Jon Beach’s Advent Calendar wouldn’t be complete without a dram of all three former Inverness distilleries! The other two are reviewed already (Millburn and Glen Mhor), but the Glen Albyn was still lying in wait.

To be honest I am a bit surprised by the fact that all three of the distilleries in Inverness closed in the culling of the 1980s. It would seem more logical to close down distilleries in harder to reach locations instead of in a city with roads, railroads and a harbor available.

Probably the distilleries were quite outdated by the time they closed or just not efficient enough compared to others. Obviously the whisky went into blends mostly, and the character might not have been unique enough.

Anyway, luckily I’m alive in a time when this stuff can still be tasted every now and then, so let’s do that!

Sniff:
This is quite closed with only some scents of dry white oak, pear and barley. Even with time it stays rather timid, with some barley and oak, a whiff of orchard fruits, but not much else.

Sip:
Dry oak on the palate. Dry barley too. Licorice root, root beer, some stem ginger too. Some toffee, butterscotch.

Swallow:
The finish brings some pulpy wood, tree bark. Still licorice and root beer. Even though it’s quite timid all the way through, the finish is rather long and bring a hint of porridge.

It’s old, but there’s not a lot happening. The entire experience is fairly generic with a lot of aromas and flavors that just scream ‘whisky’! However, that is exactly what makes it generic.

Still, it’s absolutely not a bad dram, but I can see that this, from a blender’s perspective, is replacable by spirit from another distillery.

86/100