt simply lacks the Wow Factor!
Jan van den Ende October 22, 2013
2 comments:
I love these because now I don't have to bother tracking down a bottle. Also, looking at the pic, this stuff looks like p*ss. I know we're not supposed to care about color, but c'mon it looks *exactly* like it. :)
Thanks for you reaction Smoky Beast! I called it White Wine cause I'm a nice guy by nature. But...! And no, no need to go hunting for this one! Although you should never refuse a free dram of course!
Cheers!
Jan
Post a Comment