1797 Founder's Reserve is the new offering from Glen Garioch (pronounced Glen 'Geery').
Lively, oily, slightly peppery malt. Some creamy Danish Blue balanced by hints of citrus including lime and grapefruit squash.
Chocolate lime sweets and brandy butter. With water there's more allspice, dessert wine, barley malt and cured ham.
Oak, some subtle smoke, green apple skin and more chocolate limes.
A character-filled no age-statement release named in celebration of Glen Garioch's co-founders the Manson Brothers. But wait... wouldn't that make it either "Founders' Reserve" (or "Founders Reserve")?!
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Was: £40.75Now: £36.75
From a neat pour, I initially got the blue cheese amongst some cereal notes on the nose. After opening up there was more gingerbread and nutmeg sweetness coming thru. The palate is warm chocolate brownie and a touch of saltiness, like summer sausage. The finish is quick, slightly hot, with a touch of wood smoke and menthol at the very end, lending to somewhat of a minty aftertaste. This dram holds the 48% quite well and presents it rather smoothly. Overall, a great tasting experience. Nice to find such unique notes on the nose and mint in the finish. Leaps and bounds ahead of the Glen Garioch 12 - which to me is quite dry and hot - and needs water to bring out the good stuff.
A much younger dram than I've been having recently and I think that shows in the taste as things can seem a little muddled. The main bulk of the taste seems to be a mix of malt and toffee which gives way to a short peppery finish. I found that leaving it out to breathe for a bit helped stabalise the flavour and make it more enjoyable. Whilst it may not blow your socks off like a Dalmore can, it certainly is well worth what you pay for it.
Lots of bright citrus marmalade aromas with toffee pecan Danish pastry. There is a bit of bite to the whisky but I think that adds to the overall texture, not at all heavy or gloopy but bright fresh and delightfully youthful.
I found this malt to be very harsh, so much that it had to be tamed with an ice cube. Strange, because I always drink Scotch neat and I don't mind cask strength/high alcohol and usually don't have a problem. A friend bought the same malt at the same time and had the same issues. Flavour was nice but fairly undistinguished. I was lucky and found this on sale because I will not be buying this again. I may try the 12 year sometime in the future though, hopefully that offering will be more less harsh (and more mature) than the FR.
A real surprise and very good value for the money. A beautiful sipping whisky. Diamond in the rough for sure. For me, I get leather with a bit of menthol and scotch mints. Unique, and enjoyable.
