Lady of the Glen Glen Elgin Tasting Notes

Lady of the Glen ‘Rare Cask’ Glen Spey 2012 (10 year old) 54.6%

Refill Barrique 800062/ Dist: Jan 2012 Btl: Jan 2022/ Tasted: Feb 2022

Hazelnut praline and edgy, winey red fruit on the nose along with hints of dusty and perfumed spices. There’s a little hardness at the edges along with a very subtle but noticeable sulphur note. Late cold tea and onion skin. I’m note sure this barrique was pristinely clean.

The palate is also quite edgy and slightly hard with winey red fruit, grippy spice and somewhat intrusive alcohol. Masked finish with a red fruit after-taste.

Water opens the nose to show perfumed red fruit and sweet barley. Cleaner, less wood and more spirit character. The palate is fuller, oilier and softer, but to be honest it’s not showing a huge degree of complexity. Cereal, toast and style red fruit.

Wemyss Vintage Malts Glen Elgin Tasting Notes

Wemyss Vintage Malts Single Cask Release ‘Ginger Treacle’ 1991 (18 year old) 46%

First fill Sherry Cask/ Dist: 1991 Btl: Apr 2009/ Tasted: July 2009

A big, leafy sherry nose. Intense and ‘in yer face’. There’s a bit of orange fruit and some late toffee/ crème brulee. But in essence it’s all cask again!

The palate is pure cask (no surprise!) – Green nuts and Amontillado laced fruit and hints of salt. Just like drinking very alcoholic sherry! Long and sherried!!!!! Late notes of marzipan and coffee. In conclusion – Cask. Sherry. Character. Distillery. No (rearrange into a common statement!) – need I say any more!

Mossburn Distillers Glen Elgin Tasting Notes

Mossburn Distillers No19 Glen Elgin 2008 (10 year old) 59%

Bourbon Hogshead/ Batch 14.0508.19/ Dist: 2008 Btl: Dec 2018/ Tasted: Jun 2019

A lovely dense and honeyed nose. Some straw-like notes make it feel a little older than 10 years. Chunky but balanced vanilla oak appears along with hints of apricot, pear, wood smoke, gooseberry, fennel and sweet barley.

The palate opens with a good dollop of sweet honey, barley and vanilla. The alcohol put the brakes on the sweetness but a little toffee comes through along with some subtle herbal notes. Quite masked but some gristy barley, apricot, lime, tangerine and granulated sugar can be discerned in the finish. Water emphasises the youth and fruitiness of the nose and brings out some orange, tangerine and lime. Still quite honeyed and faintly herbal with more minerals, white liquorice and malt. Dilution has unshackled the palate! Fuller, richer and more honeyed with sugar coated barley, orange, apricot and lemon. Balanced, mouth-filling and mineral middle. Long, juicy and orangey with lingering barley, minerals and sweet fruit.

Lady of the Glen Glen Elgin Tasting Notes

Lady of the Glen Rare Cask Glen Elgin 2008 (13 year old) 55.2%

Refill Bourbon Hogshead/ Madeira Barrique Finish

Cask No. 800177/ Dist: Jan 2008 Btl: Sept 2021/ Tasted: Oct 2021

The nose is very fresh, grassy and fragrant with a distinct Sauvignon Blanc white character and hints of hops, biscuits, honey and spice. The biscuity Madeira and honey take some time to emerge but even though the eventually become quite noticeable the freshness holds. With time a touch of sawn wood, lime, coriander, nettle and tamarind.

The palate is luscious, honeyed and biscuity, showing more of the finishing cask, but the grassy Sauvignon Blanc and citrus character is still evident and balances well. Hints of nettles, pepper and tannin on the middle along with a touch of sweet apricot. Long, spicy, nettly and grassy finish with lingering light honey, sawdust and dried grape. Fabulous stuff!

Lady of the Glen Glen Elgin 2004 (15 year old) Tawny Port Finish 56.7%

Cask 801297/ Dist: Mar 2004 Btl: Jan 2020/ Tasted: Mar 2020

A deep, waxy and malty nose with barley and subtle but sweet red fruit notes. Hints of vanilla, honey, barley, marzipan and herbal fruit appear along with nettles and malt biscuits.

The palate opens with more port character, followed by sweet malt. Rich, dense almost raisinated fruit and tannins on the middle. The finish is surprisingly masked and very spicy with lingering marzipan, vanilla and barley.

Water lessens the port influence on the nose and brings forward the spirit character – lightly honeyed, estery white fruit and barley. The fruit does have a slight bubblegummy edge. The palate also displays more distillery character with rich, honeyed white fruit, barley and subtle porty notes. Lovely balance and estery middle, which is again a little bubblegummy. Long, luscious honey, apricot and barley with a touch of dried red fruit.

