Released in 2010, Glen Garioch's new 12 year old is matured in both bourbon and sherry casks, and it has loads of character, as well as being bottled at the sensible strength of 48%...
If you like it well balanced, fruity and nutty, with a touch of vanilla you have found a very nice whisky with good value for money. Some of the ratings here seems to be made by people who are not familiar with the typical region of Scotland and it's products, and a whisky without adding some whater will simply not reveal it's real character. Keep up the good craftsmanship Glen Garioch!
Bananas and dried fruit on the nose. Needs water to open up. Rich mouth feel, a bit oily. Some oaky spice on delivery. Clean finish.
This little dram took a lot of patience to dissect. It definitely needs water to bring out all of the qualities stored inside the 48% strength. I noticed no one has presented tasting notes, so for what it's worth, here is what I found. Neat - Nose: difficult to find anything at first, but after a few minutes there's vanilla butter cream, almond, amaretto, cake icing, raisins and very ripe pear. Palate: extremely smooth and creamy, but un-discernible and very one-noted. Finish: quick, hot, sharp, with some spiced oak, but quite numbing from the 48% strength. With water - Nose: butterscotch, cocoa powder, damp leather, golden raisins, gingerbread, with honey and delicate florals lingering faintly in the background. Palate: lightly sulphured, chocolaty and oaked. Finish: peppered woodiness becomes longer and slightly honeyed, with a nip of dryness and quick whiff of smoke at the very, very end. If you love this, great! But the sulphured, dry peppery notes were a bit much for me in this one.
Well-priced high quality Scotch. I'm not sure that this beats out comparable 10-12 year old offerings from the likes of Glenmorangie and others, but it's a little like the Volvo to their VW, if you get me.
Succulent impulse purchase discovery. I'm not a fan of the heavy, smokey, peaty malts so this was a delicious find. Unfortunately it didn't last long enough to measure the effect of opening and leaving it to stand.
