.glen garioch - ?

.very secretive...

48% abv, €??, single malt

Nose: fresh, sweet, honey, green herbs, thyme, sage, fresh cut grass, citrus, fruit, dry red apples, chocolate
Palate: sweet, spicy, white pepper, ginger, dry, chocolate, citrus, limes, fruit, red apples, plums, sweet red berries, ripe cherries
Finish: sweet, dry, long, chocolate, firm, spices, ginger, fruit, apples
Mark: +++++

Conclusion: I love this and would recommend a bottle, if the price is right. This might just as well be a new-to-be-released 16 year old expression that has finished in a French Limousin ex-Cognac cask.

More info: We (well, the Mrs. to be honest) received this dram from Glen Garioch, in an event where they decorated 20-some bloggers to be #GGDrambassador to first try their latest (future) release.

The package contained a sweet little bottle with the new expression, a bar of chocolate with candied ginger on top (awesome, that one!) and a wee jar of (plum?)jam, that could give a hint towards the tasting notes.

The accompanying letter stated a few clues. Bear with me for the deduction:

"The entire batch of this expression was distilled one Summer's day when Scotland took part in a global sporting event. The country where this event took place is closely linked to our tasting notes"

Our first thoughts went to the Olympic games, but here Scotland does not partake as a single country, so we had to drop that. Looking for typical Scottish sports, we were investigating Golf and Rugby events, and tried to find a Commonwealth Game, but could not find an event taking place close to the Atlantic Ocean. From June 10 1998 to July 12 1998, France was the host for the FIFA World Cup, where Scotland partook in the first round of the event. We stuck with France here, since it fits best with the remaining clues.

"Our whisky is a perfect marriage of two regions, and you may find our whisky's robust structure and complex flavours remind you of something else"

The nose and taste of this whisky immediately reminds of something not whisky, concluding this has to be a whisky that was finished in, or had even fully matured in ex-Something casks. It was clear to us that is was not ex-Sherry, or ex-Port, and the thought of ex-Rum was swiftly put down, since Cuba and the Dominican Republic are simply not wide enough to fit in the next hint. After a while, Ansgar thought of Cognac, and the puzzle started to fit together.

"The casks were previously stored in a cave, 100km from the Atlantic Ocean"

The Cognac region in France is close to the North Atlantic Ocean; the Bay of Biscay is part of it. A cave in French can be translated as wine-cellar...

"The oak shares its name with a breed of cattle"

Limousin is not only a breed of sturdy and tasty cows, it is also another name for "French Oak". This French Oak is exclusively used by the people of Rémy Martin, for maturing their cognacs. We initially thought the cattle must have been the "Alba" (Scotland in Gaelic) cows, pointing towards the Scottish Highlander cows, but the Limousin made much more sense, fitting it all together nicely.

Why we think it is a new addition to the core range? The abv is at 48%, as are the other core range expressions, all of the vintages are at a (much) higher strength. Only the small batch Virgin Oak expression is also bottled at 48%, so this might as well be a small batch expression too, although the guessing game included a search for a vintage...

Concluding, I find this needs to be said. First price is a visit to the distillery, accompanied by Rachel Barrie. We are in Scotland, and with the distillery on the 6th of May 2014, and although we will probably not win because we missed the conclusion by a couple of hundred miles, we will be unable to go to the distillery on the given dates later that same month.