James Eadie Glen Elgin Tasting Notes

James Eadie Small Batch Glen Elgin 9 year old 46%

2 refill bourbon hogsheads and 1 first bourbon hogshead- Cask No- 801358, 801359 & 806436

Dist: 2010 Btl Sept 2020/ Tasted: Sept 2020

A dense but fresh nose with lemon, honey, white peach, pear, malt biscuits and barley. You can definitely smell the influence of the worm tubs! Late gooseberry skin, lemon zest and fern.

The palate is fresh and citric with lemon, white fruit, lwhite liquorice, honey and pollen heavy floral notes. Lovely intensity with hints of gooseberry skin, lime, minerals and grass on the middle. Intense, sharp citrus finish with underlying rich malty notes. Green apple and gooseberry aftertaste. There’s not a huge amount of oak input, so it’s pretty much all distillery character.

Highland Laird Glen Elgin Tasting Notes

Highland Laird Glen Elgin 2011 (9 year old) 56.9%

Re-charred Bourbon Hogshead 801801/ Dist: 2011 Btl: 2019/ Tasted: Feb 2022

The nose is quite ozoney and fresh with white rose, estery pineapple, apple, banana, grilled nuts, vanilla, pollen and gristy barley. Pleasantly summery with a late Sauvignon Blanc-esque herbal/ grassiness.

The palate is fuller and more honeyed with barley and plenty of estery fruit – apple, pear, apricot and banana. The oak grips a little on the middle but the weight of fruit balances. It develops notes of pollen, minerals and citrus. Lovely barley’d finish with a gentle spice flourish.

Water brings out honey and malt. It’s richer and fuller with a touch of custard powder and lemon peel. The palate is grippier and more tannic. Less fruit and more aggressive bitter oak, Still some barley but the oak is almost vice-like, Drying finish and botanical after-taste.

Hunter Laing Glen Elgin Tasting Notes

Hunter Laing Old Malt Cask Glen Elgin 1990 (25 year old) 50%

Refill Bourbon Hogshead/ Code: OMC2540/ HL12155

Dist: Mar 1990 Btl: Nov 2015/ Tasted: Feb 2016

Aromas of mature baked fruit, vanilla and granulated sugar with hints of grass, gooseberry, lime and custard powder.

The palate is soft and slightly buttery with plenty of mature barley and a touch f baked fruit and cinnamon. Lovely length with dusty spice and drying, sawdusty wood notes.

Fable Whisky Glen Elgin Tasting Notes

Fable Whisky ‘Piper’ Chapter 6 – Glen Elgin 2014 (7 year old) 61.6%

Bourbon Hogshead 800406/ Dist: Jan 2014 Btl: Aug 2021/ Tasted: Dec 2021

An intense alcohol prickle on the nose makes it feel a little raw, but there’s a good depth of barley, juicy apricot, pear, apple and honey beneath. Hints of straw and raw barley husks. This is one whisky that definitely needs water!

The palate is softer with straw-like barley, malt, juicy apricot, apple, pear and hints of vanilla and spice. Masked, intensly alcoholic finish (no surprise) with lingering juicy mandarin and orange.

Water, as expected, brings out that lovely juicy fruit. It’s still a little straw-like but theres plenty of barley, satsuma and white fruit evident. The palate opens with subtle castor sugar sprinkled white fruit, apricot, orange and toffee. Subtly spiced middle, which has become generous and mouth-filling. Medium length with lingering straw and yellow fruit.

Carn Mor Glen Elgin Tasting Notes

Carn Mor Celebration of the Cask Glen Elgin 1995 (22 year old) 53.4%

Refill Bourbon Hogshead 3208/ Dist: Dec 1995 Btl: Jun 2018/ Tasted: Jul 2018

A crisp, fresh, mineral and citric nose with aromatic white pear, grape, honey, violets and dusty oak. Wonderfully complex and deep. The emphasise here is definitely on the citrus and mineral note, thus making it intense and vibrant.

The palate opens with the dusty and vanilla’d oak, punctuated by lime, lemon and an almost salty minerality. Lovely, fleshy fruit middle with layers of barley, oak and violets. Long and crisp with lingering honey, apricot, vanilla and citrus.

Claxton’s Glen Elgin Tasting Notes

Claxton’s The Single Cask Glen Elgin 1995 (20 year old) 51.5%

Refill Bourbon Hogshead 1609-1671/ Dist: Nov 1995 Btl: Oct 2016?/ Tasted: Nov 2016

Deep and honeyed aromas with hints of smoke, malt, sweet barley, apricot and gritty but soft coffee’d oak. With time the oak becomes wonderfully mature and displays that lovely effusive violety and sawdusty character, which really gives it a lift.

The palate opens with the oak – vanilla, toffee and sawdusty notes. The subtle citrus follows to balance the sweetness and it allows some lovely, juicy apricot and barley to come through on the middle. Long, slightly mouth-watering and remaining juicy with lingering violets, dusty oak and a little, drying, grippy tannins.