I got this sample in Jon Beach’s Advent Calendar, which I only started drinking this week, and only got in between Christmas and New Year’s. As usual, late to the party…

Anyway, my good friend JPH (aka Shrek) and I both got a calendar and we decided to taste the entire thing in a few weekly sessions over the month of February. We started this week with dram 1 to 4, and ended up drinking number five as well, because that was one we both already know. Because we both picked up a bottle at Jon Beach’s Fiddler’s in Drumnadrochit, in 2019.

Bottled from a rejuvenated American oak cask, I expected this to be a Glen Ord whisky with a bit more oak influence than normal.

Sniff:
Sweet with honey and barley. Some vanilla and straw. I get some wet wood, from moldy warehouses. The alcohol brings a bit of bite. Later on, I start getting apple crumble with a hint of cinnamon.

Sip:
The palate is dry and sweet, with mostly straw, barley and some oak. The honey is a bit held back, which makes it less sweet than the nose. It becomes a bit more viscous with a bit of time. The alcohol is less aggressive than expected.

Swallow:
A short finish that leaves mostly the dryness, with hints of straw.

With Glen Ord you expect a dram that tastes mostly of honey, oak and some straw like notes and it does exactly that. It’s slightly more dry than I expected and that might be the cask rejuvenation kicking in.

All in all, I wasn’t overly impressed with this whisky. It’s nice enough compared to regular Glen Ord, but I found it quite hard to get a lot of scents and flavors from it.

It’s absolutely not bad, but also not something I’d like to have a bottle of.

85/100

The Singleton of Glen Ord 11, 2008-2019, Rejuvenated American Oak cask 308296, 54.8%. Bottled for Highland Whisky Festival 2019.