Country: Scotland
Region: Speyside
Brand: Glen Keith 1991
Selected by and Bottled for Wilson & Morgan, Edinburgh (Barrel Selection)
Type: Single Malt Whisky
Age: 21 Years
ABV: 50 %
Date: 21/01/2014
Colour: Full Gold
Nose: Nice but quite restrained. This Glen Keith needs some time in the glass to open up. Nevertheless it remains somewhat introspective. I find Red Fruits like Cherries and Red Grapes, Cassis, Malt, Marzipan, Cake and Butter, Nuts, Dried Fruits, Honey, Oak, Floral Tones and hints of Espresso and Pineapple-Juice. The Alcohol is reasonably well integrated.
Palate: Sweet, Creamy, slightly Sour and Spicy with Honey, Floral Perfume, Malt, Oak, Syrup, Red Fruits like Berries and Grapes, Nougat, Buttered Toast, Pepper, Nutmeg and hints of Cocoa Powder and Herbal Tea.
Finish: Quite Long with Malt, Butter Biscuits, Honey, Oak, Mineral Tones and Spices like Pepper and Nutmeg. After a while a bit of Dark Chocolate appears.
I added a couple of drops of water. On the Nose I find a little more Malt, Red Fruit and Pineapple. More Red Grapes on the Palate and light Licorice in the Finish. You can play with a few drops!
Rating: 85.5
Nose: 22 - Taste: 21 - Finish: 21 - Overall: 21.5
General Remarks: The Wilson & Morgan Company is an Independent Bottler, based in Italy. Owners are the Rossi family that started importing Blends in the sixties. Single Malt Selection was added in the 1980's and in 1992 Wilson & Morgan was founded by Fabio Rossi to attend the high end Single Malt market. At various distilleries, W&M selects barrels for their Barrel Selection series. Most of the casks mature at the distillery itself. The Glen Keith I'm tasting today was distilled in 1991, matured in an Ex-Sherry Butt with Cask # 89650 and was bottled in 2013. No artificial colouring was added and the Whisky is not Chill-Filtered. It sells at around 170 US Dollars.
The Glen Keith Distillery is located in Keith (Banffshire) and was founded in 1957 by Chivas Brothers. It was mothballed in 1991. Fortunately, Chivas was bought by Pernod Ricard from France in 2001 and after reconstruction Glen Keith started production again last year. A lot of their production is destined for Blends like Johnnie Walker and Ballantine's.
Drinking Experience Neat: Good
Conclusion: Nice but not spectacular Single Malt. In a blind tasting I could have easily suspected a Red Wine Finishing with all the Red Grapes and Cassis on the Nose. I could have scored it a few points higher if not for the following minor observations: I would have liked to see the Nose opening up more easily. And I prefer to see the Palate a little less Sour and Spicy. But these are only minor criticisms. The price seems reasonable for a Single Malt of this age although it's still a lot of money!
Jan van den Ende January 2014
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