Glen Garioch 2008 10 Years Old (Douglas Laing)

How is this Glen Garioch not sold out yet? After all, it does have my tasting notes on the label!

All kidding aside, this is a good whisky, albeit on the younger side. Earlier this year as was asked by Douglas Laing to write tasting notes for this particular bottling, as part of their Fellows Programme. It’s not something I ever realised was on it, but it sure did feel like crossing something of my bucket list.

The notes on the label are very succinct, because of a lack of space and all. The photo above is too small anyway for you to read them, so here they are:

Nose: A touch of almond paste, green apple peel, and chocolate truffles.
Taste: Creamy texture with highlights of honey, bananas and fresh ginger.
Finish: Lingering notes of honey-glazed red apple and pear skin.

But actually those are more like a summary of my original notes, which I thought I’d share with you, since I have this blog — the perfect outlet for such a thing. Here they are.

Glen Garioch 2008 10 Years Old (46%, Douglas Laing ‘Provenance’, C# DL13087)

Nose: Very much spirit driven. Somewhat farmy to start, accompanied by a touch of almond paste, vanilla custard and sweet barley, as well as chocolate truffles, and a whisper green apple peel. A tad shy.
Taste: Nice creamy texture. A whiff of honey, followed by bananas and brown sugar. A sliver of chalk, and touches of charred oak, as well as fresh ginger and chili pepper.
Finish: Lingering notes of honey-glazed red apple and pear skin with a hint of grassiness.

Score: 85

The spirit is at centre stage, taking precedent over the wood influence. There’s enough to discover on the nose, and the finish is absolutely lovely.

Photo: Deinwhisky.de